William F. Ekstrom Library
William F. Ekstrom Library
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| Country | United States |
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| Type | Academic library |
| Location | Louisville, Kentucky |
| Website | louisville |
The William F. Ekstrom Library is the main branch of the University of Louisville Libraries system. Located on the university's Belknap Campus in Louisville, Kentucky, Ekstrom Library contains collections in the humanities, sciences, and social sciences. The University of Louisville Libraries is a member of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and, along with Ekstrom, includes libraries for Art, Health Sciences, Law, and Music, as well as the Archives and Special Collections. The University of Louisville Libraries hold approximately 2.2 million print volumes, subscribe to several thousand serials, and provide full-text electronic access to approximately 74,000 journals. Ekstrom is a Federal Depository Library and houses the largest selective government document collection in Kentucky.
The University Library grew from an original donation of Dean John Letcher Patterson's personal collection in the early 1900s. By 1950, the library had over 36,000 books in its collection. In 1956, the university gave the library its own building (now Schneider Hall) to accommodate the growing collection.
By 1970, the collection contained over 200,000 items. At the end of the 1970s, the University Library building reached capacity, forcing parts of the collection to be placed in storage. Plans were made to create a new $14 million library to accommodate the growing collection. Named after Dr. William F. Ekstrom, a noted English professor and the first Academic Vice-President of the university, the Ekstrom Library opened on August 28, 1981.
At the same time as the opening of Ekstrom Library, all the university's branch libraries, except for Law, were placed under the leadership of the University Librarian, rather than the deans of the corresponding schools.
The new 230,000 sq ft (21,000 m2) building was designed by the Architect firm Louis & Henry of Louisville, Kentucky. The brick and exposed concrete design of the building incorporated the character of the open spaces on campus and the surrounding structures. The large glass windows featured a glazing system that allowed restricted solar heating. The new library earned the Kentucky Society of Architects Merit Award for outstanding design.
The University Libraries were invited to join the Association of College and Research Libraries (ARL) as its 124th member in 2002. The offer was based on ARL's assessment of scope of the Libraries' collections, uniqueness of resources, contributions to scholarship, and research contributions to the field of information science.
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