Kennedy Library

1980 - present

The site selected for the library was previously occupied by six temporary wooden barracks and a mess hall built during World War II. The 36-year-old structures were used until the fall of 1977 for faculty offices and laboratories for architecture and child development, and were then relocated on campus, including the "Z-Lab."^[5]

The firm of Robert B. Marquis Associates of San Francisco, who had contributed significantly to the built environment of the Bay Area, particularly public housing and educational building, drew the plans in 1971. The building was three times larger than Dexter, and provided seating capacity for 2,500, compared to Dexter’s seating capacity of 574. The new library provided space for 625,000 volumes, three “rooms for typing,” five photoduplication rooms, and a full staff to manage the expanded collections. A new innovation, the “Automated Retrieval Service,” allowed students to request computer searches, completed by trained librarians, for a a fee of $10.00 and an approximate wait time of three to four days.

Informational brochure for the new library, circa 1981. Read the brochure (and see the original layout of the library!).

The campus broke ground on March 17, 1978. The construction system is concrete frame and exterior, in the Late International Style, similar to Yosemite (1968), Architecture Building (1977), Fisher Science Building (1977), and Vista Grande (1972). The building opened to the public in January 1981.

At the dedication ceremony on April 2, 1981, recently retired Cal Poly President Emeritus Robert E. Kennedy remarked that it was “a special day to recognize the essential function of a library in the educational process, whether it be a little struggling school as Cal Poly was in 1940 or a university with a great reputation–as Cal Poly is today.”

From its origins in one room of the first administration building to the present facility housing a collection of nearly five million items, the library contains rich collections of books, journals, electronic resources, multimedia, K-12 learning resources, and government documents.

Researchers from every state and seven countries have traveled to the Kennedy Library to use our archival collections of manuscripts, rare books, architectural drawings, and photographs. Special Collections materials have been featured on the BBC, CNN, PBS, A&E, and in international print media. As the largest library between Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara, the library also plays a critical role in the surrounding community.

24-hour space opened in the 2007-2008 school year, including the addition of Julians coffee shop on the 2nd floor (named after President Julian A. McPhee, formerly located in the University Union)
Library atrium was remodeled in 2012
The library building was closed in June 2023 to prepare for the two-year library transformation project.

Digitized campus publications keyword "Marquis"

Photos of Kennedy Library

1903–1916

The First Cal Poly Library

Cal Poly’s first library opened in 1903 on the first floor of the original Administration Building. Since the library was adjacent to Director Leroy Anderson’s office, the duties of the librarian were assigned to Naomi Lake, the Director’s secretary.

1916–1946

On The Move

By 1916 the library moved to the second floor of the Science Building, later known as Anderson Hall. Grace Hill was Cal Poly’s first full-time librarian, listed in the course catalog for 1916 (she was also the first advisor of the Polygram, Cal Poly’s first newspaper).

1948-1980

Mustang newspaper clipping of library news

Walter F. Dexter Memorial Library

Plans for the first library building began in 1941 but were halted until 1947 due to the war. In 1947, the Office of the California State Architect submitted construction plans of the new library and classroom building, and after approval, construction began.

Dedicated in October 1948, the $700,000 library memorialized the Sacramento administration Walter Friar Dexter, who had helped secure collegiate status for Cal Poly eight years before. It was the first space specifically designed as the Cal Poly library.

1960 - 1980

Petition for a new library

The rapid increase in student enrollment in the 1950s and 1960s meant that Dexter Library could not meeting the needs of the campus. Enrollment grew to nearly 15,000 full-time-equivalent students and the library became badly overloaded, with students crowding into reading rooms and thousands of books placed in remote storage.^[2] By the 1960s, students were calling for new library spaces.

1980 - present