Queens College Library Department Records

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: SCA-0117

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection documents the history of the Library Department at Queens College, including library buildings, services, operations, and publications.

Dates

circa 1930s-2020

Creator

Paul Klapper Library (Organization)

Conditions Governing Access

Appointments to examine materials must be made in advance. Please email QC.archives@qc.cuny.edu for more information or to schedule an appointment.

Conditions Governing Use

Reproductions may be provided to users to support research and scholarship. However, collection use is subject to all copyright laws. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.

Historical Note

The Queens College Library was originally housed in Jefferson Hall. It had its first dedicated home when the Paul Klapper Library, named after Queens College's first president, opened in 1955. The Library moved in 1988 to the newly constructed Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library building, named for the New York Congressman and consumer advocate who died in 1983. (The Klapper Library became Klapper Hall, home to Art, English, and the Godwin-Ternbach Museum). The Music Library has been housed in the Music Building since it opened in 1991.

Various units within the Library (such as Art, Education, and Science) were at times referred to as Libraries (i.e. "The Art Library)" but all of these units as well as the Music Library are structurally part of the same academic department, i.e. the Queens College Library, reporting to the Chief Librarian.

Extent

13.5 Linear Feet (7 records cartons; 6 document cases; 2 half document cases; 3 flat boxes; and 1 small photo box.)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement

This collection is arranged in the following series, listed alphabetically: Administrative; Annual Reports; Buildings; Friends of the Library; Newsletters; and Photographs.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Materials transferred to the archives from Library staff and/or administrators. Dates of transfer largely unknown. Based on labeling in pencil on outside of the boxes, it appears that one box of records on the construction of Rosenthal was accessioned from the Office of the Chief Librarian (Matthew Simon) in 2006, and records related to the Friends of the Library's Poet Laureate of Queens project were accessioned in 2006.

Related Materials

See also the Chief Librarian Records, the Paul Klapper Library Art Center records, the Queens College Art Center Records. Creative Services Photographs and the Queens College Photographs collections.

Processing Information

This collection was minimally/efficiently processed. Some series would benefit from additional description. In particular, the Operations subseries within Administrative should be described at the file level when resources allow.

Deaccessions

Various materials that did not need to be retained based on CUNY's records retention schedule were weeded when the collection was processed in fall 2024. Weeded materials included reports that documented internal, routine work and housekeeping; administrative materials that were of a "day to day" nature; and personnel files with sensitive information. Additionally, while files related to the bigger picture planning and construction of the Rosenthal Library were retained, some files that dealt with planning for interior choices re: furniture, shelving, rugs, and so forth, were weeded. Many duplicates were also weeded.