A re-dressed Kent Library

Kent Library has graced the campus of Southeast Missouri State University since the Depression era of 1939. But in the building-happy days of the Dr. Mark Scully administration, Kent was expanded and redressed, eliminating any semblance of the original structure. Fifty years ago this month, workers were putting the finishing touches on the project.

An article published in the Aug. 15, 1968, edition of the Southeast Missourian, along with numerous photographs of the changes to the building, told of the work that went into Kent's re-make.

The huge white portico bearing the names of some of history's great writers and thinkers represents a new landmark on the State College campus -- the greatly expanded and improved Kent Library. The original library, erected in 1939, was enlarged five-fold in a project now virtually complete. The library expansion was necessary to make the facility equal to the demands imposed by a 6,500-member student body and correspondingly large faculty. (Southeast Missourian archive)

CHANGES VAST AT NEW KENT

By BRAD ESTES

Missourian Staff Writer

Five times bigger, at least five times better and probably five times more attractive -- that's Kent Library at State College as it is today after a vast expansion program that has greatly enhanced its value as a major community and cultural asset.

It seems hardly possible that somewhere buried behind the tons of white stone and buff brick in the newly-expanded structure there lies the original gray-stone building which has served the college since 1939. It was built then for $250,000.

The expansion program is now complete other than a few odds and ends which remaining workmen are finishing.

The old structure was retained in a building program which has made the college's only library facility five times larger in floor space and capable of handling about five times as many library users at one time.

The library, being tax supported and an institution of the State of Missouri, is open to public use. While students and faculty obviously come first in their demands, many people from Cape Girardeau and Southeast Missouri use its facilities on both a regular and a periodic basis.

The expanded structure is the accomplishment of two years of construction work, $3,164,000 in state and federal funds and at times much inconvenience for both students and library personnel who now realize it was all worth it.

They listened to the sounds of construction -- saws, hammers, drills, earth movers -- for months on end. Stacks which had to be moved into the main reading room crowded study tables to within inches of each other.

The result of these inconveniences, hardships and a lot of difficult, tedious construction work is an attractive, stately structure. It adds much to the new look the college is taking on with its high-rise dormitories and new classroom buildings.

It has already begun offering students academic advantages which few have ever known before.

Dr. Felix E. Snider, head librarian, estimates the expanded facility is about 60 percent occupied now. Move-ins are being made as equipment is installed and workmen complete their work. Much remains to be done but the major library facilities have been operating.

The college's Board of Regents has not yet accepted the building from the contractor because the minor work still remains.

An open house and re-dedication of the facility is tentatively scheduled for the first Sunday in October. Program arrangements have not been made in detail at this time.

The over-all change in the library is vast, so vast that anyone could easily consider that the college really has a new library instead of an expanded one.

Kent Library, as it appeared in 1939. (G.D. Fronabarger ~ Southeast Missourian archive)

What McCarthy Construction Co. has done is encircle the original library building with additions in all directions except north.

On the north front, there is a large grill-type screen which conceals the original front. It is protected, as is the entire front, with a large loggia -- something like a porch. About 30 square columns support it.

The original building has been expanded 141 feet south, 67 feet east and 55 feet west. There is still room for a future expansion to the south.

The original building is a little more than 20,000 square feet in size. Adequate when it was built, the college has outgrown it years ago

Dr. Snider said the original library had been designed to hold 140,000 hard-bound volumes. Some 175,000 volumes had been squeezed in before expansion.

The present library is capable of holding 350,000 volumes. The college speculates its size will be adequate for 20 years.

Only 450 persons could use the original building at one time and not be overcrowded. The present structure can hold 1,800 to 2,000 users without its getting too stuffy. This is about one-third of the student body.

Everything the old Kent Library had, the new library has bigger and better. Its expansion was not specifically to allow for new services but was for enlarging and improving services already available.

Books are now held on $95,000 worth of new shelves. The contract with McCarthy was for $2,650,079. Most of he additional money -- $504,921 --- went for equipment, like shelving.

The new racks contain an innovation to deter a major library problem of not being able to find books because they've been put back in he wrong place.

On each stack self, there is an orange painted area where books taken out of their places but not checked out are replaced.

Library personnel then put the books back in their correct places.

The over-all atmosphere of the stacks and the entire library has changed. Lighting is adequate now. The lighting system is set up so that when main switches are off there are always enough lights burning to make visibility possible. These lights are never turned off.

The main entrance is through east doors on the ground floor. It is just east of the original main entrance which is now an auxiliary door to the library's theater.

Just southeast of there is a courtyard.

The loggia has 96 precast concrete units which give the front of the building its modern appearance. They are mounted on the upper rim. Their total weight is 576 tons, as each one weighs six tons. It took 32 trips to bring them from Omaha, Nebraska, by truck.

