Office of the Director of Libraries records

The records of the Library Director's Office cover the years 1905 through 1989 with the bulk of the material dating from 1930 to 1975.

The records include library correspondence, staff memos, annual and biennial reports, acquisition records, collection and equipment inventories, survey questionnaires and statistics. Also contained in the collection are budget requests, committee reports and minutes, organizational charts, brochures and pamphlets, drafts of articles, bibliographies, and blueprints of the library buildings.

The records document the growth of the University of Maryland Libraries from their beginnings as a single reading room in the Maryland Agricultural College to the current state-wide library system. Topics found in the collection include the planning of library facilities; acquisition of major collections and individual books and serials; formation of the library administration; development of library personnel policies and library service policies; interactions between the University Libraries and professional library associations, library networks, and state institutions; the effects of the Depression and World War II on the libraries; and the development of automated library services.

Many noteworthy University of Maryland at College Park (UMCP) staff and faculty members, as well as prominent Marylanders, corresponded with the Library Director's Office. In this collection are found letters from C. O. Appleman, Robert A. Beach, Jr., Frank Bentz, C. W. Cissel, Helen M. Clark, Ernest N. Cory, George W. Fogg, and R. Lee Hornbake. Other correspondents include Rev. James J. Kortendick, Albin Kuhn, Theodore McKeldin, Maude F. McKenney, Marie M. Mount, and Alma Preinkert; as well as Marion Robinson, Thomas S. Spence, Nettie Taylor, the Millard Tydings family, Walter B. Waetjin, Louis R. Wilson, Dr. H. Boyde Wylie, and all of the University Preisdents from Silveseter to Elkins. In addition, the head librarians/Library Directors are represented in the files: Frank B. Bomberger, Lulu E. Connor, Miltanna (Rowe) McVey, Grace Barnes, Carl Hintz, Howard Rovelstad, and Dr. H. Joanne Harrar. Until the university re-organization in 1970-71, the Library Director oversaw all university libraries. In 1996, Charles Lowry was hired as Dean of the Libraries on the College Park campus and the title "Library Director" was abandoned. In 2009, Patricia A. Steele became Dean of the Libraries at University of Maryland, College Park.

Series 1 consists of six subseries which contain correspondence and memos sent and received by the Library Director's Office from 1905 through 1976. Correspondents include library staff, university presidents, offices and academic departments at University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP), and libraries from other University of Maryland campuses. Other correspondents are Maryland state agencies, book publishers, vendors, visiting scholars, professional library associations, and other individuals and institutions involved in library matters. Also included are minutes of the Library Director's Staff Meetings from 1977 through 1989.

Materials are arranged into the following six subseries: University of Maryland Correspondence and Minutes, College Park Libraries Memos and Correspondence, Office of the President Memos and Correspondence, University of Maryland at College Park Memos and Correspondence, University of Maryland, State of Maryland Correspondence, and General Correspondence.

Subseries 1 is arranged into three parts. The first part consists of library schedules, acquisition records, procedures, job descriptions, bibliographies, copies of articles relating to the library, invitations to library receptions, and memos sent and received among UMCP library staff mostly during the years 1950 to 1974. These items are arranged chronologically and pertain mostly to Howard Rovelstad's administration.

The second part of subseries 1 contains the minutes and reports of the Library Director's staff meetings from 1977-1988. These documents are also arranged chronologically and pertain to Dr. H. Joanne Harrar.

The third part of subseries 1 contains, among various things, the minutes of committee meetings and library instruction worksheets. These items are arranged alphabetically by subject.