Facilities Services

Eric V. Hauser Memorial Library

The original library was housed in Eliot Hall, in the space currently occupied by the admission office. Construction or renovation of the library has taken place in every decade of the college's existence except the 1990s. The library building, designed in a Tudor Gothic style, was completed in 1930. Endowments for the library came from two generous contributors: Eric V. Hauser in 1929 and William Nieubower in 1972. Both men were quiet philanthropists and library devotees.

In November 1989, the postmodern Gothic addition was completed in a very creative manner. A trip to the central reading room will give you a glimpse of the library's original outside wall, complete with grotesques. Once spread throughout various academic buildings, all of Reed's math and science libraries are now consolidated within this addition. This addition also provided the library with more study and classroom space.

A new four-story renovation and addition on the southeast corner of the library was completed in 2002. This addition created 60 percent more shelf space and provided more classrooms and faculty offices.

The library currently houses more than 500,000 volumes and more than 15,000 volumes, are added to the collection each year. It is a depository for U.S. government publications and also maintains special collections of rare books, manuscripts, and archival materials. The online catalog can be searched not only in the library, but from any computer on the internet. Wireless network access is available throughout most of the library building. Students can consult a wide variety of databases and online resources to retrieve citations for books and journal articles, and they have access to a rapidly growing number of full-text electronic resources. Reed students have borrowing privileges at most Oregon and Washington academic libraries and can search their holdings using the Orbis/Cascade union catalog. Students can place direct online requests for books in these other library collections and have the titles delivered to Reed within 48 hours.

The library lobby is a popular hangout due to its proximity to library resources, computer workstations, the art gallery, and the instructional media center, which houses the language lab and music listening facilities.

Two Ginkgo trees (Ginkgo biloba), which have achieved the heritage tree designation, stand before the original library entrance. Fossil remnants of the Ginkgo, once native to the Pacific Northwest, have been found in the Columbia Gorge. The trees in this location are female. And produce a highly odoriferous fruit, which is greatly valued (for its seed or nut), as are the leaves. The brilliant yellow of these leaves and the ripening of the fruit each fall provide many interesting observation opportunities.