Assessment of Library Collections and Services
Program or College Name
Month Day, Year
Contents
List of Tables ............................................................................................................................................... 2
INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................... 3
LIBRARY COLLECTIONS ................................................................................................................................ 4
Print and Electronic Journal Holdings ..................................................................................................... 5
Electronic Journals .................................................................................................................................. 6
Holdings of Monographs, Print and Electronic ....................................................................................... 7
Comparison of Monograph Holdings with Peer Institutions .................................................................. 7
Adequacy of the Collection ................................................................................................................... 13
Collection Development Policy ............................................................................................................. 14
Library Expenditures ............................................................................................................................. 15
LIBRARY SERVICES ..................................................................................................................................... 17
Staffing .................................................................................................................................................. 17
Discovery, Access and Reference Services ............................................................................................ 18
Reference and Instructional Assistance ................................................................................................ 19
LIBRARY FACILITIES AND EQUIPMENT ...................................................................................................... 20
Library Hours ......................................................................................................................................... 20
Equipment ............................................................................................................................................. 21
ASSESSMENT ............................................................................................................................................. 22
1
List of Tables
Table 1 Total UNT Libraries Holdings as of FY 2013 ................................................................................... 4
Table 2 Print and Electronic Journals by Topic ........................................................................................... 5
Table 3 List of Key Journals in <Subject> .................................................................................................... 6
Table 4 Current Electronic Journals by Subject Category ........................................................................... 6
Table 5 Print and Electronic Books by Subject Category ............................................................................ 7
Table 6 Peer Institutions ............................................................................................................................. 8
Table 7 Average Percentage of UNT Collections Overlapped with Peers .................................................. 8
Table 8 Peer Comparisons by Subject Category ......................................................................................... 9
Table 9 Overlap Rates by Comparison Group ............................................................................................. 9
Table 10 Interlibrary Loan Rates ............................................................................................................... 14
Table 11 Library Expenditures .................................................................................................................. 16
Table 12 Service Statistics for FY 2013 ..................................................................................................... 17
Table 13 Library Hours .............................................................................................................................. 20
Table 14 Computing and Other Equipment .............................................................................................. 21
2
INTRODUCTION
Library resources and services for the <College Name> degree programs serve students through strong
local collections, consortium membership access, and an extensive combination of locally-provided
equipment and services.
The UNT Libraries hold over 91,500 serial titles, over 2,100,000 books in print and electronic, over
240,000 audiovisual materials and over 420,000 items in the UNT Digital Collections
(http://digital.library.unt.edu/). The primary collections and reference services for the College are
housed in the Eagle Commons Library (ECL) facility (http://www.library.unt.edu/eagle-commons), with
additional assistance provided by the Media Library (http://www.library.unt.edu/media-library and the
Willis Library (http://www.library.unt.edu) on the main campus.
Our analysis shows that current collections and services for <subject> appear to meet expectations,
although the UNT Libraries will be making efforts to improve the quantity of quality resources. This
analysis, discussed in further detail in this report, is based on evaluation of the quantity of quality
resources using both external and subjective criteria, as well as feedback from students and faculty.
External sources of quality include the Books for College Libraries and Outstanding Academic Titles,
which includes only the most recommended print and electronic resources by topic. Usage of
resources and services, measured as circulation, in-house use and electronic usage, reference
transactions, and training session attendance, is another measure of utility of our collections and
services. Feedback from students and faculty are gathered via LibQual+, a national standardized survey
that solicits ratings of various aspects library collections and services, as well as through locallydeveloped surveys conducted regularly and ad-hoc.
3
LIBRARY COLLECTIONS
In addition to the collections directly identified as applicable to the supported program, the entire UNT
Libraries holdings support the core studies and interdisciplinary work of the students.
