History
Starting in 1895, the library began as a small collection in one main room. It consisted of several hundred books donated or paid for by the Charles Duncan McIver and his family, the faculty, and the students. By 1900, library had moved to the former gymnasium and had grown to over three thousand volumes. Later known as the Carnegie Library, the major expansion of 1923 tripled the building's capacity to over 20,000 volumes; the growing library collection reached 60,000 by 1930. In 1934 a fire destroyed the Carnegie Library building, although much of the stacks collection survived with only water damage. After years of planning and interruptions from WWII, the Walter Clinton Jackson Library was built in 1950. This older portion of the library still stands and houses much of the library administration and special collections. In 1964 the library became a federal document depository; it still retains the status as a selective depository for U.S. government documents, as well as a full depository for State documents. A nine-story tower addition was built to the main building in the 1970s, making it a landmark on campus.
The University Libraries grew out of Jackson Library. As faculty and students came increasingly to rely on technology, a Learning Resources Center was created in 1982. Under Chancellor Sullivan, a new School of Music Building was opened in 1999 housing a separate Music Library.
Read more about this topic: UNCG University Libraries
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“If man is reduced to being nothing but a character in history, he has no other choice but to subside into the sound and fury of a completely irrational history or to endow history with the form of human reason.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)
“There is nothing truer than myth: history, in its attempt to “realize” myth, distorts it, stops halfway; when history claims to have “succeeded” this is nothing but humbug and mystification. Everything we dream is “realizable.” Reality does not have to be: it is simply what it is.”
—Eugène Ionesco (b. 1912)
“Three million of such stones would be needed before the work was done. Three million stones of an average weight of 5,000 pounds, every stone cut precisely to fit into its destined place in the great pyramid. From the quarries they pulled the stones across the desert to the banks of the Nile. Never in the history of the world had so great a task been performed. Their faith gave them strength, and their joy gave them song.”
—William Faulkner (1897–1962)