Texas Tech University Libraries serve as a vital partner with students and faculty in their learning endeavors. The University Libraries' system comprises: (1) University Library, (2) Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library,(3) Architecture Library, and (4) Peters Family Legacy Library within the Student Enrichment Center. The University Library is a patent and trademark depository and is one of two regional depositories for U.S. government documents in Texas. The central focus of the Texas Tech University Libraries is to make available 3.72 million physical volumes, electronic resources, special collections and archives, and to offer services to students and faculty that enable academic and research success.

The University Library is open more hours than any other building on campus (with special 24/7 hours during final exam periods), and provides online access to approximately 191,000 online journals, newspapers, and periodicals, almost 1 million e-books, 400 databases, and 1 million architecture and art digital images. The University Library is the center of academic, social, and intellectual discovery on (and off) campus. Librarians offer personalized assistance for research and reference needs in person, by phone, via e-mail, or through the Ask-A-Librarian chat service. Every major has its own Personal Librarian who can be found at http://guides.library.ttu.edu/. The Library's award-winning Document Delivery service will obtain materials not owned by the Libraries for students and faculty and will hold and/or deliver them upon arrival.

The Library houses 279 public computers (both PC and Mac), the most computer stations on campus, each equipped with the full and latest versions of the Microsoft Office Suite, Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, etc.), AutoCAD, and other project/product and publishing tools. The University Library also features the Study Hub with 14 Solstice Pods allowing screen mirroring for group work, as well as four KIC Scanners allowing patrons to easily digitize content.

In the basement of the University Library, the state-of-the-art Crossroads Recording Studio provides a free facility to all students and university employees for practice, performance, podcasts, music, theater, and oral presentations. The basement also houses new instruction labs for workshops and more.

On the second floor, Dynamic Media Services (DMS) and 3D Animation Lab provide access to the latest Mac and PC software, including industry-standard design, video editing, and 3D art, modeling, and animation software. Digital cameras, high-definition digital camcorders, GoPro cameras and mounts, more than 5,000 American and international film and movie DVDs, and music and audio books on CD are all available for checkout. The DMS also includes two podcast studios for recording, and shares space with the Library Makerspace featuring 3D printing, scanning, doodling pens, laser cutting and modeling assistance, in addition to a Virtual Reality Lab offering VR headsets with controllers.

Thirty-five group study rooms are available for reservation and over 180 individual study rooms are available for check-out. Walk-in study rooms are also available. 

The university offers a 1 credit-hour course (LIBR 1100) to convey effective library research methods and strategies for scholastic success. The Library also offers numerous workshops throughout the year on topics such as databases, managing citations, 3D printing and more.

Contact: 806.742.2265 or library.ttu.edu.

The Architecture Library is located on the ninth floor of the Architecture Building. Its collection includes materials on architecture, design, urban planning, and landscape architecture, as well as an image library of digital collections on architecture, art and design. The Architecture Library's services include reference, reserve, instruction and circulation. It also offers 13 public computers and two KIC Scanners.

Hours are Monday through Thursday 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday 1 to 6 p.m. and Sunday 1 to 10 p.m.

For more information: 806.742.8058 or https://guides.library.ttu.edu/archlib/welcome.

The Peters Family Legacy Library is staffed with a full-time librarian and staff member. It also offers four public computers. 

Hours are Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturday noon to 5 p.m.

For more information: 806.742.1435 or https://www.depts.ttu.edu/library/pfllibrary/.

The Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library (SWC/SCL) includes the Southwest Collection; the University Archives; Rare Books; the James Sowell Family Collection in Literature, Community and the Natural World; the Archive of Turkish Oral Narrative; and the Southwest Music Archive.

The Southwest Collection is the regional repository for historical information pertaining to West Texas and the Southwest. The SWC/SCL collects and makes available for research more than 1,800 collections of personal papers; more than 5,000 hours of oral history interviews; noncurrent business and institutional records; and a non-circulating library of Texana, Western Americana, maps, periodicals, photographs, newspapers, interviews, films, videotapes and microfilm.

The University Archives serves as the institutional memory for Texas Tech University by collecting, preserving, and making accessible to researchers such materials as administrative and faculty records, publications, photographs, memorabilia and video and audio recordings. These materials document the legal, historical, fiscal, administrative, and intellectual aspects of the university, as well as the cultural and social aspects of student life.

Consisting of some 38,000 volumes, Rare Books is a rich resource for research. Its holdings provide a wide breadth of materials, including rare and early printed books and maps; artists' books; and limited edition, illustrated and finely bound books. Areas of strength include the history of science and medicine, European and American literature, book history and book arts, Russian and Eastern European history and culture, Mesoamerican and illuminated Medieval manuscript facsimiles, and Greek and Roman classical authors.

The James Sowell Family Collection in Literature, Community and the Natural World contains the personal papers of award-winning contemporary American writers whose work deals with the natural world, the significance of communities, and questions of social justice. In addition to published books, materials available for research include correspondence, drafts of manuscripts, research notebooks, diaries, calendars, photographs and film.

The Archive of Turkish Oral Narrative is a research collection devoted to the study of Turkish folktales and related narrative forms: folk history, legends, folk minstrelsy and myths.

The Southwest Music Archive is a premier music archive in Texas actively pursuing musicians and their associates to collect and preserve the state's vast musical heritage. Additionally, the archive is working outside the state to obtain important music collections that have been overlooked.

All materials may be used by both the university community and the general public for research or reference. The SWC/SCL is located north of the University Library. Reading Room service is provided during regular semesters from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday - Friday with some extended hours available. The building is closed on campus holidays and all hours are subject to change. Please call to confirm hours. Inquiries and donations are welcome. Tours are available.

Contact: 806.742.9070 or https://swco.ttu.edu

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