Geisel Library

") and featured in UC San Diego's logo Geisel Library is the main library building of the University of California, San Diego. It is named in honor of Audrey and Theodor Seuss Geisel, the latter of whom is better known as children's author Dr. Seuss. The building's distinctive architecture, described as occupying "a fascinating nexus between brutalism and futurism", has made it an iconic and widely recognized building on campus. The library is located in the center of the UC San Diego campus. The library was designed by William Pereira and opened in 1970 as the Central Library. It was renovated in 1993 and rededicated as the University Library Building, and renamed Geisel Library in 1995. The UC San Diego Library consists of Geisel Library and the Sally T. WongAvery Library, with off-campus locations at Scripps Archives and Library Annex, the Trade Street Storage Annex, and the UC Southern Regional Library Facility. The head of the library system is designated the Audrey Geisel University Librarian, currently Erik T. Mitchell. The library houses over seven million volumes to support the educational and research objectives of the university. It also contains the Mandeville Special Collections and Archives, which houses the Dr.…

") and featured in UC San Diego's logo]] Geisel Library is the main library building of the University of California, San Diego. It is named in honor of Audrey and Theodor Seuss Geisel, the latter of whom is better known as children's author Dr. Seuss. The building's distinctive architecture, described as occupying "a fascinating nexus between brutalism and futurism", has made it an iconic and widely recognized building on campus. The library is located in the center of the UC San Diego campus. The library was designed by William Pereira and opened in 1970 as the Central Library. It was renovated in 1993 and rededicated as the University Library Building, and renamed Geisel Library in 1995. The UC San Diego Library consists of Geisel Library and the Sally T. WongAvery Library, with off-campus locations at Scripps Archives and Library Annex, the Trade Street Storage Annex, and the UC Southern Regional Library Facility. The head of the library system is designated the Audrey Geisel University Librarian, currently Erik T. Mitchell. The library houses over seven million volumes to support the educational and research objectives of the university. It also contains the Mandeville Special Collections and Archives, which houses the Dr. Seuss Collection, which contains original drawings, sketches, proofs, notebooks, manuscript drafts, books, audio and videotapes, photographs, and memorabilia. The approximately 8,500 items in the collection document the full range of Dr. Seuss's creative achievements, beginning in 1919 with his high school activities and ending with his death in 1991. ===Expansion=== Within a few years of the library’s opening, it was considered too small. Student enrollment had more than doubled, library staff numbers had increased, and the collections had grown so quickly that more than 300,000 volumes had to be stored off-site. It was envisioned that future additions to the original building would form terraced levels around the tower base descending into the canyon, with the first of these planned for completion in 1976. The expansion project was ultimately funded in 1990, at which point the original plan had been discarded in favor of a subterranean addition onto the front of the library, designed by architect Gunnar Birkerts. In keeping with the original master plan, the addition was "deliberately designed to be subordinated to the strong, geometrical form of the existing library". During planning in 1968, Pereira was approached to design an annex which would house the Samuel I. Barchas Science Library, a collection of rare historic science books that was planned to be donated to UCSD. The proposed building would have been a two-story structure seated to the front right of the main library, with its upper floor being a half-scale version of the tower's center floor. The building was rejected for being too small, and the Barchas collection now resides at Stanford University. The library entrance is marked by John Baldessari's READ/WRITE/THINK/DREAM, an artwork which is part of the Stuart Collection. Geisel Library also features a life-size bronze statue of its namesake and his most famous character, The Cat in the Hat, on the forum level. ==References== ==External links== The UC San Diego Library website

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1374106749 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.