In the books: a library history

Ivey Hall did originally house a library in a small room but this was more so a scanty collection of books purchased from a small fund and these were not regarded as being of great or useful quality! From 1899 a small group formed the Library Committee who volunteered to look after and keep track of the volumes in the collection, and then from 1906 one student took on the role as librarian.

Students studying in the library, pre-Internet. Dated before 1960.

A laboratory building built in 1929 at the back of Ivey Hall (later called the McCaskill Building, since demolished) housed a small room that was eventually designated as the library and there housed more books of better quality that had been collected from the rooms of the staff. Professor Hilgendorf, of Biology, dutifully supervised the operation of cataloguing and indexing the books, finally providing the campus with a working library of some stature, although it was still considered vastly inadequate for a growing academic institution. At first, the library’s selection consisted mainly of technical volumes but Hilgendorf donated dictionaries, books on English usage and on general history to broaden the range. After his wife’s death in 1930, the library continued to benefit from a commemorative donation of funds for future purchases.

The first official librarian, Dudley R. Muff, was appointed in 1936. Muff had worked at the College for five years, first as a porter then as a housemaster, so he was well-known to students and staff alike and apparently well-suited to the role. He worked simultaneously as typist, cataloguer, accessions officer, bookbinder, and issuing officer to improve the facilities of the College library beyond their existing state of insufficiency. The collection of books had expanded to the point that they were scattered over fifteen different storage rooms so it must have been quite the hefty administration task of keeping them in check! Except for a four-year stint in Germany as a POW of the Greek Campaign of WWI, he remained in the position of head librarian until 1959.

Dudley Muff, photographed in 1966.

The modern beginnings of the library as we now know it came in 1955 when Government funding was approved for the building of a new library to be known as the George Forbes Memorial Library, in honour of former Prime Minister George Forbes. Under J. A. Frampton as the new head librarian, the new library opened in 1960 in the Forbes building.

George Forbes Memorial Library in 1960, photographed by Richard Bevin.

Students working in the library's main reading room, 1966.

The Forbes building library extension photographed in 1978.

However, a rapid growth in student numbers soon meant extensions to facilities were needed. The 1975 expansion of the Forbes building saw the building rise from one to eight floors, five of which were for the library book collection. The design has often been the target of criticism from an aesthetic point of view, but it was a practical choice as narrow windows protected printed matter from exposure to sunlight. 

Ivey Hall underwent major refurbishments in the 1980s due to earthquake risks with all the internal facilities removed and renewed. The façade was kept intact as it is a listed Category 1 heritage structure. 

Aerial view of Ivey Hall's redevelopment as the new library in 1987.

In 1988, the library moved from Forbes into the newly fitted out Ivey Hall, and after a further extension to the rear in the 1990s, today you can still find us in Ivey Hall as part of the Learning, Teaching and Library team.