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Harold B. Lee Library

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Coordinates: 40°14′57″N 111°38′57″W / 40.24917°N 111.64917°W / 40.24917; -111.64917
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Harold B. Lee Library
Library main entrance at night
Map
40°14′57″N 111°38′57″W / 40.24917°N 111.64917°W / 40.24917; -111.64917
LocationProvo, Utah, United States
TypeAcademic library
Established1925 (1925)
Access and use
Population servedBrigham Young University
Other information
DirectorRick Anderson[1]
Employees160 (2025)[2]
Websitelib.byu.edu

The Harold B. Lee Library (HBLL) is the main academic library of Brigham Young University (BYU) located in Provo, Utah. The library traces its roots to the late 19th century and has been renamed, relocated, and expanded various times to accommodate the growth of its collection. It was renamed in 1973 after Harold B. Lee, the 11th president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The library has 6 floors, with 98 miles of shelving, more than 6 million items, and a seating capacity of 4,600 people. It serves over 10,000 patrons each day and has a writing center, a cafe, a media center, a family study room, individual and group study rooms, a family history library, and a vault that houses special collections. The library is a Congressionally designated depository for U.S. Government documents and a member of the Association of Research Libraries.

History

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The Harold B. Lee Library library traces its roots to the late 19th century. Karl G. Maeser, who served as principal of Brigham Young Academy (the precursor to BYU) from 1876 to 1892,[3][4] had a collection of books in his office that served as the first semblance of a library at the school. In 1891, the collection moved out of the principal's office and into a room in the Education Building in the lower campus.[5]

The library was formerly housed in the Heber J. Grant Building.

In 1925, the collection became a proper library with its own dedicated building when the Heber J. Grant Library (known later as the Heber J. Grant Building) was completed.[5] By the 1950s, the collection along with the needs of the university's students had grown substantially, and planning began for a new facility.[6]

In 1961, the library collection moved into a newly built facility and was renamed the J. Reuben Clark Library.[7] The library's collection reached 500,000 volumes in 1965,[8] and it began offering a dial-up access system in 1969 for patrons to access music, lectures, and foreign language recordings.[7]

In 1973, BYU opened a law school and named it after the J. Reuben Clark, who was a prominent leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and also served as the 7th United States Under Secretary of State.[9][10][11] To avoid confusion with the school on campus, the library changed its name to the Harold B. Lee Library (HBLL) in honor of Harold B. Lee, the 11th president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.[12] A six-story addition was completed in 1976, doubling the library's physical space and increasing the library's seating capacity from 2,500 to 4,500.[13][14] The addition had moveable walls, integrated student study spaces into the stacks, added group study rooms, and included a vault for archival materials.[14] Art professor and artist Franz M. Johansen created four cast stone panels used to decorate the south entrance of the library and representing four areas of human knowledge.[15]

a glass pyramid structure with a stone building dotted with windows situated behind it. A wide sidewalk and landscaping appears in front of the structure.
The Harold B. Lee Library in April of 2021

In 1999, the L. Tom Perry Special Collections wing of the library was added, with contents at the time valued at $153 million.[16][17] In 2014, the library was named one of the "25 Most Used Digital Libraries in the Country".[18] HBLL became a member of the Association of Research Libraries,[19][20] and during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, BYU shut down part of the library because students weren’t in compliance with the school's mask policies.[21]

Facilities

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The HBLL is located at the center of BYU's main campus. It has 6 floors,[22] with 98 miles of shelving, more than 6 million items,[23] and a seating capacity of 4,600 people.[23] It serves over 10,000 patrons each day,[23] and it features a writing center, a cafe, a media center, a family friendly study room, individual and group study rooms, a family history library, and various collections including a special vault area for the L. Tom Perry Special Collections Library. The library is a Congressionally designated depository for U.S. Government documents.[24]

Collections

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L. Tom Perry Special Collections, housed inside the Harold B. Lee Library

