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Protest female student demonstration on
first floor, Olmsted Building to protest
their reassignment to a different dormi
tory in May 1968.
Capital Times
Library Collection Reflects Growth
Growth has continually been
the key word in describing the
Penn State University at Har
risburg library.
After one year of operation, in
1967, the total collection already
numbered 10,300 books and 566
periodicals. By if the growing col
lection was the good news, the
space it occupied was the bad
news.
By 1972, with the collection at
60,000 volumes and 13,000
periodicals, the space allocation
was critical. Areas used as
work/study areas for students
and library staff alike were
fading. In an effort to alleviate
the problem, in 1973 the library
expanded to use space in the ad
joining Academic Affairs Office.
Head Librarian Dr. Emerson
Jacob commented at the time
that this would be helpful for
another two years.
His concerns were not address
ed again until 1978. With 130,000
books, and the library bulging at
the seams, the board of trustees
approved $280,000 to add 5,000
square feet of space. The addi
tion, a pre-engineered metal
building was to be located nor
theast of the present library.
Jacobs said in an interview
with the student newspaper in
April 1978 that he was pleased
with the addition that he has been
fighting for since 1972, but that
the real problem was that a new
library was needed. He cited the
layout of the library as ineffi
cient. “The present library area
was never intended to be a
Empty library shelves awaiting arrival of
books in August 1966.
library, it’s just makeshift,” he
said.
Upon completion of the addi
tion in Spring 1978, additional
restoration on the newly renamed
Heindel Library was done, ex
panding it to adjoining areas in
an attempt to adapt the structure
to user’s needs. Several walls
which were previously for
classroom use were removed and
the floors carpeted.
The most recent example of the
library’s growth was the addition
of the Library Information Ac
cess System (LIAS), in 1985,
making it the first library in the
Aug. 27,1986
area to offer users direct access
to an on-line computer to search
the records of the entire universi
ty system. Not only does this save
the user a lot of time, but is far
more efficient. Dr. Charles,
Townley, head of the library divi
sion, commented at the time that
people without well developed
library skills would probably not
even come across many subtly
related topics in a card catalog
search.
Today, the Heindel library
houses 175,000 books, 1,450
periodical subscriptions, 800,000
units of microfilm, records, and
photocopier equipment.