UCLA Library

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UCLA Library
Established	1883
Number of branches	12 libraries; 11 other units
Collection size	8,000,000 (books); 70,000 (serials)
Population served	65,612 UCLA faculty, staff and students (not including the surrounding population in Los Angeles)
Director	Gary Strong
Employees	1,175 (125 librarians; 350 staff; 700 student employees)
Website	http://www2.library.ucla.edu/

The library system of the University of California, Los Angeles has over eight million books and 70,000 serials spread over 12 libraries and 11 other archives, reading rooms, and research centers. It is among the top 15 largest library systems in the United States, and among the top 10 university library systems in the nation. ^[1] It is a Federal Depository Library, California State Depository Library, and United Nations Depository Library.

Contents 1 Brief history of the library system 1.1 1883- 1944 1.2 1944- present 2 List of libraries and other campus collections 3 Images of UCLA libraries 4 External links 5 Notes

[edit] Brief history of the library system

[edit] 1883- 1944

The University Library at Los Angeles (as it was originally known) was founded in 1883, two years after the establishment of the Los Angeles State Normal School. The first book it acquired was Hayden's Survey of Wyoming and Idaho.^[2] Run by a staff of four in 1919, the collection grew to 24,000 volumes. In 1931, the Library ranked 36th in the country, according to the Princeton Library Survey. By 1964 it ranked 11th, with more than two million volumes, and was one of the youngest and most important libraries in the country. Elizabeth Fargo became the first University Librarian in 1910 until she retired in 1923.

By the time John E. Goodwin became librarian in 1923, the staff had increased to 12 and the collection to 42,000. He planed for the orderly expansion of the library by the immediate reclassification of books from the Dewey Decimal System to the Library of Congress Classification System. He also opposed and eventually defeated a proposal at the time to make the library at Los Angeles an adjunct collection of a main research library at UC Berkeley.

Under Goodwin's direction, the Main Library, now the College (undergraduate) Library, was built in 1929 when the university moved to its present location in Westwood, Los Angeles, California. The Library and Royce Hall, which have come to symbolize UCLA's beautiful campus, were two of the four original buildings on the Westwood campus. Architects George Kelham and David Allison felt that Westwood's rolling hills and promixity to the ocean suggested northern Italy. Both buildings were constructed in an adaptation of the Lombardian type of Italian Romanesque architecture and many aspects of the Byzantine. Moorish touches were added to the basic design because of the Spanish influence in the history of Southern California. ^[3] Goodwin also saw the bequest of the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library to UCLA in 1934. By the time Goodwin retired in 1944, the Library collection grew to 462,000 volumes supported by 52 staff members.

[edit] 1944- present

Lawrence Clark Powell became the next and most famous University Librarian. During his tenure (1944-1961) the Library underwent major physical expansion; the central book stack was completed; and the library provided new collections to support many new programs of study. He was also founding Dean of the School of Library Service (now part of the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies) from 1959 until 1966. About his work for the UCLA libraries, Powell wrote: "I saw the University Library's stock of 285,000 volumes increase to 2,000,000, the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library transformed from a bookish mausoleum to a center of biblio-scholarly activity, a staff of 35 grow to 300, a library school come into being, and UCLA become known internationally as a dynamic place of books and learning."^[4] Several facilities at UCLA would later be named after Powell, including the College (undergraduate) Library.

Robert Vosper was appointed as University Librarian in 1961, and the following year, ground was broken for the first unit of the University Research Library, now Young Research Library, named for Charles E. Young, which was completed in 1964. At that time, "some 14 miles of books and four million index cards" were carted across the Los Angeles campus to the new six-story building, which then became the administrative center for the campus library system. The Main Library was then converted to the College Library.^[5]

Vosper was succeeded by Page Ackerman in 1973 until her retirement in 1977. She was the first woman in the United States to head such a large and complex library system. Ackerman was a leader in developing the Library's innovative administrative network, which became a model for library management systems across the country, and she played a key role in getting the UCLA Library staff covered by the public employees retirement system. One of the major developments during Ackerman's tenure was the increasing coordination of efforts by the libraries of all UC campuses, which was initially brought about by state budget problems.^[6]

UCLA's most recent University Librarians have been Russell Shank (1977-1990), Gloria Werner (1990-2002), and Gary E. Strong (2003 - present).

[edit] List of libraries and other campus collections

As of 2006,

• Arts Library
  

  

  Powell Library
• Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library
• College (undergraduate) Library (Powell Library)
• Hugh & Hazel Darling Law Library
• Richard C. Rudolph East Asian Library
• Eugene and Maxine Rosenfeld Management Library
• Music Library
• Charles E. Young Research Library
• Science and Engineering Library
• Southern Regional Library Facility
• Gonda Family University Elementary School Library
• William Andrews Clark Memorial Library [1]
• ASUCLA Library
• American Indian Studies Center Library
• Asian American Studies Center Reading Room
• Center for African American Studies Library
• Chicano Studies Research Center Library
• Grace M. Hunt Memorial English Reading Room
• Ethnomusicology Archive
• Film and Television Archive
• Institute for Social Science Research Data Archives Library
• Instructional Media Library
• UCLA Oral History Program

[edit] Images of UCLA libraries

College (undergraduate) Library/ Powell Library	Charles E. Young Research Library	Eugene and Maxine Rosenfeld Management Library	The Hugh and Hazel Darling Law Library
Music Library	William Andrews Clark Memorial Library

[edit] External links

• UCLA Library Home
• Library locations at UCLA

[edit] Notes