Finding Aid
Prepared
by Barbara Bass, July 20, 2005
63 record storage boxes, 4 half-size record storage boxes, 1 oversized flat box, 1 textile box, 2 large audio boxes, 1 LP, 1 small audio box, 1 video box, 2 cd boxes; 73.25 cubic feet; 11th floor
The library for Kent State Normal School opened on May 19, 1913 in Merrill Hall. The school's first librarian Margaret Dunbar and her sister, assistant librarian Isabelle Dunbar were charged with cataloging and making available the library's initial collection of 3,680 volumes which the school had acquired that same year. In the fall of 1914, the library was relocated to the new Administration Building where it remained until 1929 when a new library building was dedicated--Rockwell Hall. In 1958 an addition to Rockwell was completed that expanded its stacks space from 160,000-volume capacity to 550,000. Throughout the 1960s, as the University grew from a college to a university granting graduate degrees and focused on research activities, the need for expanded library collections and facilities became more acute. In 1962, the library was designated as a government documents repository. It was also during this decade that many of the subject-based branch libraries were established. In 1970 a new, 12-story library building was dedicated. In 1974, the KSU Libraries became members of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). Today Libraries and Media Services is made up of fourteen libraries in an eight-campus library system, providing university users access to a collection that includes both print and online resources numbering over 2.6 million volumes. It also includes media service departments including Teleproductions, Design Solutions, and Audio-Visual Services.
For selected milestones in the history of Libraries and Media Services, please see the chronological outline that has been prepared. This also includes the names and dates of appointment for each of the library directors and deans.
This collection contains records produced by and about Libraries and Media Services at Kent State University. Included are annual reports, Deans' and Directors' files, governance and other committee records, subject files, audio-visual materials, and artifacts. Materials date from 1914 through 2006, but the bulk of the material dates from 1966-1997. Material is added to this collection on a continual basis.
The Libraries and Media Services Records have been organized into the following series and sub-series. The series list links to more detailed finding aids for materials within each series.