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Edward Fontenette
Director
The John Brown Watson Memorial Library, the main library on campus, and five satellites compose the library system. The library system is the heart of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB) and serves to support the curricular and research needs of students, faculty, and staff with innovative spaces for collaboration on multi-media projects, exemplary resources, and phenomenal staff.
The primary goal of the library system is to provide an exciting real-time or virtual experience with access to over 75 research databases, Information Literacy classes, instructional tutorials, and programs that will promote academic and career success, global enhancement, personal enrichment, and life-long learning.
LION SEARCH, the name of UAPB’s discovery system, provides a one-stop searching platform for research databases and hosts over a million full-text journal and newspaper articles, abstracts, eBooks, and images that are accessible from all computers on campus or at a distance twenty four hours a day/seven days a week from UAPB’s website: www.uapb.edu. Go to Campus Life, click on the John Brown Watson Memorial Library and discover extraordinary research possibilities.
During the fall and spring semesters, the main library is open 7:30a.m.-11:00p.m. Monday - Thursday; 7:30a.m.-5:00p.m. Friday; 8:30a.m.-4:30p.m. Saturday; and 3:30p.m.-11:00p.m. Sunday.
Online reference and content specific books are hosted by various databases, and the main library houses a volume equivalence of 366,000 holdings and 310 print journals. Retrospective journals are available online or on microfilm.
Online Interlibrary Loan forms may be completed for articles or books from other libraries in partnership with UAPB’s library system and delivered via email or by other document delivery sources.
ProQuest’s Research Companion, a student-centered online learning environment, supports the library system’s instructional program of Information Literacy which teaches end users how to recognize when information is needed and how to efficiently locate, evaluate, use and communicate the information in varied formats. Research Companion also includes skills applicable to effective writing and career success.
The main library additionally houses two collaborative study centers for virtual collaboration on multi-media projects and two study rooms that may be used by large or small groups. Seventy four virtual, wireless, or wired computers are available in the main library and the satellites. Point-of-use Instruction is provided by enthusiastic staff members who encourage end users to readily seek help, when needed.
Students may also request virtual reference research assistance 24/7 through Ask-a-Librarian that is available from the library’s page from UAPB’s website. The turn-around on these requests is 24-48 hours.
Library Liaisons are additionally available to assist the students and faculty of each school, division, and department at the University with requests for Information Literacy instruction or other classes to support the curriculum, acquisitions, or suggested programs that will enhance campus life.
The five satellites, along with the main library, work together to promote the educational mission of the University. One of the five library satellites, the Addiction Studies Resource Center, was established in 2001 to support the students and faculty in the Addiction Studies master’s program. Located in rooms 204 and 205 of the Walker Research Center, the resources in this satellite are available to all academic areas of the campus.
The Aquaculture Fisheries Research and Educational Library, located in room 204 of Woodard Hall, was created as a cyber-library with access to its databases and online journals from any computer in the department. These resources complement the offerings of the main library and provide subject-specific access to aquaculture fisheries’ materials.
The James R. Bell Learning Resources Center, on the second floor of the library, houses non-print materials and equipment for curricular and instructional technology use by UAPB students, faculty and staff. The North Little Rock Library satellite, housed at UAPB’s North Little Rock campus, has a goal of providing research services to students comparable to those at the Pine Bluff campus.
The Rosemarie Word Instructional Resource Center, in room 113B of Dawson-Hicks Hall, supports the programs of the School of Education with resources used by students to develop the skills needed for pre-service and in-service classroom instruction.
The Juvenile Collection in the Rosemarie Word Instructional Resource Center provides children’s literature to support the School of Education. Featured collections include Newberry and Caldecott award winning books as well as books from the Charlie May Simon and Coretta Scott King collections.
The African American Collection, another special collection, hosts over 10,000 volumes of monographs by and about African Americans. This interdisciplinary collection is located on the second floor of the main library and includes the Langston Hughes Collection and an exquisite display of African masks and tribal symbols. The library additionally houses some rare Columbian artifacts.
The books in the main library are organized under the Dewey Decimal Classification System and are available on open shelves on the first floor of the building. The Circulation policy provides for a two-week loan period for students with renewals as needed.
The main library is also a partial government depository that hosts essential online and print federal, state, and local titles. These documents are invaluable to researchers seeking primary sources.
All innovation within the library system is focused to impact “the ways in which library users are changed as a result of their contact with the library’s resources and programs.” (Association of College & Research Libraries, Standards for Libraries in Higher Education).
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