Butler University - Carillon / Drift Yearbook (Indianapolis, IN)

Page 25 text:

Dedication Day and Library Day were observed, the first in December, 1903, the latter April 8, 1904. Many classes and former students and friends sent money and books, so that several hundred valuable additions were made to the Library. Can this gift day not become recurrent ? Why should it not ? There are promises of the donation of private libraries in the future, some to be given outright, others in trust. The connection with the City Library is of great advantage to the community and the College. The people of the community now obtain their books at the Memorial Library, and the students have daily delivery from the main City Library. Could Mr. and Mrs. Thompson have left a more lasting memorial to their daugh- ter, or monument to themselves? The city is blessed by their generosity. The College, too, is deeply and permanently indebted to them. Miss Retta Barnhill, who has been the attendant for some years, becomes the Librarian and is assisted by Miss Carlisle. D. C. Brown. BONA THOMPSON LIBRARY

Page 24 text:

(IlTr Htbrarij i HE LIBRARY has had a checkered career, but IS at last settled in its new and permanent home. The books were kept m the early days in a small room in the old building in the city, and when the College was moved to Irvington the room now occupied by the President of the College as an office was the library. There was no system of catalogueing. Books were numbered merely in the order of their accession. Very naturally the library was of little or no value. About twenty years ago a member of the faculty suggested a regular classification and arrangement of the books. They were removed to the South Building into what is now the Athenaeum Hall, where a tutor, Mr. Mann, catalogued them by the Dewey decimal system. From this time on the accessions were quite rapid and were supplemented by a fairly ; good selection of periodicals, popular and technical. A member of the faculty was chosen Libranan with a regular attendant. Vv hen the chemical laboratory was placed in the South Building there were fears of explosions resulting in the loss of the building by fire. In consequence of this the north rooms of the main building became the place of deposit for the books. Here better work was done than ever before, but the constant noise of students in the halls and the going in and out prevented the establishment of a genuine read- ing room and library. Everybody received with delight the announcement of a new building — the gift of Mr. and Mrs. E. C. Thompson — in honor of their deceased daughter Bona. This new building has capacity for 60,000 volumes upstairs and an equal number downstairs, where the government publications will be kept and classified. Of these latter there is now a collection of about 5,000. The State of Indiana does not contain a better nor a more beautiful building than the Bona Thompson Memorial. It is absolutely fire-proof, because there is no combustible material in it. The style is Greek and of great simplicity. The read- ing rooms are especially well lighted and tastefully furnished and decorated. The Thompson furniture has been placed in the seminar room, where classes may meet with an instructor, or a reader consult with the Librarian.

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