Ohio State University Library photograph

This photograph shows the stacks in the Ohio State University Library, Columbus, in 1941. Three men are visible in the image. One of them is standing on a lower level; the two other men are standing on the semi-transparent floor above him. When OSU (then the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College) was established in 1873, its library was housed in University Hall. In 1893 it was moved to Orton Hall. Ground was broken for a new Ohio State University Library facility in December 1910. The library opened to the University community in January 1913. Since 1951 the central library's official name has been William Oxley Thompson Memorial Library, in honor of the University's fifth president. It has been renovated or expanded three times: in 1951, 1977, and 2007-2009. It is the central research library in the University's system, which includes 55 individual libraries and collections