In 1928,
when the University embarked on a $1.5 million capital improvement
campaign, Mr. and Mrs. Robert McFarlin decided to donate
$280,000 for a library building on campus.
Construction
began with a groundbreaking ceremony in May of 1929 attended
by over 500 people. The principal speaker predicted that
the building would become the most important on campus because
it was here that wisdom would be stored.
McFarlin,
along with his partner and nephew James A. Chapman, were
major oil producers in the early part of the 20th century.
Their McMan Oil Company brought in wells in the Glenn Pool
District and the Cushing Field.
The
dedication of the new library took place in 1930. Henry
C. Hibbs designed the building in a modified Gothic style.
The University named it in honor of the McFarlins.
McFarlin
Library quickly became one of the focal points for campus
activities. For many years it was the site of the annual
graduation ceremony. The picture on the left shows the 1937
graduating class.
During
the 1930s McFarlin also housed the only museum in Tulsa.
In 1942 the museum collections were loaned to the Philbrook
Art Center to make room for the expanding book collection.
Over
the years the library has also housed: the University Bookstore,
the radio station (KWGS), and graduate assistant offices.
Today it is the home of both the campus computer store and
the computer help desk.
Expansion
of the library became necessary in the mid-1960s. This was
due not only to the growth of the book collection, but also
to the emergence of the university's doctoral and research
programs, which required greater library resources to achieve
accreditation.
In 1965,
James A. Chapman and his wife gave $1 million for an addition
to McFarlin and Mrs. Pauline Walter donated $200,000 to
remodel the original building. The new addition, referred
to at the time as the Chapman Addition (left), was completed
in 1966. It was built on the east side of the 1930 structure.
By the
late 1970s the library once more found itself running out
of space and the university developed plans to again add
on to the original building. The new addition was built
underground on the west side of the 1930 library.
This
preserved the architectural integrity of the most historic
building on campus and the view of McFarlin on the "U"
remained as it had been for half a century.
The
new addition was dedicated in 1979.
In 1984
the TU libraries brought up the first online catalog, called
LIAS-TU. In 1996 it was replaced by the current system,
INNOPAC.
Today
McFarlin Library occupies 127 thousand square feet of space,
with a book collection numbering over 660 thousand volumes,
almost half a million government documents, and almost two
million items in microform (both microfiche and microfilm).
The
library subscribes to a growing number of online databases
that are heavily used by both faculty and students.
INNOPAC,
the online catalog, is available worldwide, 24 hours a day,
seven days a week.
The
library's website, serves as a gateway to all these online
resources.
The
library provides full Internet access to all students through
multiple workstations in the Reference Department and in
the computer labs.
McFarlin
is open to all TU faculty, students, and staff 340 days
of the year, almost 100 hours each week.
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