Ina Dillard Russell Library 1932 Remodeled 1968

The library was named in honor of Ina Dillard Russell who was the mother of Georgia Governor Russell and wife of Georgia Chief Justice Russell. The library building was the first building on campus named in honor of a woman. Mrs. Russell was chosen because of her devotion to her children and her motherly qualities.

Judge and Mrs. Russell attended the dedication ceremony. John T. Boifeuillet, a writer from Macon, was the ceremony's speaker. Boifeuillet emphasized the importance the library has on a college campus:

Our library is not a luxury but one of the necessities of life. Reading gives polish to the graces of manner and adds culture to intellect. The Ina Dillard Russell Library is a golden link that connects the past with the present. (The Colonnade Dec 20, 1932)

The first floor of the original building held the reference collection, the stacks, offices, and room to seat about 500 students. The second floor housed the Georgia History Museum which was sponsored by the History Club. The History Club’s early artifacts included tomahawks and grinding stones from the Creek Indian civilization and items from the Civil War. The second floor also had reading rooms and a laboratory for Library Science students.

Library in 1935

The Milledgeville Times from 1932 describes the building: Perhaps one of the most unusual features of the entire building is the shade of the walls on the first floor. Shell pink is the color of the panels which blend perfectly with the woodwork of walnut.

By 1966 the library was outgrowing its space. Construction on an addition to the original structure began in 1966 and was completed in 1968 at a cost of approximately $850,000. Over 90,000 items including books, pamphlets, and 4,500 items housed in Special Collections were temporarily moved from the library to the basement of Terrell Hall while the addition was constructed.

1968 Library addition

The new addition housed a music room, a special room for typing, a photocopy machine, a graduate reading room, and a faculty lounge. It was air-conditioned with room for 643 students to study. The addition also allowed for a room devoted to Special Collections for rare books and archives. The library was described by a local newspaper as the most comfortable building on campus.

Card catalogs in the new library

Night view of new addition 1968

The remodeled library was described as a "modular" library. It was a new concept in library design which allowed students to study close to the stacks and near the books being used for research.

In 1974 a special room was created in honor of writer, Flannery O’Connor. The room houses O'Connor's original manuscripts and was furnished with items from O'Connor's home and personal library.

In 1998 plans were underway to expand Ina Dillard Russell Library once again with a 92,308 square-foot addition and renovation at a cost of approximately $19.5 million. At the time, the library housed over 175,000 volumes and 1,100 periodicals. The addition to the library would allow the collection to grow to hold up to 450,000 volumes and fit the needs of Georgia College & State University’s changing programs. It would also house the GCSU museum, formerly the Museum and Archives of Georgia Education, which had been separated from the library due to lack of space.

The new project began on October 5, 2001 with the groundbreaking ceremony. Construction on phase I, the new addition, was completed in 2004 and added an internet cafe, three computer labs, a graphics lab, an electronic classroom and many study rooms. While renovation of the old building was completed, Special Collections moved into temporary quarters in the new addition, residing in what would become the copy room and the study rooms. Library administrative offices moved into temporary offices in collection access services

When renovation was completed the summer of 2005, Special Collections and the administrative offices moved into their permanent home and the circulating collection and periodicals were once again shifted to fill the new space. The museum also moved into it's new galleries.

The library held its grand opening ceremony on October 6, 2005, almost four years to the day since the project began.

The early library was housed in the Main Building and consisted of books which were donated by friends of the college. A large portion of the library was gathered through the efforts of faculty and students. In 1891 there were no state funds supporting the library.

An early student catalog describes the origins of the library which was housed in the Main Building.

The Library This is an important adjunct to the college and an invaluable aid to its work. It occupies one of the pleasantest and most commodious rooms on the first floor of the college building, and has an ample outfit of shelves, tables chairs, etc. It now contains about two thousand volumes, comprising mainly books of reference and standard works in art, science, and literature. These are constantly used by pupils as supplementary to text-books in the pursuit of their studies. The sum of five hundred dollars is spent yearly in the purchase of new books for the library, and its shelves are thus kept constantly supplied with the best things in current literature and with standard works in nearly all departments of letters. The books are selected with great care by the members of the faculty. The library is also supplied with choice magazines and periodicals, and with all the leading daily newspapers published in Georgia. These the students read with great interest and intelligence, thus keeping up wonderfully well with the important current events of the day. We believe that no library connected with any educational institution was ever more constantly or more studiously used, or used to better purpose, than is the library of the Georgia Normal and Industrial College. The room is open to students at nearly all hours of the day every day in the week except Sunday, and a librarian is always present to preserve order. The students’ reading is directed in very large measure by the various teachers of the faculty , and is done mainly in connection with the regular college studies. Georgia Normal and Industrial College 1894-1895

By 1920 the library’s holdings had risen to 9,000 volumes and was run by trained librarians. In 1922 the library was moved from the Main Building to Terrell Hall's newly built Annex 'A.' The library in Terrell Hall is described in the early 1920's in the Georgia State College for Women Catalog.

Library. The Library is composed of 11,000 bound volumes, and receives regularly the best of the periodicals of interest to the work of the faculty and students, and also the current magazines and daily newspapers. The reference books are particularly well-chosen for scholarly work in the several departments of the College. The Library is in charge of trained librarians, who will assist students in every possible way to do their best work. 1923-1924

In 1932 with the completion of the Ina Dillard Russell Library, the library holdings moved from Terrell Hall to the new library building which continues to be part of the expanding library of the 1990’s.

Copyright ©

• Atlanta Journal 1932
• Baldwin Free Press 1966, 1968
• Colonnade 1932
• Columns spring/1966
• Columns fall/1967
• Columns fall/1968
• Georgia Normal and Industiial College Catalog 1891-1892
• Georgia Normal and Industiial College Catalog 1894-1895
• Georgia Normal and Industiial College Catalog 1920
• Georgia State College For Women Catalog 1923 - 1924
• Georgia State College For Women Catalog 1931
• Milledgeville Times 1932
• University Archives

Photographs from:

Columns fall/1968
Spectrum 1935
Color photography courtesy: Giles Orr