Duane was envisioned under Fr. Edward Tivian, president from 1919 to 1924, and then completed by Fr. William Duane, president from 1924 to 1930. To the students used to a one-room library, Duane seemed very large. “Plans Now Complete for Immense New Library Building to Be Erected Here” proclaimed The Ram on October 10, 1924.
Duane Library opened in 1926. Between the soaring Gothic main hall and the more utilitarian study spaces, Duane Library offered 31,500 square feet of space. Despite the grand entrance, seating capacity was at a minimum and could only accommodate 504 patrons.
Duane quickly filled up as Fordham expanded its library holdings in the 1930s, and by the end of the decade, plans were made to expand the building by adding two extensions.
While Duane had immeasurable appeal, space was very limited and its collection was split as it needed to be housed in multiple locations. Thus 71 years after Duane opened, the former university library closed its doors and prepared to move the collection to a larger and more modern library.
When Walsh first opened, library users were impressed by the building's grandiose size occupying 240,000 square feet throughout 5 levels. This new space comfortably fit a collection of over one million volumes and 380,000 government documents- Certainly an improvement from the cramped modeling style of the former library headquarters.
Additionally, the installation of 450 computer workstations propelled Walsh as an institution of the new century. Charles Hodulik, the Vice President of Lincoln Center and manager of university technological developments, said, "Building a new library in this day and age is forcing us to use up-to-the-minute technology and to see how that technology is to impact the institution for years to come."
James “Jim” Patrick McCabe, Ph.D., was the Director of Libraries when Walsh Library first opened. McCabe became the director of libraries on August 13, 1990, a position he held until his retirement in 2012. McCabe passed away in September of 2021 but his legacy lives on through the University library system he fought to modernize and the new Walsh Library he championed to develop.
Walsh Library has evolved and acquired resources and materials that have propelled it into a modern library of the 21st century. As part of Fordham University Libraries, Walsh owns more than one million books, provides access to hundreds of thousands of eBooks, and subscribes to more than 800 print journals/serials and 1,600 online journals (with selective access to tens of thousands of additional eJournals).
For the past 25 years, Walsh Library has continued to serve the Fordham community and aid students and faculty with their academic pursuits. Who knows what the next 25 years will bring?
