User:Bantab/Sandbox/History of the University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries

Precursors: The College Libraries, 1853 - 1905

Institutions forming the University of Florida included East Florida Seminary (Ocala, 1853-1866; Gainesville, 1866-1905), Florida Agricultural College (Lake City, 1884-1905), St. Petersburg Normal and Industrial School (St. Petersberg, 1893-1905), and South Florida Military and Educational College (Bartow, 1894-1905). The University of Florida thus traces its origin to the earliest of these institutions, the East Florida Seminary (1853), and the new UF library received books from its library. However, most of the new university’s original faculty and staff, including its first librarian and much of its library holdings, were acquired from the Florida Agricultural College and its Agricultural Experiment Station.

East Florida Seminary was established at Ocala in 1853, but moved to Gainesville in 1866. The Florida House committee on schools and colleges attempted to provide funds for a library as early as 1855, but it was not until 1884 that a library room was provided and books began accumulating. The library room was located on the second floor of the new building, along with the principal's office, the commandant's office, and a study hall. In 1884, the trustees invited book donations from the students, faculty, and citizens, while the seminary provided funding for a few periodical subscriptions. The head of the normal department, G. Y. Renfroe, was appointed librarian and a student was designated as an assistant librarian.The library had about 800 volumes. The reading-room was under the care of an association, of which every teacher and student could be a member - dues were one dollar a year. This library association was established in 1885/86 to bolster the limited success of efforts to solicit donations. By 1897/98 a reference-book room was also established in the barracks, the second of the seminary's buildings. The Library grew to include a large number of standard books on history, biography, travel, and general literature, as well as dictionaries, encyclopedias, gazetteers and atlases. There were also daily and weekly papers, educational papers, and magazines. Sometime around 1886, library supervision was turned over to the English faculty. No trained librarian was hired and the collection probably only reached about 1,000 books along with a few periodicals. Enrollment in 1904 was only 225, and the academic program was primarily that of a high school or preparatory school level. However, some college level classes were begun in 1878 and the first Bachelor of Arts degrees were conferred in 1882. Nevertheless, the college program wasn't fully implemented until 1901. Whatever the University of Florida acquired from this library was probably insignificant and no doubt duplicated to some extent what was in the larger Florida Agricultural College library.

St. Petersburg Normal and Industrial School, established in 1893, began its library in 1895 when a winter resident of the city donated a set of encyclopedias. As time went by, others donated books or money for the purchase of books. A two-story building included a library, in addition to an assembly hall and seven classrooms. In 1902, the library was moved into a new building to house the normal school. At this time there were about 1,000 volumes, an amount that increased to an unknown extent through the expenditure of $1,400 during the next few years. The equipment of the school, except for some of the library volumes, was turned over to the St. Petersburg public school system. Thus, an undetermined number of the library books made their way to the University of Florida.The librarian was Grace Edwards, who also supervised the study hall. Books were cataloged by a fixed shelf system. Edwards worked to improve the services of the library and made it available as much as possible to the students.

South Florida Military and Educational College was established at Bartow in 1894. A small library and reading room were opened in 1904, but the students were only allowed to use it during their leisure hours. Although little is known about the library holdings, it is doubtful that it was a significant collection considering its short life span.

Florida Agricultural College was established at Lake City in 1884. Unlike the other educational institutions, all of which received only state funding, the Florida Agricultural College also received funds from the federal government. Several federal laws were responsible for this funding support: the First Morrill Act (Land Grant Act / Land Scrip Act) of 1862 for the establishment of agricultural and mechanical (land grant A&M) colleges in each state; the Hatch Act of 1887 for the establishment of agricultural experiment stations at each of the A&M colleges for the purpose of research and experimentation (as distinct from education); the Second Morrill Act of 1890 for the establishment of black A&M colleges and better funding of all A&M colleges; the Adams Act of 1906 for additional funding of agricultural experiment station research; and the Smith-Lever Act of 1914 for the establishment of agricultural extension services for the purpose of outreach programs in the rural communities.

To supplement the Florida Agricultural College, the Agricultural Experiment Station was established in 1887. The college was responsible for agricultural and general education while the station concentrated on agricultural research and experimentation. Faculty and staff served both the college and the station. At times the president of the college and the director of the station were combined into one position and at other times they were separated. Both the college and the station had libraries. The emphasis of the college library was on texts, literature, and the sciences. The emphasis of the station library was on the publications of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, state agriculture departments, land grant colleges, and other agricultural research programs. The need for these libraries was recognized by the Florida legislature as early as a year after the College opened, but it was two more years before funding was made available. By 1889 there were 1,000-2,000 volumes, but like the other schools, these books were mostly donated. However, more money was forthcoming and by 1898 there were about 3,600 bound volumes and some 3,000 pamphlets and government documents. At the time of its move to the new UF campus in 1905 the collection had reached about 4,000 volumes.

The following library regulations were in force at the turn of the century:conversation in the library that would disturb those reading was prohibited; cadets could take books from the library during release from quarters when the library was open and keep them in their possession for one week, but were not allowed to have more than one book at a time and could not take out a book a second time if someone else wanted it; cadets were not allowed in the library during call to quarters except by special permission of the Commandant; no person could lend a book which he had drawn from the library; and clippings from any of the papers of the reading room could not be taken by any cadet or other person. Restrictions were eased after 1902 when it was announced that the library was to be administered in the belief that it exists for the students. Consequently, every means was employed to facilitate and encourage their constant use of its resources with as little restriction as was compatible with the proper handling and preservation of the books.

