A Brief History of USM Libraries

Mississippi Normal College, presently the University of Southern Mississippi, was established in 1910. When the college opened its doors to the first students on September 18, 1912, the library was located on

College Hall

the second floor of College Hall with the first book yet to be purchased.

Ten years later the library was in need of more space. Starting with an original collection of one dictionary, the library's holdings had increased to 3,500 volumes, 75 magazines, five daily newspapers and several weeklies.

In 1922 the library was transferred from College Hall to the newest building on campus, Science Hall, later to be known as Southern Hall . For almost two decades the library was housed in the west half of the first floor.

Mrs. Pearl Travis served a 13-year tenure as the college's librarian, which ended with her death in 1926. That same year the library gained its first qualified librarian, Miss Anna M. Roberts, who also served as the school's first professor of Library Science.

In 1934 the east wall of the library in Southern Hall was removed, doubling the amount of available space. Library materials and rooms replaced classrooms that had been in the east portion of the first floor.

As happens with libraries, the collection continued to grow. A new structure was needed to house the library. In 1939 a two-story

Old Cook Library [Kennard-Washington Hall]

brick building was completed, now known as Kennard-Washington Hall (or the Student Services Building). During the Christmas holidays that year, Roberts and a band of students transferred, through sleet and snow, 22,250 volumes to the new building.

This new library was officially named Joseph Anderson Cook Memorial Library in 1940, in memory of the first president of Mississippi Normal College.

In the 1950's, not one but two independent surveys concluded that the library should not be expanded. Rather, a new library building would be needed. The current library had been constructed without the input of the librarian or the faculty, and future expansion was not a major consideration at the time.

In 1956 the library reached its proposed capacity as the 75,000th book was added. Dr. W. D. McCain, the newly chosen president of what was now known as Mississippi Southern College, asked the legislature for $1 million for a new library. The legislature awarded $700,000. Begun in 1959, the library was completed at a cost of $855,000, in time for the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the college.

The structure was built to accommodate expansion. It was built to accommodate 200,000 volumes and could seat more than 700 students at a time. This structure is still a part of Cook Library, containing the Technical Services and Systems departments, the library lounge, the mailroom, a conference room, and portions of the reference and government documents collections.

Miss Roberts again supervised the transfer of over 100,000 books to the new library. It took place during the summer-fall break, and not a single day's library service was lost.

Miss Roberts retired in 1962 and was replaced by Dr. Warren F. Tracy, serving as librarian and chairman of the Department of Library Science. He was present when a new addition to the library was completed in 1968, making it the largest building on campus under one roof. The addition doubled the seating and shelving capacity of the library.

The 1968 addition now houses the microforms/periodicals materials and the reading room, many group studies and study carrels, and the continuation of the reference and government documents collections.

In the mid 1990's a massive construction and renovation project took place at Cook Library. The present two-story library contained asbestos that had to be removed. On the north side of the two-story structure a $13 million, five-story addition to the library was built. The project was completed in 1996.

The William David McCain Library and Archives buiding was built just south of Cook Library in 1976. It houses the University's archives and special collections such as the Mississippiana Collection, the de Grummond Children's Literature Collection, and oral history transcripts, among many other items.

The Gunn Educational Materials Center was established in 1965 by the College of Education and Psychology, as the Curriculum Materials Center. It was named on April 23, 1988, in honor of Dr. Eric McCoy Gunn, former dean of Education and Psychology.

Cox Library (at the USM Gulf Park campus) was dedicated in 1975, in honor of Dr. Richard Garfield Cox (1881-1967), founder and first president of Gulf Park College. USM acquired the former two-year liberal arts college for women in 1972. The library building was formerly an art studio, built in 1923.

[from http://www.lib.usm.edu/~develop/learn/history.html]