Using the Library
- Location, Hours, and Floor Plans
- Public Access
- Borrowing and Renewing Books: Austin Seminary students, faculty, and staff
- Borrowing and Renewing Books: Austin Seminary Alumni
- Borrowing and Renewing Books: Guest Borrowers
- Fines and Fees
Location, Hours, and Floor Plans
Click here for driving directions and campus map
Click here for library floor plans (including call number ranges on each floor)
Parking: You may park in any visitor space on campus and get a parking pass from the library services desk.
Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary
100 E. 27th Street
Austin, Texas 78705
Public Access
Please note that public access to the Wright Learning and Information Center is governed by Austin Seminary's public access policies. Please refer to the seminary's website for updates.
During normal hours of operation, the library is open to all users from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. Please refer to the library's calendar for full hours and exceptions.
After-hours Access
To ensure a safe learning environment, access to the building is restricted to the following persons after 5:00 p.m. and on weekends:
- Current students, faculty, and staff of:
- Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary
- Seminary of the Southwest
- The University of Texas
- Persons who have obtained written permission from the associate dean of library & learning services
- Students, faculty, and staff who have been granted access to the Wright Learning and Information Center after 5:00 p.m. and on weekends should be prepared to present a photo ID to verify their institutional affiliation.
- Community members and local clergy who need to use library resources outside normal public hours may request evening and weekend privileges by sending an email to the associate dean of library & learning services, Kristy Sorensen: ksorensen@austinseminary.edu.
- Persons granted exceptional access should be prepared to present a photo ID and a copy of the library director's grant of permission.
24/7 access to the first floor study areas of the Wright Center is available only to students, faculty, and staff of Austin Seminary during regular academic terms. Door codes for gaining access may be requested at the McCord desk.
Borrowing and Renewing Books: Austin Seminary students, faculty, and staff
Renewing Books
To see your loans, renew your books, and place holds, Login to Your Account using your Austin Seminary login credentials.
Borrowing policies
| Loans | Loan Period | Renewals | |
| Students | 50 | 30 days | 3 |
| Faculty/Staff | 120 | 365 days | 3 |
Notes:
- Reserve books usually circulate for 24 hour loans (unless the professor has requested a different loan period).
- Periodicals, reference materials, archival materials, and restricted circulation materials do not circulate.
Reciprocal Borrowing
Austin Seminary students have reciprocal borrowing privileges at the Harrison Library of the Seminary of the Southwest, which is located near 32nd and Duval, just a few blocks from our campus.
- Austin Seminary students can borrow books from the Bishop Harrison Library using their ID cards.
- We have a shared library catalog with the Harrison Library which makes it easy to see which resources they have.
Austin Seminary students and faculty may also borrow books from The University of Texas at Austin libraries.
- You can obtain a free courtesy borrowing card that gives you limited borrowing privileges at most UT libraries and will allow you to use most of the UT databases in one of their libraries on the UT campus.
- Take your Austin Seminary ID card to the Perry-Castañeda Library on the UT campus at the corner of Speedway and 21st. Go to the Courtesy Borrowing desk located in the circulation area, and tell them you are a student at Austin Seminary and would like a courtesy borrowing card.
- For more information about UT's Courtesy Borrowing Program, see the UT Libraries' website here.
For more information about all our library partnerships, see our Partner Libraries guide (PDF).
Interlibrary Loan
Current Austin Seminary students and faculty may ask the library to obtain books and articles not held in our collections through interlibrary loan. See our interlibrary loan information page or ask the Access and Instruction Librarian for assistance with interlibrary loan requests.
Borrowing and Renewing Books: Austin Seminary Alumni
Renewing Books
To see your loans, renew your books, and place holds, Login to Your Account. If you have not yet set up your account login, or have forgotten your login information, please contact the library: library@austinseminary.edu.
Borrowing policies
| Loans | Loan Period | Renewals | Account Type | |
| Borrowers | 25 | 30 days | 3 | annual |
For more information on the resources and services offered to Austin Seminary alumni, please see the Alumni Resources page.
Borrowing and Renewing Books: Guest Borrowers
Renewing Books
To see your loans, renew your books, and place holds, Login to Your Account. If you have not yet set up your account login, or have forgotten your login information, please contact the library: library@austinseminary.edu.
Borrowing policies
| Loans | Loan Period | Renewals | Account Type | |
| Borrowers | 25 | 30 days | 3 | annual |
Notes
- "Guest Borrowers" includes
- All community members
- Local clergy
- Students, faculty, and staff from other seminaries, schools, and colleges
- UT students, faculty, and staff
- There is no charge for the account, but all patrons are expected to respect library materials, return them in a timely manner, and replace lost and damaged materials.
- Books that are on reserve for Austin Seminary courses may only be borrowed by Austin Seminary students, faculty, and staff.
Fines and Fees
Lost or Damaged Book Fees
Patrons who have borrowed books that are lost or damaged while checked out on their accounts will be assessed a $75 replacement fee. Alternatively, patrons may replace lost or damaged books with a comparable copy of each lost or damaged book (i.e., a hard cover book to replace a hard cover book) in new or excellent condition. Patrons who choose to provide a replacement book will be charged a $25 processing fee.
Fines
As of August 2022, the Wright Learning and Information Center does not charge fines for overdue books. All past fine balances have been forgiven.