The first librarian was a student, J. E. Futch (from 1889 until he graduated) who was followed by another student, W. W. Flournoy. In 1894, E. E. Keller (a mathematics instructor) became the librarian. He was followed by Harcy C. Croom (an assistant in the wood working shop). Upon graduation in 1896, W. W. Flournoy again became the librarian (as well as an assistant in mathematics). In 1897/98 D. S. Butler was the librarian, followed by Miss Lucia McCulloch (a biology student) in 1898. In 1900/01 the Librarian and Mailing Clerk was Virginia M. Wigfield. In 1901, the Stenographer, Miss Minnie Helvenston, and the Assistant Biologist, Lucia McCulloch, shared the librarian duties. Miss Minnie Helvenston, Station Librarian and Stenographer, resigned in 1902 and C. S. Brock (a graduate of the college) became the Station Librarian and Stenographer. Lucia McCulloch, Assistant Biologist and Assistant Librarian resigned in 1903, as did C. S. Brock. A. L. Clayton was appointed in 1903. In 1903/04 Albert Tyler was Stenographer and Librarian. About this time, James M. Farr, Professor of English and German took an interest in the library that would last throughout his tenure with the college and the university. In 1904, Professor Farr became the Librarian and C. A. Finley, Superintendent of Grounds and Mess Hall, became the Assistant Librarian. Edward R. Flint, Chemist, also took and interest in the library, helping to catalog and move the collection, as well as putting it in order after it arrived at the university.

W. S. Cawthon served as Librarian, as well as an instructor in mathematics during 1905. In addition, he was responsible for packing the college and station property and shipping it to the new university campus. The citizens of Lake City were not happy about losing the college to Gainesville, and several injunctions were filed. A Lake City policeman was sent to the college to enforce the injunctions and block the move, but without success. W. S. Cawthon was a man of powerful physique, determination, and courage, as well as a crack shot. When the packing had finally been completed, the crates were loaded onto wagons on 23 July and taken to the Lake City railroad station. Professor Cawthon rode in the first wagon with a loaded rifle across his knees, while the faculty members rode in the other wagons, and the laborers followed. The crowds, like the police, presented little trouble and the crates were soon on their way to Gainesville. To complete the Lake City move, the College and Experiment Station libraries were moved to a room in Thomas Hall. In 1905, C. A. Finley became Librarian at the Main Library and H. T. Perkins became Librarian at the Agriculture Library.

Genesis: The University Libraries, 1905 - 1918

The new university campus, which was out in pine woods far to the West of downtown Gainesville, consisted of Thomas Hall (the main building, which contained the libraries, as well as offices, laboratories, and lecture rooms), Buckman Hall (a dormitory), and Machinery Hall. A faculty was appointed in 1905 that included C. A. Finley as Librarian of the Main Library and H. T. Perkins as Stenographer and Librarian of the Agricultural Library. Standing Committees were formed as well, including one for the library appointed in 1905/06. The library had about 3,000 volumes formed from the collections brought in from the previous four institutions, but primarily from the Florida Agricultural College collection. The library situation remained relatively stable until 1909 when additional libraries were established. On the other hand, there was a quick turnover of librarians. The first librarian C. A. Finley remained only two years, as did his successor W. S. Cawthon, but the next librarian, Milton B. Hadley was librarian for ten years (1908-18).

While no library building was part of the original plan for the university, one was included later in the long-range plan, along with 43 other buildings. The Main Library and the Agriculture Library were two separate collections, but both were originally located in Thomas Hall (1905/06). Later, the Main Library remained in Thomas Hall, while the Agriculture Library moved into the Agricultural Experiment Station Laboratory Building (Agriculture Hall, now Griffin-Floyd Hall) as soon as it was completed in 1910. In addition to these libraries, the following were established in 1909: the Law Library, the Botanical Library, the Zoological Library, and the Physics Library.

Library collections had increased to 12,00 volumes in 1910, and changes continued to be made. The library became a depository for federal documents (perhaps in 1907, although it was considered a “depository of public documents” while still at the Florida Agriculture College in Lake City). As mentioned, the Agriculture Library moved to new quarters in Agricultural Hall. By 1912 the Main Library (along with a dining hall, assembly hall, lecture rooms, and laboratory rooms) expanded to three sections of Thomas Hall (the other sections being occupied with student rooms). It then moved in 1913/14 to George Peabody Hall. In 1912/13, these libraries were joined by an Engineering Library (a "Computing Room" was furnished with a library of about two hundred reference books for use in connection with the work of the mechanical laboratories and draughting room). And by 1915/16 the Agriculture Library had branched out to include a small collection in each of the departments.

By the time Milton B. Hadley stepped down as librarian in 1918, he had increased the collection to 20,000 volumes. However, the available $5,000 book fund only covered two-fifths of the books the faculty were requesting. When Cora Miltimore replaced Hadley in 1918, a new era began for the university libraries.

