: For Students, Faculty, and Staff 
Wilson Library under construction, fall 1966, http://purl.umn.edu/226299.
If all goes well, a new library will be underway
Plans for the West Bank library were announced in the March 1964 issue of the University of Minnesota Staff Bulletin with a somewhat hopeful tone, “If all goes well, a new library will be underway on the Minneapolis campus west bank within three or four years.” The Minnesota Legislature had appropriated $4.2 million – about half of what was needed – for the library.
“West Bank Library Bids to Open; City Council Okays Street Closing,” Minnesota Daily, March 2, 1965.
Plans for a library on the West Bank campus had been discussed and debated for years, but financial and other support for a new library finally came together in June 1965. Funding was a combination of federal grants under Title I (funds for construction of undergraduate facilities) and Title II (funds for construction of graduate research facilities) of the 1963 Higher Education Facilities Act and appropriations from the 1963 and 1965 state legislatures. Additional funding needed to complete the entire structure above and below ground was secured in 1967.
Wilson Library under construction, fall 1966, http://purl.umn.edu/226306.
Wilson Library and Anderson Hall under construction, 1967, http://purl.umn.edu/226293.
Wilson Library opened to the campus community on September 23, 1968.
Wilson Library, 1968, http://purl.umn.edu/226287
Wilson Library card catalog, 1968, http://purl.umn.edu/226242
Wilson Library card catalog, 1968, http://purl.umn.edu/226281
Wilson Library reading and lounge area, 1968, http://purl.umn.edu/226282
Students studying in Wilson Library, 1968, http://purl.umn.edu/226290
Wilson Library stacks, 1968, http://purl.umn.edu/226235
Wilson Library staff office area, 1968, http://purl.umn.edu/226255
Wilson Library was featured on the cover of the December 1968 issue of Minnesotan, a magazine for University staff and faculty. The issue included articles about library facilities on the Morris and Duluth campuses as well as the recently opened library on the West Bank.
The Fall 1968 issue of “Reports from Your University of Minnesota,” a newsletter for parents, described Wilson as “A new kind of library… designed for accessibility of library materials and flexibility and variety of study spaces.”
In May 1967, the Board of Regents approved naming the new West Bank library in honor of President O. Meredith Wilson. The building dedication was held May 13, 1969, and the event program noted, “Naming the new library for O. Meredith Wilson is an act of singular felicity. Without Dr. Wilson’s creative foresight and his creative energy, this great implement of education might be a ‘need’ or a ‘hope’ rather than an already-used and valued facility.”
O. Meredith Wilson Library dedication program cover, May 13, 1969.
O. Meredith Wilson Library dedication program contents, May 13, 1969.
What was student reaction to the “new” library? Random Magazine began publication in 1969 as a journal of student literary and artistic expression. A photo essay by Richard Olsenius entitled “Lost in Space: Impressions of Wilson Library” was featured in the January 1970 issue.
—Erin George is the University Archives Research Services Archivist. To learn more about the University of Minnesota Archives, please visit www.lib.umn.edu/uarchives.
As a library school student st the U, I trudged across the bridge many a time on my way to Wilson. The staff were very helpful. Interlibrary loan was great.