Q. there's a web site that says there are documents and records of coal mining reports dating back to 1874 in the libary. are they still there?

Ship Library has several reports in Special Collections:

• Reports of the Inspectors of Coal Mines of Pennsylvania
  Special Collections TN805.P4 A5
• Reports of Inspectors of Coal Mines of the Anthracite Coal Regions of Pennsylvania
  Special Collections TN805.P4 A5
• Reports of the Inspectors of Mines of the Anthracite coal regions of Pennsylvania for the year
  Special Collections TN823.P4 A2

However, you can also access these and other related titles online.  Just google the titles you want. 
For example:

http://archive.org/stream/reportsofinspect1872penn#page/n23/mode/2up

You can read them online and search for keywords. 

Or instead of googling you can go straight to archive.org and do an advanced search for the title and the date range you need.  I tried 1870 to 1930 and got several years we don't have in print. 

If you want to look at the paper copies, you can email Special Collections at kadani@ship.edu with the years you need (3 or 4 at a time) - we will get them for you and leave them at the Circulation Desk. 
If you want to look at them in Special Collections, you can email kadani@ship.edu and make an appointment.