University of California, Los Angeles Library

Last updated
UCLA Library
Powell Library, UCLA (front view).jpg
Established1883
Branches12 libraries; 12 other units
Collection
Size9 million (books); 70,000 (serials)
Access and use
Population served65,612 UCLA faculty, staff and students in addition to the Los Angeles metropolitan area
Other information
Budget$34 million annually
Director Virginia Steel
Staff1,175 (125 librarians; 350 staff; 700 student employees)
Website http://library.ucla.edu/

The library system of the University of California, Los Angeles, is one of the largest academic research libraries in North America, with a collection of over nine million books and 70,000 serials. The UCLA Library System is spread over 12 libraries, 12 other archives, reading rooms, research centers and the Southern Regional Library Facility, which serves as a remote storage facility for southern UC campuses. It is among the ten largest academic research library systems in the United States, and its annual budget allocates $10 million for the procurement of digital and print material. [1] It is a Federal Depository Library, California State Depository Library, and United Nations Depository Library.

Library Organized collection of books or other information resources

A library is a curated collection of sources of information and similar resources, selected by experts and made accessible to a defined community for reference or borrowing. It provides physical or digital access to material, and may be a physical location or a virtual space, or both. A library's collection can include books, periodicals, newspapers, manuscripts, films, maps, prints, documents, microform, CDs, cassettes, videotapes, DVDs, Blu-ray Discs, e-books, audiobooks, databases, and other formats. Libraries range widely in size up to millions of items. In Latin and Greek, the idea of a bookcase is represented by Bibliotheca and Bibliothēkē : derivatives of these mean library in many modern languages, e.g. French bibliothèque.

University of California, Los Angeles Public research university in Los Angeles, California

The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), is a public research university in Los Angeles. It became the Southern Branch of the University of California in 1919, making it the fourth-oldest of the 10-campus University of California system. It offers 337 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in a wide range of disciplines. UCLA enrolls about 31,000 undergraduate and 13,000 graduate students and had 119,000 applicants for Fall 2016, including transfer applicants, making the school the most applied-to of any American university.

United Nations Intergovernmental organization

The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization responsible for maintaining international peace and security, developing friendly relations among nations, achieving international cooperation, and being a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations. It is the largest, most familiar, most internationally represented and most powerful intergovernmental organization in the world. The UN is headquartered on international territory in New York City; other main offices are in Geneva, Nairobi, Vienna and The Hague.

Contents

History of the library system

1883–1944: Laying a foundation

The University Library at Los Angeles was founded in 1883, two years after the establishment of what was then known as the California State Normal School. The library's first acquisition was Survey of Wyoming and Idaho by Dr. Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden [2] In 1910, Elizabeth Fargo began her tenure as the university's first librarian and by 1919, the University Library was operated by a staff of four. By 1931, the Library had collected 24,000 volumes and was ranked 36th in the country by the Princeton Library Survey. [3]

California State Normal School

The California State Normal School was a teaching college system founded on May 2, 1862, eventually evolving into San José State University in San Jose and the University of California, Los Angeles in Los Angeles.

Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden U.S geologist and surgeon

Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden was an American geologist noted for his pioneering surveying expeditions of the Rocky Mountains in the late 19th century. He was also a physician who served with the Union Army during the Civil War.

Upon Elizabeth Fargo's retirement in 1923, John E. Goodwin took the helm as librarian for a collection of 42,000 volumes, tended to by 12 staff members. Goodwin planned 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 to make the library at Los Angeles an adjunct collection of a main research library at UC Berkeley.

Dewey Decimal Classification Library classification system

The Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC), colloquially the Dewey Decimal System, is a proprietary library classification system first published in the United States by Melvil Dewey in 1876. Originally described in a four-page pamphlet, it has been expanded to multiple volumes and revised through 23 major editions, the latest printed in 2011. It is also available in an abridged version suitable for smaller libraries. OCLC, a non-profit cooperative that serves libraries, currently maintains the system and licenses online access to WebDewey, a continuously updated version for catalogers.

Library of Congress (de facto) national library of the United States of America

The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the de facto national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. The library is housed in three buildings on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.; it also maintains the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center in Culpeper, Virginia. The library's functions are overseen by the librarian of Congress, and its buildings are maintained by the architect of the Capitol. The Library of Congress claims to be the largest library in the world. Its "collections are universal, not limited by subject, format, or national boundary, and include research materials from all parts of the world and in more than 450 languages."

Starting in 1929, Goodwin oversaw the construction and development of the Main Library, which was built after the University settled in its present location in Westwood. 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 had grown to 462,000 volumes, supported by 52 staff members.

Powell Library library

Powell Library is the main college undergraduate library on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Powell Library is also known as the College Library. It was constructed from 1926 to 1929 and was one of the original four buildings that comprised the UCLA campus in the early period of the university's life. Its Romanesque Revival architecture design, its historic value and its popularity with students make it one of the defining images of UCLA.

