The University Library was expanded with the opening of The Info Dome in 1996, and completion of "Manchester Hall", a two-story underground addition to the library, includes a state-of-the-art Media Center, 24/7 Study Area, and two electronic classrooms.[3]
Services
National Center for the Study of Children's Literature
The Library's Map Collection, consists of over 135,000 sheet maps and more than 1,000 atlases and gazetteers. The collection is worldwide in scope, with an emphasis on San Diego, California, the United States of America, and Baja California. The collection has general, worldwide topographical, nautical, and aeronautical coverage. Most of the collection dates from 1945 to the present.
The Library's Special Collections and University Archives houses rare, fine, unique, and valuable books, periodicals, manuscripts, and documents which require security and care in handling. Other valuable historical items such as photographs, prints, postcards, memorabilia, scrapbooks, and oral histories are also held in Special Collections.
Art collection
Center for Regional History
Murals
NRA Packages, a mural painted in 1936 by Genevieve Burgeson Bredo, and for many years thought lost, has been restored and is on display at the foot of the Library Addition stairs. The mural was discovered in 2004 behind ceiling tiles inside SDSU's Hardy Memorial Tower, which was part of the university's first library. Painted in a variety of media, it portrays three men unloading National Recovery Act (NRA) packages from a van near San Diego's Hillcrest neighborhood.
A second, larger mural, George Sorenson's San Diego Industry, was also restored and relocated from Hardy Tower to the Library Addition. This mural depicts the successive stages of tuna fishing and canning, along with the multi-ethnic work force involved in that industry.
Dr. Malcolm A. Love, Ph.D., was the fourth (4th) President of San Diego State University (SDSU), serving from 1952 to 1971. Prior to his Presidency, Dr. Love was President of the University of Nevada for two (2) years.[7] During his nineteen (19) years as President of SDSU, he was able to transform the institution from a teacher's college into a university. In 1966, the Carnegie Corporation named Dr. Love one of the best college Presidents in the country.[7] With the extraordinary growth of students, faculty and facilities, there were plans for new library to be named in honor of Dr. Love. The Library was dedicated to Dr. Love in May 1971.[7]
