According to Jack Smith, director of the library and professor of library science and history, over the past seven years, the Thomas J. Garland Library has added many new titles to its circulating print collections. At this point, said Smith, “the institutional goal of 65,000 print titles on the shelves in Greeneville is visible.”
Over the past two years, and for the first time in the school’s history, more than 4,800 print titles were added to the shelves, including 1,000 from the Walter T. Durham Collection.
In addition, the library has an on-going program of collection evaluation with regards to print and electronic titles both on the main campus and at the Knoxville branch. Faculty input is continuously sought and encouraged, said Smith. Titles removed from collections during this ongoing process are made available to students, faculty and other patrons.
As of 2008-09, the Greeneville library housed a paper monograph collection of 47,952, up from 37,200 in the 2004-05 school year. In addition, there are currently 104,257 electronic books available.
Visitation to the Greeneville and Knoxville libraries is also up, particularly in the area of electronic visits. According to Smith, electronic visits to the Garland Library during the 2008-09 reporting period again passed the half million mark at 511,939.
According to State of Tennessee figures released in April 2009, Tusculum College made more use (438,802 visits) of the Tennessee Electronic Library in calendar year 2008 than any other academic institution. Among public institutions, the University of Tennessee at Knoxville was second with 241,701 visits; while among private institutions, Freed-Hardeman University was just behind Tusculum College with 421,584, followed by the University of Memphis with 208,457.