Table 1 Total UNT Libraries Holdings as of FY 2013
Titles
Items or Bound Volumes
Collections
Added in
FY2013
Total Held
Added in
FY2013
Total Held
Books (all formats)
73,881
2,383,150
158,979
2,094,200
Electronic books
56,313
292,090
56,271
155,581
Journals (print)
6
18,913
3,203
413,922
Electronic journals
15
100,986
N/A
N/A
Current journal subscriptions (print and
microform)
6
856
N/A
N/A
Current electronic journal subscriptions
15
110,324
N/A
N/A
Government documents
2,927
413,569
66,368
561,068
Microforms
159
56,128
5,045
63,190
Cartographic materials
327
12,689
683
12,703
Sound recordings
5,713
149,981
8,305
185,492
Film and video materials
5,333
42,336
6,788
55,848
Computer files
85
1,377
176
3,020
Digital collections
N/A
N/A
160,312
491,118
4
Print and Electronic Journal Holdings
The UNT Libraries provide access to nearly 1,500 journals (977 online) that support the <subject>
programs, including journals on these topics:
Table 2 Print and Electronic Journals by Topic
Program
Library Classifications
<Program Name>
LCClass – Class name
# Journal Titles
<Program Name>
<Program Name>
<Program Name>
Key Journals
The UNT Libraries provides access to key journals, based on overlap in the major bibliographic indexes
for <subject> publications: <list databases here>. Of the ?? publications indexed by at least three of
these indexes, the UNT Libraries provides either print or full-text online access to the current issues
and backfiles for ?? (??%), with access to backfiles only for an additional ?? (??%).
The UNT Libraries subscribes to the Web of Knowledge system, which includes the <Science, Social
Science or Arts & Humanities> Citation Index (CI). Of the ?,??? titles indexed in CI, the UNT Libraries
provides full-text access in some form to over ?,??? titles, or ??%.
The primary article database(s) in the <subject> field that our undergraduate students use is <name
database(s). This database provides indexing and abstracting of nearly ?,??? journals, and full-text
5
articles to over ????. Of the nearly ??? journals for which full-text articles are not provided in the
database, the UNT Libraries provides online access to ???, or ??%.
Listed here are some key journals which are particularly relevant to the visual arts and design
programs:
Table 3 List of Key Journals in <Subject>
Electronic Journals
Currently, the UNT Libraries provide online access to over 110,000 journals, periodicals and news
resources electronically (ejournals), most covering at least the last ten years, with some content going
back to the first issues. Many of these ejournals are made available through abstract and index
databases (see Electronic Collections section for more details), which enables students to access
articles more easily than through individual subscriptions.
The ejournals are accessible via the Libraries’ catalog, article-level links within the index and abstract
databases, as well as through our ejournals list which provides alphabetical browsing, keyword
searching, and lists by subject categories. The numbers of titles in the subjects relevant to the visual
arts and design programs are listed in the table below. Please note that many titles are assigned
multiple subjects.
Electronic journals may be accessed when not on campus from the UNT Libraries Web site
(http://library.unt.edu) using a university ID and password.
Table 4 Current Electronic Journals by Subject Category
Program
<Program Name>
<Program Name>
<Program Name>
6
Ejournals Subject Category
# of Titles
<Subject in Ejournals List>
<# titles in that
subject>
Holdings of Monographs, Print and Electronic
The UNT Libraries contain over ??,??? monograph titles, including over ?,??? electronic books, which
support the <subject> programs, which represents about ?% of the entire UNT Libraries’ collections.
The UNT Libraries holds ??% of the reference works on visual arts and design reviewed in the American
Reference Books Annual (ARBA). A list of the items not owned will be reviewed by the Liaison Librarian
for <Subject>. The freely-available Web resources listed in ARBA that were not indexed in our catalog
will be forwarded to both the Liaison Librarian for <Subject>, and the Collection Development Librarian
for Born-Digital Materials. These resources will be reviewed for their appropriateness for the UNT
Libraries.
A reflection of quality is the percentage of titles listed in two authoritative lists of academic books:
Choice Outstanding Academic Titles (OAT) and Books for College Libraries (BCL). The UNT Libraries
provides access to over ??% of <subject> titles from each of these two lists.
