Georgia Tech Library

The Georgia Tech Library and Information Center [1] continually reinvents itself to better meet the needs of its users. The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) recognized this effort by awarding its 2007 Excellence in Academic Libraries award in the university category to the Georgia Tech Library [2].

The Library’s two information commons provide computer hardware and software geared to the needs of students, including a multimedia center and computers specifically set up for group study. The commons areas are a component of the partnership between the Library and the Office of Information Technology (OIT) [3] which has also resulted in the creation of the Resource Center in the Library providing technology support, academic advising, and tutoring.

The Library’s collections include over 2.4 million books, bound periodicals and serials, including about 900,000 government documents, 2.7 million technical reports, over 200,000 cartographic materials, more than 240 online databases, approximately 30,000 electronic books and 40,000 e-journals. There is a separate Architecture Library which houses over 45,000 books [4]. The Archives and Records Management department [5] preserves and provides access to the history of Georgia Tech and includes over 4300 rare books emphasizing the history of science and technology, a 4000 volume science fiction collection, photographic collections [6], approximately 1000 manuscripts collections, and more.

The Library’s digital initiatives include the institutional repository, SMARTech [7], which captures, stores, indexes, preserves, and redistributes in digital form the intellectual output of the Institute’s students, faculty, and researchers. Another digital service is ePage@Tech [8], which provides assistance publishing electronic books, journals, and conference proceedings; hosting of conferences, symposia, and lecture series, and captures instructional materials and multimedia.

The Georgia Tech Library is located in the center of campus [9] and is open almost 24/7 when school is in session, closing only Friday evenings, Saturday evenings, and Sunday mornings. Among the Library staff members are subject specialists [10] in 35 disciplines