Anniversary
John Grant Crabbe Library Renovation
[The Library] contributes to the efficiency of every department of instruction. It is a place where every member of the faculty and every student, to the smallest pupil in the Training School, may come for information and for recreational reading. To accomplish its purpose, then, the school library should be made a many sided organization, ever growing and changing - a place in which beauty, order, and love of human intercourse may be felt on crossing the threshold. ~ EKU Library Director Mary Estelle Reid, 1928
In 1965, Eastern had just achieved official university status and President Robert R. Martin had his eye on his next big goal: enrolling at least 10,000 students. Essential to supporting those students and their drive toward academic excellence was the Library. Thus, a massive 19-month renovation of the John Grant Crabbe Library began. Ground for the nearly $3 million dollar project broke in 1965 after the Board of Regents accepted a proposal from the architectural firm Louis and Henry of Louisville. The plan nearly quadrupled the space of the Library, adding a fourth floor and increasing total capacity to about 3,000 patrons and 500,000 books. Additionally, over a quarter of a million dollars was allocated for the purchase of new books. But simply adding more space and books was not enough. The organization of the Library was completely re-envisioned “to bring readers and books within closer relationship and also to spread them through the library building.”1 The same spacious concept echoes in the Library today, promoting open creativity and intrepid curiosity. The design reinforces the vision of the space as a hub of knowledge, with librarians ready and willing to connect people to an array of resources
1918
1928
Library moves to the Cammack Building.
First student employees hired.
Ada J. Barter
1907
Eastern’s first central library established at Old Academy Building of Central University with 300 books. First librarian Ada J. Barter hired for $40 a month.
1924
Eastern's Library is built (it wasn't officially named John Grant Crabbe Library until 1929).
1 Source: John Grant Crabbe Library Dedication Program, 1967. To virtually flip through the Dedication Program and see other artifacts related to the construction and dedication,
4
visit discovereku.omeka.net/exhibits/show/libraryhistory.