University Libraries History Series
Part 6
Historical & Current Facts
How many people visit the University Libraries? Thanks to turnstile statistics, we know that Strozier typically gets 6000-10,000 visitors per day when open 24 hours, and around 3000-5000 when open limited hours, while Dirac gets about 800-2000 visitors per day. An average of 40,000 people a week enter the library buildings.
How many people visit the libraries online? In the past year, over One and a Half Million people visited the libraries from off campus 4 Million times. On November 30th, 2010 we hit a record just under 10,000 off-campus visits to the www.lib.fsu.edu website. On Saturday, December 25th, the libraries had 274 hits, the lowest number of online visitors.
Where our online visitors come from
Each reference desk gets around 200-600 questions per day, totaling 80,000-100,000 per year.
Another 900 instructional presentations to groups was provided.
How many items are checked out of the library every year?
In 2010, a combined total of 386,637 items were circulated from all eight campus libraries. The libraries Inter Library Loan service provides 20,000 items to other institutions and another 20,000 items to FSU students, faculty, and staff.
How many volumes does Strozier hold? How has this changed over the years? What about the other libraries? When it was first built, Strozier already held over 500,000 volumes. Within 10 years, this had increased to over 750,000, necessitating the construction of the Annex. This brought the total floor space in Strozier to 200,000 square feet. Thanks in part to the construction of other campus libraries and remote storage facilities, the FSU libraries now hold a combined 2,886,054 items, with about 850,000 stored in Strozier directly. The rest are either in off site storage, including the Technical Services building, or in the subject libraries:
the Dirac Science Library (which holds 500,000 volumes itself in 73,000 square feet of space)
the Engineering Reading Room
the Allen Music Library
the Law Research Center
the Maguire Medical Library
the Goldstein Library/Information Studies Library
In addition to books, these collections contain over 9.8 million microform materials, 257,419 audiovisual recordings, and subscriptions to 81,141 serials and periodicals.
Despite this, however, the number of physical volumes held in the libraries has actually declined from a peak of over 3.4 million in 2006, as printed materials are replaced by online databases including books, print journal titles, and serials, and multi-media items.
What kind of electronic resources are available? How many of each?
Over 400 online research databases (link to http://www.lib.fsu.edu/eresources/a.php) are currently available directly through the FSU Libraries website. Including discipline-specific databases accessible though the other campus libraries, Florida State University subscribes to a total of 754 research databases, giving FSU's students, faculty and researchers access to millions of digital articles on any subject, from history and literature to medicine to engineering. Also available electronically are a collection of over 878,000 e-books and over 53,000 electronic journal titles. For more details, see the FSU FACTBOOK (http://www.ir.fsu.edu/reports.cfm?ID=sf_factbook) from the Office of Institutional Research.
What else can students check out, besides books and media?
Undergraduate Technology Services has several Dell Latitude D620 lap tops for loan for library use only, along with accessories like headphones and AC adapters. Also available are two Canon Rebel digital SLR cameras, a Panasonic HD camcorder, several Canon Powershot still cameras and Flip Ultra mini-camcorders, and Acer digital projectors. There are ten main floor Smart Rooms with hi-tech Smartboard projectors and whiteboard walls, and eight individual and group study rooms on the 3rd Floor Annex. (
For more information see the Undergraduate Technology LibGuide. For faculty and graduate students, the second and third floors of the Annex include 120 study carrels. Also available to grads and faculty are the study rooms, two conference rooms, and the Instructional Classroom in Scholars' Commons in the Strozier basement. Additional graduate study carrels are available in the Dirac Science Library.
DID YOU KNOW?
SUB-BASEMENT
Unusual not just for a library, but for any building in Florida, Strozier has a basement and a sub-basement.
The sub-basement, which was built as part of the Annex in the 1960s, is located under Scholars Commons and the Digital Library Center.
Much of the sub-basement is taken up by Special Collectionst, which houses many of the most sensitive and valuable materials in the entire collection, including Medieval Texts and the Napoleon Death Mask.
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| SubBasement Shelving |
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| Compact Shelving in the SubBasement |
LIBRARY ENTRANCE The current library entrance is radically different from how it was originally set up. For most of its existence Strozier had separate, dedicated entrance and exit doors.
The original entrance was located where the fire doors are now, near the front elevators and stairwell. This was changed again with the recent renovations that included the establishment of the Starbucks and "Club Stroz" study-cafe area: The Starbucks is now located where the entrance was, and the current entrance/exit used to be an exit only.
