UC Berkeley Library

  • American

Part of

A World of Information

The UC Berkeley Library consists of twenty-three libraries, including: Doe Library, Moffitt Undergraduate Library, Main (Gardner) Stacks, The Bancroft Library, Mark Twain Papers & Project, Oral History Center, Center for the Tebtunis Papyri, CV Starr East Asian Library, Engineering and physical sciences libraries, Life and health sciences libraries, Social sciences libraries, Arts and humanities libraries and Nine Affiliated libraries. Many of the libraries offer tours. Please also check a library's website for tour dates and times. Physical exhibits and online exhibits highlight the breadth of library collections and academic interests on campus. Free Speech Movement Cafe at the entrance to Moffitt Library, it is a casual place to gather, study, take a break with friends and colleagues or participate in a stimulating educational program.


Timeline

Y/M/D Description Association Composition Place Locale Food Event
Y/M/D Description Association Composition Place Locale Food Event
1868/00/00 Library established with the transfer of 1,036 volumes from the College of California. Established
1872/00/00 UCB Library holdings: 4,651 volumes, including one novel. UC enrollment: 151 students Work
1873/00/00 University moves to Berkeley. Located in South Hall, aided by a $2000 gift from Michael Reese, the Library buys the personal library of Professor Francis Lieber of Columbia University. FA Pioche bequeaths 1500 volumes of French literature and linguistics. Work
1875/00/00 Joseph C Rowell appointed the first University Librarian, UCB (he will serve until 1919). Library holdings: 13,000. Enrollment: 310 students. Work
1876/00/00 Joseph C Rowell creates the first card catalog, a hand-written subject catalog, 1876-1879. Work
1876/00/00 Henry Douglas Bacon of Oakland offers $25,000 towards the erection of a library building, together with his private collection of 1,410 library volumes, paintings, and statuary. Bacon Hall opens in 1881 and includes the Library and the Art Collection. Work
1879/00/00 Michael Reese's bequest of $50,000 for the Library comes to the University in July. It is established as the first endowment. Work
1881/00/00 Library moves to the Bacon Art and Library Building. University Librarian Rowell, up until now the sole staff member, hires a student assistant who also acts as janitor. Holdings: 17,000-plus volumes. Enrollment: 224 students. Work
1884/00/00 University of California Library becomes a depository for U.S. government publications. Rowell initiates the first system of inter-library loan. Work
1884/10/00 Rowell sends letters to 98 learned societies asking that Berkeley be placed on their mailing lists for complimentary publications. In exchange, the Library would provide cooperating libraries copies of publications produced at Berkeley (before UC Press.) Work
1890/00/00 Library holds 44,000 volumes University Librarian Rowell has one full-time assistant and a student-janitor. Enrollment: 457 students. Work
1897/00/00 James K Moffitt, UC graduate, class of 1886, establishes a book fund to which he commits to depositing $100 per year for the purchase of recent literature. Work
1898/00/00 The Library holds 71,000 volumes for 1,560 students. Work
1900/00/00 UC Berkeley Library collection is about 80,000 volumes. There are four staff members, and the library serves 1,988 students. Work
1905/00/00 The Hubert Howe Bancroft Library is acquired, including 60,000 bound volumes, 10,000 manuscript items, newspaper files, political transactions, early western imprints and rare books, all related primarily to California, western and Spanish America. Work
1906/05/00 Bancroft Library survives the 1906 earthquake, and is moved to Berkeley in May, 1906. Work
1908/11/29 On Thanksgiving Day, the cornerstone for Doe Library is laid. In 1904, San Francisco lumberman and bibliophile, Charles Franklin Doe, bequeathed $779,000 for the construction. However, construction was delayed by the 1906 earthquake. Work Doe Memorial Library Berkeley
1911/00/00 Library moves from Bacon Hall to new Doe Library (then comprised of 2 floors, 5 floors of stacks and the North Reading Room, with no Annex.) Collection is approx 210,000 volumes, and the campus enrollment is 3,746 students. Work
1912/03/23 Doe Library is formally dedicated on Charter Day, 1912. Work California Nursery Co Guest House Fremont
1915/00/00 UC Berkeley Library holdings reach 300,000 volumes Work
1916/00/00 SC Kiang Kang-Hu presents the Kiang family's library to the University, described at the time as the 3rd largest Chinese collection in the United States. Work
1919/00/00 After serving for 44 years, James Cummings Rowell steps down as the first University Librarian. Harold L Leupp becomes the second University Librarian. The collection contains over 400,000 volumes. Campus enrollment is 6,983 students. Work
1922/00/00 UCB Library collections exceed 500,000 volumes. University Librarian Leupp establishes a "Readers' Department," to coordinate reference and circulation. Work
1924/00/00 The Lange Library of Education opens in Haviland Hall. Work
1928/00/00 The Alexander F Morrison Memorial Library, a recreational reading room for students, is dedicated. It contains an initial gift of 15,000 volumes. Work
1930/00/00 UC Berkeley Biology Library is established in the Life Sciences Building. The Giannini Foundation Library is established to serve the needs of the Department of Agricultural Economics. Work
1943/00/00 Recommendation is made to the UC President that The Bancroft Library becomes part of the University Library. Work
1946/00/00 UCB Library becomes depository for United Nations documents. Library collections now total 1,236,334. Campus enrollment grows to 18,262. Work
1947/00/00 The East Asian Library is established. Work
1950/00/00 The Doe Annex is completed. UC Berkeley Library becomes the sixth largest academic library in the country. Campus enrollment balloons to 30,032 students. Work
1965/00/00 The Library acquires its 3-millionth volume. Work
1970/00/00 James K. Moffitt Undergraduate Library opens. Work
1971/00/00 UC Berkeley Library reaches the 4 million volume level. Work
1978/00/00 The collections now total more than 5 million volumes. Work
1988/00/00 The Library adds its 7-millionth volume. Work
1994/00/00 The collections grow to 8 million books. Student workers move more than 1.5 million volumes into the Gardner Stacks housed in the newly completed, 4-story underground addition that connects Doe and Moffitt Libraries. Work
1995/00/00 The Thomas J Long Business and Economics Library opens in the Haas School. Work
2000/00/00 The 9-millionth volume is added to the Library's collections. Work
2004/00/00 The Jean Gray Hargrove Music Library opens. Work
2005/00/00 The Library's holdings reach 10 million volumes. Campus enrollment reaches 33,000 students. Work
Shop Amazon

Shopping on Amazon

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Google Ad

Google Ad
?