The final pre-cast concrete piece of the library's facade was lifted into place on July 15, 1967. (Southeast Missourian archive)

Below these units are names of great authors -- Virgil, Emerson, Twain, Whitman, Thoreau... -- carrying on the now-covered scheme of great authors whose names circumscribed old Kent library.

The expanded structure has three main levels, and an attic which serves as an auxiliary mechanical room.

On the east side, just across from the Dearmont Quadrangle and below the main desk, is a basement section.

It contains the services which operate somewhat independent of the library.

Their functions are not the same. The textbook service is in the southeast corner. The college supplies textbooks to students rather than their having to buy them. This is where the books are kept and borrowed.

"This section grows every time the student body grows," Mr. Snider said. There is still plenty of room.

Across the hall to the north is the audiovisual department which contains projectors, films, film strips, slides -- anything an instructor might need in these types of teaching aids.

Just north of the audiovisual department will be the teaching materials department, offering teaching guides, and various educational materials to students planning to teach or to State College instructors.

Although most new material comes through a central loading and unloading dock on he west side, this basement section has an entrance way which may be used as a dock also.

Upstairs, the main check-out desk is immediately to the left inside the main doorways.

To the right is a space reserved for a giant mural which will depict the various types of life, history and work in Southeast Missouri.

Mr. Snider said an understudy of Thomas Hart Benton has been contracted to do the painting. The preparation and actual painting is expected to take several years. The mural will have special lighting facing the main desk.

Mr. Snider said it would be premature to announce the artist's name. Donations are to pay for the work. The college is still seeking contributors.

Seen from above is the main entrance and area for check-out of books and periodicals, the first glimpse of the interior of Kent Library for visitors. (Southeast Missourian archive)

On the main floor to the immediate south and then at the rear to the west are the more commonly used reference books and periodicals. There are large study sections and lounge areas within this section.

The ground floor also contains the cataloging section, shipping-receiving department, rare book room, administrative offices and the library's theater.

The architectural firm Pearce and Pearce Inc., of St. Louis, has set it up so receiving and cataloging work in succession of each other.

Books are received, checked and then sent to adjoining cataloging just east of there.

There are six different entry ways to cataloging which prepares books to be put on the stacks. The department is 10 times as large as it used to be. It can be enlarged another 30 percent by simply moving a partition south.

"This is the area that most new libraries get caught short on," Mr. Snider said.

The rare book room is where the original main hallway entrance used to be. The room is carpeted and wood-paneled. Shelves, some lockable, line the walls.

On one side of the doorway, there is a temperature and humidity recorder. It tells library personnel if the vital temperature and humidity are what they should be.

The entire library is kept between 60 to 70 degrees and at about 50 percent humidity.

"It just so happens that what's right for books is also about right for people," Mr. Snider said.

At the secretary's desk is a central fire alarm system which sets off a light when excess heat is detected in any section of the library. It is to be hooked up to an over-all college system later. Individual lights tell where the heat is coming from.

The library has its own telephone system which allows someone in stacks to call the main desk for help. There is a second phone for outside calls in most places.

Across from the rare book room is the entranceway to the upper level of the original building. Upstairs is the old reading room which is expected to be made into a study area for graduate students. It has been redone as has the entire old library.

Access to the upper floors is possible through enclosed stairways on the southeast, southwest and northwest corners. There are also two elevators and an open northeast stairway.

The east stairway is meant to be used most. It is carpeted to cover the sound. Most of the rest of the library has tile floors.

On the second floor to the immediate left is a student's smoking lounge. It is enclosed in glass and has special ventilator fans. The rest of the second floor is mainly covered with stacks. Around these are student study booths, faculty study rooms and conference rooms.

In the center of the second floor, there is an open lounge area. A balcony surrounding it has been constructed on the third level.

The third level is also mainly for stacks with study booths, faculty rooms and conference rooms surrounding them. The third level also has a classroom for library science courses.

The conference rooms are for classes which need to use the library facilities during classroom hours. They can hold from six to 35 persons. "The big ones, we plan to schedule," said Mr. Snider. "The little ones, we hope to keep open."

Student Study

The student booths, which number several hundred, offer students a quieter and more private place to study. Some are singles and others are in groups of four.

The library also has typing rooms in the stacks where students may bring their own typewriters or rent one of the library's for a small fee.

The faculty rooms are for instructors doing research which requires frequent use of library materials. Since this may tie up much material if the instructor would take it home, the rooms will offer him a place at the library.

They are small with space for one or two instructors.

"It makes our material available to more people," Mr. Snider said. "That's why libraries want these rooms.

Over the years, we've done several blogs on Kent Library and its namesake, Sadie Kent:

College library named for Sadie Kent

The indomitable Sadie Kent

Kent Library aerial 1950s

Jake Wells, Kent Library muralist