Table 5 Print and Electronic Books by Subject Category
Program
Library Classifications
<Program Name>
LCClass – Class Name
Fine Arts
LCClass – Class Name
# Items
Added
FY2013
# Holdings
LCClass – Class Name
<Program Name>
LCClass – Class Name
LCClass – Class Name
<Program Name>
LCClass – Class Name
LCClass – Class Name
Comparison of Monograph Holdings with Peer Institutions
The Dean of the <College> identified institutions as current and aspirational peer institutions (see Table
6). The collections held by the UNT Libraries were compared with the libraries of the identified
institutions, as a group. Overlap rate, the primary measure of comparison with peer institutions, is the
percentage of our collection that is also owned by the peer libraries. A low overlap rate indicates a
very unique collection, while high overlap indicates coverage of a core collection. We compared the
7
UNT Libraries’ collection with each of the peer libraries, one-on-one. Conversely, the benchmark rate
is the percentage of titles owned by all peers that are also owned by UNT Libraries. For benchmarking,
we made comparisons both one-on-one, as well as each group as a whole.
Table 6 Peer Institutions
Current Peers
Aspirational Peers
A
B
C
D
E
F
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
When comparing the UNT Libraries’ collections with each of the current peer libraries, on average
about ??% of the <subject> books were also available in the peer library. Conversely, over ??% of
<subject> collection was unique to UNT Libraries. Comparing our collections with our aspirational
peers, we found that, on average, over ??% was shared, one-on-one. <Explanation?> Only print books
were compared.
Table 7 Average Percentage of UNT Collections Overlapped with Peers
Subject and Format
Current Peers
Aspirational Peers
All materials
All books
Books in the <subject>
Looking at the individual subject areas associated with <subject>, it is apparent that the UNT Libraries
collection is more unique than the current peer institutions in most of these areas. Our collection has
a <high, moderate, low?> overlap rate in <specific subfields>. When compared with the aspirational
peers, the overall overlap rate was <higher, lower, about the same>. Based on this analysis, the UNT
Libraries may need to focus more development in architecture and general visual arts.
8
Table 8 Peer Comparisons by Subject Category
Program
Library Classifications
<Program Name>
LCClass – Class Name
Fine Arts
LCClass – Class Name
% Overlap by
Current
Peers
% Overlap by
Aspirational
Peers
LCClass – Class Name
<Program Name>
LCClass – Class Name
LCClass – Class Name
<Program Name>
LCClass – Class Name
LCClass – Class Name
Regarding the benchmarking analysis, the UNT Libraries held on average about ??% of the <subject>
books held by all of our current peer libraries, and ??% of the <subject> books held by all of our
aspirational peers (see Table 9). Of particular interest is the overlap rate of materials shared by ??% or
more of the peers, which could be considered the “core collection”. Among our current peers, UNT
Libraries overlaps with about ??% of this core collection. Among our aspirational peers, the UNT
Libraries overlaps with nearly ??% of the core collection.
Table 9 Overlap Rates by Comparison Group
Current Peers
Unique
Shared by 1
Shared by 2
Shared by 3
Shared by 4
9
Everything
Books only
Visual Arts &
Design (VAD)
Everything
VAD Books Only
Shared by 5
Shared by >5
Aspirational Peers
Everything
Books only
Visual Arts &
Design
VAD Books
Unique
Shared by 1
Shared by 2
Shared by 3
Shared by 4
Shared by 5
Electronic Books
Due to increasing interest for use by students and faculty in locations in and outside of the libraries,
combined with decreasing space available for print materials, the UNT Libraries have been steadily
increasing its investment in electronic resources, notably electronic books, or e-books. Currently, there
are over 200,000 electronic books available online through the UNT Libraries Catalog
(http://iii.library.unt.edu/). When not on campus, students may access these by using their university
ID and password.
The UNT Libraries provides permanent access to over 53,000 electronic books, of which about 1% are
in the visual arts and design. This ratio is less than the ratio of print monographs, which is about 4%.
The UNT Libraries have extended its collection of electronic books through participation in demanddriven acquisitions (DDA) programs. These programs provide access to over 70,000 e-books for
minimal cost. When a title is used once or twice, it is recorded as a short-term loan (STL), for which the
UNT Libraries pay about 10% of the purchase price. Upon the third use, the title is automatically
purchased and included in our permanent collection. Thus, the acquisitions of these ebooks are based
solely on the demands of our users.