First Library and Professional Development, 1918 - 1937

Cora Miltimore became the university’s first professionally educated librarian on 1 November 1918. She was hired by university president Albert A. Murphree on the recommendation of R. E. Chandler, an engineering professor and a member of the Library Committee, who had known her when she was a librarian at Oklahoma State University. Miltimore received her B.S. degree from Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Oklahoma A&M University) in 1895 and a library certificate from the University of Iowa in 1906. In addition, she took a special course in government documents at Earlham College in 1909, studied library science at the University of Washington in 1916, and took correspondence courses from the University of Oregon. From 1900 to 1902 she was Assistant Librarian at Oklahoma A&M College and then Librarian there from 1902-1914. She was then Librarian at Pacific University (Fort Grove, Oregon) from 1914-1917. She worked for the federal government in Oklahoma from 1917-1918.

When Miltimore came to the university in 1918 there were less than 500 students and the library had about 20,000 books and 130 periodicals. The library consisted of one room and a small office on the first floor of Peabody Hall, and the library staff consisted of student assistants. There was little seating available and the students often had to sit on the floor. Dr. Enwall taught a psychology class across the hall and allowed its use for seating when he wasn’t using it for class. The academic departments, coordinated by the Library Committee, had charge of the book and periodical budgets.

One reason (perhaps a primary reason) for hiring a professional librarian was a recognized need to develop a professional library, including the planning and building of a library building. In 1923, Miltimore was sent to the University of Michigan to study their modern library building. Upon her return, she worked with the university architects and oversaw the planning and construction of the university’s first library building. This building opened in September 1925, in time for Fall classes. The library collection had reached 40,000 books (most of which were housed in the new Library building) and 285 periodicals, as well as numerous federal and state documents. The Library was constructed in the university’s Tudor-Gothic architecture in order to conform to the other campus buildings. It contained a reference room, reserve reading room and offices. While Miltimore considered this Library to be one of the best in the South, it was only the first unit of the original plan. Due to the high cost of construction, the other units of the original plan (two wings, one for a periodicals reading room and one for a stack room) could not be built.

With a new building, an increasing collection, and a larger staff, 1925/26 was a time for organizational development. Assistant librarian positions had recently been created and the Library was finally organized into departments, starting with the Cataloging, Circulation and Reference Departments. It may have also been around this time that Miltimore’s title evolved from Librarian to University Librarian to distinguish the director from the other librarians. Reports in the early 1930s were from the University Librarian, although the signatures at the end of the reports still had the title Librarian. The library also acquired its first special collection, the donated Rev. Rees W. Edwards Memorial Collection for religion and philosophy (consisting of about 250 volumes).

After several librarian changes at the Agriculture Library, Ida K. Cresap became librarian in 1923, remaining until 1963. During her 40 years as librarian, the collection grew from 2,000 to 500,000 volumes. In addition to her many duties, she found time to create an agricultural classification scheme (a modified version of the scheme used at the time by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Library), compile a Catalog of the Official Publications of the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station and Florida Agricultural Extension Service, 1888-1937 (a publication of the UF Agricultural Experiment Station) and write The History of Florida Agriculture: The Early Era (an unpublished typescript that the Hume Library staff copied and bound in 1982, and the Digital Library has now made available electronically).

A 1925/26 state survey of 33 state university libraries indicated the average dollar amount spent per student on books to be $5.46, but the university was only spending $2.11. In addition, the university had less than one-third the volumes per student as other Florida university libraries. At 24 of these 33 libraries, the librarians were given faculty rank and pay, and Miltimore recommended this privilege be extended to the UF librarians who were Department Heads. Sometime between this recommendation and 1940, the librarians achieved faculty status. Henrie Eddy, Head of the Reference Department (who would become the Acting University Librarian after Miltimore retired) was granted a leave of absence to study at Columbia University, receiving her MS degree in Library Science. By the early 1930s, all members of the Library staff belonged to the Florida Library Association, the Southeastern Library Association, and the American Library Association. They also served on several association committees and attended library conferences.

One of the originally planned wings for the Main Library was finally added in 1931 to serve as a much needed stack area. With a continually growing collection that now housed 60,000 books, the new wing provided a book capacity of 200,000 volumes. Initially the new stack wing was a closed stack area, so a browsing collection of some 1,500 books was placed in the reading room for the benefit of the undergraduates. There was also seating for 750-800 students and carrels for 48 faculty and graduate students. An Exchange Division was created providing an exchange program with other national universities and scientific societies, as well as institutions in France, England and Italy. Participation in a national interlibrary loan program also began, with 62 books borrowed and 18 loaned during 1932-34. Space was made available in 1933 for a Florida Room to house Florida publications and materials, a possible second special collection and a precursor to the Florida History Collection.

In the early 1930s there were library exhibits, while reading lists and bibliographies were prepared for faculty and students. Freshmen were given a series of lectures on library use during their orientation week. In addition, each section of the Freshman English course received an hour of class instruction in library methods. Special instruction courses on library use were also arranged at the request of faculty. The 1930s was a difficult decade for the Library. Although the staff had increased to seven, a Survey of Land Grant Colleges and Universities recommended libraries have a certain number of librarians based on a prescribed staff per student enrollment formula, and this worked out to 17 staff for the university library. This lack of staff at the library was made up for through the use of student assistants.

