Skip to main content

R.M. Cooper Library -- Thirty Years at the Heart of the University

Cooper Page

In 1959 the Board of Trustees listed a new library as “the most needed building on campus.” The need was fulfilled when Robert Muldrow Cooper Library opened in August 1966. The $3 million dollar award-winning library was designed to meet the research and study needs of the Clemson University community at that time and for the foreseeable future. The old library, located in the building now known as Sikes Hall, was designed in 1927 to hold 40,000 volumes for a maximum enrollment of 1,200 students. In the 1950s the library’s collections grew rapidly as enrollment increased to nearly 4,000 and the college added new majors and graduate programs. The library was extremely overcrowded by 1959 when the Board of Trustees listed a new library as the first priority.Several basic principles guided plans for the new library. It had to be easily accessible. The building had to be flexible and expandable for future growth, and materials had to be arranged so that patrons could get the information they needed as quickly as possible. Groundbreaking took place in August 1964 at the selected site in the center of campus. The architects were Lyles, Bissett, Carlisle, and Wolff of Columbia, S.C. Yeargin Construction Company of Greenville was the primary contractor. The library was completed for the first week of fall semester classes – August 22-26, 1966.

Next Page

Clemson University Libraries
Campus Box 343001
Clemson, SC 29634-3001

Dean of Libraries Kay Wall | Web Manager Gordon Cochrane | Site Search/Site Index
(864) 656-3027 | 1-877-886-2389 (toll free)

Updated August 14, 2007 | Copyright © 2003-2006 Clemson University. All rights reserved.
Some files may require the free Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Photographs by Micki Reid and Jon Truesdale.