Like the permanent ebook collection, <subject> titles represent less than ?% of the entire DDA
collection, which is less than the ?% of the print collection. However, nearly ?% of the titles purchased
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(based on usage) were in visual arts and design, putting that discipline in the ??% percentile of all 40
disciplines. Regarding total usage of the electronic books in the Demand-Driven Acquisitions program,
<subject> titles fell into the mid-range of the 40 subjects. However, over 98% of the titles used were
used multiple times, putting it in the 90th percentile of subjects. This relatively intense use of
electronic books suggests that there is an opportunity for growth.
Some collections of e-books that are particularly relevant to the visual arts and design students
include:





EBook Library
Ebrary
Ebooks on EBSCO
Wiley Online Library
Springer ebooks
Electronic Collections
Due to the many UNT distance education programs, the UNT Libraries strives to provide a growing
number of resources and services through the Web site (http://libraries.unt.edu). This directly
benefits on and off campus students by making library resources available to students and faculty in
the home or office at any time. There are currently over 560,000 electronic resources available,
including online books (e-books), journals (ejournals), literature abstracts and indexes, conference
papers, reference sources, images, maps, and more.
Off-campus access to subscription-based online resources is available via a proxy server, which
provides nearly seamless access. These subscription resources are accessible from both the libraries’
catalog system as well as through the Libraries’ website.
Databases offer the opportunity to email, save or print articles, citations and search strategies within
search sessions. Many such resources provide the user the ability to be regularly alerted to new
articles, books, or information.
Abstracts and Indexes to Literature
The Libraries has an extensive collection of subscription research databases, such as abstracts and
indexes of professional and research literature. These indexes often include, in addition to citations of
articles, either the full-text articles or links to the articles, books, and reports. Those most appropriate
for the <subject> programs are:


11
Database Name <description from the ERMS>
Database Name <description from the ERMS>


Database Name <description from the ERMS>
Database Name <description from the ERMS>
Other Electronic Resources
In addition to abstracts and indexes to literature in these topics, the UNT Libraries provides access to
other electronic and online resources that are essential in the support of these students, including:



Database Name <description from the ERMS>
Database Name <description from the ERMS>
Database Name <description from the ERMS>
Comparison of electronic resources with peer institutions
The Web sites for the libraries in both current and peer institutions were carefully examined in order to
compare the selection of electronic resources. Of the ?? resources provided by UNT Libraries or any of
the current peer libraries, UNT provides access to ??, or ??%. The aspirational peer libraries provided
access to more resources, so the overlap rate for UNT is lower, at ??%. Over half of the ?? key
<subject> electronic resources that the UNT Libraries provides were unique. A list of the key resources
provided by peers but not UNT Libraries will be reviewed by the Liaison Librarian for <Subject>, the
Collection Development Librarian, and the <College> faculty representative to the library.
Digital Collections
The UNT Libraries is noted for their growing collection of digital resources that serve not only the UNT
community, but the state of Texas and the academic community as a whole. These collections are
freely accessible to UNT students through the UNT Digital Collections Web site
(http://www.library.unt.edu/digital-collections ). Collections that would be particularly relevant to the
visual arts and design students include:



Collection <description from the Digital Collections page>
Collection <description from the Digital Collections page>
Collection <description from the Digital Collections page>
Other digital collections that support the general education of <College> students include:




12
Collection <description from the Digital Collections page>
Collection <description from the Digital Collections page>
Electronic Theses and Dissertations represent a wealth of scholarly and artistic content created
by masters and doctoral students. One of the first three American universities to require ETDs
for graduation, UNT began accepting theses and dissertations in electronic format in 1999.
UNT Scholarly Works Depository is home to materials from the UNT community's research,
creative, and scholarly activities. It serves as UNT's open access repository, bringing together
articles, papers, artwork, music, research data, reports, presentations, and other scholarly and
creative products representing the expertise in our university community.
Special Collections
Adequacy of the Collection
For the purposes of this review, adequacy is defined as the ability of the collection to meet the needs
of <college> faculty and students. Two measures are used to describe the adequacy of the <subject>
collection: Usage Factor and Interlibrary Loan Borrowing-to-Loans Ratio. The Usage Factor is defined
as the relative distribution of circulation of <subject> materials divided by the relative distribution of
materials in the collection. In 2013, about ??% of the items circulated were <subject> materials, and
these items make up about ?% of the entire library. The Usage Factor then is ?/? which is about ??
which means that the usage of the collection slightly exceed expected usage.