Book budgets were lagging behind as well. There were drastic cuts in the book budget during the early 1930s as the depression worsened and student enrollment fell. And some of these meager book monies were used to maintain periodical and Florida newspaper subscriptions because during the depression magazine and newspaper publishers printed very few extra copies and it would be too difficult, if not impossible, to catch up with missing issues should these subscriptions be dropped and restarted later on. Fortunately, a number of book and periodical gifts were made to the Library, including many rare books.

To meet the needs of a new General College and Department of Forestry (1934/35), books for the new courses were placed on the open shelves of the Reserve Reading Room and publications were collected from each of the state’s forestry departments. A couple of years later (1937) a separate forestry library was established (which was eventually shifted to the Agriculture Library in 1956). The Library’s depository of current federal government documents housed the only complete collection of these documents in the southernmost states of Alabama, South Carolina and Florida, although the collection had incomplete runs of the earlier documents which the library staff was in the process of obtaining. Florida related publications and materials were increasingly in demand and every effort was made to improve the Florida collection. As part of this effort, the Florida Mapping Authority provided the library with a copy of every map it produced, which greatly added to the small state map collection then in existence.

The continuing lack of book funds was overcome to some extent through donations and exchanges. An attempt was also made to collect all state publications from the five states of the Lower South (normally, only state agriculture publications were collected). Due to the lack of staff and budgets, outside funding was found to carry out a number of routine and special projects. Time was even found to oil all the leather bound books. Staff changes occurred, with two leaving to pursue further studies and one to get married. In addition, Miltimore took six months leave of absence in 1936 due to ill health. Miltimore soon retired for health reasons in October 1937 and moved to Highlands, North Carolina [but spent the winters in Jacksonville, Florida and occasionally in Galveston, San Francisco and Santa Fe - in 1960 she moved to Jacksonville where she remained until her death in 1976].

Wartime Era, 1937 - 1946

With Cora Miltimore’s retirement, Henrie May Eddy (Head, Reference Department) took over as the Acting University Librarian in 1937 and served in this capacity until her death in August 1939. Miss Eddy was traveling to Brazil in an effort to increase the Libraries Latin American holdings (to support an academic program begun at the university in the 1930s - a Latin American reading room at the UF Institute for Inter-American Affairs would eventually develop into an extensive Latin American special collection within the libraries) when the plane crashed near Rio de Janeiro. Walter B. Hill took over as University Librarian on 1 September 1939, serving until 1944. Due to the increasing size of the collection, an Order (Acquisition) Librarian was hired and an Order Department established in 1937. Anne Richardson, Acting Reference Librarian and Mary Hause, Acting Cataloger both had degrees in library studies, while Marian Youngs was on leave to further her studies.

Changes in the curriculum and methods of instruction emphasized reading and increased the use of the library. Because of this, a checkout program was instituted on 28 February 1938 (previously the books had to be used in the library). Only one book per student was allowed, with most books only going out over night and some over the weekend. Interlibrary loans were also increasing, up to 103 books were borrowed during 1937-38, while 32 books were sent out on loan. Friends of the University of Florida Library was a support group started in the fall of 1937, it having been initiated by an interested member of the English Department. Some 253 members joined and they provided 385 gifts to the Library. Many other gifts were received as well, in particular materials from the Florida Historical Survey and State Archives Division.

In 1940, the University of Florida President established a Library Survey Committee in order to determine the Library’s relationship to the university, the State and the region; to determine how it needed to improve its organization and administration; to formulate a plan of library development; and to indicate means by which Library resources could be used more effectively. The American Library Association (ALA offered to survey university libraries beginning in 1936 and the University of Florida was the fourth to be surveyed) appointed the following committee members: Louis R. Wilson (Chairman), Dean, Graduate Library School, University of Chicago; A. Frederick Kuhlman, Director, Joint University Libraries, Vanderbilt University; and Guy R. Lyle, Librarian, Woman’s College, University of North Carolina. These were some of the foremost librarians of their day and they produced a comprehensive 120 page report on the Library.

Recommendations of the University of Florida Library survey are summarized here since they provide insight on what was, or was not, being done at the time: administrative control for all campus libraries should be centralized; the University Librarian should represent the library on university administrative and policy-making committees; the Library Committee should be informative and advisory rather than administrative; the library building is inadequate in space for stacks, workers or students; enlargement of other libraries, particularly the Agricultural Experiment Station Library and the Chemistry-Pharmacy Library, was also needed; the University Librarian should be in charge of budget matters for all campus libraries; allocation of a unified book fund should be made by the University Librarian with advice from the Library Committee and through consultations with university deans and department heads; deficiencies in the book collection, reference collection, and back files of journals in support of the graduate program needed to be remedied; the library did not have sufficient reading space or the books essential to adequately support the general college (undergraduate) program; additional staff needed to be hired and the salaries needed to be increased; although all the librarians had faculty status, their ranking, vacation, retirement and sabbatical leave needed to be clarified; a union catalog listing the holdings of all campus libraries was needed; provision should be made for prompt delivery of materials between campus libraries; and the library should assume responsibility for promoting the extension of library service to those taking correspondence or extension courses and to rural communities.

Technology began encroaching upon library routines in 1941 with the use of International Business Machine sorting equipment and punch cards to handle circulation and fine records. Only three other universities were using this equipment at the time although the use of these machines in libraries had been discussed in the literature since 1939. For circulation purposes, three kinds of information were kept on each card: information on the book, due dates, and the individual who checked out the book. Alphabetical Accounting Machines (used jointly with the registrar’s office) kept track of fines and send monthly statements to the individuals owing the fines. This system was modified over the years and was still in use through the 1970s.

