Florida State University Libraries

During the early years when Florida State University was the Florida Female College (1905-1909), the early library was located in one of the classrooms in the main building whose floor space was "completely taken up by two tables and a dozen or so chairs." In 1907, Florida Female College President Albert Murphree made a request to the Florida Board of Control and the Florida Legislature for a separate library building, but it was not until 1923 that the West wing of the new library was completed in Dodd Hall. According to "Louise Richardson and the Florida State University Library," the book collection in the institution's early years grew slowly. While early records did not describe the size of the library, the Florida Board of Education set aside annually an amount to purchase additional books. By 1909, the collection had grown to 6,000 volumes covering every field of human knowledge. In 1947, when Florida State College for Women became Florida State University, emphasis shifted to the development of materials for graduate and professional study and research. In 1956, the Robert Manning Strozier Library was built in response to the increasing need for space for continued accessions, and continues to be the main library to the present day.