In the past five years, the number of requests for materials from our own faculty and students has
increased, while the number of items loaned or copied to other libraries has decreased. This indicates
that for all subjects, the UNT Libraries has shifted from being a net lender to being balanced – neither a
net borrower nor a net lender.
Requests for <subject> materials by UNT faculty and students (not limited to those in the <subject>
programs) represent about ?% of book requests and ?% of article requests. Requests from other
libraries for <subject> materials, however, represent only about ?% of book requests and ?% of article
requests. This indicates that the UNT Libraries has become a net borrower of books and articles in
<subject>, with a borrowing-to-lending ratio of ?.?? in 2012, which is greater than the ratio for all
materials.
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Table 10 Interlibrary Loan Rates
Total ILL requests from UNT patrons for last 5 years
Books
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
All Subjects
6425
6425
6493
5848
5251
4690
5171
5779
5321
4570
<subject>
% <subject>
Articles
All Subjects
<subject>
% <subject>
Total ILL loans to other libraries for last 5 years
Books
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
All Subjects
5899
6864
7087
6819
6462
6613
5922
8750
8430
9798
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
1.09
0.94
0.92
0.86
0.81
<subject>
% <subject>
Articles
All Subjects
<subject>
% <subject>
Ratio of Borrowing to Loans
All Subjects
<subject>
Collection Development Policy
Collection Development Policies can be found on the Library’s Web site at
http://www.library.unt.edu/policies/type/collection-development .
Members of the faculty have both the opportunity and the obligation to recommend materials for
purchase to meet their needs and those of their students, and to help build the collections for future
scholars. Much credit for the quality of the collections must be given to concerned faculty who have
kept abreast of the literature in their particular areas and have recommended materials for purchase.
Order requests may be submitted in various formats: order request forms, catalogues, publishers'
flyers, or through e-mail. The librarians ensure that faculty requests for new acquisitions are
considered as soon as possible, and work with the faculty to identify library support needs for
proposed courses and programs. The UNT Libraries’ contracts officer and the Collection Development
14
Department ensure that contracts are negotiated as needed and the orders are placed in a timely
manner.
The UNT Libraries’ use of demand-driven acquisitions, described above, adds a user-based dimension
to the collection development policy. While recommendations for additions to our collections from
faculty and students has always been accepted and invited, the user now has even more direct input
into the development of the library’s collections.
Library Expenditures
Until FY2013, the UNT Libraries’ central electronic materials budget was responsible for all of the
electronic resources purchases. Once an academic department recommended canceling a print
subscription in favor of an electronic version or to subscribe to an electronic resource, the funds for
that title were moved into the central electronic fund. In addition the UNT Libraries’ central reference
fund supplements the purchase of “general reference” resources that support interdisciplinary
research. Beginning FY2013, the electronic materials budget was returned to departmental funds to
obtain a clearer picture of support for each department, school or college. We do continue to
maintain a general fund to account for interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary resources that directly
and indirectly support the visual arts and design program. These interdisciplinary resources include
general reference databases, digital and streaming media, fees for the TexShare consortium, Digital
Libraries, Government Documents, and funds for enhancements and contingencies.
It should be noted that, like many state-supported institutions, the University of North Texas Libraries
has been forced to reduce expenditures since FY2011. This is due to several years of flat funding while
library material prices continued to inflate. Every effort will be made to ensure that any reductions in
resources have been and will continue to be made based on objective data, as well as with faculty
input.
For the last five years, the percentage of all students enrolled in the <College> was steady at about
?.?% through the 2012 school year, with about ?% of undergraduate and ?% of graduate students. The
college retains about ?% of the university’s faculty. The UNT Libraries has budgeted about ?% of the
discretionary fund expenditures for the visual arts and design collection, which would be appropriate
relative to the distribution of students and faculty.