Library Policies
- General Library Policies
- Noise Levels
- Food and Drink Policies
- Study Spaces and Meeting Rooms
- Collection Development and Access Policy
- Statement on Catalog Description and Offensive Content
General Library Policies
- Weapons; sleeping; use of tobacco, alcohol, or drugs; begging; soliciting; sales; and animals (except guide dogs and other assistive animals) are not permitted in the library.
- Shirt, shoes, and appropriate clothing are required.
- Unattended personal items will be placed in the lost-and-found at the Library Services Desk.
- Quiet conversation is allowed as long as it does not disturb others.
- Public computers and printers are intended for those conducting research. Please refrain from excessive printing or abuse of seminary resources.
- Library management reserves the right to ask anyone to leave whose behavior is disruptive, inappropriate for the library environment, or interferes with the use of the library by other patrons.
Noise Levels
• The Wright Center contains social spaces and spaces for quiet study.
- In the Wardlaw Commons, it is acceptable to converse with others.
- It is appropriate to hold conversations with group study rooms with the door closed.
- The historic reading room on the first floor and the third floor are quiet study spaces.
• Library patrons may use headphones to listen to music or other content in the Wright Center.
- Sound levels should be low enough not to bother other patrons.
- Headphones are available at the Library Services Desk if needed.
• Phone use is permitted following the same volume restrictions noted above for different areas of the library.
Food and Drink Policies
- Please follow “Leave no trace” principles: clean up after yourself and leave the space better than when you found it.
- Drinks in lidded containers only, please.
- Individually wrapped snacks are permitted, but not meals.
- Food and drink are not permitted in stacks areas, the archives, or near photocopiers, scanners, and the microfilm reader.
- Patrons are encouraged to bring their own lidded reusable cups when using the coffee maker. Compostable cups with lids are also available for patron use.
Study Spaces and Meeting Rooms
• Reservations for the Digital Education Center (204), the Archives Conference Room (310), Flowers Terrace (3rd floor), and Wright Hall (4th floor) should be made through Auxiliary Enterprises.
- Austin Seminary community members should use the request form on the Resources page of MyCampus, under Events & Meeting Requests.
- External patrons requesting reservations for those spaces use this form.
• The Media Lab and the third-floor group study room (308) can be reserved by members of the Austin Seminary and Seminary of the Southwest communities by emailing library@austinseminary.edu or stopping by the Library Services Desk.
• Group study rooms on the first floor are not reserved and are available first-come, first-serve.
• Individual study carrels are located on the third floor of the Wright Center.
- Any patron or guest may use any open and unlocked individual study carrel for quiet study on a first-come, first-serve basis.
- Any patron with a library card may check out a key for an open, unoccupied carrel by inquiring at the library services desk. Patrons may secure possessions in the carrel and come and go until the end of the day.
- Austin Seminary and SSW students with exceptional circumstances or special needs may ask to reserve a carrel for a semester by filling out an application form.
- Lost keys will incur a key replacement fee of $10.
- Individual desks in the dormer windows on the east side of the building are not reserved and are available first-come, first-serve.
Collection Development and Access Policy
Collection development is the art of fitting the collection of academic information resources as closely as possible with the mission of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary (the Seminary) and the information needs of students, faculty, and other library users. Thus, collection management takes into consideration the curricula of the Seminary, formats for information, trends in theological scholarship, and research needs. Collection management involves making judgments about the current and future needs of users. The library’s collection development policy is reviewed for adequacy at least every three years.
This document sets down in writing a collection development policy for the Stitt Collection of the Wright Learning and Information Center and explains the reasons for these choices. This document is properly used as a benchmark for those involved in evaluation and selection, a rationale explaining why the library staff makes specific choices, and a test of accountability for the library's stewardship of the financial resources entrusted to it.
Statement on Catalog Description and Offensive Content
The Wright Learning and Information Center provides researchers access to a wealth of information from a variety of sources, time periods, and points of view. Additionally, Sophi Search integrates a variety of metadata sources that are outside the direct control of library staff. Metadata is information about an information resource that is used to help researchers discover resources that they might wish to read. Examples of metadata include book titles, names of authors, and subject headings. Description of information sources is the way that librarians, following industry standards, record information in the online catalog.
While performing research, users may encounter catalog records that contain content that is offensive and not congruent with Austin Seminary’s values. Examples include outdated terms that may be sexist, homophobic, racist, or odious in some other way.
The Wright Center’s catalog and finding aids reflect the content they describe. That content reflects the history of the Church and wider society. Effective description of items may include the direct transcription of titles, table of contents, etc. that reflect views that, once widely held, are not considered appropriate today. These resources remain important to the study of religion and theology, and the description of such materials aids in search and retrieval.
We aspire to describe all content in a way that is inclusive and respectful of all people, while also working within the limits of national and international frameworks. For instance, until recently the Library of Congress used this subject heading: Japanese Americans -- Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945. This heading has been changed to: Japanese Americans -- Forced removal and internment, 1942-1945.
Historical description practices that are not acceptable today are being continually corrected. Updating legacy description takes time and is balanced against the work of adding new voices and resources to the library collection.
If you have any questions or comments about something you see in the descriptions of library resources, please do not hesitate to contact the library.