The Perry–Castañeda Library (PCL) is the main central library

Library

In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...

 of the University of Texas at Austin

University of Texas at Austin

The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...

 library system in Austin, Texas

Austin, Texas

Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...

. PCL is located at 21st Street and Speedway in Austin, TX.

The UT Austin campus library system holds nearly eight million volumes, ranking it as the fifth largest library among academic institutions in the United States, and the eleventh largest overall in the country.

Established in 1972, the Perry–Castañeda Library is named for two former University professors, Ervin S. Perry and Carlos E. Castañeda. Professor Perry was the first African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

 to be appointed to the academic rank of professor and Professor Castañeda played a central role in the early development of the Benson Latin American Collection.

Shooting

PCL was the site of a shooting on Tuesday, September 28, 2010. Police reports state that student Colton Tooley fired shots on his walk from Guadalupe street to the library's front entrance. He ascended to the sixth floor where he took his own life in the northeast corner of the topmost floor of the library and thirty feet from the children's book section. No one else was injured save for one sprained ankle suffered by a female student fleeing the scene. There were reports of a second gunman and authorities locked down the entire campus for several hours until they were able to determine the reports were false. http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/blotter/entries/2010/09/28/police_on_scene_of_shooting_on.html

See also

• Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection
  Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection
  The Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection is an extensive map collection owned by the Perry-Castañeda Library at The University of Texas at Austin....
  
  

External links

• University of Texas Libraries: Perry-Castañeda Library