From the opening of Findlay College in 1886 until the construction of Shafer Library in 1968, the college library was housed in Old Main. For many years it was simply known as "the library," but in 1961 the newly expanded library was dedicated as the William Harris Guyer Memorial Library.
In 1924, it was strictly "closed stacks," using shelving acquired in 1923-24 with a delivery desk for book requests.
By 1931, the stacks were rearranged and an aisle to the main corridor was created.
The Reading Room in the mid-1960s.
Another view in Guyer, shortly before the completion of Shafer Library.
In the basement stacks, 1956.
Artist's 1966 conception of Findlay's new library.
Preparing the site.
The framework is nearly complete.
The second floor is almost finished.
Shafer Library as completed, April 1968.
Moving day - April 3, 1968. Over 50,000 books were carried to the new building by 460 students and 53 faculty members.
Shafer Library was dedicated on May 10, 1968. President Ivan Frick and Mr. Douglas M. Shafer were at the opposite ends of the platform; speakers for the day included J. C. Donnell II, president of Marathon Oil Co., Dr. Maurice F. Tauber, Melvil Dewey professor of Library Service at Columbia University, and Frederick G. Kilgour, newly named director of the Ohio College Library Center.
The new reference room.
Yes, Virginia, there WAS a card catalog!
Guyer Lounge has changed a bit since 1968...
...but some areas haven't changed that much.
No laptops (or other computers) in sight - but very wide aisles in the stacks.
The construction of the building that became Shafer Library was initially approved by the Board of Trustees in October 1965. The preliminary drawings showed a building much like the one that was built (see 1966 sketch at the top of this column), but the initial floor plan was very different. Most of the changes followed the comments and recommendations made by Library Management and Building Consultants (LMBC) of Evanston, Illinois, in their January 1967 report.
A printed guide prepared in 1972.