As long as humankind continues to value these activities, it will continue to build places to house them. ‘Humankind has created an extraordinary variety of spaces in which to read, to think, to dream, and to celebrate knowledge. By 1921, the library housed 95,000 volumes and several thousand pamphlets and subscribed to about 350 periodicals, according to the Wellesley College Library Handbook published that year. The library’s first addition was begun just five years later in 1915 to provide a range of new rooms: a recreational reading room space to house the growing collection of rare books offices archives a reserve reading room and additional stacks.

Alumnae donated the beloved statues of the Lemnian Athena, goddess of wisdom, and Hestia Guistiniani, goddess of the hearth, to flank the imposing bronze doors added in 1911. The building opened in 1910, the books having been moved down the hill from College Hall (thankfully, given the devastating fire that lay ahead) onto the new shelves during spring vacation. On June 5, 1909, Pauline Durant laid the cornerstone of the neoclassical Indiana limestone edifice that-three significant renovations and additions later-still welcomes students today. In 1905, philanthropist Andrew Carnegie offered Wellesley $125,000 for a new library building on the condition that the College raise an equal amount for an endowment, which was accomplished by 1907. By the early 20th century, the collection had outgrown the wing.

Three years after the College opened, the library collection had expanded to some 16,000 volumes and more than 100 periodicals, and it was arranged in a dedicated wing of College Hall. Through time, growth and change have been constant themes. So from the beginning, Wellesley has sought a more expansive definition of an academic library. Durant had the radical idea for 1875-a time when access to rare books was essentially unknown outside the Ivy League-that women ought to have the opportunity to use primary sources. What transformation the library will have undergone by the time Kery comes back for her fifth reunion is impossible to predict.īut in 2020, the heart of the collection will still be the 7,600 volumes that Henry Durant donated to the College at its founding-comprising rare books as well as titles from his working library. Patterns of use at Clapp echo trends at academic libraries all over the country. But digging through the shelves? Not so much. They’re searching for spots in which to study. Library staffers also have observed that patrons aren’t using the stacks as much as they did only a couple of years ago. “It’s so tranquil,” she says.Īlthough she still checks out plenty of books for students and faculty, Kery says she has seen a marked shift toward e-book and e-journal use over the last three years, and “we’re circulating a zillion iPads now.” She grew up hanging around her librarian mother’s circulation desk, where after school she sometimes turned her hand to cutting out paper snowflakes for seasonal decorations.Ī computer-science major interested in human-computer interaction, Kery has logged countless hours working at the Clapp circulation desk during her time at the College-and she loves the place.

When MaryBeth Kery ’15 arrived at Wellesley, she gravitated to Margaret Clapp Library immediately-and no wonder.

Wellesley library atlasti