University of Texas at San Antonio Libraries

Last updated
UTSA Libraries
John Peace Library Laptop Lounge.jpg
The John Peace Library
Location San Antonio, Texas, United States
Type Academic library
Established1976 [1]
Collection
Items collected books, journals, newspapers, magazines, sound and music recordings, maps, manuscripts, photographs, art collections, and films
Access and use
Population servedUTSA University Students, Faculty, and Staff, and outlying area
MembersUTSA University Students, Faculty, and Staff, and courtesy users from outlying area
Other information
Website UTSA Libraries

The University of Texas at San Antonio Libraries (UTSA Libraries) is the academic library of The University of Texas at San Antonio, a state research university in San Antonio, Texas, United States. UTSA Libraries consists of the John Peace Library (JPL) on the Main Campus, the Downtown Library, and the Applied Engineering and Technology (AET) Library. The libraries provide students and faculty with a comprehensive access to information as well as spaces for active learning, teaching, and interdisciplinary scholarship.

Contents

History

The John Peace Library was the first library built at UTSA and officially opened its doors on Wednesday, June 2, 1976. The Downtown and AET libraries opened in 1999 and 2010, respectively. The JPL was named after the first collection donated to UTSA. Before its opening, the library was housed in the Physical Education Building. The first UTSA president, Arleigh B. Templeton, who had previously overseen the design of the library at Sam Houston State University, envisioned a similar library for UTSA. "I said that what I wanted to do was take four football fields and stack them on top of each other," said Templeton in a 2003 oral history interview. "In the middle I want the little librarians… And this one over here (UTSA) was a prize jewel." [1]

The John Peace Library was designed by San Antonio architect O'Neil Ford, whose work also included the Trinity University (Texas) campus and the Tower of the Americas. When it opened, the library was the largest building on UTSA's campus. At the time it housed 350,000 volumes (200,000 of them on microfilm) and study spaces for about 1,300 students. [1]

Collections and Services

Collections

UTSA Libraries collections consists of millions of print and digital resources, including books, e-books, journals, databases, and audiovisual items. Through a partnership with HathiTrust, the UTSA community has access to over 13 million scholarly research materials recently made available digitally. [2] The John Peace Library serves as a depository for state and federal government documents. [3]

Delivery of Materials

The UTSA Libraries provide access to materials through its Get It For Me (Interlibrary Loan) service, which finds and delivers items owned by UTSA or other libraries to faculty, students and staff. The library also participates in the TexShare reciprocal borrowing system, hosted by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, which allows UTSA students, faculty and staff to borrow books from academic libraries throughout the state of Texas.

Libraries

John Peace Library

The Quiet Study Area located on the JPL's 2nd floor JPL Quiet Study Area.jpg
The Quiet Study Area located on the JPL's 2nd floor

The John Peace Library on UTSA's Main Campus completed a 5-year renovation process in July 2014. [4] JPL provides professionally staffed service points throughout the building, including three staffed information desks as well as a suite housing the Judith G. Gardner Center for Writing Excellence and the tutoring and supplemental instruction units of the Tomás Rivera Center for Student Success. [5] JPL displays artwork donated by AT&T in 2008 when the company moved their corporate headquarters from San Antonio to Dallas. [6]

JPL features over 2,200 seats and 370 computers; [7] an Information Commons; GroupSpot, [8] a digital classroom and study space that facilitates collaboration through small group tables with shared displays; quiet study and computing areas; and 44 reservable group study rooms. The Faculty Center, located on JPL's 4th floor, provides a central hub for faculty professional development. [9] The Assembly Room, also located on JPL's 4th floor, provides a 120-seat venue intended for major academic events drawing audiences from across the university and local community. [7]

Downtown Library

The Downtown Library located at UTSA's Downtown Campus UTSA Libraries' Downtown Library.jpg
The Downtown Library located at UTSA's Downtown Campus

Located on UTSA's Downtown Campus in the Buena Vista Street Building, the Downtown Library provides the same services available at the John Peace Library on the Main Campus. The Downtown Library houses the main collections of books and periodicals for Architecture, Interior Design, Criminal Justice, Public Administration, and Social Work. In addition, the library has a general collection to support Downtown Campus students across a variety of disciplines, as well as collections of DVDs, CDs, popular reading, juvenile literature, and curriculum materials.

