NEW UNIVERSITY LIBRARY BEARS NAME OF SADIE KENT

"Books are less obstreperous than girls."

With that statement in 1910, Sadie Kent left her position as Dean of Women and assistant librarian at the Normal School, now Southeast Missouri State University, and became the college's full-time head librarian.

Twenty-nine years and countless volumes of books later, Kent saw a dream realized when a new building to be used solely as a library was dedicated.

On Nov. 7, 1939, Kent supervised the move of her beloved charges from their home in Academic Hall to their new resting place, an unnamed, 28,000 square-foot building on what formerly had been tennis courts used by faculty and students.

Nearly four years would pass before the college's Board of Regents named the building Kent Library to honor the woman some considered "the best librarian in the United States."

In fact, regents had voted to name the building for Kent in July 1938. They cited "her long, faithful and efficient service" as the basis for their decision.

The regents were forced to rescind their decision after learning that the building, which was jointly financed by state appropriations and the Public Works Administration, could not be named after a living person.

Rather than rename the building, however, the board decided to wait out the government. Their strategy worked, and when the PWA became inactive in 1943, regents repeated their earlier action. The president of the college was instructed "to cause to be cut in the stone slab reserved for the name of the building, the words "Kent Library."

Kent's efforts certainly warranted the long-awaited honor. She had been an innovator, starting one of the earliest textbook rental systems in the Midwest.

Kent was dedicated to providing free access to information. She was instrumental in getting the library designated as the Government Depositor, thereby giving the public access to government publications.

She also instituted an "open stack" system during her administration, allowing students to access books for studying or browsing when most college libraries denied or strictly limited access.

But Kent didn't restrict herself to handling books. When the library area in Academic Hall got too crowded because of increased enrollment and continual enlargement of the book collection, Kent began assisting with requests for a new facility.

Stymied by the Great Depression, Kent would wait until the late 1930s for approval for a separate library.

It was her building design, devised while she was a student at Columbia University, that architects based the new library plans upon.

She closely monitored and actively participated in the interior and exterior planning and construction of the $250,000 project.

The library's exterior was made of Ste. Genevieve limestone, trimmed with Bedford limestone. The names of 17 authors, including Missourians Mark Twain and Eugene Field, were carved on the frieze at the front of the building.

The building also boasted 45 art panes that were incorporated in the windows of the main reading room. The panes represented printers' marks used in the 15th and 16th centuries to identify printers.

The capacity of the building was about 150,000 volumes and 350 readers.

Dr. H.O. Grauel assisted Kent in carrying the first book to the shelves after the building was completed.

The first volume placed in the building was the Bible.