The University Library at

California State University, Northridge California State University, Northridge (CSUN or Cal State Northridge) is a public university in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. With a total enrollment of 38,551 students (as of Fall 2021), it has the second largest un ...

(CSUN) is located in Northridge, in the northern

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Located to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it contains a large portion of the City of Los Angeles, as well as unincorporated ar ...

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

History

Construction for the original library began on November 14, 1957, marking it as the college's first permanent campus building. Students were permitted to use the building beginning on February 16, 1959, and the library had its official opening on March 3. The library featured four floors, 200,000 books and a capacity of approximately 15,000 people. The library was heavily damaged during the

1971 San Fernando Earthquake The 1971 San Fernando earthquake (also known as the 1971 Sylmar earthquake) occurred in the early morning of February 9 in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains in southern California. The unanticipated thrust earthquake had a magnitude o ...

, making it necessary for the closure of the upper floors of the library for repair and organization. Original construction of the University Library was in two phases. The first phase was opened on October 24, 1973. The second, completed in 1991, nearly doubled the size with additional east and west wings. Both phases were designed by the

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Leo A. Daly. The

1994 Northridge Earthquake The 1994 Northridge earthquake was a moment 6.7 (), blind thrust earthquake that occurred on January 17, 1994, at 4:30:55 a.m. PST in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles. The quake had a duration of approximately ...

badly damaged the building forcing the library to close. The original 'phase one building' re-opened later in 1994. The 'second phase wings' needed demolishing and reconstruction, and re-opened in 2000. The Library maintains its own AS/RS ( Automated Storage and Retrieval System), built in 1991, with a capacity of 1.7 million volumes.

Naming controversy

The library was originally named for Delmar T. Oviatt, former Vice President for Academic Affairs, who was involved in the founding of San Fernando Valley State College, CSUN's predecessor. In 2019, CSUN president

Dianne F. Harrison Dianne F. Harrison is a retired American university administrator and former social worker. She was the president of California State University, Monterey Bay from 2006 through 2012. In June 2012, she became the fifth president of California Sta ...

appointed a campus committee to investigate whether the Oviatt Library should be renamed due to allegations of racism. In fall 2020, the Oviatt Library Advisory Working Group presented its findings to President Harrison, the Associated Students Senate, and the CSUN Faculty Senate, recommending that the name of Delmar T. Oviatt be removed from the University Library. After approval from CSU Chancellor Timothy White, the name was changed to ''University Library'' in December 2020.

Services and collections

The University Library has a physical collection containing 1.3 million print volumes, of which over one million are books, and over 249,000 bound

periodical A periodical literature (also called a periodical publication or simply a periodical) is a published work that appears in a new edition on a regular schedule. The most familiar example is a newspaper, but a magazine or a journal are also examples ...

volumes. The Library subscribes to over 84,000 online journals, 200 online databases, and approximately 500,000 e-books. The

microform Microforms are scaled-down reproductions of documents, typically either films or paper, made for the purposes of transmission, storage, reading, and printing. Microform images are commonly reduced to about 4% or of the original document size. F ...

collection contains 3.1 million pieces. There are over 14,000 sound recordings, and over 60,000 film and video recordings. A special focus is the

History Collection digital archives. The Special Collections & Archives section of the University Library has many archival collections of important primary source documents including a large collection of materials on

LGBTQ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

and

Human sexuality Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...

, along with the Vahdah Olcott-Bickford collection (part of IGRA: the International Guitar Research Archive), the Old China Hands Archive, and the Tom and Ethel Bradley Center vast collection of photographs from diverse communities of color throughout the United States and Latin America. In addition, the Library's Teacher Curriculum Center provides a large circulating collection of curricular materials for education students and local educators.

Film and television shooting location

The University Library has served as a shooting location for numerous films and television series, including ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...

'', '' Sky High'', ''

Buffy the Vampire Slayer ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' is an American supernatural fiction, supernatural drama television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon. It is based on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer (film), 1992 film of the same name, also written by W ...

'', ''

Battlestar Galactica ''Battlestar Galactica'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Glen A. Larson. The franchise began with the Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series), original television series in 1978, and was followed by a short-run sequel se ...

'', '' The Middle'', and ''

The Orville ''The Orville'' is an American science fiction comedy-drama television series created by Seth MacFarlane, who also stars as series protagonist Ed Mercer, an officer in the Planetary Union's line of exploratory space vessels in the 25th century ...

''. It was also one of the filming locations for the music video

Intentions Intentions are mental states in which the agent commits themselves to a course of action. Having the plan to visit the zoo tomorrow is an example of an intention. The action plan is the ''content'' of the intention while the commitment is the ''a ...

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Bieber is recognized for his genre-melding musicianship and has played an influential role in modern-day popular music. He was discovered by American record executive Scooter ...

References

External links

University Library Digital Collections
{{authority control California State depository libraries Libraries in Los Angeles Archives in the United States Northridge, Los Angeles University and college academic libraries in the United States Library buildings completed in 1973 Library buildings completed in 1991 1991 establishments in California