University of North Texas Libraries
The University of North Texas Libraries is an American academic research library system that serves the constituent colleges and schools of University of North Texas in Denton. The phrase "University of North Texas Libraries" encompasses three aspects: The library collections as a whole and its organizational structure; The physical facilities and digital platform that house the collections; and certain self-contained collections of substantial size that warrant the name "Library"—the Music Library and the Digital Libraries (collections), for example, are housed in Willis Library (the building).
University of North Texas Libraries
1890
6 million cataloged items
1.9 million books & journals
4 million microfilm pieces
64,270 electronic subscriptions
16,684 cartographic materials
900,000 music recordings[1]
478,014
$18 million
$4 million digital grant
Diane Bruxvoort
55 librarians
81 full-time staff
Special collections[edit]
Music Library at Willis[edit]
The Music Library, part of the Special Libraries Division, serves the entire university, but specializes in the scholarly and performance research needs of the College of Music.
Government documents[edit]
Federal depository[edit]
On December 18, 1947, Librarian Arthur M. Sampley wrote to the Honorable Ed Gossett, Representative of the 13th Congressional District, requesting that the NTSTC Library be designated a federal depository library for his District and within just a few weeks the Superintendent of Documents notified President McConnell and Dr. Sampley that (as of January 20, 1948) the College Library would be officially designated a Depository for United States government publications.
In accepting this designation, the Library agreed that it would "receive only such publications as are desired and [only as many as the Library is] capable of handling to the best interest of the public," and that "all publications received would be available for free public use." A year later, the Denton Record-Chronicle reported that in its first year as a depository the NTSTC Library had received 4,000 federal documents. Miss Pauline Ward, Documents Librarian, stated that the documents would be temporarily located in the Reference Room until additional shelf space could be secured. That "temporary" location lasted 23 years, until the Documents Collection was moved to more spacious quarters on the Third Floor of the new Willis Library building in 1971. Today the Documents Collection includes over 1 million items, in a variety of formats: print, microform, audiovisual, maps, posters, musical scores, DVDs, LPs, CD-ROMs, and "virtual" Web documents.
Designated GPO Access Gateway[edit]
In 1994, the Depository was designated an electronic Gateway for the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) becoming the only GPO Access Gateway Library in Texas. The Gateway Project was developed during the early days of GPO Access to maximize free public availability of the resources on GPO Access through federal depository library portals. Over time, technological evolution of both the public's Internet capabilities and the capacity of the GPO Access system eliminated many of these original needs, and consequently GPO ended its formal support for the Gateway Project on September 30, 2000.
FDLP Content Partnerships Program[edit]
Foreseeing the potential preservation problems created by federal agencies' ventures into electronic publishing, UNT became the second depository library in the nation to join the Federal Depository Library Program's Content Partnership. This program attempts to ensure permanent public access to electronic federal information.
As a participant, the UNT Depository Library was designated the host of the permanent online collection of the defunct Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (ACIR). In 2001, the UNT Libraries received a grant to finance the creation of electronic copies of well-known ACIR print publications such as the Significant Features of Fiscal Federalism. Electronic copies of older ACIR reports are now available to scholars throughout the world via their Web page.
North Texas has since expanded its Content Partnership with the Federal government to include dozens of other defunct federal agency Web sites. This electronic repository is popularly known as the CyberCemetery. In recognition of its work in this area, the UNT was designated an Affiliated Archives of the National Archives in 2006. Under this agreement, the UNT Libraries will continue to preserve and provide access to the records of defunct government Web sites, while NARA will legally accession the records as part of the Archives of the United States and will join the UNT Libraries and the GPO in ensuring the preservation of these valuable records. As of 2012, The UNT Libraries are only one of ten Affiliated Archives of NARA. Of those ten, only three are educational institutions, two of which are the U.S. Military and Naval Academies.
Texas Agency Content Partnership Program[edit]
In 2000, UNT Libraries initiated the first Texas Agency Content Partnership through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). This MOU is modeled on the GPO Content Partnership agreement, and the new agreement with the Texas Secretary of State placed the electronic backfiles of the Texas Register with UNT.
UNT Libraries also received a grant to digitize the first ten volumes of Gammel's Laws of Texas and debuted the Texas Electronic Depository Library in 2003.
The Texas Laws and Resolutions Archive makes available online all bills, joint resolutions, and concurrent resolutions that have been passed by the Texas Legislature from the 78th Legislative Session to the present, including those that were vetoed by the Governor.
The historical collection of Texas Soil Surveys puts online all Texas county and reconnaissance soil surveys completed prior to 1950. These surveys demonstrate early scientific thought regarding soil identification and use, and the maps contained in them show many cultural features in the landscape, including businesses, churches, schools, gins, mills, and ferries.