General Information | Newton Gresham Library

NEWTON GRESHAM LIBRARY

The Library contains more than 1.3 million books, bound periodicals, and government documents and a variety of formats, including multimedia, microforms, microfiche, phonograph records, videotape, and newspapers. The library subscribes to over 2,200 periodicals, an increasing number of which are available electronically. As a depository for selected federal and state government publications in a separate collection of over 230,000 print and non-print documents, the library also serves the citizens of five adjacent counties. The Library’s Thomason Room houses over 12,000 rare books and other materials on Texas, the Southwest, Mark Twain, Gertrude Stein, the Civil War, Library Science, Criminal Justice, and other topics. Other groups of materials housed in the Newton Gresham Library include paperbacks for recreational reading, current periodical issues, new books, and a children’s literature collection. A multimedia lab, music listening room, study carrels, electric coin-operated typewriters, a small lounge area furnished with vending machines, and a copy center, including a public fax machine are provided for the convenience of students and faculty. Library holdings information may be electronically accessed through an online catalog from hundreds of library and campus computer workstations, as well as remotely via the Internet.

The campus network may be used to search electronic periodical or other databases for citations and information. The library maintains database licenses for important databases such as ERIC, Sociological Abstracts, PsycInfo, CJ Abstracts, NCJRS, Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe, and Biological Abstracts and ScienceDirect. OCLC’s FirstSearch services makes databases such as WorldCat, AGRICOLA, PAIS, and Business and Management Practices available to SHSU students. TexShare, the statewide electronic resource-sharing program, provides access to over 60 electronic databases and thousands of full-text journal articles. A complete list of the electronic databases and electronic journals can be viewed online. These resources are available from home, campus offices and computer labs. Access to online catalogs of libraries throughout the United States, including nearby university libraries such as the University of Houston, Texas A&M and the University of Texas is available via the Internet. Books, articles, documents, and other items which are not available locally may be requested through the OCLC interlibrary loan system, a database of over 35 million bibliographic records to the world’s literature.

Sixteen librarians, twenty-six support staff, and a number of student assistants provide reference, interlibrary loan, circulation, acquisitions, and other library services to the faculty, staff and students of the University, as well as to visiting scholars and off-campus users. The recently restored Peabody Memorial Library contains the University Archives and SHSU Collection of faculty monographic publications. A multimedia lab and classroom, staffed by Computer Services department, is available during regular library hours. The seventy networked workstations in this multimedia area may be used to access the periodical and information databases, as well as the library’s multimedia (CD-ROM) collection of over 500 library-use-only CD-ROMs. They are listed in the online catalog and are available to all library users. To assist library users in utilizing library material and services, over fifty printed guides and bibliographies have been developed by library faculty and staff. They are available in print format in the reference area, and accessible electronically from the library’s home page. The home page also provides access to information on the library’s services for off-campus and distance education students.