Hunter Library

Hunter Library at Western Carolina University

The library contains more than 420,000 books and bound periodical volumes, and one million units of microform. Approximately 2,200 serial subscriptions are received, including regional, national, and international newspapers. The annual addition rate of new materials is more than 15,000 items.

As a selective federal depository, the library holds more than 166,000 government documents and adds important items monthly. Of special interest is the North Carolina Documents Collection which houses publications generated by state government.

Hunter Library is also a map depository for the United States Geological Survey and the Defense Mapping Agency. The map room contains more than 106,000 sheet maps as well as atlases, satellite imagery, and aerial photographs.

Local and regional history is served by the Department of Special Collections which includes the university archives and manuscripts and rare books pertaining to the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians, western North Carolina, southern Appalachia, wilderness conservation, and the behavioral characteristics of spiders.

As a service for professional education programs, a curriculum library is maintained that contains state-adopted textbooks for North Carolina and curriculum guides from school systems in North Carolina and other states.

Hunter Library shares a computer catalog system with the libraries at Appalachian State University and University of North Carolina in Asheville. Faculty, students, and staff may borrow materials from those libraries and generally receive them within seventy-two hours. The library also provides computer access to Infotrac, ERIC, PsychLIT, GPO, First Search, and Compact Disclosure.

Hunter Library provides library materials in UNCA's Ramsey Library for Western Carolina University courses and programs offered on the Asheville campus.

Faculty Center for Teaching Excellence

This center provides services designed to assist all faculty on campus in achieving and maintaining excellence in their teaching. Through faculty workshops, seminars, luncheons, and similar activities, the center fosters a campus climate where teaching is highly valued and excellence in teaching is the norm. Services also include a teaching analysis program, a faculty exchange program, and a lending library of professional literature on college teaching.

University Writing Center

A staff of faculty, graduate assistants, and peer tutors is available to assist students in developing skills for preparing essays, term papers, creative writing projects, articles for publication, and other purposes. Faculty members are encouraged to refer students to the center for general development of writing skills.

Beginning with the writer's initial ideas, tutors can help with brainstorming, prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and proofreading. By offering the writer workable strategies, the tutors can move the student toward self-sufficiency. In addition to the one-on-one tutorial help, the center regularly offers mini-courses or workshops tailored to specific courses that emphasize writing and to specific problems exhibited by student writers.

Mathematics Tutoring Resource Center

A student peer tutoring program, staffed by undergraduate and graduate mathematics students, is available on a drop-in and individual appointment basis. Tutoring is offered in all lower-division undergraduate mathematics courses and beginning computer science courses. Tutoring experience is provided as a practicum for students majoring in mathematics education. The Resource Center has a small library of supplementary materials, including textbooks, computer-assisted instruction materials, and a few current periodicals in mathematics and computer science.
Maintained by the WCU Office of Public Information
Last modified: Friday, October 27, 1995
Copyright 1995 by Western Carolina University