The Downtown Library has quiet study areas and 15 reservable group study rooms. In addition, it offers 36 desktop computers including a quiet computing area, [10] printers, media viewing equipment, a high-speed KIC scanner, laptops, and other tech gear for checkout. [11]

AET Library

The AET library located in the Applied Engineering and Technology Building AET Library, University of Texas at San Antonio.jpg
The AET library located in the Applied Engineering and Technology Building

In 2010, UTSA opened the Applied Engineering and Technology (AET) Library, recognized by the New York Times [12] and USA Today [13] as the nation's first bookless library on a college or university campus. The 2,200 square foot, 80-person capacity library primarily serves students in the Colleges of Engineering and Sciences.

The library features three group study rooms and ten public computers, a scanner, printer, and five large LCD screens. The study rooms are outfitted with whiteboard paint and writable glass surfaces, to facilitate group collaboration on problems. [14]

John Peace Library Renovations

In summer of 2014, the John Peace Library reached the end of a five-year renovation process, supporting UTSA's goal to attain Tier One research university status. [4] The makeover was designed to modernize the 1976 building and to support learning and research in a digital age.

Phase one of the project (2008-2009) included the creation of an Information Commons with 125 new computer workstations, a Laptop Lounge, new furniture, and improved lighting throughout the building's second floor. [15]

Phase two (2010) involved integration of the Judith G. Gardner Writing Center as well as the tutoring and supplemental instruction units of the Tomás Rivera Center for Student Success. Also included was the expansion of the Information Commons, providing an additional 75 computer workstations, as well as the creation of an 80-seat quiet study room. [16]

Phase three (2013-2014) included the creation of the Faculty Center, [17] to provide spaces for faculty to relax and collaborate with colleagues. It also included the creation of GroupSpot, a collaborative digital classroom – the first of its kind on UTSA's campus. The 100-seat classroom allows students to work in small groups on individual laptops while using shared computer monitors to collaborate on projects. [8]

Faculty Center

The Faculty Center located on the 4th floor of the JPL UTSA Libraries Faculty Center.jpg
The Faculty Center located on the 4th floor of the JPL

Occupying 4,600 square feet on the fourth floor of the John Peace Library, the Faculty Center is a collaborative effort of three independent campus units: The Office of the Vice Provost for Academic and Faculty Support, UTSA Research and the UTSA Libraries. The Faculty Center serves as a centralized clearinghouse for all professional development resources for faculty available at the university. [9] [18]

The center's physical features include a conference room, five breakout rooms, a digital studio, [19] and a casual seating area for informal collaborations. Faculty Center events include orientation and cohort-building sessions for new faculty, workshops on best teaching and research practices, formal and informal mentoring programs, and consultations and support for faculty. [20]

Special Collections

The Special Collections Reading Room located on the 4th floor of the JPL UTSA Libraries Special Collections Reading Room 2014.jpg
The Special Collections Reading Room located on the 4th floor of the JPL

UTSA Libraries Special Collections builds, preserves, and provides access to distinctive archival, photographic, and printed materials, with a particular emphasis on documenting the diverse histories and development of San Antonio and South Texas.

Strengths of the collections include the history of the African American and LGBTQ communities in the local region, the history of women and gender in Texas, Mexican-American activism and advertising, the Tex-Mex food industry, and urban planning. The collections are open to both academic and casual researchers.

Several collections have been partially or fully digitized, allowing researchers to search, view and download materials from UTSA's Digital Collections website.

Included in these collections are materials from the Institute of Texan Cultures, UTSA's cultural heritage museum noted for its rich photography archive, as well as the university's own historical archives.

Special Events

Awards

Memberships

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Francisco State University</span> Public university in San Francisco, California

San Francisco State University is a public research university in San Francisco. It was established in 1899 as the San Francisco State Normal School and is part of the California State University system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Texas System</span> Public university system in Texas

The University of Texas System is a public university system in the U.S. state of Texas. It includes nine universities and five independent health institutions. The UT System is headquartered in Downtown Austin. It is the largest university system in Texas with 250,000+ enrolled students, 21,000+ employed faculty, 83,000+ health care professionals, researchers and support staff. The UT System's $42.7 billion endowment is the largest of any public university system in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trinity University (Texas)</span> Private liberal arts college in San Antonio, Texas

Trinity University is a private liberal arts college in San Antonio, Texas. Founded in 1869, its student body consists of about 2,600 undergraduate and 200 graduate students. Trinity offers 49 majors and 61 minors among six degree programs, and has an endowment of $1.725 billion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Texas at San Antonio</span> Public university in San Antonio, Texas

The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) is a public research university in San Antonio, Texas. Established in 1969, UTSA is the largest university in San Antonio and the eighth-largest by enrollment in the state of Texas enrolling over 35,000 students across its five campuses spanning more than 758 acres. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very High Research Activity". The UTSA Institute for Economic Development generates $2.6 billion in direct economic impact.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indiana University South Bend</span> Public university in South Bend, Indiana, U.S.