During 1941/42 there were 14 librarians and 40 student assistants. Circulation and the loan periods increased (faculty loan periods increasing to one semester), as did interlibrary loans. Fines were levied for late books. The Library became a State Depository (for State documents) in 1941, receiving 50 copies of each document for exchange with other states. The Library also became a member of the Duplicate Exchange Union, which circulated lists of duplicate materials among 168 libraries. A Documents Department was created in 1943 when a Documents Librarian was hired (however, it may not have been an independent or separate department until 1955).

Philip K. Yonge’s son Julian donated his family’s Floridiana collection in 1944 establishing the P. K. Yonge Library of Florida History. An existing collection of Floridiana (organized into a Florida Room in 1933) was integrated into the new Yonge collection in 1945, which was originally housed in the Law College building. Adding to this area were other collections acquired about the same time, including a companion collection on the West Indies and the papers of the state’s first U. S. Senator, David L. Yulee.

Widespread changes in personnel continued throughout 1942-44, with not one person holding the same position by the end of this period. Even the University Librarian had left and Nelle Barmore became the Acting University Librarian in 1944. Additional monies were made available for purchasing books and journals. These acquisitions, along with some 2,500 volumes donated as gifts added substantially to the collection and increased the problems associated with the lack of space. According to the 1942-43 statistics of the Southern Colleges and Universities, the Library ranked sixth with respect to the number of volumes added during the year. However, the war years were about to interfere with this bit of progress, with its strain on the budget and the reduction in enrollment.

Resurgence and Growth, 1946 - 1967

Nelle Barmore continued as Acting University Librarian (1944-1946) until Vivian Prince took over briefly (July - November 1946). Stanley West was appointed Director of the University Libraries (1946-1967) on 18 November 1946.

Since the early 1940s, consideration had been given to enlarging the Main Library and by 1948 planning was taking shape on its expansion. It was expected that the enlarged library would serve the university’s purposes for the following ten years. However, the university’s post-war objectives were ambitious. For the library this meant the development of a scholarly research collection to accommodate the increased emphasis on graduate work and research (enrollment in the graduate school was expected to double), reorganization of library collections and services in conjunction with the enlarged Main Library, development of the branch libraries (in particular those in law, education, biological sciences, chemistry, agriculture and engineering), inclusion of new activities due to the acquisition of audio-visual and microform materials, and improvement of services to handle the increased post-war enrollment. A renewed emphasis was also placed on the Floridiana and West Indies collections as a library collection specialty.

Upon dedication of the enlarged Main Library on 30 March 1950, the P. K. Yonge Library of Florida History was moved from the Law College to the new building and the Creative Writing Collection was inaugurated with the donation of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings books and papers, including the manuscripts for The Yearling and Cross Creek. In addition to providing more room for traditional materials and services, the newly enlarged library created space for new materials and services that were, in the words of Director West, “growing so rapidly in importance” and had “such far-reaching implications”. These new materials included audio-visual aids (films, records, microfilms, microcards, audio tapes, maps, etc.) that were becoming increasingly important in education and research. Demands for these materials grew so rapidly that budget estimates made a year previously were out of date before the end of the budget year. A special central fund was requested to deal with these acquisitions because the normal budget could not handle the growth of these new kinds of materials.

Beginning in 1948, a separate fund was created to acquire Inter-American and Caribbean materials in order to support the growing academic interest at the university in Latin America. In addition, the library’s exchange program added materials to this collection, as did duplicate material from the Library of Congress, and in 1951 a Latin American Bibliographer was appointed. Despite growth in these new materials, and increased growth of the regular collections, the library still found its collections to be insufficient due to the poor budgets of previous years. While the university was second among Southern universities in enrollment and fourth among them in size of faculty, the library was only eighth in terms of number of volumes held.

An organizational review of the library took place in 1948, since new areas of academic interest created needs that the library found difficult to keep up with. It was also during this time (1947) that an Assistant Director of Libraries position was created. Attention was also given to the professional development of the librarians with the start of a Department of Library Science within the College of Arts and Sciences during the Fall semester of 1949. This instructional program at the undergraduate level was intended to prepare students for admission to a graduate library school program and lasted until the early 1970s.

The decade of the 1950s was one of continued post-war growth, both in student enrollment and in the library collection. In addition to the enlargement of the Main Library, there was a storage facility near the Gainesville airport, a University College Reading Room building west of the Main Library, and an increasing demand for college and departmental reading rooms. In 1951, a Subcommittee on Branch Libraries (of the Committee on University Libraries) was established to deal with branch library policies and to approve the establishment of new ones. A Rare Books Collection was established in 1951, as was an Archives Department and the Latin American Collection. Sara Y. Belknap established the Belknap Dance and Music Archives in 1953, and the Special Collections Department began in 1959. Portagraph photocopy machines were also placed in the Libraries in April 1959 (and it cost $0.20 a page to make a photocopy).

