George and Mary Foster Anthropology Library
Occupy Cal occupied the anthropology library for 3 days following cuts to library hours and resources.
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| Established | 1956 |
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| Coordinates | 37°52′11″N 122°15′19″W / 37.869843°N 122.255285°WCoordinates: 37°52′11″N 122°15′19″W / 37.869843°N 122.255285°W |
| Collection | |
| Size | 80,000 (volumes) |
| Access and use | |
| Population served | 43,000 Cal faculty, staff and students in addition to the Bay Area |
| Other information | |
| Staff | 3 (1 librarians; 2 staff; 10+ student employees) |
| Website | http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/libraries/anthropology-library |
The George and Mary Foster Anthropology Library is one of the subject specialty libraries at University of California, Berkeley, and is one of only three anthropology libraries at American research universities. The other two are at Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania. All three universities have specialized anthropology libraries and museums in support of their anthropology departments.
The Anthropology Museum and anthropology department at UC Berkeley were founded in 1901, followed by a small departmental library established before 1909.
Yet "when I came to Berkeley in 1948, there was no Anthropology Library,” professor John Rowe wrote. Rowe found it difficult to access anthropology books scattered throughout the Main library, and so established a one-room anthropology library in the department's new temporary quarters. The two-floor anthropology library was eventually established in Kroeber Hall in 1959.
Rowe goes on to say that anthropology students finally got their own space in Kroeber in 1959.
According to LibraryThing: The Anthropology Library at Berkeley was established in 1956 as a separate branch of the UC Berkeley libraries. It moved to its current location in Kroeber Hall in 1959. In 1997, the library was named for Berkeley anthropologists George & Mary Foster."
The UC Berkeley anthropology library was renamed after Berkeley anthropologists George and Mary Foster in 1997.
When the campus threatened to close specialized libraries in 2012, Occupy Cal led the UC Berkeley Anthropology Library Occupation 2012. Forming a “study-in” of the Anthropology Library for three days and two nights of January 19–21, the group issued demands to the university administration, saying:
“We chose to occupy this space because the Anthropology library is a recent victim of extreme service cuts. The hours of operation are being cut from the previous, already slim, 9am-6pm to the current 12pm-5pm… We call on the administration to take immediate action to hire another full-time librarian… Why have the UC Regents continued to approve 21% increases in administration salaries, while students are being denied access to their libraries?”
As of 2009, the Anthropology Library has over 80,000 volumes of books and bound journals., comparable to Harvard's Tozzer Anthropology Library, which now holds 80,000 volumes, and more off-site.
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Wikipedia