Libraries

[Leroy Lizard]

I was surprised to learn that OU's library ranks 37th overall nationwide in volumes held. Pretty impressive for such a low-populated state. How does that match up with the Big-16 if all this comes to pass?

We would rank 7th. Some surprises:

University of Oregon does not place; ASU and ATM despite a huge student enrollments, rank relatively low; we rank close to University of Arizona; Colorado's library is rather small; we rank well above USC.

The later I find the most surprising. With all that money and supposed academic prestige, USC's college library is relatively small.

1. Library of Congress 29,550,914
2. Harvard University 15,181,349
3. Boston Public Library 14,933,349
4. Yale University 11,114,308
5. Chicago Public Library 10,745,608
6. University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign 10,015,321
7. The Public Library of Cincinnati & Hamilton County 9,885,359
8. Queens Borough Public Library 9,691,126
9. University of California–Berkeley 9,572,462
10. County of Los Angeles Public Library 9,185,321
11. University of Texas–Austin 8,322,944
12. Stanford University 8,000,000
13. University of Michigan 7,800,389
14. Columbia University 7,697,488
15. University of California–Los Angeles 7,576,790
16. Detroit Public Library 7,265,306
17. University of Wisconsin–Madison 7,232,850
18. Cornell University 7,120,301
19. University of Chicago 6,977,186
20. New York Public Library 6,777,587
21. Indiana University 6,647,355
22. University of Washington 6,436,960
23. The Free Library of Philadelphia 6,388,077
24. Princeton University 6,224,270
25. University of Minnesota 6,200,669
26. Dallas Public Library 5,916,549
27. Brooklyn Public Library 5,845,212
28. Ohio State University 5,674,784
29. Los Angeles Public Library 5,554,904
30. University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill 5,492,451
31. Duke University 5,360,303
32. University of Pennsylvania 5,273,887
33. University of Arizona 5,040,584
34. University of Virginia 4,921,442
35. Pennsylvania State University Libraries 4,779,165
36. Michigan State University 4,582,004
37. University of Oklahoma 4,427,670
38. University of Pittsburgh 4,420,970
39. University of Iowa 4,380,734
40. Houston Public Library 4,339,128
41. Northwestern University Library 4,315,314
42. King County Library System 4,213,810
43. New York University 4,176,065
44. Rutgers University 4,050,009
45. University of Florida 4,021,629
46. Cleveland Public Library 3,999,771
47. Miami-Dade Public Library System 3,998,192
48. University of Kansas 3,980,589
49. University of Georgia 3,955,004
50. Arizona State University Libraries 3,856,561
51. University of Southern California 3,800,702
52. Washington University–St. Louis 3,608,538
53. Johns Hopkins University 3,572,375
54. Buffalo & Erie County Public Library 3,539,038
55. Cuyahoga County Public Library 3,465,469
56. University of South Carolina 3,374,496
57. Brigham Young University 3,373,793
58. University of California–Davis 3,365,689
59. St. Louis Public Library 3,360,942
60. State University of New York–Buffalo 3,330,476
61. Wayne State University 3,323,580
62. University of Colorado 3,314,432
63. University of Hawaii 3,294,184
64. Hawaii State Public Library System 3,281,117
65. Brown University 3,257,242
66. North Carolina State University 3,236,096
67. Louisiana State University 3,213,314
68. University of Rochester 3,185,231
69. San Diego Public Library 3,169,565
70. University of Connecticut 3,168,617
71. University of Missouri–Columbia 3,149,211
72. University of Massachusetts 3,132,418
73. University of Utah 3,128,547
74. Mid-Continent Public Library 3,120,544
75. University of Notre Dame 3,054,075
76. University of Kentucky 3,053,726
77. University of Maryland 3,016,940
78. Texas A&M University Libraries 3,016,358
79. Milwaukee Public Library 2,989,081
80. University of Cincinnati Libraries 2,977,475
81. Montgomery County Dept. of Public Libraries 2,959,184
82. Columbus Metropolitan Library 2,955,569
83. University of California–San Diego 2,953,024
84. Enoch Pratt Free Library 2,906,821
85. Temple University 2,900,832
86. Syracuse University 2,900,448
87. Vanderbilt University 2,882,057
88. University of Tennessee–Knoxville 2,880,949
89. Broward County Libraries Division 2,825,077
90. Orange County Public Library 2,794,942
91. Southern Illinois University–Carbondale 2,791,775
92. St. Louis County Library District 2,781,301
93. University of Nebraska–Lincoln 2,767,320
94. University of California–Santa Barbara 2,765,756
95. Emory University 2,755,929
96. Auburn University 2,724,011
97. Fairfax County Public Library 2,712,212
98. Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2,707,849
99. Toledo-Lucas County Public Library 2,689,922
100. Kent State University Libraries 2,634,374

[SoonerMom2]

Wonder how many books have been added since Pres Boren took over? When they give coaches raises, you always see in the paper that they are giving money to the library with their raise.

