Building history highlights commitment of campus community

Before Watson Library 

The birth of the university’s library collection hearkens back to the beginnings of the university itself, with the library occupying the southwest room on the second floor of North College, KU’s first university building established in 1866. The library grew along with KU, consisting of a few shelves in Old Fraser Hall by the late 1800s. The collection expanded to occupy an entire floor and part of the basement of Old Fraser, then moved to its first free-standing building, Spooner Library, in 1894. 

Spooner Library was made possible by a bequest from the estate of William B. Spooner, the uncle of then-Chancellor Francis Snow. The building offered 17,000 square feet of dedicated library space, and it seemed both the collection and staff, led by KU’s first full-time University Librarian Carrie Watson, had a lot of room to grow. The space quickly filled as the student body tripled in size over the next 30 years; library staff necessarily increased; and the collection expanded exponentially. Spooner was bursting at the seams by the early 1920s, without sufficient room for students to read and study. Academic departments were called upon to house books in departmental libraries, a challenging arrangement that became increasingly difficult to manage and navigate. 

The university community advocated for larger library spaces and Chancellor Ernest H. Lindley urged the state legislature to fund a new library. The legislature provided $250,000, a sum that Lindley and library advocates feared largely insufficient for a building of the size and caliber needed. The amount allotted rose to $310,000 and construction of the new library began in 1923, with plans reflecting an anticipated need for expansion as soon as possible. The library design allowed for wings to be added to the east and west without disrupting operations in the center of the building, with the hope of adding additional stack rooms to the south in the future. 

Built on Rock Chalk 

The chosen site for the new library was centrally located on campus at that time and took advantage of the slope of the Hill to limit excavation needs, saving time and funds. However, as construction began, excavation proved more complicated than expected due to the amount of limestone underground. Students complained of noise from the constant running of steam shovels and blasting of rock through the spring of 1923 as the emerging building’s solid foundation was established on layers of shale and surrounded by literal rock chalk. 

The project’s tight budget meant some plans drawn up by architect and KU alum George Leland Chandler had to be abandoned. Watson Library was the first Collegiate Gothic style building on campus with its large, cathedral-worthy windows and some castle-like features including a “moat” around the front of the building with a “bridge” over it leading to the front entrance. Chandler wanted to continue Gothic-inspired design elements inside the library and envisioned vaulted ceilings and a grand entrance hall, as well as large fireplaces and carved figures representing symbolic characters of academia. These elements had to be left behind, while practical planning aimed at flexibility of spaces and the need for future expansion remained a focus.  

Beautiful and perpetually packed 

Watson Library opened its doors on September 11, 1924, to much anticipation and excitement. The library was named after longtime librarian Carrie Watson, the first academic building on KU campus named for a woman. Carrie Watson had led the library for decades, from the time it was a fledgling book collection in Old Fraser. Watson had retired as University Librarian in 1921, but continued to serve as Librarian Emerita, regularly fulfilling library duties in the new building.  

The new library was enthusiastically embraced by the campus community, by all accounts impressive and beautiful with its towering windows, red tile roof, and polished wood interiors. However, delays and budget challenges influenced the library’s early years: stacks were not installed until 1925, with most of the new furniture postponed until 1926. Most notably, concerns about the library’s size and capacity loomed. Watson Library’s original book stack was only a single level higher than that of the old library and was essentially overflowing from the moment it was put to use. 

In 1934, Carrie Watson spoke about library challenges in an address from university radio station KFKU:  

In addition, although Watson Library had dramatically increased reading and studying spaces compared to Spooner, some areas were still too small to accommodate student needs. In fact, in the decade since it opened, Watson Library had become so crowded that the proper storage of materials was compromised. By the late 1930s, the situation had become extreme -- tens of thousands of books were being stored in library hallways, the attic, and even one of the staff restrooms.   