 
Much of the above data comes from NCES, the National Center for Educational Statistics
Part 5
STROZIER: THE BUILDING
THE STROZIER LIBRARY BUILDING
Strozier Library was originally built during the 1950s, with $2,076,296.36 in funding appropriated by the Florida Legislature in 1953.
The library opened in June of 1956 - 55 years ago this month - and was officially dedicated by President Doak S. Campbell and Librarian Norman Kilpatrick on November 9th of the same year.
In 1961, it was named in memory of University President Robert Manning Strozier, less a year after his death while in office (see Part 4, below).
The 109,000-squre-foot original layout of the library included, in its basement, a large auditorium and the first dedicated space and classrooms for the Library School.
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From the very beginning, the Strozier Library was divided into sections by discipline.
It was also divided into distinct sections for undergraduate assignments and general reading on the first floor, with the second and third floors dedicated to graduate and faculty research. Though the library has since been completely reorganized, this organizational structure remains in effect, with undergraduate services on the main floor and graduate/faculty services in the basement. |
Since the 1950s, the library has undergone numerous additions, renovations, and changes since then to keep pace with the many changes that have occurred socially, academically, and technologically over the last half century. |
The first of these was the construction of the Library Annex, which opened in September 1967 and was supervised by Library Directory N. Orwin Rush. The Annex, with an additional 107,530 square feet of floor space, nearly doubled the size of the library. It included a fourth and a fifth floor above the three main floors of the original library building, as well as a sub-basement below the existing basement. In addition to doubling shelf space, the Annex also added additional dozens of new study tables, additional graduate-study carrels, and a 4th-floor smoking lounge that has since been removed. |
Later changes included the moving of many of the science materials to the then-newly-built Paul A. W. Dirac Science Library in 1988-89, a process delayed by problems with funding and construction, moving the Library School into its own building across Landis Green, and increasing automation and computerization throughout the next three decades, from the advent of the computerized library card system in 1970 to its current status as an electronic information access center. |
During the 1990s, Strozier was massively renovated and modernized for the first time since the construction of the Annex in the 1960s. These changes included making the building compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, safe removal of asbestos insulation, and repairs to plumbing and the HVAC system.
It also included a major reorganization of the layout of the library, with greater emphasis placed on public computers and internet terminals. To comply with the needs for more space, the Technical Services departments were moved out of the Strozier building and into a new facility on Madison Street. These renovations accompanied the introduction of the LUIS online catalog system and the library web page.
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The most recent renovations occurred just within the past two years, with the addition of the Starbucks cafe, security turnstiles, new Smart Rooms, and wiring for additional computer terminals on the main floor.
Campbell, D. S. (1956). President's report for biennium ending June 30, 1956. Florida State University. Retrieved from http://digitool.fcla.edu:80/R/-?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=332173&silo_library=GEN01
Dedication: Florida State University Library [event program]. (1956, November 9-10). In FSU Libraries Special Collections Vertical File.
Miller, C. E. (1980). Memoranda to Dr. Jerry Miller, Director on Campus Planning, regarding renovation of Strozier Library. Professional correspondence. In FSU Libraries Special Collections Vertical File.
Florida State University Libraries (1991, June 12). Strozier Libraries renovation facilities program. In FSU Libraries Special Collections Vertical File.
News flashes: Automation comes to Strozier (1970). Florida State University. In FSU Libraries Special Collections Vertical File.
Robert Manning Strozier Library fact sheet (1968). Florida State University. In FSU Libraries Special Collections Vertical File.
Robert Manning Strozier Library offers many conveniences. (c. 1970s). Florida State University. In FSU Libraries Special Collections Vertical File.
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Part 4
WHO IS DR. ROBERT MANNING STROZIER:
The History of the Strozier Library's Namesake
- Portrait of Robert M. Strozier(1960) by Frank Bensing, in the lobby of Strozier Library
"A University's first responsibility must be to the intellect, but it must not neglect its search for moral and spiritual perfection." - R. M. Strozier |
Dr. Robert Manning Strozier served as President of Florida State University from 1957 until his death in 1960. He was born on July 20, 1906, in McRae, Georgia, and attended Emory University in Atlanta, where he earned his Bachelor's and Master's degrees.
In the 1930s he served as a French instructor, first at the Georgia College for Men at Tifton, and later at West Georgia College and the University of Georgia. |
In 1945 he earned his PhD in romance languages from the University of Chicago, where he was appointed as a Professor and eventually Dean of Students.
