Fourteen librarians and 26 paraprofessionals provide reference, interlibrary loan, circulation, acquisitions, other library and information services to the faculty, staff and students of the university, as well as visiting scholars and off-campus residents. The Library contains more than 1.3 million books, bound periodicals, and government documents on open shelves.

Special groups of materials include paperbacks for recreational reading, children’s literature, and collections of rare books on Texas, the Southwest, Mark Twain, Gertrude Stein, the Civil War, and Criminal Justice in the Thomason Room. The recently restored Peabody Building contains the University Archives.

Library holdings information is available through an online catalog that may be accessed from computer terminals located throughout the library and the campus. The Data Research Associates computer software is used for cataloging, acquisition, circulation and other purposes. The library subscribes to over 2,300 periodicals and is a depository for selected U.S. and state government publications. There are over 240,000 federal or state government documents in Newton Gresham Library.

Full access to bibliographic citations on a number of electronic databases such as Periodical Abstracts, ABI-INFORM, ERIC, Sociofile, NCJRS, and Psychlit are available from networked microcomputers throughout the campus area network. This same network provides access to the library holdings of thousands of other libraries in the world through the Internet. Material not available locally is easily obtained through the OCLC interlibrary loan system. It enables students and faculty to obtain books, journal articles and other materials from anywhere in the United States and many other countries in usually less than two weeks. Eligible faculty, staff and students may also use TexShare reciprocal borrowing and full-text article delivery services to obtain library material.

The Learning Assistance Center on the first floor of the library provides computer assisted learning, educational materials and tutoring services that will help students to pass the TASP (Texas Academic Skills Performance) Test. Focusing on reading, writing and mathematics skills, the TASP Test must be passed by all students before they enroll in courses beyond the sophomore level.

A number of guides and bibliographies have been developed by library faculty and staff to assist library users in utilizing library material and services. Also available are study carrels, two student lounges, typewriters, and a copy center with several photocopiers and a public fax machine.

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