LSU Libraries marks milestone

• Advocate News Features staff
• Published: Oct 18, 2009

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The year 1958 was significant for LSU. Not only did the Tiger football team capture its first national championship, but the university also opened a new, $3.5 million library.

LSU Libraries will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the dedication of the Troy H. Middleton Memorial Library at 2 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23, at the library. The event is free and open to the public.

During the celebration, a reception will be held in the library’s lobby. Also, several units in the building and next door at Hill Memorial Library will have special exhibits demonstrating the changes in library services over the last 50 years.

After opening on Sept. 11, 1958, the library quickly became one of the most popular places on campus. After 10 days, nearly 5,000 students a day were visiting and one in every 10 was checking out some of the 600,000 available books.

The formal dedication of the new library took place Oct. 23, 1959, as the first event of LSU’s Centennial year.

When the present campus opened in 1926, the main library was Hill Memorial Library, which is now the home of LSU Libraries’ Special Collections. The library had seats for only 375 students, while the projected student population was 3,000. However, LSU’s enrollment grew quickly, especially after World War II.

By 1947, enrollment was at 10,000 students. Hill Memorial Library had over-reached capacity for students and materials; 200,000 volumes made up the collections but Hill could hold only 65,000.

At the time it was built, Middleton Library had seats for 5,000 students, and more than 22 miles of shelving for one million volumes.

It had air conditioning, excellent lighting, large windows, and a modern modular system allowing wall partitions and stacks to be constructed and moved as needed. This feature has made it possible to meet the changing needs within the library over time.

The combined resources in Hill Memorial and Middleton libraries offer researchers strong support for instruction and research through collections containing almost 3 million volumes and a manuscript collection of more than 12 million items.

For those who cannot attend the reception or view the numerous exhibits, a Web site has been created that features fun activities related to the celebration. These include a crossword puzzle, a virtual scavenger hunt and a list of best books since 1959. The site can be accessed at http://www.lib.lsu.edu/admin/dev/midl50index.html.

For more information on LSU Libraries, visit http://www.lib.lsu.edu.

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