The HBLL includes a family history library, the Primrose International Viola Archive,[25][26] and the International Harp Archives.[27][28] It also has a special vault area for the L. Tom Perry Special Collections Library, which contains various religious texts including a 17th century Old Norse Bible,[29] and a variety of film-related items including Oscar statuettes and a Cecil B. DeMille collection.[30][31]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Rick Anderson". National Information Standards Organization. Retrieved 5 April 2025.
  2. ^ "Harold B. Lee Library". CompWorth. Retrieved 5 April 2025.
  3. ^ Bergera, Gary James; Priddis, Ronald (1985). "Chapter 1: Growth & Development". Brigham Young University: A House of Faith. Salt Lake City: Signature Books. ISBN 0-941214-34-6. OCLC 12963965.
  4. ^ Embry, Jessie. "MAESER, KARL G." Utah History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 5 April 2025.
  5. ^ a b "Dignitaries Break Ground for New Library Addition". The Daily Herald. 30 October 1974. p. 5. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
  6. ^ Finding aid authors: Nancy V. Young and Robert L. Young (1998). "Lorenzo Snow Young papers, 1830s-1970s". Prepared for the University of Utah Libraries, Special Collections, Salt Lake City, UT.
  7. ^ a b "BYU Library Makes Great Strides, But Needs to Speed Up Book Acquisitions". The Daily Herald. 9 April 1969. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
  8. ^ "'Friends of the BYU Library' Will Promote Institution". The Sunday Herald. 3 October 1965. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
  9. ^ "J. Reuben Clark's Biography". Lewis & Clark Law School. Retrieved 5 April 2025.
  10. ^ Quinn, D. Michael (2002). Elder Statesman: A Biography of J. Reuben Clark. Salt Lake City: Signature Books. ISBN 1-56085-155-4.
  11. ^ Gessel, David. "Clark, Joshua Reuben, Jr". University of Utah Press. Retrieved 11 April 2025.
  12. ^ Boam, Rodney. "Harold B. Lee: Church president a Clifton native". Adams Publishing Group. Retrieved 5 April 2025.
  13. ^ "Dignitaries Break Ground for a New Library Addition". The Daily Herald. 30 October 1974. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
  14. ^ a b "Six-Story Addition: BYU Library Progress Told". 10 August 1976. p. 4. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
  15. ^ "Sculptured Panels at 'Y' Library". The Daily Herald. 10 March 1977. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
  16. ^ "Special Wing of BYU Library To Honor LDS Apostle Perry". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 11 April 2025.
  17. ^ "Brigham Young University Library". Association of Research Libraries. Retrieved 11 April 2025.
  18. ^ Price, Gary. "Fast Facts: The Top Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) Hubs, Partners, and Other Usage Statistics". Library Journal. Retrieved 4 April 2025.
  19. ^ Wilson, Frazier, and Harter (November 2015). "Circulation Policies in Major Academic Libraries". Journal of Academic Libriarianship. 41 (6).{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  20. ^ "List of ARL Members". Association of Research Libraries. Retrieved 5 April 2025.
  21. ^ Tabin, Sarah. "BYU temporarily closes part of library because students didn't wear masks". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 11 April 2025.
  22. ^ Washburn & Bibb. "Students Studying Students:An Assessment of using Undergraduate Student Researchers in an Ethnographic Study of Library Use". University of Alberta Library. Retrieved 4 April 2025.
  23. ^ a b c "Expanding Library Capabilities: How Brigham Young University Uses SirsiDynix APIs and Web Services to Support Powerful Custom Applications". Sirsi Dynix. Retrieved 4 April 2025.
  24. ^ "CONSER Liaisons". Library of Congress. Retrieved 4 April 2025.
  25. ^ "Primrose International Viola Archive". American Viola Society. Retrieved 2025-04-11.
  26. ^ Jayswal, Palak. "David Dalton, music professor who turned BYU into 'the epicenter of all things viola,' dies at 88". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 11 April 2025.
  27. ^ "15th National Competition & Anne Adams Awards Auditions". American Harp Society. Archived from the original on November 2, 2007. Retrieved 2008-05-15.
  28. ^ "WHC Archives". World Harp Congress. Retrieved 11 April 2025.
  29. ^ "400-year-old Bible donated to BYU". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 11 April 2025.
  30. ^ "BYU Gets Collection of Oscar Winner". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 11 April 2025.
  31. ^ Hartmann, Al. "BYU parts the sea for new 'Ten Commandments' release". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 11 April 2025.
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