History of the Education and Social Science Library (1901-present)

The Education and Social Science Library started in 1901 as the Pedagogical Library. It was located in room 204 of University Hall (where the Union is currently located). The library was part of the Department of Education and received assistance from the Main Library. "Senior" and "junior" library school students staffed the library and "gained invaluable experience in organizing." The library housed a collection of textbooks, courses of study for all large city school systems, school laws, and related books and pamphlets. It was "Purported to be the 'nucleus of a representative collection of apparatus for the school laboratory.'" Between 1901 and 1911, the size of the collection ranged from 600 volumes and a small collection of pamphlets to about 1,600 volumes and over 3,500 pamphlets.

In 1911, the collection of the Pedagogical Library, along with other books in education, philosophy, and psychology, moved to rooms 192-196 in Lincoln Hall and became known as the Philosophy, Psychology, and Education Reading Room. Crowding and inadequate furniture were a problem for both patrons and staff. The librarian reported using a kitchen table as a circulation desk.

By 1924 the collection, then known as the Philosophy, Psychology, and Education Seminar, contained 4,496 philosophy volumes, 3,316 psychology volumes, and approximately 13,000 education volumes. The rooms at this time were still "frequently taxed beyond their seating capacity" and a few years later the librarian reported the rooms continued to remain "uncomfortably filled." Due to this, the Seminar moved from Lincoln Hall to the south end of the first floor in the Main Library in 1929. A year later the annual report states there was a 54.5% increase in circulation statistics since moving into the new building. These positive changes also came with a few drawbacks as the librarian reported, "Students whistle and shout as if they were on a public thoroughfare instead of in a library building." In 1931, the name was altered again to the Education, Philosophy, and Psychology Reading Room.

All departmental reading rooms located in the Main Library were renamed in 1944-1945 in recognition of their development to true departmental libraries. The name changed to the Education, Philosophy, and Psychology Library. Three years later the library moved to rooms 100, 100b, and 102 in the Main Library, which was the North Reserve Books Room until this point, in order to create space for the establishment of an undergraduate library in the south end of the building.

The first discussion of incorporating other subjects into the Education, Philosophy, and Psychology Library began in 1958-1959. In 1961-1962 serious consideration was given to a "Behavioral Sciences Library" which was to contain anthropology, education, political science, psychology, social work, and sociology. A formal proposal was submitted to use adjacent rooms 104 and 106, then the Physical Education Library, and room 112, the Classics Library, for the expansion. The funds to create the "Behavioral Sciences Library" were approved in 1963-1964, but in order to more easily facilitate changing the records, "Education" was retained as the head of the name. It was understood that the name would eventually change to "Behavioral Sciences Library" when the staff and money became available.

In 1964-1965, the Education and Social Science Library was created and expanded to fill rooms 104, 106, and 112. Rooms 104 and 106 housed the Instructional Materials Center, including the School Collection. The School (S) Collection was transferred from the Library Science Library, though they still maintained collection responsibilities. Philosophy materials were transferred out to the History Library. Room 112 contained open shelves, study space, and some periodicals. Other rooms were renovated and added to increase the size of the study area.

A year later in 1966, the History Library transferred the United Nations Collection to the Education and Social Science Library. It was held until 1997 when it was transferred to the Government Documents Library.

The library assumed complete responsibility for the S-Collection in 1975-1976. In 1993-1994, it was expanded through a grant to acquire 53,000 children's books from the Center for Research Libraries. This made the Education and Social Science Library's holdings of children's books second only to the Library of Congress!

Also in the early 1970s, the linguistics collection was transferred out of the Education and Social Science Library. A few years later in 1977, the speech and hearing collection was transferred in from the English Library. Responsibilities for speech and hearing were maintained until 1990-1991 when it was transferred to the Applied Health Sciences Library.

From 1969-1980 the College of Education was responsible for the Curriculum Materials Collection. In 1980, it was transferred to the Library to add additional instructional materials to the collection. Mention of collecting textbooks, specifically elementary school books, are made early in the history of the library. In a handwritten report from the 1930s, there is a reference to acquiring a number of textbooks for the collection: "The Tuttle Collection of 9,000 volumes, purchased in 19 ? from the Tuttle Co. of Rutland, Vermont added about 5,000 old, American textbooks to our collection." There are also numerous historical references to the test collection, which continues to be housed in the Education and Social Science library.

In order to stay technologically relevant, the physical card catalog was dismantled in 1990-1991 because it had not been maintained for some time. A year later the, "Use of internet for all staff for internal work procedures as well as for public service activities [was] a high priority." As internet access became an integral part of reference services, online live chat was launched in 2004-2005. A year later the library started using instant message services to provide reference assistance as well.

Also, in 2005 the bulk of the Women and Gender Resources collection was transferred to the Library with the remainder split between the main book stacks and other departmental libraries.

The library currently contains over 149,000 books, 1,600 serial titles and 557,000 microforms in the areas of anthropology, education, political science, psychology, social work, sociology, speech communication, and women and gender studies. In addition, the library houses special collections in the areas of Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security, tests, children's books and Curriculum Collections, Human Relations Area Files, and the Merten J. Mandeville Collection in the Occult Sciences. Librarians help patrons take advantage of these collections through in-person, phone, email, chat, and instant message reference services, in addition to online subject guides and blogs for children's literature, psychology, and social work.

Pictorial history of the Education and Social Science Library website

Acting/Head Librarians:
(dates and names may not be completely correct before 1924)

Content for this history was obtained from Education and Social Science Library annual reports, the Education Library File and University Library annual reports in the University Archives, and information from the Office of Collections website.