William Andrews Clark Memorial Library library

The William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, one of twelve official libraries at the University of California, Los Angeles, is one of the most comprehensive rare books and manuscripts libraries in the United States, with particular strengths in English literature and history (1641-1800), Oscar Wilde, and fine printing. It is located about ten miles from UCLA, in the West Adams district of Los Angeles, and two miles west of the University of Southern California. It is administered by UCLA's Center for Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Studies, which offers several prestigious fellowships for graduate and postdoctoral scholars to use the Library's collections. However, any reader with a serious interest in the collection is welcome to study.

1944–1961: The Powell years

Appointed to replace Goodwin in 1944, Lawrence Clark Powell began a series of systematic changes and acquisitions meant to increase the prestige of the UCLA library system. During Powell's tenure, the Library saw a major expansion of its facilities as the central book stack was completed. During this period, a concerted effort was made to provide new or more comprehensive collections to support the academic research that was being conducted on campus. In 1959, Powell was named the founding Dean of the School of Library Service (now part of the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies), a position he would hold until 1966. Several facilities at UCLA would later be named after Powell, including the Undergraduate College Library. About his work for the UCLA libraries, Powell wrote

Lawrence Clark Powell American librarian

Lawrence Clark Powell was a librarian, literary critic, bibliographer and author of more than 100 books. Powell "made a significant contribution to the literature of the library profession, but he also writes for the book-minded public. His interests are reflected in the subjects that recur throughout his writings; these are history and travel, especially concerning the American Southwest, rare books, libraries and librarianship, the book trade, and book collecting."

The Graduate School of Education and Information Studies (GSE&IS) is one of the professional graduate schools at the University of California, Los Angeles. Located in Los Angeles, California, the school combines two distinguished departments whose research and doctoral training programs are committed to expanding the range of knowledge in education, information science, and associated disciplines. Established in 1881, the school is the oldest unit at UCLA, having been founded as a normal school prior to the establishment of the university. It was incorporated into the University of California in 1919. The school offers a wide variety of doctoral and master's degrees, including the M.A., M.Ed., M.L.I.S., Ed.D., and Ph.D., as well as professional certificates and credentials in education and information studies. It also hosts visiting scholars and a number of research centers, institutes, and programs.

1961–1977: Accumulation and expansion

Robert Vosper was hired as University Librarian in 1961, and the following year, ground was broken for the first unit of the University Research Library, now the Charles E. Young Research Library. Completed in 1964, the construction of the Research Library entailed carting approximately 4 million index cards and 14 miles of books around campus. The newly completed six-story facility then became the administrative center for the UCLA Library system. The Main Library was then converted to the College Library. [5] By 1964, the Library ranked 11th in the country, with more than two million volumes. Having been founded only sixty years prior, the UCLA Library was on pace to becoming one of the most important libraries in the country.

Charles Emmett Young, nicknamed Chuck Young, is an American retired university administrator and professor. A native of California, Young led the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) for 29 years as chancellor and the University of Florida for more than four years as president. He now lives in Sonoma, California.

Vosper was succeeded by Page Ackerman in 1973, who served as librarian until her retirement in 1977. She was the first woman in the United States to head a library system of such a scale. Ackerman saw the development of the Library's administrative network, which became an innovative model for library management systems across the country. During her tenure, Ackerman oversaw an increased coordination of efforts with the libraries of all UC campuses, a necessity that came which was initially brought about by state budget problems. [6] Under Ackerman, the UCLA Library acquired collections on many important figures, including Ralph J. Bunche, Gertrude Stein and Anaïs Nin.

1977–present

Powell Library Powell Library, UCLA (10 December 2005).jpg
Powell Library

Since Ackerman's retirement in 1977, UCLA has seen a steady increase in collections, facilities and staff under librarians Russell Shank (1977–1990), Gloria Werner (1990–2002), Gary E. Strong (2003–2013), and Virginia Steel (2013–present). The library collection consists of more than 8 million volumes and more than 78,000 current serial titles and an aggressively expanding electronic resources collection. The UCLA Library is a member of the Association of Research Libraries, the Coalition of Networked Information, the Center for Research Libraries, the Council on Library and Information Resources, International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, and the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition.

List of libraries and other campus collections

As of 2006,

Images of UCLA libraries

Notes

  1. "The Nation's Largest Libraries" Archived 2006-12-01 at the Wayback Machine American Library Association. Retrieved December 13, 2006
  2. Hayden, F. V. Twelfth annual report of the United States geological and geographical survey of the territories: a report of progress of the exploration in Wyoming and Idaho for the year 1878. Washington: GPO, 1883
  3. Russell Humke Fitzgibbon, California State University (1965). Libraries of the University of California. University of California. p. 29.
  4. "A Tribute to Lawrence Clark Powell" Archived 2005-12-17 at the Wayback Machine UCLA Library. Retrieved December 13, 2006
  5. "Los Angeles: Libraries" University of California Digital Archives. Retrieved December 13, 2006
  6. "Obituary: Page Ackerman, Former UCLA University Librarian" UCLA News. Retrieved December 13, 2006

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