Indiana University South Bend is a public university in South Bend, Indiana. It is the third largest and northernmost campus of Indiana University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio</span> Academic hospital in San Antonio, Texas, US

TheUniversity of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, doing business as UT Health San Antonio, is a public academic health science center in San Antonio, Texas. It is part of the University of Texas System.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UTSA College of Engineering and Integrated Design</span> Educational Institute in the US

The UTSA Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design (CEID) houses The University of Texas at San Antonio's Engineering and Architectural, Construction and Planning programs. It was originally founded as the College of Engineering but was renamed to the Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design (CEID) in 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">VIA Metropolitan Transit</span> Transit Agency

VIA Metropolitan Transit Authority is the mass transit agency serving San Antonio, Texas, United States, and its surrounding municipalities. It began operation in 1978 as a successor to the San Antonio Transit System. In 2023, the system had a ridership of 25,132,300, or about 82,200 per weekday as of the third quarter of 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of the Bahamas</span> FIFA Club Beach Soccer World Cup Nassau 2017

The University of The Bahamas (UB) is the national public institution of higher education in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas with campuses throughout the archipelago. The main campus is located in the capital city of Nassau, on the island of New Providence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Michigan University Libraries</span>

The Central Michigan University Libraries consists of the two libraries which support Central Michigan University, a public university in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. The CMU Libraries meets the research, information, and study needs of the students, faculty, and staff of the university, as well as researchers outside the university community. The library building is named after Charles V. Park, who was the library director at CMU from 1931 through 1957.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Texas A&M University Libraries</span>

The Texas A&M University Libraries support the teaching, research, and outreach missions of Texas A&M University through leadership in acquiring, managing, and delivering information in an environment that fosters learning and inquiry. In particular, Texas A&M is nationally and internationally recognized for many research collections, including:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Texas A&M University–San Antonio</span> Public university in San Antonio, Texas, U.S.

Texas A&M University–San Antonio is a public university in San Antonio, Texas, United States. It is part of the Texas A&M University System. The university was established on May 23, 2009, and held its first classes as a stand-alone university on August 20, 2009. It currently enrolls more than 7,300 students and offers undergraduate and graduate-level classes, as well as a graduate alternative teacher certification program. Texas A&M–San Antonio has 161 full and part-time faculty. Texas A&M–San Antonio is the first Texas A&M University System institution to be established in a major urban center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Texas at San Antonio College of Sciences</span> Science and research education college

The College of Sciences at the University of Texas at San Antonio in San Antonio, Texas is a science and research education college. The college hosts more than 6000 students enrolled in fifteen undergraduate programs and nineteen graduate programs. The eight departments employ over 300 tenure and non-tenure track faculty members. Students collaborate through programs with local external research institutions including UT Health Science Center, Southwest Research Institute and the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research.

The Hamilton Library at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa is the largest research library in the state of Hawaii. The Library serves as a key resource for the flagship Manoa campus as well as the other University of Hawaiʻi system campuses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alkek Library</span>

The Albert B. Alkek Library is the architectural centerpiece and intellectual hub of the Texas State University San Marcos campus. It offers library patrons the opportunity to explore, create and discover in an expansive seven-story building that is packed with resources, technology and spaces for quiet or collaborative research and study. The Wittliff Collections of Southwestern Writers and Southwestern & Mexican Photography and Texas Music is located on the seventh floor of the Alkek Library. Committed to preserving the creative legacy of the Southwest to instruct and inspire future generations, The Wittliff's cultural pillars provide the keystone for discovery of the region's heritage through thousands of archival treasures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IUPUI University Library</span> University library in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.

