The Gertrude Gilmer Odum Library is the library of

Valdosta State University Valdosta State University (VSU or Valdosta State) is a public university in Valdosta, Georgia. It is one of the four comprehensive universities in the University System of Georgia. , VSU had over 12,000 undergraduate and graduate students. VSU a ...

Valdosta, Georgia Valdosta is a city in and the county seat of Lowndes County, Georgia, Lowndes County, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. As of 2019, Valdosta had an estimated population of 56,457. Valdosta is the principal city of the Valdosta Metr ...

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. It is named after Gertrude Gilmer Odum, who was

Professor Emerita ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

of English.

History

Valdosta State College Valdosta State University (VSU or Valdosta State) is a public university in Valdosta, Georgia. It is one of the four comprehensive universities in the University System of Georgia. , VSU had over 12,000 undergraduate and graduate students. VSU a ...

had been serviced by Powell Library since 1940 but at the building had grown outdated and was too small to accommodate the expanding student population since the institution became co-educational in 1950. Construction began in 1970 of a new library. The new facility, located at the heart of the main campus, was dedicated in 1972. The library continued the themes of exterior stucco finish and red clay tile roof like other buildings of the main campus but broke from the tradition of Spanish mission style architecture and was built in a very modern style of the era. In August 1990, the

Georgia Board of Regents The Georgia Board of Regents oversees the University System of Georgia as part of the state government of Georgia in the United States. The University System of Georgia is composed of all state public institutions of higher education in the state. T ...

named the Library in honor of Gertrude Gilmer Odum, a major benefactor and Professor Emerita of English.

Expansion

In 2004, a four-story $14.2 million addition opened off the south side of the existing building. Adding the new addition doubles the size of the library. Clearing of the site began August 2001 and was completed in November 2003. The new facility includes a 24-hour internet café, computer labs, Georgia Library Learning Online (GALILEO) technology center, reading rooms, expanded study space, 100-seat auditorium, new book stacks, media services, increased multimedia and digital editing capabilities and a new temperature controlled archives section. The addition maintains the Spanish Mission architecture with stucco exterior and clay tile roof. There is an exterior patio located on the south side of the building which faces One Mile Branch, a stream flowing through the VSU campus.

Materials

Odum Library also houses approximately 549,683 bound volumes, and nearly 3,000 current periodicals and newspapers and a microform collection of over a million units. The Odum Library is a Selective Depository of U.S. Government documents and maintains the Archives of Contemporary South Georgia History and a Southern History Collection.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Library buildings completed in 1972 Valdosta State University campus Libraries in Georgia (U.S. state)