Overview
The academic vigor and reputation of all great universities depend in large measure on the excellence of their libraries. In the words of Vartan Gregorian, president of the Carnegie Corporation and former president of Brown University, “The primary information resources of the university are in the library. Without great libraries, there are no great universities.” From the founding of the University of Virginia to today, the first building on any new college campus is always the library.

Serving as the keystones for the Virginia Commonwealth University Academic Campus and MCV Campus, the James Branch Cabell Library and the Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health Sciences promote the academic success of our students, invigorate research and scholarship, and advance the health care and outreach missions of the university. VCU can point with pride to a decade of nationally prominent accomplishments by the VCU Libraries in innovative technology applications, superior collections development with scarce funds and regional leadership in many areas of librarianship.

Yet, even as its accomplishments advance VCU’s success, the VCU Libraries is under serious assault. Statewide budget reductions have taken a severe toll and the results can be seen in many areas, from declining collections to limited services. Nowhere is the challenge greater than in library facilities. Over the past 30 years, VCU has been able to make only the most essential changes to its library facilities. Library space available to students has diminished, used up by the housing needs of other university operations or taken over by growing collections. Most of VCU’s library facilities appear as they did in 1975, including some spaces that have been untouched by renovations since the 1930s. VCU now provides library seating for less than five percent of its student body, a far cry from the 25 percent standard for residential universities; and collections have exceeded the originally planned capacity by over 50 percent. Yet at the same time over 36,000 individual students and faculty make use of the VCU Libraries in a typical academic week. Without question, James Branch Cabell Library and Tompkins-McCaw Library are the most frequent destinations at VCU and the core of academic life for the VCU community.

It is time to bring VCU’s enormously popular library buildings into the 21st century to meet the ever expanding educational and research needs of the new VCU. It will take the vision, energy and support of all of VCU’s alumni and friends to create library buildings commensurate with the world-class VCU of today. Please join us in supporting the Campaign for the VCU Libraries. Every student visits the library during their academic career. By creating new library space for VCU, your contribution will touch every student today and every VCU student yet to come.

Educational and building needs

James Branch Cabell Library – Renovate the fourth floor to create VCU’s first space dedicated to support of graduate students. Refinish existing undergraduate study areas by repairing carpet and replacing vintage 1975 furniture. Expand Special Collections and Archives to showcase and protect VCU’s world-class collections of book art, comic arts and African-American history.

Tompkins-McCaw Library – Showcase MCV’s historic foundations and Tompkins-McCaw Library’s world-class medical artifacts collection (ranked first in the country among all academic libraries) by restoring the original appearance of the Health Sciences History Wing and creating the MCV History Gallery. Renovate and refurbish the educational wing to create an Intellectual Quadrangle, classrooms and spaces that offer collaborative and individual study areas and state-of-the-art equipment for graduate and professional students.

Additional information
VCU Libraries comprises two facilities: James Branch Cabell Library on the VCU Academic Campus and Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health Sciences at the VCU Medical Center. Together these facilities provide over 270,000 square feet of student study area and stack space for books and journals. The collection contains 1.74 million volumes, 3 million microforms, 44,000 audiovisual materials, 10,200 print and electronic journal subscriptions, access to articles from over 30,000 electronic titles, and over 4,400 linear feet of manuscripts. The VCU Libraries is one of the nation’s leading libraries in expenditures for online, Web-accessed library materials, and Tompkins-McCaw Library consistently ranks among the top 20 health sciences libraries in North America.

Contact
For more information about this exciting initiative for the VCU Libraries, please contact Kimberly Separ, Development and Community Relations for the VCU Libraries:

Phone: (804) 827-1163
E-mail: krsepar@vcu.edu

<< back to main page