January 1968. Memorable events of that month include: Christian Barnard performs the second heart transplant. The Beatles’ “Magical Mystery Tour” album hits number 1. First class postage increases from 5 cents to 6 cents. Peggy Fleming wins the Figure Skating Championship. Rowan and Martin’s “Laugh-In” premiers on TV. And, the “new” University of Utah Library opened its doors, although it was not officially named the J. Willard Marriott Library until 1969.
The U has had a campus library presence since its founding as the University of Deseret in 1850. Beginning in 1900, the Library was housed in the LeRoy Cowles Building until it was moved to the George Thomas Building in 1935. The Cowles Building held 12,950 volumes and could provide seating for 100 of the 765 students enrolled at that time. Moving into the soon-to-be named J. Willard Marriott Library in 1968 increased the size of the Library to 278,000 square feet; it was enlarged again in 1996 to 500,000 square feet and in 2009, with the addition of the Automated Retrieval Center, the library grew to 515,000 square feet.
November 2017. Today the Marriott Library provides resources and services to aid in the research, teaching, and learning of the U’s 32,000 students and many faculty and staff members. With 1.7 million in-person visits annually and an online presence that has 10 million on-line searches and 2.4 million article downloads, the Library provides access to 3.3 million print volumes, 3 million microforms, 100,000 e-journals, 6 million e-books, 430 research databases, and 200 unique digital collections containing 1 million items.
The Library is actively engaged in providing information to the campus and broader community through rare book presentations, augmented reality, 3D printing, information literacy classes, University Press publications, and the Book Arts Treasure Chest program. The J. Willard Marriott Library serves as the center of research, teaching, and learning at the University of Utah.
The future. We invite you to celebrate the Library’s meaningful past and help us commemorate another 50 years of providing “All U Need.” Please join us on January 24, 2018, as we kick off our 50 Years: Celebrating the Past, Creating the Future.
Alberta Comer
Dean & University Librarian
