CHRONOLOGY: THE STORY OF THE GEISEL LIBRARY AT UCSD

1957: By the late 1950s it was obvious that the University of California system would need more campuses. The state’s population was soaring. And the Cold War had increased the demand for engineers and scientists, especially in San Diego County’s huge military and defense industries.

Prominent architect William Pereira was hired to find suitable sites. He came up with 19 possibilities, including a spot in north La Jolla that was later chosen by UC Regents. It had ample room for a major library.

1960: UCSD was formally established and quickly enrolled graduate students in physics, emphasizing the school’s focus on science.

1963: Planners originally wanted UCSD to be composed of science institutes that included some graduate students. But the need to also serve undergraduates was apparent, leading to the creation of humanities programs that heavily rely on old printed book collections.

1964: Historian John S. Galbraith agreed to become UCSD’S second chancellor after being assured there would be enough money to create a major library. He said the library would help ensure that UCSD wasn’t a mere satellite of UCLA.

1965: The UC again turned to Pereira for help, hiring him to design a building that would be known as Central Library. Pereira, a sci-fi fan, had become famous for his bold, futuristic designs, including a building at Los Angeles International Airport that resembles a space ship with legs. Regents wanted something equally iconic for UCSD.

1967: Pereira began designing a library that would reflect Brutalist architecture, a style featuring big, heavy structures that are often made of concrete. Examples include the J. Edgar Hoover FBI building in Washington, D.C. Workers broke ground on Central Library the following year.

1970: Central Library opened and soon had 750,000 volumes. Most of the collection was print. But Galbraith foresaw the coming of a digital age that would transform society, and change was occurring. MIT introduced email a short time later, and Canon introduced its pocket calculator.

1973: The library added its one millionth volume, John Ogilby’s “America,” a rare account of early discoveries and expeditions to America.

1978: Theodor Geisel delivered the commencement speech, speaking entirely in verse.

1985: UCSD celebrated the 15th anniversary of Central Library.

1990: Construction began on an expansion that added 200,000 square feet to the library, doubling usable space for patrons, staff and book storage.

1991: Ted Geisel died at age 87 after living in La Jolla for more than 40 years. He and his wife, Audrey, had become big fans of UCSD, especially the library. “The first time Ted saw the form of that building he said to me, ‘If I had turned my thoughts toward designing a building, it might have looked strangely similar to this,’” Audrey Geisel later told the Los Angeles Times.

The following year, she donated nearly 10,000 of her husband’s original drawings, sketches, notebooks and memorabilia to the library.

1992: The library celebrated the addition of its two-millionth volume, a 1493 printing of “The Nuremberg Chronicle,” a hand-colored history of the world from its creation to 1492.

1995: The library was renamed Geisel Library after Audrey Geisel donated $20 million to the university. The change was meant to honor both Audrey and Ted. She continued to donate original works and memorabilia to UCSD, eventually pushing the number of items to more than 20,000. That same year, UCSD opened Library Walk,a pedestrian path that better connects the library to other parts of campus.

1999: Brian E.C. Schottlaenderwas appointed head librarian. A short time later, he began to provide access to electronic journals, making it faster and easier for faculty, especially in science, engineering and medicine, to see the latest research. E-journals didn’t catch on as fast with humanities faculty, who tend to like older, historic tests. Today, faculty can access hundreds of thousands of journals.

2004: The library celebrated the acquisition of its three-millionth volume.

2006: San Diego author Vernor Vinge released “Rainbows End,” a sci-fi novel that prominently features Geisel Library. The plot raised the possibility that all of the library’s physical books would cease to exist.

“The very notion of a library is changing before our eyes, and some radicals are even questioning the value of reading,” said sci-fi writer and UCSD graduate David Brin. “But every medium of communication has always been disruptive, before it eventually expanded human mental capabilities.”

2008: UCSD began shipping books to Google as part of a massive digitization project. More than 600,000 have been digitized.