Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Date of this Version
1966
Abstract
According to Frank Lundy, director of libraries at NU, completion of the three-story steel and glass structure, faced with pebbled concrete, fulfills a long-recognized need for expanded library facilities to serve the College of Agriculture and Home Economics.
During the 1964-65 academic year there were 1,235 undergraduate students enrolled in agriculture and home economics, and about 200 graduate students in the two areas. The resident faculty and research staff totaled 168. In addition, the library facility is used by the agricultural and home economics Extension staff and a number of individuals with Federal appointments who are officed on the East Campus in various departments.
The new library, now housing approximately 100,000 volumes, brings under one roof for the first time a number of separate collections that had been stored in widely separated locations. Books had been kept in the basement, two main £loors, and attic of Agricultural Hall. Some 30,000 volumes had been stored in the basement of Love Library, two miles away on the city campus. Also being incorporated into the central collection are the few remaining departmental and laboratory libraries scattered around East Campus. Volumes in all of these libraries are being interfiled with related vol~ urnes in the respective broad subject areas such as entomology, biochemistry, and others.
In addition to existing agricultural and home economics collections, several thousand volumes related to the field of biology have been moved from Bessey Hall on the city campus to alleviate bulging book storage facilities there.
Further plans call for making available to agricultural and home economics students on East Campus more references in the humanities and social sciences. Because it had not been possible to shelve additional volumes in the cramped Ag Hall book rooms, it often has been necessary for an East Campus student to make a special trip to city campus to procure a single book.
"Despite vastly expanded space, greater number of books, and increased traffic, careful planning in the building's construction allows a maximum of library services with a minimum of staff," East Campus Librarian Wayne Collings commented with satisfaction. "All regular patrons of the library building must enter and exit past a central circulation desk which can be handled by one person except in rush hours. This arrangement provides for a close control over books leaving the library and facilitates the handling of inquiries."
On Saturday, October 9, 1965, the University Board of Regents voted to name the new East Campus Library for C. Y. Thompson of West Point, Nebraska, a regent for 24 years, the longest period of service of any member.