While studying in Chicago, he met with wife, Margaret Burnett, whom he married in 1936.
Dr. Strozier also spent a portion of his postgraduate career studying at the Sorbonne, in Paris, France.
He would return to both Chicago and Paris as a guest speaker several times.
Dr. and Mrs. Strozier with two of thier three children |
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Dr. Strozier was appointed President of the Florida State University beginning with the Fall 1957 term, less than a year after the opening of the FSU library that now bears his name. 
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| Dr. Strozier arriving in Tallahassee with Margaret, 1957 |
Dr. and Mrs. Strozier celebrating with Dr. and Mrs. Charles Rovetta and Jim Reese |
Tragically, his term as president was cut short when he suffered a sudden heart attack while on a speaking engagement in Chicago. He died shortly thereafter, on April 20, 1960, less than three years into his term.
On February 10, 1961, FSU's library was dedicated in memory of President Strozier, and has been known as the Robert Manning Strozier Library since. |
Part Three
What's in the Library? The FSU Collections
STROZIER GENERAL COLLECTIONS |
The general Strozier collections include most of the works in our collection for the general interests of the student body.
This includes all of the main circulating and reference collections - popular and literary fiction, general and subject-specific nonfiction, current and back issues of periodicals, DVDs of popular and art films and television, and even media equipment and computers.
Strozier also hold course reserves and textbooks for specific classes, which can be checked out on a short term in-library bases.
Also included in the general collections are research materials such as bound historical periodicals, encyclopedias and other in-library reference guides, and a huge collection of online subscription databases and e-journals.
Best of all, all of this material and more from the departmental libraries are all easily accessible through the main library catalog, by browsing the collection. |
DIRAC SCIENCE COLLECETIONS and the PAUL A. M. DIRAC COLLECTION
First opened in 1989, the Dirac Science Library contains most of Florida State University Libraries' general collections relating to the fields of mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry, agriculture, technology, engineering, animal culture, photography, and culinary arts.
It includes over half a million volumes and over 11,000 electronic journals.
It also contains the manuscript collections of its namesake, the Nobel Laureate quantum physicist Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac, who spent the last 13 years of his life as Professor of Physics at Florida State University.
The materials in this collection include most of Dirac's research, his student and professional writings, and his correspondence with other notable scientists, and were donated by Dirac and his wife between 1984 and 1997. |
CLAUDE PEPPER LIBRARY AND MUSEUM - POLITICAL COLLECTIONS
The Claude Pepper Library, in the Claude Pepper Center on Call St., is the home of FSU's political manuscripts, media and artifact collections.
It was founded in 1985 to house the personal and professional records and belongings of Congressman Claude Pepper, a liberal Democrat who played a major role in promoting labor, civil rights, and health care.
Pepper served in the Florida House for a single term (1929-1930), as U.S. Senator for Florida from 1936 to 1950, and as U.S. Representative from Miami from 1962 until his death in 1989.
The Claude and Mildred Pepper Collections contain a huge variety of materials from the entirety of his long political career.
The other main collection at the Claude Pepper Library is the Askew collection.
This holds the papers and materials of Governor and Ambassador Reuben Askew, who served as the 37th governor of the State of Florida from 1971 to 1979. |
STROZIER SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
 Founded by former library director Louise Richardson in 1957 with the opening of what would become Strozier Library, the Special Collections Department has grown over the decades to encompass a wide variety of rare, unique and historically significant materials.
Florida State holds the largest and most extensive collection of materials related to Napoleon Bonaparte and the French Revolution outside of France, including one of only 3 original molds of Napoleon's Death Mask.
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Other Special Collections of note include the FSU History Collection, the FSU Heritage Protocol, and numerous manuscript and book collections related to Florida and Southern history, including the American Civil War and the 20th century civil rights movement.
Additionally, Special Collections holds a variety of specialized Rare Books collections, including:
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COMING SOON: ASIAN RELIGIONS COLLECTION
 Purchased in 2008 with the help of Bryan J. Cuevas, John F. Priest Professor of Religion, from the University of Virginia, this is a huge new collection of Asian religious texts and materials.
It includes approximately 25,000 items in English, Sanskrit, Tibetan, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and several other languages and covering a broad range of subjects related to the role and influence of religions on Asian societies and cultures.
This collection is currently being held in Technical Services, where it is being cataloged. It is expected to be available before the end of the year.
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(please also see http://www.fsu.edu/news/2008/08/21/asian.collection/)
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Part Two
Who's the Boss?