15
Table 11 Library Expenditures
2011
Expenditures
2012
Expenditures
2013
Expenditures
2014 Budget
Books
Renewable
Resources
<Subject>
Total
% of Library
Expenditures
for subject
collections
Subject-Specific
Collections
Books
Renewable
Resources
Total
$765,774
$256,154
$179,448
$168,600
$613,583
$1,379,357
$681,199
$937,353
$2,384,706
$2,564,154
$2,501,849
$2,607,449
Interdisciplinary
Books
Renewable
Resources
Total
$181,961
$168,684
$221,109
$217,500
$5,118,445
$5,300,406
$5,370,045
$5,538,729
$3,389,886
$3,610,995
$3,417,785
$3,635,285
Books
$947,735
$412,838
$333,043
Renewable
All Library
Resources
$5,732,028
$6,097,080
$5,788,914
Materials
Other
$469,593
$339,403
$90,096
Totals
$7,149,356
$6,539,419
$6,185,656
Books: Print or electronic
Renewable Resources: Journals, databases, materials regularly updated, TexShare
Subject Specific Collections: Includes Government Documents, Archives & Rare Books
Interdisciplinary: Includes Media, Digital Library, Forensics, Latino Studies, Women’s Studies
Other: Includes media, contingencies and enhancements
$482,714
$6,001,830
$229,146
$6,538,414
Comparison with Peer Institutions
The UNT Libraries participates in the annual Academic Libraries Survey managed by the National
Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The data for all participating libraries is available online and
provides the opportunity to conduct comparisons with peer institutions. Such comparisons were made
with the current and aspirational peers identified above (Table 6).
Generally, the UNT Libraries were within one standard deviation of the means of most of the measures
examined. For most measures related to holdings and expenditures, the UNT Libraries was below
16
average. Measures related to audiovisual holdings and professional staff, the UNT Libraries was above
average.
The UNT Libraries was above one standard deviation for audiovisual materials and ebooks added.
Whereas, the UNT Libraries showed significant weakness in holdings of books, expenditure on books,
and interlibrary loans received and loaned.
LIBRARY SERVICES
Students have access to all library services, notably the Reference and Instruction Librarians, who can
assist students in finding and using the information resources available. They are available through a
toll-free number any time the library is open and via e-mail at other times. The Library also provides
extensive information on finding and using information via the UNT Libraries Web site
(http://www.library.unt.edu/ris/ask-us), including subject guides and tutorials.
Table 12 Service Statistics for FY 2013
Service or Transaction
Statistics for entire year
Estimated reference transactions
17,085
Total interlibrary loan requests received from UNT faculty, staff
and students
11,699
General circulation transactions
717,922
Electronic Book Usage (eBrary, EBL, and EBSCO eBooks)
303,704
Total visits to the Libraries home page
911,420
Number of sessions (logins) to databases or services
2,867,031
Number of searches (queries) in databases or services
9,878,928
Number of successful full-text article requests from databases
1,813,242
Staffing
The UNT Libraries has a total of 59 full-time librarians, 88 support staff, and 24 graduate library
assistants who work with the entire university community. UNT librarians are peer-reviewed
professionals with assigned rank and 12-month contracts.
17
Professional Library Staff
The UNT Libraries provides the Library Liaison Program, which offers collaboration between librarians
and the academic departments, schools, and colleges of UNT. The purpose is to fulfill the Libraries'
mission of providing library services, information access, and collection development in support of the
university's teaching and research.
<Liaison Bio>
<Other librarians that support program>
Discovery, Access and Reference Services
Library Catalog
The Library’s online catalog is available at http://iii.library.unt.edu/. The catalog can be searched from
on or off campus at any time.
Computer Access
Students have access to over 400 computers with web access within the UNT Libraries via public
computers. Email connectivity is also provided allowing students to communicate with professors,
librarians, and staff while studying within the libraries.
Subject Guides and Class Pages
Web pages, called LibGuides, are maintained for <program> students and faculty that introduce the
process of literature research and direct them to electronic, print, microform, and other resources in
their field; e.g., at http://guides.library.unt.edu/cat.php?cid=47313 .
The LibGuides relevant to the students of visual arts and design include:




LibGuide Name,
LibGuide Name,
LibGuide Name,
LibGuide Name,
http://guides.library.unt.edu
http://guides.library.unt.edu
http://guides.library.unt.edu
http://guides.library.unt.edu
In addition, class pages are developed by the subject librarians as requested by faculty. These pages
support specific classes and/or projects and are available at http://guides.library.unt.edu/home .
