Facilities
The Lamar State College Port Arthur campus contains 28 buildings situated on approximately 56 acres. Most of these facilities were donated for the creation of the institution, including contributions from Port Arthur College, the City of Port Arthur, the Port Arthur College Foundation, Southern Union Gas, the First United Methodist Church of Port Arthur and the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Gates Memorial Library
The Gates Memorial Library is one of the most attractive academic library buildings in Texas. The two-story Classical Revival building was entered into the National Register of Historic Places in 1981.
After a major $2.1 million addition and renovation completed in 2004, the library now includes an open student computer lab, group study areas, extensive stack areas, individual audio-visual rooms, a multi-purpose conference room and expanded reference and access services areas. Plenty of soft seating inside the library complements an idyllic outside fountain garden surrounded by year-around patio seating.
The online public access catalog is available 24 hours a day on or off campus and is part of a system that automates the major library components.
The library is open five days per week for a total of 58 hours during regular semesters.
Collections are developed in support of all of the college’s educational programs.
Materials are accessible in many formats, including paper, DVDs, CD-ROMs, videotapes and online. Through password authentication, students and faculty have continuous access to the library’s electronic holdings, from anywhere on or off campus.
The total volume count numbers more than 55,000. An e-book collection provides an additional 29,000 titles. The total periodical count numbers more than 38,000 subscriptions in both paper and electronic formats. Special areas feature a law collection, a textbook collection, a career collection, a children’s collection, a Texana collection, a rare book collection and a best-seller collection.
The Gates Library is a member of the AMIGOS Bibliographic Council, which provides inter-library loan services to more than 400 libraries statewide and 20,000 libraries worldwide. Other affiliations include the Consortium of Academic Libraries and Learning.
Resources and TexShare provides on-site borrowing services for LSCPA students and faculty and at most academic libraries statewide.
Students use their student ID to check out materials at Lamar University, Lamar State College-Orange and the Port Arthur Public Library.
Student Success Center
The Student Success Center (SSC) provides help for students needing assistance with study skills or remediation in the areas of math, English and reading. Computer-aided tutorial programs and teacher certified tutors are available to students. The Student Success Center houses a testing center and administers approved tests for TSI purposes and other diagnostic tests.