[Leroy Lizard]

Wonder how many books have been added since Pres Boren took over? When they give coaches raises, you always see in the paper that they are giving money to the library with their raise.

I'm not aware of any donations of his to the library. I did find this:


At a time when it's not uncommon for universities to subsidize athletics, OU is doing the reverse. More than $2.5 million of those athletics profits have been turned over to the school in the past three years for non-athletics "academic enhancement."

An additional $50,000 a year is going toward a $1 million endowment for the library.

Of course, $50,000 per year would only pay the cost of half a librarian. It's not going to buy many books.

BTW, I don't know how satellite libraries factored into the original list.

[Jacie]

You can thank former OU president (Dollar) Bill Banowski for the library ranking. It was under his administration that fund raising got a kick in the a** in the right direction, leading to four major construction projects during his tenure (the law center, the fine arts building, the energy center and library expansion). Although OU fell short of his publically stated goal of admission to the AAU, the improvements he was instrumental in bringing about are still there.

[Leroy Lizard]

Actually, joining up with AAU would be a viable goal if we join the Pac-X.

[yermom]

I'm not aware of any donations of his to the library. I did find this:



Of course, $50,000 per year would only pay the cost of half a librarian. It's not going to buy many books.

BTW, I don't know how satellite libraries factored into the original list.

or two librarians at OU :D

[Leroy Lizard]

or two librarians at OU :D

I realize you're joking, but it is expensive to hire a $50,000 per year public employee. Try 20% + $13,000 H&W = $73,000.

[ratherthanlater]

So does Stanford have exactly 8 million books or is that an estimate? Strange that it is the only one on the list with out an exact count.

[yermom]

I realize you're joking, but it is expensive to hire a $50,000 per year public employee. Try 20% + $13,000 H&W = $73,000.

i've known a few librarians at OU

i'm only kinda joking :)

[Leroy Lizard]

I would expect a full librarian (advance degreed, full-time) to pull about $50,000 per year, with the head librarian around $90,000. Was I close?

[Leroy Lizard]

So does Stanford have exactly 8 million books or is that an estimate? Strange that it is the only one on the list with out an exact count.

It's exact. Last year someone donated a whole collection of Field & Stream and they had a devil of a time trying to find an equal number of Fibbonacci Quarterly to throw out.

[yermom]

i guess it depends on what you mean by "full librarian"

i'm pretty sure there are people with advanced degrees working full-time for under $30k if i remember right

they might only be "Librarian Techs" or something

seems like department heads might be in the $50k range

[Leroy Lizard]

I dunno about that. Those amounts seem too low.

[yermom]

OU only overpays football coaches ;)

[prrriiide]

four major construction projects during his tenure (the law center, the fine arts building, the energy center and library expansion). Although OU fell short of his publically stated goal of admission to the AAU, the improvements he was instrumental in bringing about are still there.

Correct, with the exception that he only partially funded Catlett Music Center. Phase I was completed in 1986 and consisted of ensemble rehearsal space and 3 classrooms. Phases II and III were completed in the late 90's under Boren. The Fine Arts Center (Rupel Jones Theatre) is from ~1968-1969.

[bluedogok]

I remember the empty clock tower when I was at OU, the library addition was finished my freshman year, the clock was added later.

[Curly Bill]

OU only overpays football coaches ;)

There's a couple of those bastards that are certainy overpaid. ;)

[badger]

The library's very important to Boren, as is upping the academic ranking with more research and national merit scholars and such.

The Galileo book is truly a treasure. Read more on it here. (http://www.celebratingresearch.org/libraries/oklahoma/galileo.shtml)

Because some of his writings did not conform to church teachings of the time, Galileo himself corrected his works. I've seen some of the corrections (they're available for student viewing) and they're funny. Here, let me give an example:

http://i45.tinypic.com/2igc7et.jpg
;)

[Leroy Lizard]

OU only overpays football coaches ;)

And men's basketball coach.

[SanJoaquinSooner]

I'm not sure number of holdings is the best measure nowadays. Access to academic journals via internet in many fields is as important and in some cases more important.

[Leroy Lizard]

I'm not sure number of holdings is the best measure nowadays. Access to academic journals via internet in many fields is as important and in some cases more important.

Yes, holdings is becoming less important. It's primarily a prestige thing, imo.

[swardboy]

Lidigator saying comic books don't count in 3....2....1.....