University Libraries invited to join prestigious research consortia

Inside TXST

Jayme Blaschke | October 22, 2018

University Libraries at Texas State University have been admitted into the prestigious Greater Western Library Alliance (GWLA). 

GWLA members approved a ballot proposal to invite Texas State to join the alliance at its meeting in September, following a formal site visit and application review. 

“We are pleased to be joining this impressive group of academic libraries,” said Texas State Vice President for Information Technology Ken Pierce. “This affiliation advances our efforts to create new partnerships among library leaders in academic research and information technologies.”

GWLA is a dynamic, project‐oriented consortium of research libraries headquartered in the Kansas City metropolitan area. Its member institutions are predominantly in the central and western United States. GWLA is recognized nationally as a leader in the transformation of scholarly communications and a facilitator in the application of new information technologies. With the addition of Texas State, GWLA is comprised of 39 member institutions, with seven other Texas universities including Rice University, Texas A&M University and the University of Texas at Austin.

"Texas State University brings an amazing trio of distinctive collections featuring The Wittliff Collections’ Southwestern Writers, Southwestern and Mexican Photography, and Texas Music," said GWLA Board Chair Joni Blake. "We are thrilled that they will be able to share their collections and expertise with the GWLA community of practice. It is clear to us that Texas State University is an institution that is advancing quickly and confidently in research, and is dedicated to cultivating the next generation of leaders. We are pleased to welcome them as our 39th member institution."

Criteria for GWLA membership includes classification as a Research University (High Research Activity) by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and unique collections that add value to alliance resources. 

Texas State’s admission to GWLA follows on the heels of another important achievement as its University Libraries joined the HathiTrust this past summer. HathiTrust is an international partnership of major academic and research libraries collaborating in an extraordinary digital library initiative to preserve and provide access to published works in digital form. The membership was gained through an application process that included a review of the library’s print holdings.

“Memberships in GWLA and HathiTrust will benefit our faculty and students by increasing the array of special collections and digital resources they can access,” said Texas State Associate Vice President and University Librarian Joan Heath. “The new partnerships that these memberships provide will enable us to collaborate on important projects in the research libraries community.”

For more information about GWLA, visit www.gwla.org.

For more information about HathiTrust, visit www.hathitrust.org.