These LibGuides include interactive and user-friendly features, including embedded videos, online
chat, and automated feeds of information.
Interlibrary Loan, Document Delivery, and Cooperative Access
Through the Libraries’ membership in TexShare, students and faculty may obtain a TexShare card and
borrow materials directly at most of the colleges, universities and public libraries throughout the state
of Texas. The UNT Libraries is a member of the Center for Research Libraries, which has large
18
collections of dissertations, digital items, and journals, and has cooperative borrowing arrangements
with the Linda K. Hall Library, a premiere private research library for science, engineering, and
technology.
In addition, the UNT Libraries are members of the MetaArchive Alliance, the Coalition for Networked
Information, and the International Internet Preservation Consortium. The UNT Libraries are also an
Affiliate Archive with the National Archives and Records Administration and a partner with the U.S.
Government Printing Office and the Texas Secretary of State.
Interlibrary Loan Services will borrow items from libraries throughout the world. The library is a cosigner of the AMIGOS Interlibrary Loan code, which improves speed of delivery of interlibrary loan
materials. In addition the library participates in national, state, and regional networks, commercial
information services, area library agreements and interlibrary loan arrangements that provide access
to materials not available at UNT Libraries. All of the UNT Libraries' interlibrary loan requests are
processed through ILLiad, an integrated web-based ILL software program. There is no charge to
students and faculty for ILL services.
Reference and Instructional Assistance
The UNT Libraries provide in-person, telephone, and email assistance to faculty and students in using
the library and its resources. Appointments can be made for individual assistance with the liaison for
the <College>.
Library instruction sessions to support coursework are offered upon request. Librarians at Eagle
Commons Library provide instruction face-to-face in the hands-on library classroom and through
BlackBoard. Among sessions taught several times a year are research (literature review, general),
database searching <subject> resources), and technical (Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, Visio) workshops
designed to improve search skills, research and writing skills, and data presentation skills.
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LIBRARY FACILITIES AND EQUIPMENT
The University of North Texas Libraries occupies six separate facilities, each facility with its special
functions and clientele. General information about the individual libraries is available on the Web at
http://www.library.unt.edu/about. Locations and directions to these facilities are posted at
http://www.library.unt.edu/location-hours.
Library Hours
During the regular semester the Willis Library is open 168 hours per week, the Discovery Park Library is
open 53 hours per week, and the Eagle Commons Library is open 60 hours per week. While services
are limited in the Willis Library during the overnight hours, the students have access to the building for
computer use and to study. Hours are slightly reduced during summer and intersessions. Electronic
resources are available at any time from off-campus to faculty, staff and students.
Table 13 Library Hours
Day of Week
Library
Building Hours
Access Services*
Discovery Park
9am – 7pm
Willis
Open 24 hours
8am – midnight
Eagle Commons
9am – midnight
Friday
Discovery Park
9am – 5pm
Willis
Open 24 hours
8am – 6pm
Eagle Commons
9am – 9pm
Saturday
Discovery Park
Noon – 5pm
Willis
Open 24 hours
Closed
Eagle Commons
9am – 6pm
Sunday
Discovery Park
Closed
Willis
Open from 10am 12pm – midnight
Eagle Commons
1pm – 10pm
Total Hours
Discovery Park
53
53
Per Week
Willis
168
85
Eagle Commons
85
85
*Access services includes check out and directional services.
Reference
Consultations
Mon-Thurs
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8am – 6pm
9am – 6pm
8am – 6pm
9am – 6pm
Closed
12pm – 4pm
1pm – 12am
1pm – 10pm
49
85
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The Facilities and Systems Division houses and maintains the Libraries’ Local Area Network Unit, which
includes several computer support specialists and computer programmers. The Digital Libraries
Division includes the User Interfaces Unit, which designs, creates, and maintains the Libraries’ website
using a content management system, and the Digital Projects Unit, which designs digital library
systems and makes available digital content.
