Pre-Parks

A library has been part of the services available to students on the Iowa State campus since the institution’s early days. Originally housed on the first floor of the Main Building beginning in 1868, the library was in an 18 x 40-foot room on the ground floor and contained about 2,400 volumes. Two wings were added to the building in 1870, and the library moved to a new 35 x 50-foot room on the first floor of the south wing. The operating budget for the first year of the library was $2,329.66.

The library was administered by President Adonijah Strong Welch who would carry out the acquisition of materials while the day-to-day operation of managing the library was done by two senior female students.

Joseph Arthur was appointed at the November 1877 Board meeting as the first Librarian, with a start date of March 1, 1878, and a salary of $200. Arthur was in the first graduating class and had returned to the college and received a master’s degree in November 1877. Under his watch, the collection saw its first weeding project and the creation of a catalog of works that the library held. Arthur was also an instructor of botany and zoology.

A call for a dedicated library building had started as early as January 1870, and through a combination of increased enrollment, full-time staffing, and encouragement of use by the administration, the library had well outgrown its space. In 1890, the legislature funded a new building to house a library, museum, chapel, gymnasium, and laboratory space.

Morrill Hall was dedicated on June 16, 1891, with the new library located south of the central stairway on the first floor, with a capacity of 50,000 volumes. The new library was open for the fall 1891 term.

Fanny Thomas was appointed Librarian in November 1890 by the Board of Trustees, who approved her recommendation for a course in library instruction during the second semester of freshman year. Rhetoric was reduced from 4 to 3 hours to accommodate this change, and a 1-hour course in Library Work was added. The course covered four major subjects: How to Use the Library; The Classification and Best Reference Books in Each Class; The Best General Reference Books and Their Use; Books and How to Read Them. The course was first taught during the fall of 1891, and though the content and course number have changed over the years, undergraduates are still required to take a library course.

By 1903, President Albert Boynton Storms had requested funding from the Board of Trustees to support a stand-alone library building as well as an increase in funds for collection development. Increased use of the library had seen students using window sills as desks, and preventing the collection from fires was frequently cited as reasons for a new building. President Storms had contacted with Des Moines architectural firm Proudfoot and Bird seeking input on the design and cost of a new building. William T. Proudfoot provided a basic sketch and quote of $80,000 for a new fireproof library building. 1911, the legislature allocated $225,000 for a new library, but there was little movement in planning the new building. The library remained in Morrill Hall for two more years, and in 1913, the library was moved to the newly opened Central Building (now Beardshear Hall) to house the collection in a fireproof building.

The library took up extensive space on the west side of both the ground and first floors but still did not provide adequate space for books or study. This resulted in the creation of departmental libraries around campus.