The Dewey Library Blog

(For the early history of the Hawley Building and Dewey Library see our earlier blogs on June 11, 2009, July 8, 2009, and July 20, 2009.)

From 1933 to 1951, the upstairs of the Hawley building contained the library, and the downstairs was the student commons. In 1951, the basement became a second reading room and reserve area. As the library increased its collection through the years, they came to be stored downstairs as well. However, in 1966, the uptown campus was built, with a large new library building, and the Hawley library was abandoned. The building may have been used by the Milne School. At this time, library materials supporting the School of Social Welfare and the School of Criminal Justice were located at Alumni Quadrangle.

In 1979, the Schools of Criminal Justice, Social Welfare and Library Science were downtown, but the School of Public Policy was not. At this time a library was established in Hawley Hall to serve these programs In 1982 the School of Public Affairs and Policy was brought downtown and the Rockefeller College was created to include all downtown programs. The library was named the Graduate Library for Public Affairs and Policy.

In September 1988, the library was named after Governor Thomas E. Dewey. Warren Ilchman who was Provost, and the founder of Rockefeller College wanted to rename all of the buildings on the downtown campus for notable New York State politicians. However, this initiative was largely unsuccessful – none of the buildings were renamed, only the Library. This is why the “Dewey Library��? is located in “Hawley Hall". Although the official name of the library remains the Dewey Graduate Library for Public Affairs and Policy, it has more commonly been called the Dewey Graduate Library since 2001. In fact, the current library stationery reflects this parlance.

Today the Dewey Library boasts a collection of over 135,000 items, including books, journal subscriptions, microfilm, videos and software. Last year, the Information Commons was expanded by 16 computer workstations – terminals were added in the downstairs Quiet Study and Group Study areas. The Dewey Graduate Library seeks to keep abreast of the ever changing needs of the downtown campus community. As always, we hope that you will give us feedback -- let us know how we’re doing – what could we be doing to better serve you? Feel free to comment on this blog below, stop by, e-mail us, or call 442-3691.

Blog post created by Elaine Bergman with significant content provided by Geoff Williams