Connecticut's Library Heritage
The expansion of the library at Eastern Connecticut State University directly reflects the growth of the university it serves. Since 1889, the library has grown from one room with a few books to a multi-story building with state-of-the-art telecommunications and the latest equipment in multi-media information technologies.
The Willimantic Normal Training School opened September 3, 1889 in the Willimantic Savings Institute building at the corner of Main and Bank streets. A diagram in the 1889-90 school catalog shows the school occupying seven rooms above the bank, with the library "located off the assembly hall."; The stated mission of the library was ";to support the educational needs of the students and faculty" -- mission that has not changed over the past one hundred years.
The library subsequently moved to a room in the "new administration building" in 1895. The collection grew. By 1941, the library of the then Willimantic State Teachers College consisted of a suite of rooms on the building's second floor, boasting a collection of over 21,000 volumes (including a "valuable collection of stereographs"), 95 seats in two reading rooms, and a "modern card catalog". However, an early morning fire on August 27, 1943 destroyed the old brick structure that housed the administrative office, the library, and most of the classrooms.
In 1947, a new administrative facility (now Shafer Hall) was completed. The library occupied one whole wing with a collection of over 15,000 volumes, which was re-built after the fire through purchases and many gifts of duplicate items from other college and public libraries throughout Connecticut. The wing served the faculty and students well until it was "bursting at the seams" with a collection of over 60,000 volumes plus the demands from "new technologies such as video, sound, and electronic tapes and recordings," according to former director Dr. Helen Sill. She was charged to begin planning for a separate library building in 1968
The result was the 45,000 sq. ft J. Eugene Smith Library, which was dedicated on June 12, 1971. It was named in honor or Dr. J.Eugene Smith, distinguished educator and president of Eastern from 1947 to 1966. The two-story building was again "bursting at the Seams" with collection growth and demands from new information technologies, so planning for a much larger building commenced in earnest in 1992. In 1993, program planning was completed, followed by two years of building design. Groundbreaking took place in 1995. Eastern';s president Dr. David G. Carter worked tirelessly to obtain bond fund for the building. Construction began in October 1996, and during the Christmas/New Year break in 1998/99, library staff moved from the old building to their new quarters.
The old J. Eugene Smith Library was designed with two principles in mind: flexibility in space and the ability to accommodate "data in many forms, including video, audio, microprint, pamphlets, pictures, periodicals, and books." These are the very same principles that the planning team for the new Smith Library followed. For example, different kinds of spaces are provided for users: traditional seating arrangements at carrels and tables, lounge chairs, a 24-hour study, computer classrooms, seminar rooms, group study rooms, individual research study rooms, a Community/Conference room, and a Center for Instructional Technology (for faculty development purposes). All are designed to enhance the concept of the "library as a place." Another good example is the load bearing capacity. Two principles of load bearing were implemented: all floors have a load bearing capacity of at least 150 pounds per square foot; and where a floor is expected to have compact shelving installed in the future, the load bearing capacity was increased to 300 pounds per square foot. This will provide flexibility in shelving and seating arrangements for years to come.
Certainly, we hope that the second principle is faithfully followed – the ability to accommodate new information technologies. We were able to install fiber optic telecommunications and level 5+ wiring for future expansion. On opening day, over 500 data jacks were activated, among the many more that will provide future capacity. The library not only offers a flexible telecommunication infrastructure (complete with conduit space, network rooms, telecommunication rooms, and server rooms), but also utilizes wireless technologies as well as cable television, a satellite dish with multiple receivers, etc. Computers and other machinery may be outdated in a few months' time and the future is hard to predict, but the new Smith Library is currently using only 25% of its infrastructure capacity and will be able to accommodate new developments for years to come.
Eastern Connecticut State University prides itself in being very "personalized" in its service to students. Indeed, the new Smith Library has been designed to be a people-friendly place with plenty of natural lighting, interesting and thought-provoking art pieces, and visible and conveniently located service points for user assistance.
The library will further serve as the future home to the Eastern Connecticut Libraries CLSU. At a recent meeting to plan the move of ECL from Franklin to Willimantic, ECL director Pat Holloway became very excited at the prospect of being able to offer continuing education opportunities and other services to librarians and libraries of all types in eastern and southern Connecticut, capitalizing on the many "connected" and computerized rooms in the new library. In this, the new J. Eugene Smith Library has broken symbolic new ground. Like its mother institution ECSU, the library's mission is no longer "to support educational needs of the students and faculty" only; it has expanded to serve the region and the state at large. The Smith Library has always been active in resource sharing with other Connecticut libraries in the past, but hosting ECL in the new facility will offer many more avenues for service. We very much look forward to these exciting opportunities.