Library
The library first opened in 1913, in a small section of the Fullerton High School Library. The building was designed to look like a famous library in Salamanca, Spain complete with pillars, arches and wrought iron chandeliers which had been forged in the high school metal shop.
In 1929, the growth finally forced the library to move to a barn-like room which had previously functioned as the high schools girls’ gymnasium. One of the librarians of that year described how she frequently found “bats hanging from the ceiling,” in the morning. The custodian then had to catch the bats in a net and remove them, before school could start.
In 1938 Fullerton College was helped by the Works Progress Administration, to build three college buildings on the new college campus. The library then moved for the second time, when it was given space on the second floor of the new “Science Building.” That worked during World War II, when it was a virtual "small college for women." But, once the war ended, there was a population explosion in Orange County and the student body. The library became very cramped and librarians were forced to stack books and magazines on tables and chairs.
A new long-range construction project was devised to meet the needs of the ever growing student enrollment. "This time the plans included a building which would house the library on the first floor, while rooms for social science and English classes would take up the second floor." The library moved for the third time in 1957, into quarters which had been designed as much as possible “like college reading rooms at UCLA or USC.”
The library had no official name, until 1962, when it was declared to be the “William T. Boyce Library,” in honor of the man who was the dean and president from 1918, until his retirement in 1951. During the 1950s and 1960s the campus “Dress Code,” was enforced. Females were not permitted to wear slacks or shorts. Males were not permitted to wear shorts or cut-offs, and none were allowed to go barefoot on campus.
A new library was constructed and opened on June 13, 2005, and formally dedicated on October 28, 2005.
Read more about this topic: Fullerton College
Famous quotes containing the word library:
“Madam, a circulating library in a town is as an evergreen tree of diabolical knowledge; it blossoms through the year. And depend on it ... that they who are so fond of handling the leaves, will long for the fruit at last.”
—Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751–1816)
“Readers transform a library from a mausoleum into many theaters.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“A man’s library is a sort of harem.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)