President J. Hillis Miller established the University Archives on 24 March 1951 with a memorandum to deans, directors and administrative heads. President Miller explained that the core of the archives would be records in his office, then being used by Samuel Proctor to compile a history of the university. After this use they would be placed in the library to start the archives, which were to be increased through donations from the colleges and departments. Margaret E. Knox, Head of the Reference and Bibliography Department, issued the first report on The Archives - University of Florida in which she defined the archives and provided guidelines for what should be contained in the archives. The Special Collections Department was established in 1959 to improve the care and maintenance of several collections then held by the libraries, including the Creative Writing Collection, a poetry collection, the Rare Book Collection, and the archives.

An important contribution to cooperative collection development and networking began in the 1940s and was joined by the libraries shortly afterward. In 1952, the libraries became part of the Farmington Plan, assuming responsibility for Caribbean publications in all subject areas. The Farmington Plan was proposed by the Library of Congress at a meeting in Farmington, Connecticut in 1942, developed by the Association of Research Libraries in 1944, and first implemented in 1948. It was an effort among American research libraries to cooperatively collect materials, with each library assuming responsibility for acquiring and maintaining publications in specific subject areas or geographic regions.

Professional development of the Libraries also occurred during 1956 when the library was admitted to two prestigious groups. The library joined the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASRL) as part of the original group when ASRL was inaugurated in 1956 and also joined the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) during the same year when only 42 libraries were members.

Having moved from one building to another, one last expansion was made in 1956 when the Agriculture Library relocated to McCarty Hall in October 1956 and was named in honor of H. Harold Hume, Provost Emeritus for Agriculture and Dean Emeritus of the College of Agriculture (it was dedicated on 1 December 1956). Earlier in 1953, this library that began an outreach, or distance learning, program with the initiation of an annual workshop for librarians and Agriculture Experiment Station staff. Each year the workshop was held at one of the Stations, moving the program around the State.

It became evident that the Main Library needed yet more library space and thought was given to expanding out behind the library, between it and Peabody Hall, and throughout the area between the Main Library and the Law College. This general area in the northeast corner of campus was considered future library space. Keyes D. Metcalf, Librarian at Harvard University, was brought in as a consultant on the library’s future development. He recommended an entirely new building be constructed rather than continuing to add piecemeal to the Main Library. As a result, and in keeping with thinking at the time, the Committee on University Libraries recommended in 1961 that a graduate library be built and that the Main Library become an undergraduate library.

In addition to these considerations about the library’s future, another comprehensive review of the library system took place during Fall semester 1959 and was reported in February 1960 by the Subcommittee on Long-Range Library Development. Once again, the lack of space was emphasized, along with the problematic creation of departmental libraries and reading rooms by the academic departments to cope with the need for more materials and facilities. This report tied in with the Metcalf recommendations that were presented the following year, concluding that another library was definitely needed.

Yet another report on the libraries was presented during Spring semester 1962, this time an institutional self-study which was part of a university wide study for the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. This study reviewed resources (books, periodicals and other materials), space (for resources and staff), staff (qualifications and competencies), organization, service quality, and financial support. None of these areas were deemed sufficient to meet the needs of a growing university, which experienced a 400% increase in annual enrollment during the post-war years. But even though there were insufficient book budgets, the lack of space for the collection was still a serious problem and 40,000 volumes had to be stored in Century Tower and the Auditorium basement.

Due to the ever-expanding collection, the one millionth book was acquired and the celebration of this accomplishment took place 22 March 1963. This book was The Great Bible, a 1541 edition designed to supercede previous bibles and ordered to be placed in every church in England by Royal decree. Other important rare books were donated as well for the occasion, and the P. K. Yonge Laboratory School Library was dedicated in honor of Arthur R. Mead.

Since the beginning, the library collected federal documents, in particular agricultural documents, and was already a federal and state depository library. In 1963 the Libraries became the Florida Regional Depository for federal documents. A Teaching Resources Center for audio-visual services was established at the Main Library in July 1965. This replaced the Audio-Visual Department established back in 1950 in order to better serve the increasing number of classes using this technology. A growing resource in this area was the microforms, which began to appear in the library’s holdings in the early 1960s. First came microcards and microfilm, followed in November 1962 by the first microfiche.

As microform technology was taking hold, another technology was beginning to develop. In 1962, an assistant to the director for machine services was appointed to oversee the automation of various library services and to oversee the libraries role in an Information Retrieval Center for Florida. During 1963, some librarians began taking courses on computers offered at the university and others attended a workshop at the National Agriculture Library on automation of library services, which involved both advanced data processing and electronic technology. Other computer courses and conferences were attended at the University of Illinois Graduate School of Library Science (1965), at the university (1966, 1967), and at the Library of Congress (1966). This automation decade was capped off with the hiring of a Systems Analyst in 1968 and the appointment in 1969 of an Assistant Director for Systems.

A Subcommittee on Library Development was established in 1966 to review branch libraries. During its first year it reported on problems with departmental libraries. Six satellite libraries were recognized and approved, including one for agriculture/biological sciences, architecture/fine arts, education, engineering/physical sciences/chemistry, health sciences, and law. Chemistry and physics each wanted to retain separate libraries (chemistry having had one for many years previously), and music and business administration both wanted their own libraries. In addition, a number of departments had reading rooms, particularly in the sciences. The Subcommittee was trying to determine if the policy to discourage departmental libraries should be discontinued or modified, and whether it would be advisable to combine chemistry, physics, mathematics, astronomy and geology into a central physical sciences library.

