• Completed in 1932
• Cost $225,000
• Now houses Fresno City College library

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Phase I

• Completed in 1956
• 51,980 square feet
• Cost $749,742
• Demolished in 2007 along with Phase II in order to construct new library building

Phase II

• Addition to Phase I
• Completed in 1965
• 57,448 square feet
• Cost $1,232,100
• Demolished in 2007 along with Phase I in order to construct new library building

Phase III (South Wing)

• Completed in 1980
• 90,600 square feet
• Cost $5,236,782
• Remodel completed along with new library building in 2009

• 249,400 square feet
• Funded by Proposition 55 (education bond passed in 2004)
• Table Mountain Rancheria gift of $10 million

 
 
 
 
 
 

• Designed by a partnership between A.C. Martin and Co and Hillier Architecture.
• Built by Swinerton Builders
• Cost $110 million to build
• Services temporarily located in University Center 123 during construction
• University administration housed on fourth floor
• Ellipse originally planned as reading room, now developed as an exhibit area
• Building materials meant to reflect natural materials of the San Joaquin Valley and Sierra Nevada
• Granite used in interior and exterior quarried from Sierra Nevada
• Largest library in California State University system
• Entryway and ellipse meant to demonstrate Native American basket weaving Technique
• Color scheme meant to reflect natural colors found in the region
• Furniture coverings meant to evoke Native American basket patterns
• Completed in 2009

Maude Schaeffer (English Department), 1912

Agnes Tobin, 1913-1948

Margaret Hardin (Acting), 1948-February 1949

Virginia West (Acting), February to August 1949

Henry Miller Madden, September 1949-1979 (Library named for him in 1981)

Lillie Parker, 1979-1988

Dean Michael Gorman, 1988-2007

Dean Peter McDonald, 2007-present

• 432 books purchased or donated in first year of Fresno State Normal School
• By 1920, book collection had surpassed 10,000
• By the time Dr. Madden came in 1949 there were over 70,000 volumes
• Books were reclassified from Dewey Decimal to Library of Congress system starting in 1966; The project took 9 years.
• When Madden retired in 1979 there was over 500,000 volumes; the 500,000th volume was Madden's own book, German Travelers in California
• The library reached 1,000,000 volumes in 2001; the Millionth Volume is Relacion historica de la vida y apostolicas tareas del venerable padre fray Junipero Serra, a history of the life of California mission founder Junipero Serra.
• The book collection currently stands at over 1,100,00 volumes.

Largest academic library in the central valley

Government Documents department established

In 1963, granted depository status 1 year later, now called Maps and Government Information

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Special Collections department established in 1966

Initially housed just Roy J. Woodward Memorial Library of Californiana, the University Archives and a general rare book collection. Now called Special Collections Research Center which houses several other specialized subject collections

 
 
 
 
 
 

Music Library established in 1968

Housing phonodiscs transferred to the library from the Music department in 1962. Renamed Music and Media Library in 1994 to better reflect the expanded scope of its collection

 
 
 
 

The Curriculum/Juvenile department was formed in 1978

The School of Education's curriculum collection was combined with the Lab School's juvenile collection, which was transferred to the library in 1970. The department was renamed the Teacher Resource Center in 2009.