Deans and Directors 1897- Today |
H.E. BIERLY
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Librarian, West Florida Seminary: 1898-1900
Professor of Physical Science and Biology
A. Arbuckle and H. E. Bierly, the first two librarians at the West Florida Seminary/Florida State College, were both science professors at the West Florida Seminary prior to being designated Librarians. During the 19th century, the position of Librarian was assigned to a member of the existing faculty, and did not exist as a standalone position until the hiring of Mary Apthorp in 1903.
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pictured with the FSC Naturalists Club, 1897
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Head Librarian, Florida State College: 1903-1905
Head Librarian, Florida Female College: 1905-1909
Head Librarian, Florida State College for Women: 1909-1912
Ms. Apthorp was the college's first dedicated librarian. Prior to becoming Librarian, Ms. Apthorp obtained a A.B. degree from Boston University and a second A.B. degree at Florida State in Greek and Latin. She also worked as a teaching assistant in Greek, Latin and English while receiving correspondence training in librarianship, and continued to teach languages while serving as Librarian.
In December of 1908, Ms. Apthorp was elected President of the Florida Library Association. In 1912, she married the widowered Ft. Myers politician Louis Asbury Hendry and moved with him back to Lee County.
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FRANCES NEWMAN
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Head Librarian, Florida State College for Women: 1912-1913
Biographical/Historical Note*
Frances Newman was born on September 13, 1888 in Atlanta, Georgia, the daughter of William Truslow and Frances Perry Alexander Newman. Her mother was a descendant of early Tennessee settlers (the great-granddaughter of the founder of Knoxville, Tennessee).
Newman's schooling included Calhoun Street School, Washington Seminary, and Agnes Scott College (Decatur, Ga.). She graduated from the Atlanta Carnegie Library (later Emory University School of Library Science) in June 1912.
After completing her education, Newman worked as the librarian at the Florida State College for Women in 1913. In 1913 or 1914, she was the librarian for the Atlanta Carnegie Library (now Atlanta-Fulton Public Library). In 1923, she left Atlanta for a year to study at the Sorbonne in Paris. In 1924, she returned to Atlanta and became head librarian for the Georgia School of Technology. She held this position for two years.
She started her literary career by reviewing books. A friend, James Branch Cabell, encouraged her to work on other literary pieces. She wrote her first short story in 1924, titled Rachel and Her Children, which won the O Henry Memorial Prize. That same year, she published The Short Story's Mutations. By 1926, Newman had completed her first novel, The Hard-Boiled Virgin. The second followed in 1927, Dead Lovers are Faithful Lovers. Her last work, Six Moral Tales from Jules Laforgue (translation), was published posthumously. She died suddenly on October 22, 1928 in New York City. Although it was reported that she died of pneumonia and a brain hemorrhage, it was discovered that a drug overdose was the true cause of death.
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Head Librarian, Florida State College for Women: 1913-1917
Ms. Davidson, was a graduate of the Carnegie Library Training School, (later Emory University School of Library Science).
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Head Librarian, Florida State College for Women: 1917-1919
Graduated from in 1907 from Carnegie Library of Atlanta (later Emory University School of Library Science) then was a librarian at the State Normal School, Jacksonville Ala.* -see note Before being appointed Head Librarian at the Florida State College for Women.
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LOUISE RICHARDSON
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Head Librarian, Florida State College for Women: 1919-1920, 1922-1947
Anna Louise Richardson was Head Librarian at both the Florida State College for Women and was later the first Library Director of the Florida State University. Richardson was first hired as FSCW's librarian in 1919, and after a brief dispute over her salary would serve in this capacity from 1922 until 1953, when she resigned as Head Librarian to mange the library's newly created Special Collections Division. During her tenure, Richardson oversaw a huge expansion of the collections from 10,000 to 343,444 volumes and the construction of the original library building. She also helped launch the librarian training program that eventually became the School of Library and Information Studies under Dr. Louis Shores. Louise Richardson served as Head Librarian of Florida State University: 1947-1953 then Librarian for Special Collections: 1953-1960.