The Subcommittee on the Impact of Automation on Libraries was also established in 1966 to consider the use, techniques and capabilities of electronic information processing, storage and retrieval on library services. Working with the University Business Office, the library developed a computerized circulation system. And in 1966, the library was one of fifteen to be invited to work with the Library of Congress in its first pilot project to develop a computerized catalog information system (the MARC project / Machine Readable Catalog Copy). By 1967, computer generated lists of serials were being produced. Planning for automation needs were being made and additional progress would be made in the following year. In November 1967, the Subcommittee on Library Development revealed its ideas for a centralized science library in order to prevent the proliferation of science branch libraries. This subcommittee thought the biological science collection should be incorporated in an expanded Hume Agriculture Library and a new building should be constructed at the Northwest corner of Newell Drive and Radio Road to house a physical sciences (or basic and applied sciences) library.

Still other technologies were developing and in 1966 both the Law and Health Libraries participated in a long distance xerography project for transmitting photocopies via telephone lines. [Library News Letter, 1966] March 1967 saw the establishment of a GENESYS Library to support the university’s GENESYS program begun in Fall semester 1964. This Graduate Engineering Education System provided graduate courses for working engineers in Daytona Beach, Orlando and Cape Kennedy via a television network between GENESYS Centers at these three locations and the GENESYS program at the university.

On 21-22 April 1967, the Graduate Research Library (Library West) was dedicated and the original Main Library (Library East/Smathers Library) became the undergraduate College Library. These names were changed to Library West and Library East in Fall 1970 when the original concept separating the collections changed. The new graduate library opened with space for about 600,000 volumes, 600 seats, 265 carrels, 34 faculty cubicles, and was designed so that an additional unit of about 80,000 sq. ft. could be added on the north side for additional growth in the future if needed. In addition, with increased stack space and a library dedicated to the undergraduates, the stacks were opened to the students. In Fall 1967, Stanley West left the University of Florida to be University Librarian at the University of Hawaii and Margaret Goggin became the Interim Director.

Social and Collection Challenges, 1967 - 1984

Margaret Goggin served as Interim Director for two years (1967-68) and Annette Liles for one month (July 1968) until Gustave Harrer began as Director (appointed May 1968, started August 1968 and served 1968-84). No sooner had Harrer become the new Director, than significant automation activities, having been developing during the previous years, began to take shape.

MARC at University of Florida was a report (1968) discussing problems encountered since the library was invited to participate in the MARC project in 1966. Library participation was hampered because of the lack of computer knowledge among the librarians and the need to rely on the central university computer center. Another report, Automation Proposal (April 1968) recommended the library become automated, invest in computers and hire systems personnel. The Subcommittee on Library Automation supported the conclusions of these reports and recommended the library develop faculty identification cards in order to implement an automated circulation system and that the library hire a consultant to help develop an automation master plan. The library, in partnership with the Orlando Public Library, also received a federal grant to study the use of facsimile transmission of information between libraries.

No doubt because of these computer related needs and the recognition of an electronic future, a Systems Analyst was hired in 1968, an Assistant Director for Systems in 1969, and a computer programmer in 1970. There was also a need to manage the Information for Campus, Community and Commerce (ICCC) program that started in 1971. This program was part of the libraries reference service for automated information, which involved over a half dozen cooperative programs using shared computer databases and the acquisition of over 1,000 reels of magnetic tape containing bibliographic and other databases.

Meanwhile, the Subcommittee on Library Development was continuing its work on the idea of developing a central science library. Another Committee on Plans for a Science Library was formed in Spring 1968 and a Science Materials Council formed in 1970. In September the Library Director sent a letter to UF President Stephen C. O’Connell asking the university to give a high priority to the central science library, an idea that was favored by George K. Davis, Director of the Division of Biological Sciences, E. T. York, Provost of IFAS, and W. Ellis Jones, UF Director of Planning.

A Florida Conservationist Environmental Library collection was formed at Library West in 1972. In 1973, Library West experimented with 24 hour service during final exams. Also in 1973, with the appointment of an Assistant Director for Special Resources, the Special Collections Department was reorganized as the Division of Resources and consisted of several collections: the newly named Belknap Collection for the Performing Arts, the Rare Books and Manuscripts collection, the P.K. Yonge Library of Florida History, and the University Archives. This same year included the appointment of a Map Librarian and the beginning of the Map Library. A Book Endowment Fund and University of Florida Patrons of the Libraries were established in 1974.

Additional automation developed during 1973-75 when the Libraries began to access the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) database and install OCLC terminals throughout the libraries. The early to mid-1970s saw an increase in the number of bibliographic databases, with the librarians providing fee based searching services for faculty and students. The two millionth book was acquired in 1979. In 1980-81, the Libraries acquired the NOTIS software for running a PC based, automated online card catalog and circulation system. This system was installed for use in 1985-86 and was inaugurated statewide as LUIS in 1986-87 (with 4.1 million bibliographic records). It was also during this time (1980?) that the library’s Systems Office (the Department of Systems and Computer Based Operations) was established to better manage the increasing role of computers in library services. This period ended with the tragic shooting of Harrer and the attempted shooting of others by a former library employee in 1983. Harrer was partially paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair, and although he retained an office at the library and continued his research and work (he was appointed Distinguished Service Professor and University Bibliographer), he stepped down as Director in 1984 and Max Willocks took over as the Interim Director.

