Monday - Friday: 9 A.M. - 5 P.M.
Extended Hours*
Tuesday & Thursday: 5 P.M. - 7 P.M.
Saturdays: 9 A.M. - 1 P.M.
*Extended hours are available only during the fall and spring semesters.
Contact
P.O. Box 41041
Texas Tech University
Lubbock TX, 79409-1041
Phone: (806) 742-9070
Policies and Procedures
The Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library is open to students, faculty, staff, and the public. Materials do not circulate and are only used in the Holden Reading Room (Room 104). We recommend you contact Reference Services prior to your visit to ensure materials are on-site and accessible. Reference requests may be sent via mail, email, or phone.
A Reading Room Registration form must be completed before or at the time of your first visit to the Collection in any given academic year. All researchers must sign the guest register each day of their visit.
Complete Reading Room procedures, including duplication information and fees are available on the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library Reference site.
Texas Archival Resources Online
Finding aids are the primary tools archives use to describe their holdings and to aid researchers in identifying useful materials. A finding aid provides information on a collection's context, including its creator, its associated dates, the scope of its materials, and its overall organization. A finding aid also includes an inventory - an organized list of the collection's contents. For a more in-depth explanation of a finding aid and how to use it, check out The Austin Public Library's guide and the SWC/SCL blog's "How do I find things in an archive?!"
The Sowell Collection's finding aids are available through Texas Archival Resources Online (TARO).
TTU Library Catalog
Sowell Collection materials are also discoverable through the TTU Library catalog. The catalog is accessible from the University Libraries homepage via OneSearch. For an introduction to using the Library catalog, check out the OneSearch Research Guide.
Access Restrictions
The Sowell Collection holds many audio, video, and film recordings. These items may not be immediately accessible due to format, condition, or copyright status. All items must be digitized prior to patron use. Because not all collections materials have been digitized, please contact the Reference Archivist at least 10 days prior to arrival in order to coordinate digitization. Though we can digitize much of our holdings within two weeks, some media may be fragile and require specialized digitization outsourcing, which can take up to three months for completion.
Archives are increasingly receiving born-digital materials and obsolete computer-based media. While you will find these items listed on the finding aids, many of them are not currently available to the public.
Use Restrictions
Many of the writers in the Sowell Collection are still living and writing. They actively create using the materials and ideas documented within the archive. Almost all of the materials within the Sowell Collection fall under intellectual property and copyright protections. Copyright is retained by the authors of items in this collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by U.S. copyright law. Copy requests in excess of 5 pages must be approved by the donor or his representative.
The researcher assumes full responsibility for conforming to the laws of libel and intellectual property rights. It is up to you, the researcher, to secure permission from the copyright holder to publish materials. Please ask a staff member for citation guidelines if needed.