The A. Frank Smith Library Center is the centerpiece of our academic buildings. Its growing collection comprises more than a quarter of a million volumes, including print and non-print materials, periodicals, and electronic information sources to meet the needs of Southwestern University’s students.

The library offers a range of services and facilities including circulation and reserve services, reference services, a periodicals reading area and service desk, group study rooms, music listening facilities, and for meetings and special events, the Prothro Room overlooking the campus mall. The library also offers audiovisual services to the campus.

The library’s special collections include the papers of Senator John Goodwin Tower, the Clark Texana Collection, and the J. Frank Dobie and Bertha McKee Dobie Collections.

The library center houses University Information Technology Services and the National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education South Technology Center.

The library was dedicated in 1988. It is an expansion of the University’s Cody Memorial Library, providing space for a growing library collection and expanded services. The facility is named for A. Frank Smith, Jr. of Houston, a distinguished trustee of Southwestern University for more than 25 years and former chair of the Board of Trustees.

The Special Collections Reading Room, located in the original Cody Memorial Library building.