Electronic Era, 1984 - 2003

Beyond the Sesquicentennial, 2003 - Present

  Max Willocks served as Interim Director for two years (1984-85) until Dale Canelas was appointed Director (1985-present). The latter half of the 1980s was a time during which the online catalog was inaugurated (soon to evolve into a complex set of databases and electronic resources), CD-ROM databases (which were short lived and soon replaced by Internet databases), the construction of a new centralized science library, renovation of Library East (Smathers Library), and the renovation and expansion of Library West. Electronic resources (e-indexes, e-journals, e-books, databases and the Internet), library organizational changes, and library construction would dominate the following decades.

LUIS (Library Users Information Service - the library’s online catalog) appeared on dumb OPAC terminals (Online Public Access Catalog monitors using monochrome text only) throughout the libraries during 1986-87. It was one of the first uses of the NOTIS management system software and was supported by the newly created Florida Center for Library Automation (FCLA) for use at all the State university libraries. This modest electronic beginning was soon supplemented with other databases made available on CD-ROMs, which were run on PC computers. This new CD-ROM capability allowed users to search the literature themselves and thus replaced the fee based searches that characterized the 1970s and early 1980s.

After a long history of science branch libraries, the Central Science Library was open with full service in March 1987, combining the agriculture, chemistry, engineering, physics and astronomy libraries (as well as the science collections remaining in Libraries East and West, such as mathematics and geology). It was dedicated on 3 March 1989 and named Marston Science Library in honor of Robert Q. Marston, seventh President of the University (1974-84). This prompted a reorganization of the Library West staff, creating the Humanities and Social Sciences Reference Department and the Collection Management Department. This latter development was a follow-up to the creation of a collection management program in 1985, whereby the librarians took over the materials budget for their subject areas from the academic faculty. Thus the librarians became subject specialists (selectors) reporting to bibliographers (one each for the Humanities, the Social Sciences and the Sciences) and were responsible for acquiring and managing the books, journals, microforms, and electronic resources.

Further organizational development of the Libraries occurred with the establishement of the Personnel Office in 1985, the Business Office in 1986, the beginning of the Development Office in 1987 (informally at first as a fund raising and public relations effort - a formal Office was not established until the late 1990s), the Collection Management Department in 1987, and the Facilities Management Office in 1990.

Library East received a $2 million gift from George A. Smathers in 1989, which lead to renovation of Library East during 1994-1998. In addition, Special Collections and Technical Services moved into Library East from Library West. The Map Library had already moved to the Marston Science Library. This gift, however, would be followed by an even larger $20 million gift from Smathers to the Libraries in 1991, the largest gift received by the University up to that time. In recognition of this gift, the Libraries were named in the former Senator’s honor as the George A. Smathers Libraries. In 1993 the Libraries added their three millionth volume.

CD-ROMs would have a short existence as library databases. As early as 1988, the Libraries (along with 41 other Land Grant Universities) participated in a National Agricultural Library Text Digitizing Project. In 1993, the Libraries acquired 17 e-journals (e-books would be acquired in 2001) and during the early 1990s several other electronic resources were offered in addition to the online catalog. This was also the time during which the Internet was developing and in 1997-98 LUIS switched to an Internet based WebLUIS system. Electronic resources, including e-journals and e-books were made available online through the Internet and CD-ROMs were no longer used for library services.

With the dawn of the new century, the Digital Library was inaugurated in 2000, as was the PALMM (Publication of Archival, Library and Museum Materials) project. While the Digital Library was UF based, the PALMM project was a cooperative digital venture to support individual or cooperative initiatives among all the Florida university libraries and to digitize important special collections throughout the university system (however, the UF contributions to PALMM are being incorporated back into the Digital Library in 2006). A GIS (Geographic Information Systems) librarian was also added in 2000 due to the widespread use of this computer technology in academic programs in many subject areas. In Spring 2000 a pilot project for providing online reference service was launched and in February 2001 RefeXpress was introduced through WebLUIS. An Institutional Repository was established in 2006.

As the university sesquicentennial (and that of the libraries as well - 2003) approached, the library holdings reached four million volumes, the WebLUIS/NOTIS catalog/electronic resources system was replaced by the Exlibris/Aleph library management system, and planning got underway for an addition to Library West. The building closed at the end of the semester, December 2003, for construction and reopened on August 2, 2006. Electronic resources steadily overtook print (in 2002 some titles long available only in print and recently in both print and electronic became available only in electronic and/or the print versions were dropped) and the future of information resources began to unfold.

A great many of our librarians are approaching retirement and this will have a profound effect on the libraries over the next decade, as will the continuing electronic resources revolution. In addition, Dale Canelas, our longest serving Library Director, will retire in January 2007. With the opening of Library West another shift of collections and staff have been made, but not enough to alleviate our materials space problems (for this a newly acquired building, once again near the Gainesville airport, has been turned over to the libraries for storage space). New academic programs continue to be added and graduate studies are once again receiving increased attention. As in the past, the libraries will evolve to meet the expectations demanded by these changes and by the expectations of the profession in general. Other than this modest prediction, no others will be attempted. One can hardly even imagine what the libraries will be like 150 years from now, for they have changed unimaginably from what they were 150 years ago.