Flashback
30 years ago
A worker transports books through a second-floor window of the original Lockwood Library on the South Campus. Photo: MARK LUDWIG
Library moves to North Campus
Books were trucked through windows as well as doors in 1978 when the contents of the original Lockwood Memorial Library—now Charles D. Abbott Hall—were moved to the new Lockwood Library on the North Campus. UB Libraries staff relied on a gigantic, detailed planning manual for the move, entitled “A Moveable Feast.”
Six trucks, 100 dollies, 20 two-wheel hand trucks and 250 book carts were used by libraries staff and commercial movers, including 60 UB students hired by the moving company, to relocate 750,000 books, along with furniture and equipment. With only 10 miles of shelving in the South Campus building compared to 30 in the new building, the original Lockwood had been out of space for several years, necessitating the housing of many volumes at alternate locations. It was anticipated that 54,000 books would be moved each day. Instead, the daily count was 100,000. Thanks to careful planning and hard work the move was completed 10 days ahead of schedule.
For the past 30 years the new Lockwood Memorial Library has served as the research library for the social sciences and the humanities, and is the largest library in SUNY. Abbott Hall is now the home of the Health Sciences Library, UB’s oldest library established in 1846.
—John Edens, University Archives
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