Walsh Library, 1997. We were ready but we certainly weren’t prepared. For those of us who had worked in Duane, or the Keating Annex, or the Mulcahy Science library, or the Quinn library, or even Marymount at Fordham in Westchester, we had run out of ways to work around outdated furniture, retro-fitted equipment, space constraints, and aging infrastructure. For years we had heard the discussions, we had seen the plans, we had watched the building going up. Nonetheless it wasn’t until we actually stepped through the doors that we were able to realize a world where every book had a place in the stacks, every desk drawer actually worked, every student could find a seat at a table, every public desktop PC was available to all, and at least on opening day, every elevator worked. Up until that moment, Walsh was the sort of library that only other universities had. Yet there we were in 1997, suddenly the envy of all. As with all physical structures, over the years Walsh library has had its share of difficulties, most recently a devastating flood in the Lower Level, but always manages to resurrect itself. The building has aged gracefully, almost majestically, thanks to a brilliant architectural design, an appreciative University community, and a staff whose deep commitment to its care and purpose is constant.
Not long after I started working in Duane Library in 1978 I heard talk of moving the three campus libraries into one building. While it was talked about for years, it was not until the spring of 1997 that the move took place. Acquisitions, Cataloging, and Serials (Technical Services) were the first departments to go in. They went in mid-April and when the semester ended they were joined by the Circulation, Interlibrary Loan, and Reference departments (Public Services). Before the new Walsh Library, Technical Services departments were housed in the basement of Keating, the Science Library was located on the fourth floor of Mulcahy, and the Public Services departments were in Duane. The move brought not only the books together but the staff as well. We had the opportunity to simply go up or down a flight of stairs to meet with colleagues in different departments. Sometimes this meant hearing that a student or faculty member was looking for a book that was somewhere in Technical Services being invoiced or cataloged, getting that book rushed through, and handing it to our patron that day. And sometimes it meant bumping into someone you had "worked with" for years but with whom you had never actually had a conversation. Walsh Library created the space for a unified collection and a unified staff, both of which have enhanced the services we provide everyday.
It was really exciting when Walsh opened up for us students. No longer did we need to fight to find a cramped space to study, and it was nice having the entire collection under one roof. Plus the place looked cool, and felt state of the art.
By the late 1940s it was clear that Duane Library, then less than 25 years old, was already reaching its capacity. The addition of four tiers of shelving, creation of a library annex in the former cafeteria in Keating basement, and the relocation of library offices to Keating brought temporary relief; but by the 1980s, the Keating annex, holding half the collection, had reached its limit. Converting part of Larkin Hall to library space was considered and rejected, and it was realized that the only solution was a modern library building.
Dr. James McCabe became Director of University Libraries in 1990, and soon began designing a detailed program to satisfy the needs of a growing print collection, and the anticipated electronic revolution in library services. Library staff were cautiously optimistic, but the problem of financing a major new building remained.
Then, in late 1993, Dr. McCabe announced at a staff meeting that Fordham had received a substantial grant from New York State. He said “You realize what this means … It’s going to happen”. It seemed to take a few seconds for this to sink in, then the amazing feeling: finally, a library worthy of Fordham.
Site selection, choosing an architectural firm, building design, additional fundraising (with substantial contributions from the William Walsh family), and finally construction seemed to take forever. But in four years, the Walsh Family Library was a reality.
The new library was ready in the spring of 1997. All that remained to be done was to move the collection. But … the collection had been split among Duane Library, the Keating library annex, the Mulcahy science library, and the Archives in the basement of the Administration Building (now Cunniffe House). All of the books, bound journals, and the growing collection of video and sound recordings had to be intershelved in one run of call numbers. This was complicated by the fact that the different collections had different proportions of subjects – Mulcahy obviously heavily science and technology, Keating strong in philosophy and theology, etc.
An elaborate system of spreadsheets mapped each shelf section of the old libraries to where they would go in Walsh. In spite of repeated sampling, there was considerable worry as to whether everything would go smoothly, to have a seamless run of call numbers in place in the limited time between the end of the spring semester and the mid-summer opening date.
The owner of the library moving company told us that “it won’t be a pretty process, but you’ll be pleased by the result”. As soon as reading days began, the Keating annex closed, and trucks started shuttling between Keating and Walsh. Duane and Mulcahy closed at the end of exams, and there were three streams of materials flowing into Walsh in a complex pattern.
Many of the staff had moved as soon as Keating closed, and settled into their new, spacious workplace to the rattle of booktrucks moving between the delivery ramp and the elevators.
And we needn’t have worried. By July everything was in place, and the long dream of a new Rose Hill library was a reality.