The University Library and Learning Resources Center

Dr. Janice R. Franklin

334-229-4106

The University provides library facilities, resources and services to its faculty, students, staff and academic community through a centrally located, newly renovated and enlarged Levi Watkins Learning Center (LWLC). The LWLC encompasses 147,800 square feet of space, housing multimedia learning resources to support teaching, research, scholarship and cultural activities at Alabama State University and its global communities. The five-story structure faces the academic mall of the campus and includes the main Library and Learning Resources departments, the Curriculum Materials Center which serves the teacher education program, the Archives and Special Collections, the National Center for the Study of Civil Rights and African-American Culture and the Media Center.

The library is designed to allow open access to all floors. It holds more than three million items of materials, including books and periodicals, a growing collection of microform and media materials, electronic information sources and numerous other instructional technologies in all formats. The library collections reflect the history, mission and curriculum of the University, including the University’s historical emphasis in education, African-American history and culture, as well as extensive research holdings supporting doctoral programs in education and in the sciences. Interactive exhibits, information commons areas, individual and group study rooms, a lecture hall, internet café and wireless connections to emerging online technologies are available for scholarly research, cultural discussion and discovery. As the focal point for learning, the LWLC provides access to digitization centers, multimedia and archival collections while networking and linking to information systems worldwide.

A highly competent staff of information specialists, managers, and information technicians assist the teaching and learning mission of the University through the provision of professional research services to engage ASU faculty, staff and students. The Public Services staff conducts tours and lectures in information literacy and cultural heritage. Outreach services to local and international communities are also provided.

The LWLC houses internationally renowned special and archival collections. These special materials include the Ollie L. Brown African-American Heritage Collection, a compilation of multimedia materials representing the contributions of blacks to society and archives that focus on the history and culture of African-Americans and Alabama State University. Of worthy note are the civil rights collections of E.D. Nixon, known as the Father of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and the Montgomery Improvement Association. Such cultural heritage collections and programs lay the basis for the National Center for the Study of Civil Rights and African-American Culture, with administrative oversight in the library. The Center serves as a clearinghouse for the preservation and dissemination of information concerning Montgomery, Alabama’s pivotal role in shaping the development of the modern Civil Rights Movement reflective of the socioeconomic conditions, political culture, and history of African-Americans. The center fosters research, teaching and learning as an outgrowth of several special collections housed therein.

The Media Center, located on the fifth floor of the library, provides faculty and students with instructional materials and equipment. Other services provided by the Center are circulation of media equipment, graphics services, audio/video production, videography, digitization services and assistance in the creation of instructional materials.

The LWLC performs its mission through compliance with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges’ accreditation requirements for libraries, and, in accord with discipline-specific accreditation criteria. The facilities and services of the library are available to all students, faculty, and staff, and on a selective basis, to all members of the local community. The library holds memberships in the American Library Association, the Lyrasis Library Network, the Montgomery Higher Education Consortium that facilitates reciprocal borrowing privileges with area universities, the HBCU Library Alliance, and the Network of Alabama Academic Libraries (NAAL). As part of the NAAL and OCLC (Online Computer Library Network), the ASU library has a priority cooperative agreement for interlibrary loan services with other colleges and universities throughout the state and is a participant in resource sharing internationally.

Today, the LWLC is the hallmark of the University and is the center for intellectual life, creativity and life-long learning on campus and beyond its walls. As a “cultural learning place,” it symbolizes the importance of academic excellence at ASU.