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RUTH WOOLMAN
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Head Librarian, Florida State College for Women: 1920-1921
Woolman, having been employed previously by the University of Cincinnati as Assistant Calaloger in 1900, served as interim Librarian for two years between the initial departure of Louise Richardson and her return as permanent Head Librarian in 1922. In that year the library held 15,000 books.*
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LOUISE RICHARDSON (again) |
Richarson returned in 1922 and stayed on as librarian until 1953.*
(note: The legislature made the Florida State College for Women coeducational and changed its name to The Florida State University. This is an interesting development as it marks the first time in the U.S. higher education that a leading institution for women was made coeducational.)*cite
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NORMAN KILPATRICK
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Director of Libraries, Florida State University: 1953-1957
Norman Kilpatrick was the last library director to serve out his tenure in the old Dodd Hall building. He helped to supervise the construction of a new library building - what is now Strozier Library. As library director, he worked with librarians in Georgia to help found the interstate Southeastern Interlibrary Research Facility. He also started a club on campus for enthusiasts of rare books, maps, and manuscripts, called the Bibliographical Associates, in 1954.
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FLORENCE BETHEA |
Director of Libraries, Florida State University: 1957-1958
Florence. Bethea was appointed by Louise Richardson as the first dedicated Assistant Librarian for Periodicals in 1928. She continued to serve as a librarian for both the Florida State College for Women and the Florida State University in a variety of capacities for 39 years. In 1957, she became the interim director of the newly built library with Kilpatrick's retirement. Previously, she served as Assistant Library Director, Florida State University: 1947-1957 and Periodicals Librarian, Florida State College for Women: 1928-1947
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N. ORWIN RUSH
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Director of Libraries, Florida State University: 1958-1973
N. (Nixon) Orwin Rush began is library career in the 1930s at the New York Public Library, where he served as assistant librarian. His academic career began as librarian and Professor of Bibliography at Colby College in Maine, from 1936-1945. He was then hired in the same capacity at Clark University in Massachusetts, and four years later became Library Director and library school dean the University of Wyoming, Laramie. He also served as the very first Executive Secretary of the Association of College and Research Libraries from 1947 to 1949.
Subsequent to his directorship at FSU Libraries, he served for four years as the Library Director at Amarillo College. In addition to being a librarian, he was a published author of historical books, including a biography of Western writer Owen Wister and a history of the Spanish role in the American Revolution.
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Director of Libraries, Florida State University: 1973-2000
Charles Miller was the second-longest-serving library director after Louise Richardson. He came to FSU from Louisiana, where he had served as a librarian at the Louisiana State University from 1966-1969 and as Associate Director of Libraries at Tulane University from 1969-1973. During his tenure the FSU Library collections more than doubled. As library director during the computing revolution of the 1980s and 1990s, he played a major role in the implementation of public access computers and online databases at FSU and helped oversee the construction of the Dirac Science Library in 1989. Miller was also responsible for organizing the Florida chapter of the Association of College and Research Libraries, and served as Chair of the Florida Center of Library Automation and President of the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries and the Panhandle Library Access Network.
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Director of University Libraries, Florida State University: 2000-2001
Dr. Summers began his career as the director and first professional librarian at the Cocoa Beach Public Library. Following this and a few years running a larger library in Providence, RI, he was appointed to serve as State Librarian of Florida from 1965-1969, during which he helped to launch the state's goverment-documents program, a statewide public library summer-reading program, and one of the first statewide interlibrary loan systems. After this, he earned his Doctorate in Library Science from Rutgers and and was appointed Assistant Dean and eventually Dean of the library science school at the University of South Carolina. After 14 years at USC, he returned to Tallahassee to become Dean of the FSU College of Information, and during the 2000s he stepped in twice to serve as interim Dean of University Libraries, after the departures of Charles Miller and Althea Jenkins. Dr. Summers positions at FSU included Professor of Library and Information Studies and Dean of the College of Information.
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ALTHEA JENKINS
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Director of University Libraries, Florida State University: 2001-2005
Dr. Jenkins was a professor of education in addition to being a librarian, and the first African-American woman to serve as Library Director at FSU. Prior to her appointment, she served as a professor and Library Director at Miami-Dade Community College and at the University of South Florida's Sarasota campus. She served from 1990-2001 as Executive Director of the Association of College and Research Libraries. She holds a B.S. degree from Florida A&M University, a Masters in Library and Information Science from FSU and a Doctorate in Higher Education from Nova Southeastern University, and was given the FSU School of Library and Information Studies' Distinguished Alumni Award in 2000. She retired at the beginning of 2006.
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F. WILLIAM SUMMERS |
Director of University Libraries, Florida State University: 2005-2007
Dr. Summers returned to serve as interim director a second time from Dr. Jenkins's retirement in 2005 until the hiring of current Dean Juila Zimmerman in 2007.
