Queens College Library Department Records
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
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.
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.
- 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.
Source
- Queens College (New York, N.Y.) (Organization)
Creator
- Paul Klapper Library (Organization)
- Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library (1988 -) (Organization)
- Title
- Library Department Records
- Status
- In Progress
- Author
- Annie Tummino
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Box: 1 (Text)
- Box: 2 (Text)
- Box: 3 (Text)
- Box: 4 (Text)
- Box: 5 (Text)
- Box: 6 (Text)
- Box: 7 (Text)
- Box: 8 (Text)
- Box: 9 (Text)
- Box: 10 (Text)
- Box: 11 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 12 (Text)
- Box: 13 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 14 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 15 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 16 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 17 (Text)
- Box: 18 (Graphic Materials)
- Box: 19 (Graphic Materials)
Repository Details
Part of the Queens College (New York, N.Y.) Special Collections and Archives Repository
Queens College Library, CUNY
Benjamin Rosenthal Library RO317
65-30 Kissena Boulevard
Flushing 11367 USA us
QC.Archives@qc.cuny.edu