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The Marian Library is a special collection in the University of Dayton’s University Libraries. As such, it is home to books, periodicals, articles, manuscripts, artwork, films, and religious artifacts related to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ.

The works are in more than 100 languages, and items in the collection date from the beginning of printing up to the present day. The collection also includes a general reference collection with resources in patristics, biblical studies, church history, spirituality, social sciences, hymnography, iconography, and general and specialized bibliographies.

The Society of Mary (the Marianists) founded the Marian Library in 1943 as it prepared to commemorate a triple centennial in 1949-50. The celebrated events included the arrival of the Marianists in the United States in 1849; the death of Father William Joseph Chaminade (1850), founder of the Society of Mary; and the founding of the University of Dayton in 1850. The continuing presence of the Marian Library expresses the university's Catholic and Marianist identity.

The collections of the Marian Library are developed and maintained to preserve and provide access to materials that support the mission of fostering Marian scholarship and sound Marian devotion. The Marian Library offers its resources to students and scholars who need an academic library to support their research in Marian studies. This includes the faculty and studies of the International Marian Research Institute, which the Marianists founded in 1975 at the University of Dayton in order to attract scholars who could mine the data in the collection. The Marian Library also provides educational opportunities for undergraduate students at the University of Dayton.