12/17/2019
On the Twelfth Day of Giving, our featured organization is: Benson Latin American Collection
In 2019, the University of Texas Libraries:
• Saw more than 2.5 million users come through the doors across 12 different Library facilities across campus
• Website had more online visits (13.1 million) than any other UT page outside of the default University landing page
• Received and answered over 100,000 reference questions from students, faculty, and researchers alike
• Had 126 visiting scholars from 32 different countries to the Benson Latin American Collection, the world’s greatest collections of Lan American and US Latinx materials
• Librarians traveled roughly 100,000 combined miles internationally for the acquisition of materials that make up our distinctive collections
• Sent materials around the world to countries like Australia, South Africa, Mexico, and Russia through the interlibrary loan program
• Librarians gave over 1,000 presentations to over 25,000 participants
• Open-access platform, Texas ScholarWorks, had almost 400,000 users accessing roughly 60,000 unique items free of charge
• Provided 10.8 million volumes available for use in our collections
For more than 125 years, the University of Texas Libraries have committed to building one of the greatest library collections in the world.
The Latin American library at the University of Texas was established in 1921 and renamed the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection in 1975 in honor of the collection’s longtime head librarian. Dr. Nettie Lee Benson was a professor of history and one of the first women to earn a PhD and to hold a position of leadership at the university.
Some of the premier holdings from the Benson include:
• Ernesto Cardenal Papers
• Digital Guatemalan National Police Historical Archive
• Gloria Evangelina Anzaldúa Papers
• LULAC Archives
The Benson Latin American Collection Centennial Fund helps connect students and researchers to the premier collection globally.
To learn more visit:
https://utdirect.utexas.edu/apps/utgiving/online/nlogon/?menu1=LCLM