Equipment
The Libraries provide computers, printers and copiers for student use. The types and locations of this
equipment are as follows:
Table 14 Computing and Other Equipment
Equipment
Willis
Eagle Commons Library
Media Library
at Chilton Hall
Discovery Park
Library
Public
Computers
Public
Printers
Copiers
344 including Macs
and PCs
9
24 including Macs and
PCs
1
4
38
1
2 black & white
1 black & white
1 Color
1 color
Adaptive
TOPAZ Desktop
Equipment* magnifier
Kurzweil 3000
Perkins Brailler
Large format
keyboard
Public
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2
2
Scanners
* All workstations in the UNT Libraries have MAGic 9.5 installed for people with disabilities
The UNT Libraries provides state-of-the-art group study areas with computers, large monitors, smart
boards and white boards. Power outlets are available throughout the Libraries for use with personal
laptops. Wireless internet access is available throughout the Libraries.
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ASSESSMENT
LibQUAL+TM
Regular evaluations are conducted. The full LibQUAL+TM survey was administered in 2005, 2007, 2009,
2011, 2013, and the abbreviated version was administered in 2008. LibQUAL+TM is a suite of services
that the UNT Libraries use to solicit, track, understand, and act upon users' opinions of collections and
services. The LibQUAL+ TM survey measures the minimum, desired and perceived levels of service
across a variety of aspects of library collections and services. The results from the most recent survey
in 2013 have not yet been analyzed at the college level. In 2011, ??% of respondents from the
<College> used the physical library either daily or weekly, and ??% used the library Web site either
daily or weekly. The mean perceived levels of overall service among the <college> respondents has
remained steady across the 2007, 2009 and 2011 surveys, ?.??-?.?? (on a 9 point scale). For 2011, the
overall mean perceived score was ?.??, which is only slightly below the mean for all colleges, ?.??.
Because item-sampling was implemented for the 2011 survey, there were not enough <College>
responses to all of the specific survey questions to conduct reliable analysis at the item level. Based on
the data from the 2009 survey, the strengths of the library that were identified by <college>
respondents were community space for group learning and customer service. The areas identified as
the highest priorities were associated with making resources accessible and easy to locate and use,
timely delivery of articles and books, and the resources needed for their work. Since that survey, the
UNT Libraries have addressed these concerns by re-designing the Libraries’ Web site based on usability
studies, implementing the demand-driven acquisitions of electronic books, and initiating a service to
deliver books to faculty at their offices.
<Discussion of comments received from the <college> faculty and students in the 2011 survey>
User Satisfaction
The University collects data from several surveys which include information about the libraries. These
surveys include the Entering Student Survey of College Expectations and Noel-Levitz Student
Satisfaction Inventory.
User survey results generally revealed that the Libraries are a favorite place to study. Comments
relating to the quality and scope of the collection were minimal. Some improvements are needed in
either the consolidation of access points for finding electronic journals or in the provision of clear selfhelp tutorials that address comprehensively all the steps needed to perform a complete search for
journals—many comments reflected a frustration with finding articles that appeared not to be in our
collection but when ordering from ILL were found to be in our collection after all.
As a result of the comments received from our assessment activities, the Libraries have developed
workshops to help students learn how to locate all the different access points for a particular journal.
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In addition, self-help tutorials are being developed in response to requests for 24/7 instructional
materials. In order to help reduce the learning curve involved with becoming a good database
searcher, the Libraries implemented a discovery layer interface, Summon, to make searching across
multiple databases easier. The Libraries Web site was recently redesigned to better support the user’s
needs using faculty and student input.
Collections
The collection is assessed using a combination of direct and indirect measures of quality and usefulness
among faculty and students. Resources are selected primarily from respected authorities, such as
Choice Outstanding Academic Titles, which reviews print and online resources, or the American
Reference Books Annual (ARBA). Faculty input is solicited by the Library Liaisons for recommendations
of additions and de-selections from the collection. Usage of resources is an important criterion for
continuing or weeding unused materials and resources. Usage may be measured by number of times
the item was checked out, used in-house, or used online. When possible, course syllabi and references
used in faculty publications are consulted to add more information about the usage of resources.
This report is provided to <Dean of College>
This report was prepared by Karen R. Harker and Beth Avery
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