IUPUI University Library is the university library of Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis. IUPUI is an urban campus of Indiana University and Purdue University in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. Indiana University is the managing partner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alvarez College of Business</span> Business school of the University of Texas at San Antonio

The Carlos Alvarez College of Business is the largest business school in the University of Texas System and one of the 30 largest in the United States. The Carlos Alvarez College of Business, located at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), is accredited by AACSB International, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. It is nationally ranked by the Princeton Review, BusinessWeek and HispanicBusiness. The college hosts undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degrees in many different fields of study.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pepperdine Libraries</span>

Pepperdine Libraries is the collective name for all of Pepperdine University's academic libraries. Pepperdine Libraries has a collection of over 1 million physical books and periodicals, 1.5 million full-text articles via 150 electronic databases, rare books, and a digital press. The main branch, Payson Library, is home to Pepperdine Libraries' Special Collections, with collections such as University Archives, the Malibu Historical Collection, the John Mazza Collection of Historic Surfboards, and the Churches of Christ Heritage Center.

Fox Technical High School is a public high school located in central San Antonio, Texas and classified as a 4A school by the University Interscholastic League. This school is one of twelve schools in the San Antonio Independent School District. During 2022–2023, Fox Tech High School had an enrollment of 499 students and a student to teacher ratio of 17.36. The school received an overall rating of "B" from the Texas Education Agency for the 2021–2022 school year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of South Florida Tampa Library</span>

The University of South Florida Tampa Library is the main research library for the University of South Florida. Housing over 1.3 million books, academic journals and electronic resources, including 52,000 e-journal subscriptions, 443,000 e-books, and over 800 databases, the library has more than 2 million visitors each year. The library offers tutoring and writing services, laptops, a career resource center, and course reserves. The facility houses several special and digital collections, including literature, oral histories, photographs, artifacts, and the university archives. The current Dean of USF Libraries is Todd Chavez.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Peters, A (2009). "John Peace Library Opens for Business". The Top Shelf.
  2. ↑ Schoensee, R (2015). "UTSA Libraries Partner with HathiTrust a Collaborative Repository". UTSA Libraries.
  3. ↑ Federal Depository Library Program
  4. 1 2 Schoensee, R (2014). "John Peace Library Completes Five-year Renovation Project". UTSA Libraries.
  5. ↑ Judith G. Gardner Center for Writing Excellence; Tomás Rivera Center for Student Success. UTSA Libraries.
  6. ↑ Laurel, L (2015). "Art to Inspire: Paintings Donated by AT&T Enrich the John Peace Library". UTSA Libraries.
  7. 1 2 UTSA Libraries 2015 Annual Report
  8. 1 2 Schoensee, R (2014). "UTSA Libraries Opens GroupSpot". UTSA Libraries.
  9. 1 2 "Faculty Center Now Open". UTSA Libraries (2014).
  10. ↑ Schoensee, R (2014). "Downtown Library Opens Quiet Computing Area". UTSA Libraries.
  11. ↑ Downtown Campus Library Main Page
  12. ↑ 2010. "A Texas Library Without Books", The New York Times, WK4.
  13. ↑ Kolowich, S (2010). "E-learning: University of Texas home to library without books", USA Today.
  14. ↑ Sharnberg, K (2013). "Nation's First Bookless Library On University Campus is Thriving at UTSA". UTSA Libraries.
  15. ↑ Peters, A (2009). "UTSA John Peace Library renovation celebration is Tuesday, Dec. 1", UTSA Today.
  16. ↑ Peters, A (2010). "Phase two of John Peace Library renovation to be completed by November". UTSA Today.
  17. ↑ UTSA Libraries 2013 Annual Report
  18. ↑ The Office of the Vice Provost for Academic and Faculty Support; UTSA Research
  19. ↑ "Spotlight: The Faculty Center's Digital Studio". Faculty Center (2015).
  20. ↑ Faculty Center About Page
  21. ↑ Schoensee, R (2014). "UTSA Libraries Receives John Cotton Dana Award". UTSA Libraries.
  22. ↑ 2013 Awards, Library Leadership Administration and Management Association.
  23. ↑ Texas Library Association Branding Iron Award and Best of Show (National Library Week campaign)

Search Tools

Library Quick Search searches over five million resources provided by the UTSA Libraries, including full-text academic journals, e-books, DVDs, newspapers, and streaming media, among others. [1] The libraries also provide a journal finder and database index.

Subject Librarians

Subject librarians assist faculty and students with general and discipline-specific research. They also manage research guides tailored to specific areas of study, and work with UTSA's academic departments to grow the library's collections.

Social media

UTSA Libraries has a number of social media profiles including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest. UTSA Libraries Special Collections maintains two blogs, The Top Shelf and La Cocina Historica.

Digitized Collections Include

Virtual Exhibits

Gebhardt Mexican Foods Company Collection

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.