Working toward solutions 

Many dedicated library leaders and generations of the university community have worked towards expansion and improvements at Watson Library. The library saw five additions between 1938 and 1963, with the first being the digging of a sub-basement to accommodate 50,000 volumes in storage, a renovation that relieved some of the extreme overcrowding that had built up since Watson’s beginnings. In 1947, $390,000 was appropriated by the state to add long-needed east stacks as well as a west wing with reading rooms and an office suite, with the work completed in 1950 after delays caused by post-World War II shortages of steel and other necessities. In the early 1950s air-conditioning was added to one portion of the library for the first time. By the early 1960s the library was again overcrowded, leading to further expansion via a $1.8 million appropriation for a new east wing. Though rising construction costs meant bare floors and no new furniture for the addition, the wing was completed and the whole library was finally air-conditioned.  

In the late 1960s, library director David W. Heron suggested that Watson’s years might be numbered, pointing again to overcrowding and challenges with layout exacerbated by the multiple additions. In 1975, James Ranz became the first dean of KU Libraries and went to work via internal committees and outside consultants to find solutions to the ongoing obstacles Watson Library faced.  

Dean Ranz’s team of librarians, campus stakeholders, and architects worked to bring an ambitious list of items up to modern standards. The plumbing, wiring, and ventilation systems of the building needed critical updates. The library had six levels of glass-floored stacks (dubbed “The Twilight Zone” by staff), a once popular design feature that had since been associated with safety issues in other libraries and needed replacement. Watson’s elevators, fire safety, accessibility and roofing required attention, and improved spatial organization of the library was also key.  

During the ambitious and challenging two-year overhaul, library staff kept the doors open to the campus community to prevent service interruptions, working through continuous noise, space restrictions, dirt, dust, and a few dramatic moments. Two days of rain in the fall of 1980 caused flooding in an interior stairwell and reference office, with copious amounts of water and glue from ceiling tiles flowing over desks and into typewriters, files, and bibliographic records. During the removal of a wall to reconfigure one area of the library, a chunk of limestone “about the size of a tombstone” fell through the ceiling of the third floor and landed by the subject catalog. Contractors had cordoned off the area to the public and no one was hurt.  

Other challenging moments were infused with awe, such as when the library’s large Gothic-style windows were updated with new panels of glass. The process was detailed in the fall 1982 “Books and Libraries” newsletter under the heading, “Gandalf with Crane,” describing the wizardry of contractors who worked with a set of guide ropes, scaffolding, and suction cups to control the “pendular swing so the glass doesn’t smash against the building,” noting that “just as you are about to resume breathing the man at the very top of the scaffolding leans way out the adjacent window hole” five stories up to settle the glass into place, followed by the lifting of “a very insecure looking chair carrying a brave man” to finish the installation from the outside. 

The library updates were completed in 1982, along with a plan for adding what is now Anschutz Library, a long-term solution to accommodate library user needs, which only continued to grow. Though library faculty and staff have worked diligently to adapt and adjust to the dramatically changing needs of library users, the 1980s renovations were the last time Watson Library saw a substantial upgrade. Some challenges faced by earlier generations such as flooding and crowding have recurred in recent years, met with creativity and determination by library leadership and staff. In 2006, the KU Library Annex, a high-density storage facility, was built. Extended upon in 2012, the annex houses some of the libraries’ collection, increasing the amount of space available for library users in Watson and Anschutz libraries, and providing conservation-level environmental controls for materials. A daily courier system and inclusive cataloging practices keep materials in the Library Annex easily accessible for users. 

For 100 years Watson Library has evolved to meet challenges and keep pace with the demand for services and space, a perpetual place of discovery and welcome for students and faculty. Today, with Watson Library as its central hub, KU Libraries houses 5.8 million items and is continuously growing world-class collections renowned across the globe. With its team of librarians and expert staff, Watson Library is ready for the next evolution with the rapidly changing needs of the campus community fueling it ever onward.