UCLA Rosenfeld Library: A History of Excellence and Diverse Collections

The UCLA Library stands as one of the most comprehensive and heavily utilized collections globally, solidifying the institution's place among the top ten academic research libraries in North America. From its humble beginnings to its current status as a sprawling network of libraries and archives, the UCLA Library has consistently evolved to meet the changing needs of students, faculty, and researchers. The library's extensive holdings encompass a wide range of subjects and formats, reflecting the diverse academic disciplines and research interests of the university.

Founding and Early Development

The University Library at Los Angeles was founded in 1883, merely two years after the establishment of the California State Normal School. Its first acquisition was Survey of Wyoming and Idaho by Dr. Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden. In 1910, Elizabeth Fargo began her tenure as the university's first librarian, and by 1919, the University Library was operated by a staff of four. Upon Elizabeth Fargo's retirement in 1923, John E. Goodwin took the helm as librarian for a collection of 42,000 volumes, tended to by 12 staff members. Goodwin planned for the orderly expansion of the library by the immediate reclassification of books from the Dewey Decimal System to the Library of Congress Classification System. Starting in 1929, Goodwin oversaw the construction and development of the Main Library, which was built after the university settled in its present location in Westwood. Goodwin also saw the bequest of the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library to UCLA in 1934.

Post-War Expansion and Innovation

In 1942, the UCLA Walter H. Rubsamen Music Library was established. Appointed to replace Goodwin in 1944, Lawrence Clark Powell began a series of systematic changes and acquisitions meant to increase the prestige of the UCLA library system. During Powell's tenure, the Library saw a major expansion of its facilities as the central book stack was completed. During this period, a concerted effort was made to provide new or more comprehensive collections to support the academic research that was being conducted on campus. In 1956, the music library moved to a new space in the Schoenberg Music Building. In 1959, Powell was named the founding Dean of the School of Library Service (which became part of the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies), a position he would hold until 1966. Several facilities at UCLA would later be named after Powell, including the Undergraduate College Library. Robert Vosper was hired as University Librarian in 1961, and the following year, ground was broken for the first unit of the University Research Library, now the Charles E. Young Research Library. Completed in 1964, the construction of the Research Library entailed carting approximately 4 million index cards and 14 miles of books around campus. The newly completed six-story facility then became the administrative center for the UCLA Library system. The Main Library was then converted to the College Library. By 1964, the Library ranked 11th in the country, with more than two million volumes. Vosper was succeeded by Page Ackerman in 1973, who served as librarian until her retirement in 1977. She was the first woman in the United States to head a library system of such a scale. Ackerman saw the development of the Library's administrative network, which became an innovative model for library management systems across the country. During her tenure, Ackerman oversaw an increased coordination of efforts with the libraries of all UC campuses, a necessity that came which was initially brought about by state budget problems. Under Ackerman, the UCLA Library acquired collections on many important figures, including Ralph J. Bunche, Gertrude Stein and Anaïs Nin. In 1976, the music library was named after Walter H.

Continued Growth and Leadership

Since Ackerman's retirement in 1977, UCLA has steadily increased collections, facilities and staff under librarians Russell Shank (1977-1990), Gloria Werner (1990-2002), Gary E. Strong (2003-2013), Virginia Steel (2013-2023), and Athena Jackson (2024-present). In 2020, the first major open access collection of new music, the Contemporary Music Score Collection was established by music librarian Matthew Vest. The library collection consists of more than 8 million volumes and more than 78,000 current serial titles and an aggressively expanding electronic resources collection.

The Eugene and Maxine Rosenfeld Management Library

The UCLA Library system includes specialized libraries such as the Eugene and Maxine Rosenfeld Management Library. The Rosenfeld Library offers a wealth of resources for business and management research, including extensive collections of corporate reports, industry information, and economic literature.

Corporate History Collection

The Richard C. Collection features works on company and industry histories in a unique assemblage; one of only a few such collections in the United States. Records for Corporate History materials appear in the UCLA Library Catalog.

Pre-1800 Imprints and Manuscripts

Robert E. houses some two hundred volumes of pre-1800 imprints and manuscripts on trade and commerce from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries. The two most comprehensive collections on early economic literature (pre-1850), in their entirety, are also available. The microfilm reels, all of which may be identified in the UCLA Library Catalog, are housed in the Microforms Room on the second floor of the Rosenfeld Library (south side). A multi-volume index/finding tool is also available there.

Corporate Listing Applications

The Rosenfeld Library holds a collection of corporate listing applications to the New York Stock Exchange, dating from 1957-1999. The collection is housed in steel file cabinets located on the second floor of the Rosenfeld Library.

Corporate Reports Collection

The library boasts a collection of annual reports from companies traded on the New York and American Stock Exchanges; also included are some annual reports from California companies not traded on either of those exchanges. The collection includes some reports from the beginning of the twentieth century, but the bulk of the reports date from the middle to the late twentieth century. Approximately 4,000 companies are represented in the collection (some by just one report), and the collection contains approximately 10,000 reports.

Newcomen Society Publications

The Newcomen Society of the United States, founded in 1923, was a non-profit educational foundation for "the study and recognition of achievement in American business and the society it serves." The Society closed in 2007. This collection of its pamphlets focuses on business histories, and consists of speeches given to the Society members honoring particular companies. The Rosenfeld Library collection contains more than sixty years of these publications, published between 1943 and 2007, providing historical highlights for more than 1,600 companies.

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Other Notable Collections and Libraries

Besides the Rosenfeld Library, the UCLA Library system encompasses a variety of other specialized libraries and collections, each with its unique focus and resources.

Arts Library

The Arts Library has more than 300,000 books that cover the fields of architecture, architectural history, art, art history, design, film, television, photography, theater and allied disciplines. The Louise M.

Hugh and Hazel Darling Law Library

The Hugh and Hazel Darling Law Library supports the research and instructional needs of the UCLA School of Law with its comprehensive collection of legal materials.

Walter H. Rubsamen Music Library

Located in the Schoenberg Music Building, the Walter H. Rubsamen Music Library houses an extensive collection of scores, recordings, and other materials related to music research and performance.

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