Auburn University is a top ranking library, and many students should be aware of the resources available to them at the library. Auburn also has a Student Advisory council that helps serve the students and their needs.

Auburn University’s library, Ralph B. Draughon, was built in 1962 and is named after Auburn’s tenth president who served from 1947 to 1965, and he was a moving force behind the construction of the original portion of the library. With the completion of a 207,000 square foot addition in 1991, the library has a seating capacity of 2,500 designed to serve the study, teaching, and research needs of Auburn students, faculty, and staff.

Auburn is set apart from other university libraries because of its vast number of volumes and collections. The combined collections of the Libraries contain over 2.7 million volumes as well as 2.6 million government documents, 2.5 million microforms, and over 148,000 maps. The Libraries receive over 35,000 current periodicals, many which are available online. And the library provides access to over 227 electronic databases.

Marcia Boosinger, the Associate Dean for Public Services, said, “we have a vast number of digital collections and it has been great to be able to digitize these resources for our students.”

Boosinger also pointed out that libraries are set apart from others by the kinds of collections they possess. Auburn’s library has materials about the history of Auburn, the Civil War and aviation history, because many students and faculty do extensive research on this subject.

The library always welcomes feedback about how to better serve its students and their needs. Two years ago Auburn formed a Library Student Advisory Council, which is a council that is made up of Auburn students whose goal is to enhance open communication between students and library administration and staff. The council brings new ideas to the attention of library administration and staff about six times a year about how to serve students needs and ease their concerns.

Auburn University’s Library Student Advisory Council meets on a regular basis with library administration and staff to discuss topics such as security needs, final exam study hours and the location of the coffee shop. This is the most recent concern of Auburn students is the location of the coffee shop. The council brought this to the attention of library administration and staff. After discussing logistical details with Auburn, this summer the coffee shop will be moved upstairs to the second floor. It will be a full service Caribou coffee shop.

“It was brought to our attention by the advisory council that more people would use the coffee shop if it was more accessible,” Boosinger said.

The Library Student Advisory Council serves as a “think tank” for Auburn University students as a way to formulate and put into action ideas to better serve the Auburn students. The council welcomes feedback and invites you to visit their website at http://lib.auburn.edu/sac/feedback.html.