Loyola/Notre Dame Library
began in 1964, when a consultant recommended a joint library
for Loyola College and College of Notre Dame. In 1965, a joint
faculty committee reported on the feasibility of a combined
library, and on December 7, 1967, Loyola/Notre Dame Library
was incorporated as a nonprofit organization that would be
jointly funded by the two colleges and administered through
a separate board of trustees. The first Library Board of Trustees
meeting was held on January 5, 1968, during which Bishop Murphy
announced plans for construction of a $3 million library building;
the architectural firm of Meyer, Ayers & Saint was hired for
the design and construction of the building, with Henry A.
Knott the general contractor.
In 1970, William Kirwan was appointed the first director of
the joint library. Ground was broken on May 5, 1971, and the
finishing touches of construction were still under way as
the two formerly separate libraries began the difficult process
of merging their collections to become one joint library.
On March 15, 1973, the library opened its doors to students,
faculty and the public with a total of 150,000 volumes. The
dedication ceremony was held on May 12 of that year.
In 1974, Sister Ian Stewart was appointed as the second director
of the library, a position she would hold for the next twenty-six
years. The library's collection grew steadily, and in 1981,
the library acquired its 200,000th volume. In 1993, the library
automated the card catalog and circulation systems using the
CARL system. That same year, LNDL joined the Maryland Interlibrary
Consortium (MIC) along with Hood College and Mount St. Mary's College.
In 1994 the library passed the 300,000-volume mark.
Six years later, in 2000, LNDL acquired its 400,000th volume,
bringing the library to near its total holding
capacity.
John McGinty became the third director of the library that
same year. In 2002, the library implemented the first ENCompass
Digital Library System - a federated search engine "encompassing"
most of the library's database contents - in the United States.
By 2007, the MIC consortium of libraries had grown to include
five libraries in addition to LNDL, bringing total consortium holdings to
over one million volumes. In 2008, the Loyola/Notre Dame Library completed
a large-scale expansion and renovation project enabling it to provide
21st-century academic library services and facilities. Through all these changes,
the library's underlying mission has remained constant: the provision of
top-quality library services and resources to the communities of Loyola
University and Notre Dame of Maryland University.
