Daniel Burke Library hosted a celebration on Monday, Sept. 10, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of its dedication. Dean of Faculty Patrick Reynolds, Dave Smallen, vice president of Information Technology, and college archivist Kathy Collett spoke at the event.
Library staff honored Senior Acquisitions Assistant Abby Morton and Assistant Interlibrary Loan Joan Wolek, both of whom are current library staff members who also worked in Burke’s predecessor, the James Library. Morton started on July 19, 1965, and Wolek began work on December 1, 1971.
In 1968, President John W. Chandler announced that the James Library (now the Christian Johnson Building) was to be replaced by a new structure. The new building, designed by Hugh Stubbins and Associates of Cambridge, Mass., costing more than $5.5 million and housing up to 500,000 volumes in approximately 80,000 square feet, was completed on the site of the Truax Hall in 1972. The new building was named for Daniel Burke, class of 1893, a long- time chairman of the Board of Trustees who had done much to make possible the building of the James Library.
Today, Burke Library houses the Information Commons, Information Technology Services, and includes print and electronic materials. Special Collections of rare books and artifacts are stored on the third floor and include the Beinecke Lesser Antilles Collection, the Ezra Pound Collection, and the Communal Societies Collection.
For more about the library's history read the Spring 2011 Alumni Review article "Burke Turns the Page."
