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The University of Illinois Library at Urbana-Champaign

Chartered in 1867


“Without a great library, there can be no great university.” With these words, President David Kinley dedicated the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library Building on October 19, 1929. The opening of the Library, he continued, represented the fulfillment of a long-held dream of University leaders. The Library, in fact, pre-dated the University: the first Library purchases at Illinois were approved at a meeting of the Trustees of the “Illinois Industrial University” on November 26, 1867, a measure meant to ensure that a core collection of “ indispensable books” would be available to the faculty and students from the day they arrived on campus. By 1929, that initial $1,000 investment in Library materials had blossomed into the sixth-largest collection in the country, and the University Library was recognized as critical to the academic success of our faculty and students. Today, that tradition continues, and the University Library is renowned worldwide as a center of scholarship and as an incomparable resource for faculty, staff, and students.

On that day in 1929, James M. White, supervising architect of the Library Building, told President Kinley that the Library Building had been “built finely and carefully.” Indeed, the Library Building (now commonly referred to as the “Main Library”) has stood as a monument to teaching, research, and service at the University for almost 80 years. Today, however, it is a monument that shows its age and one that serves Library users who are very different from those who greeted President Kinley and Professor White. As we move toward the centennial celebration of this campus landmark, it is time to commit ourselves to restoring it to greatness and ensuring that it will remain at the heart of our campus and at the center of our commitment to teaching, learning, and service for generations to come.  (Source: Freeman, R. "Schools need big libraries, Kinley claims." The Daily Illini, October 19, 1929.)

Library Mission Statement

The University Library is central to the intellectual life of the University. By providing and stewarding collections and content that comprise a current and retrospective record of human knowledge and by offering a wide array of services, it enhances the University's activities in creating knowledge, preparing students for lives of impact, and addressing critical societal needs. The Library advances the University's goals by ensuring unfettered access to information and by providing a network of expertise that ensures value, quality, and authenticity of information resources. The Library integrates and manages knowledge to enable learning and the creation of new knowledge. (University Library Strategic Plan, 5/30/06)

Staffing

University Librarian and Dean of Libraries: Paula Kaufman
Faculty and staff: 508

Resources*

Total volumes: 10.5 million
Microforms: 8.5 million
Audiovisual materials: 932,118
Subscriptions to print journals: 63,413
Access to electronic journals: 70,075
Electronic books: 281,706

*Source: ARL Statistics Reports


 

 

Office of Library Advancement
1408 West Gregory Drive, Room 227
Urbana, Illinois 61801
Phone: (217) 333-5682 Fax: (217) 244-7201
Questions and Information:  friends@library.uiuc.edu