Wichita State University Libraries
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| Type | Academic |
|---|---|
| Established | 1895 (as Fairmount College Library) |
| Location | Wichita, KS |
| Branches | 3 |
| Collection | |
| Size | over 2 million volumes |
| Access and use | |
| Population served | Students, Staff and Faculty of Wichita State University, surrounding community |
| Other information | |
| Director | Dr. Donald Gilstrap |
| Website | http://www.libraries.wichita.edu/ |
Wichita State University Libraries is a research library system with holdings of more than 2 million volumes, 236 databases and more than 70,000 journal subscriptions. Located on the University's main campus in Wichita, Kansas University Libraries serve the approximately 15,000 enrolled students of Wichita State University (WSU) while also providing services to the surrounding community. University Libraries serves as a regional United States Federal Government Documents Depository, a State of Kansas Government Documents Depository, and is the State of Kansas only Patents and Trademarks Library.University Libraries Special Collections and University Archives contains numerous rare books and incunabula, historical manuscripts collections and maps, photographic archives documenting Kansas history, and hosts the Wichita Photo Archives.
University Libraries has played a prominent role on the WSU campus throughout its history, beginning with the institution's founding as Fairmount College in 1895. The first campus library was a reading room on the third floor of Fairmount Hall, the first building constructed on campus. Paul Roulet, who was hired as a professor of mathematics and French served as the campus' first librarian until his death in 1903.
By the end of the first decade of the 20th Century, library collections had exceeded 20,000 volumes and had massively outgrown the original reading room in Fairmount Hall. The university opened its first library building, the Morrison Library, (named for the first President of Fairmount College, Nathan J. Morrison) in 1909, with the assistance of a $40,000 grant provided by Andrew Carnegie. The first Morrison Library had a neo-classical design, characterized by the doric-style columns on its façade. Sadly these columns are all that remain of this building, which was tragically destroyed by fire in 1964.
By the late 1930s library collections had exceeded the space in the original Morrison Library. A grant from the Federal Government during the New Deal provided the funds for a new library building, named the University of Wichita Library, opened in 1939. Petitioning by students and faculty caused the University to rename the Library the Morrison Library (present day Morrison Hall).
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