A Short History of NDSU Libraries

Library service at North Dakota State University (NDSU) began in 1891. In those days NDSU was called the North Dakota Agricultural College (NDAC) and was located downtown at the Fargo College.

The first attempts to organize a library consisted of each department ordering a small collection of books for their own use. In 1892, NDAC moved to College Hall (now called 'Old Main') and the Library (by now up to 200 volumes) was housed in a room within the building. By 1897, there were 3,100 volumes housed in one room in College Hall.

As the College grew, the library grew, and with this growth a need for a separate library building. In 1904, President John H. Worst, wrote to Andrew Carnegie's personal secretary asking about the possibility of having Mr. Carnegie fund a library building on campus. This effort proved sucessful for in 1905, Andrew Carnegie donated $18,400 to build the library. This building is now called Putnam Hall and currently houses the College of Business Administration. This new Carnegie library housed a collection of 9,000 volumes and had an adequate seating capacity for 75 of the 308 students enrolled.

As early as 1912 the Carnegie funded building was deemed inadequate for the rapidly increasing student body. As the collection outgrew Putnam Hall, several thousand books were housed in 'departmental' libraries. By 1924, 33,000 volumes were housed in Putnam, with an additional 6,000 in department libraries. By 1938 the collection stood at 43,000 volumes in the Library and 17,000 in departmental libraries.

Efforts began in earnest in the mid-1940's to get appropriations to build a new library. The ND State Legislature appropriated $200,000 towards construction of a new library in 1945 and appropriated an additional $200,000 again in 1947. Dedicated in 1950, the new library was hailed by Dr. Ralph Elsworth as being the first truly modular library building of any size and model for the nation. With a seating capacity for 500 readers and space for 300,000 volumes it was a much-heralded additon to the NDAC campus.

Student population and the library collection grew rapidly in the following years. In the mid-1970's the need for additional space was paramount. A major remodeling occurred in 1974 to redesign space for additonal stacks and readers, but that space, too, was soon absorbed. Repeated requests for expansion funds proved furitful in 1977 when the Legislature appropriated $2.5 million for an addition/remodeling project. Approximatedly 41,000 square feet was added to the existing building of 58,000 square feet. The facility dedicated in May 1980 provided a seating capacity of 700 readers and space for 400,000 volumes.

Today NDSU Libraries consists of the Main Library plus three branch libraries and houses collections of almost 1 million items. Resource sharing agreements provide access to information resources worldwide.