A ceremony is held to lay the cornerstone of the McPherson Library. Future President Hugh Farquhar leads the academic procession.
It all began with Thomas Shanks McPherson, the Victoria entrepreneur who believed that the "single most important factor in the progress of a city" was the growth of a university. To ensure the survival of post-secondary education in Victoria, he bequeathed to UVic's predecessor, Victoria College, a legacy fund of $250,000 for the construction of the original university library. In addition, he bequeathed $2.5 million to the University Building Fund of the Victoria College. He also left his 50% share of the Central Building in downtown Victoria to the soon-to-be-established University of Victoria. Planning for the new Gordon Head campus was underway by 1960, but McPherson unfortunately died in 1962, the year before construction of the library began. His cash bequest funded the development of UVic's library and when it opened in 1964, the university named it the McPherson Library in memory of this visionary and generous benefactor.
"The centre of our University, indeed every University, is the Library. We are happy to be able to open and dedicate our new Library in memory of Thomas S. McPherson whose munificence has made possible so great an expansion of our activities." - J.B. Clearihue, Chancellor.
Size of the library collection at opening is 150,000
$2.8 million renovation of library completed. Additional 126,100 square feet of space - more study space, art display, facilities for grad students, and an enlarged smoking lounge.
The Seghers Collection, consisting of approximately 4,000 volumes, has been on permanent loan to the University of Victoria Library from the Catholic Diocese of Victoria since 1976. The Library catalogued the materials, affixed a bookplate to each volume, and housed the collection as a distinct entity. The collection has been of interest to a number of academic departments, notably Medieval Studies, History, English, History in Art, and Classics, and a number of community borrowers engaged in research.
“Our experiences at University of Victoria have been very positive. After only a 15-20 minute briefing, we were off and running – the computer did not explode when we made a boo boo.” (Betty Gibb, ILL)
The Faculty of Law purchased two Victoria-manufactured Pixelart IBM PC-Compatible microcomputers and Roland printers for installation in Room 164 of the Law Library. Internal modems will give students dial access to many online research services.
Film Centre (formerly part of the AV/TV Services) becomes part of the library.
CD-ROM facility in Cornett Lab moved most CD-ROMs to McPherson Library
Simon Fraser University Library created email accounts available to all BC post-secondary institution librarians for a $25 registration fee.
The University Fountain was a generous gift of David and Dorothy Lam, a tribute to their friends Howard and Linda Petch.
A Help Desk was set up by the Loan Desk at the beginning of term to help ease burden at the Loan and Reference desks.
UVic Library successfully negotiated to be the first Canadian text site for Blackwell's CONNECT, an online comprehensive database of major academic and research journals published worldwide.
NOTIS implementation. “a well-supported, proven and mature main-frame based system installed in a large number of academic libraries.”
UVic Libraries begin hosting information services for the BC Electronic Library Network. First service supported is the Infoserv Gopher, a directory of online resources of interest to provincial post-secondary libraries.
Card catalogue reduced from 2449 to 1079 drawers or approximately 1,079,000 cards
One of the early messaged received online via new Gateway x-terminals being tested in McPherson "Wow! This is great! One of the first messges to go out on the Gateway X-terminals at the library is: "It is nice to see that our library is on the cutting edge. There must be some true cybrarians working here. Keep up the great work! Thanks!!"
First online FULL TEXT database for unmediated searching: - EBSCO's Academic Search FullTEXT Elite purchased through BC ELN consortia.
Voyager implementation: “The University of Victoria Libraries is pleased to announce that during the week of May 10, 1999, after two years of planning, the library will replace the current NOTIS system with a new state-of-the-art library information system.” (promotional web page)
An institutional repository founded to preserve and provide access to the digital scholarly works of UVic faculty, students, and staff.
"Today we see an expanded Information Commons with over 100 computer work stations, an electronic classroom, an enhanced current periodicals, group study rooms and new resource rooms for students with disabilities. On the other side of the floor you can see the renovated Loan and Reference desks plus the Map library. Around the corner you will find the McPherson Art Gallery now equipped with special lighting. All of this is finished off with comfortable seating for study and laptop usage. " - Catherine Mateer, Acting Associate Vice-President Academic Planning.
The collection began with the generous donation of the Rikki Swin Institute collection. It has been enhanced by other significant donations including the personal papers of Reed Erickson, the University of Ulster TGA collection, and the records of Zenith Foundation, among others.
First post is: 2100 new full text journals added.. UVic Libraries just upgraded from Academic Search Elite to Academic Search Premier. This means online access to 2100 new fulltext journals. You can find the link on the Libraries Gateway under Frequently Used Databases etc.
From a 2005 press release: Bill MearnsThe Mearns family’s involvement with UVic spans four decades and continues today through the William C. Mearns Centre for Learning. $20 million library complex to honour UVic visionary The provincial government and the family of one of the University of Victoria’s earliest supporters have each pledged $5 million to expand and renovate the university’s library and increase online access to its resources. The complex, which will include new seminar and tutorial facilities and classrooms and encompass the existing McPherson Library, will be named the William C. Mearns Centre for Learning. “This $5 million gift from the Mearns family and the $5 million from the provincial government allow us to complete the fundraising for the Mearns Centre for Learning,” says UVic President Dr. David Turpin. “Students and faculty from every academic discipline will benefit from the centre’s expanded and improved collection and study space.” The $20 million project includes a $5 million investment from UVic and an additional $5 million from other donors. Components of the centre include an information commons with workstations and a single access point for all library resources; a media commons integrating all formats of the library’s music, audio and video collections; improved facilities and resources for students with a disability; and an Internet café. “We’re providing some of the capital funding needed to build a modern learning centre that reflects the needs of University of Victoria students,” says Minister of Advanced Education Ida Chong. “The new facility will comprise so much more than rows of books on shelves. This centre will foster learning here at the centre and will enable students to connect to infomation sources around the world.” William C. Mearns was a Victoria native who attended Victoria College, UVic’s predecessor. In 1956, he urged those leading the drive to establish a university in Victoria to acquire the land that is now the Gordon Head campus. He was awarded an honorary degree from UVic in 1991 in recognition of a lifetime of service and achievement. Mearns’ children Craig, Lindsay and Marily and his widow Loula made the $5 million gift to UVic in his name. The donation is one of the most significant gifts in UVic’s history. The state-of-the-art Mearns Centre for Learning also includes study areas with electronic information access for faculty members and graduate students, a renovated special collections and archives area with appropriate environmental controls and a 24-hour student study area.
UVic Libraries joins Twitter.
The newly renovated Diana M. Priestly Law Library is an important learning resource for UVic Law students and members of the local legal community. At the Law Library, individuals are free to pursue scholarly research, study or consult with the law library's knowledgeable staff.
This is a photo which appeared in the Ring for the 2009 Presidents Distinguished Awards 2009. We received the Team Award for Innovation for the William C. Mearns Centre for Learning – McPherson Library building project. Left to right: Ron McDowell, Project Officer Facilities Management; Wendie McHenry, Assistant University Librarian and Project Lead; Louise Labonte, Building Administrator; and Kim Fawthorpe, Manager of Interior Planning and Logistics.
In 2010, the Curriculum Library provides space for a permanent display of ‘Xaxe Siam Seetla’ the Honoured Grandmother Earth Fibres mural created in 2006 by Charlene George (T’sou-ke). The Curriculum Library was granted official stewardship of the Grandmother Tapestry at an official indigenous ceremony on behalf of the Indigenous Education program.
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