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The Rhodes University Library is committed to the pursuit of knowledge by connecting people to resources that contribute to the intellectual development of future responsible citizens. The overarching goal of Rhodes University Libraries is to develop and maintain efficient, reliable and responsive library and scholarly communication services that promote, support and enhance the research, teaching and learning endeavours of Rhodes University.〔Rhodes University, 2012, (Vision and Mission ) - Rhodes University ().〕 == Early Historical Development == ''Background and research acknowledgement: the following historic detail is largely based on the historic account drafted by Sue van der Riet in November 2010. At the stage of drafting the history, Sue was working as a librarian at Rhodes University Library.''〔Van der Riet, Sue. 2010. (Quest for space : Rhodes University Library odyssey 1904-2010 ). Grahamstown: (University ).〕 Within a couple of years after the founding of Rhodes University in 1904, a library collection was begun. The bulk of the initial library collection consisted of a gift, in 1907, from H.M. Majesty's Stationery Office of “some hundreds of massive quarto volumes of The Anglo Saxon Chronicle, et hoe genus omne – the famous ‘Rolls Series”. This was followed by a substantial donation from Gill College, in Somerset East, of the material it had collected to prepare students for the examinations of the old University of the Cape of Good Hope.〔Currey, Ronald. 1970. Rhodes University 1904-1970 : A chronicle. Grahamstown: (University ).〕 Initially housed in the Drostdy, in 1917 the Library moved to a rudimentary building vacated by the Department of Botany. Although the environment was not considered a conducive area to house a library, the library continued to occupy the premises for the next 20 years.〔Currey, Ronald. 1970. Rhodes University 1904-1970 : A chronicle. Grahamstown: (University ).〕 The end of the Great Depression enabled the University to build the centre portion of the main block, whose upper floor (under the clock tower) was allocated to the Library, into which it moved in 1937. The foundation-stone was laid by Jan Hofmeyer, then Minister of Education, and it dutifully records in elegant Latin that once more the Rhodes Trust had contributed generously to the cost of the building”.〔Currey, Ronald. 1970. Rhodes University 1904-1970 : A chronicle. Grahamstown: (University ).〕 By 1955, the library again found itself facing a critical shortage of space. Not only was the book collection growing at the rate of over 4,000 volumes per year, but “''accommodation for readers was also proving insufficient and the student enrolment seemed set for a steady increase''”.〔Van der Riet, Frank. 1961. New design gives maximum use of floor space. Eastern Province Herald (Port Elizabeth). Saturday, April 8.〕 The University Council afforded this predicament high priority, and due to the sound stewardship of its incumbent Vice-Chancellor, Dr Thomas Alty, the University’s excellent financial status enabled it to call for tenders for an entirely new library building “on a plan designed to meet the most exacting requirements”.〔Currey, Ronald. 1970. Rhodes University 1904-1970 : A chronicle. Grahamstown: (University ).〕 This decision was almost certainly influenced by the prospect of the valuable space the library would release once it moved out of the main building as there was a “great shortage of classroom and study accommodation throughout the university”.〔Van der Riet, Frank. 1961. New design gives maximum use of floor space. Eastern Province Herald (Port Elizabeth). Saturday, April 8.〕 By the end of March 1958, a site had been identified and purchased. Situated in the heart of the campus, surrounded by residences and academic buildings, it had been “formerly occupied by the Grahamstown Tennis Club, a site agreed by all concerned in planning and building the library as being the ideal one for its new purpose”.〔Alty, Thomas. 1961. Today important date in Rhodes history. Eastern Province Herald (Port Elizabeth). Saturday, April 8.〕 Able to accommodate its existing collection of 100,000 books, but with shelving capable of taking double that number, the building would, if filled to capacity, be able to house “perhaps over half a million books”.〔Van der Riet, Frank. 1961. New design gives maximum use of floor space. Eastern Province Herald (Port Elizabeth). Saturday, April 8.〕 There was seating for 360 readers, with sufficient room to increase this to 500. Declared officially opened on the afternoon of Saturday the 8th of April 1961 by Lady Schonland, wife of the Chancellor of the University, it was considered one of the finest of its kind in Africa. Together with furniture and equipment, it cost over R200,000.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Rhodes University Library」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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