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JULIA ZIMMERMAN
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Dean of University Libraries, Florida State University: 2007-Present
Current Dean Julia Zimmerman began her library career as a clerk for FSU Libraries while working on her bachelor's degree in English as an FSU student.
After earning an MLS degree from Emory, she would serve as an Assistant Librarian at Pennsylvania State University and the Georgia Institute of Technology, before eventually becoming the Dean of Libraries at Ohio university, where she worked until making the move to FSU in 2007.
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References:
ACRL (Fall 2001). Staff changes at ACRL: Jenkins steps down as Executive Director. ACRL Chapter topics, 22 (2). Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/about/chapters/topics/ctfall2001.cfm
Elish, J. (2007). FSU alumna Julia Zimmerman to lead University Libraries. FSU news. Retrieved from http://www.fsu.edu/news/2007/01/12/library.director/
Johnson, B.S. (1981). N. Orwin Rush : a biographical appreciation and an annotated bibliography. Tallahassee, Fla.: Florida State University Libraries.
Call Number: Z720.R95J6
Louise Richardson and the Florida State University Library. (1975). Tallahassee, Fla.: Florida State University Libraries.
Call Number: LD1771.F92L68 1975.
"N(ixon) Orwin Rush." Contemporary authors online. Detroit: Gale, 2001. Literature resources from Gale. Retrieved 31 May 2011 from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?&id=GALE%7CH1000085854&v=2.1&u=tall85761&it=r&p=LitRG&sw=w.
Sellers, R.J. (1995). Femina perfecta: The genesis of Florida State University. Tallahassee, Fla. : FSU Foundation.
Call Number: LD1771.F92S45 1995
Summers, F. W. (Interviewee) & FSU College of Information. (2008, November 20). Dr. F. William Summers 2008 interview. [video file]. YouTube, fsuCI channel. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cHvwk1BVWE
http://www.library.gatech.edu/archives/finding-aids/search for information related to Frances Newman
Public Libraries, A Review of Library Matters and Methods, Volume 22, 1917, Library Bureau, Chicago. Digitized by Google
*from: American Sociological Review; Feb48, Vol. 13 Issue 1, p100-102, 3p., Academic Search Premier
*(Richardson) Richardson, Louise, d. March 5, 1963. Head Librarian, Florida State University 1919-1920 & 1922-1953. (Bowker Annual; 1964).
University of Cincinnati record, Volume 2, pg. 25; University of Cincinnati. Digitized by Google
Part 1: Dodd Hall / The Florida State College for Women Library
"The half of knowledge is to know where to find knowledge."
The building now known as Dodd Hall is one of the most striking examples of the Collegiate Gothic architectural style on the Florida State University campus. What visitors to FSU may not realize, however, was the Dodd Hall was originally built as the Florida State College for Women Library.
For its first two decades of existence, the Florida State College for Women's "library" was housed in a cramped classroom in the Westcott Building. Though requests to build a proper library were first put to the Legislature in 1907, it was not until the 1923, under the leadership of President Edward Conradi and Librarian Anna Louise Richardson, that a dedicated library was built.
Designed by architect Rudolph Weaver and constructed in two phases between 1923 and 1929, this building housed the Library for 31 tumultuous years, from the completion of its west wing and in 1925 until the opening of the Robert Manning Strozier Library in 1956, by which point the Library's collection had grown from 25,500 volumes and 166 periodicals to over 300,000 volumes - more than double the original intended capacity of the building. This era also saw major changes at the school, most notably the post-World War II transition from the Florida State College for Women to the coeducational Florida State University.
Dodd Hall was given its current name in 1961, in honor of William George Dodd, Professor of English and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences from 1910 until 1944. Since that time, it has been occupied by the Graduate School, the English Department, and the PBS station WFSU-TV, and it is currently occupied by the Department of Philosophy. It underwent renovations, including an all-new stained glass window, during the 1990s.
For more information, see:
Laurie, M.D. (1999). Guide to Florida State University and Tallahassee. Sarasota, Fla.: Pineapple Press.
Call Number: LD1771.F93L38 1999.
Louise Richardson and the Florida State University Library. (1975). Tallahassee, Fla.: Florida State University Libraries.
Call Number: LD1771.F92L68 1975.
Sellers, R.J. (1995). Femina perfecta: The genesis of Florida State University. Tallahassee, Fla. : FSU Foundation.
Call Number: LD1771.F92S45 1995
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The construction of the East Wing, 1929. |
The entrance to the FSCW Library as it appeared in 1930 |
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The FSCW Library reference reading room as it appeared in the 1920s |
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