You are here: Home > About the library > Library Director's Message

Library Director's Message

In 1904, the famous philanthropist Andrew Carnegie provided $20,000 to General Oliver Otis Howard for a library structure that would, two years later, become the Carnegie Library of Lincoln Memorial University.  The library expansion in 1974 resulted in its renaming to “Carnegie Vincent Library,” to honor Bert Vincent (1896-1969), the esteemed columnist for the Knoxville News-Sentinel whose “heartfelt and glowing reviews of the campus” placed him at the heart of the LMU community.  Another expansion project resulted in the building’s 1989 dedication to Harold M. Finley, long-time board member whose generous support of learning resources helped to construct the Finley Learning Resources Center.  The Finley Center now resides at the heart of the LMU academic community, housing the Tagge Center for Academic Excellence, two updated computer labs, and the Carnegie-Vincent Library.  It is frequented by more than eighty thousand patrons per year. 

Over the past century, the library, nestled against the Cumberland Mountains, has established a scholarly collection of more than 200,000 volumes of books, journals and multi-media materials.  The proliferation of LMU’s off-campus programs in nursing, business and education resulted in the library’s implementation of a broad variety of digital resources in order to support the University’s mission of delivering quality educational programs.  The library now boasts of thousands of electronic scholarly journals, hundreds of digital reference sources, and over forty  thousand electronic books. 

In 2003, the library received a generous gift from the estate of Ethel Piper, which facilitated the purchase of a state-of-the-art library system.  This new acquisition, the Voyager, is used by the Library of Congress, the Kentucky Virtual Library Network, the Georgia GALILEO system and many other libraries around the world.  The system at LMU is called the “The Piper,” in tribute to Ms. Piper’s generous gift to the library.  It provides seamless access to our digital and traditional collection of scholarly resources.  It will enable the library to provide electronic reserves, circulate multi-media equipment, and book equipment reservations.   

In 2005, the library's computer workstations went wireless with the new hub for wireless access.  Twenty laptop computers are provided to students who can work anywhere in the building.  This ideal situation allows students to literally carry their work with them to the research stacks, the reference shelves, into the Tagge Center, or into one of our many comfortable reading areas.  A new student reading room on the lower floor was installed to provide even more desks and tables.  Students can work individually with laptops or gather for a group session.

One of the primary focus areas of the library is in teaching students how to use our collections.  The library’s staff of eight includes five professional librarians, all of whom provide bibliographic instruction.  We maintain a dynamic website designed to teach patrons to navigate our collection.  Yet our focus on virtual tools and instruction has not diminished our ability to deliver quality traditional services.  The Carnegie Vincent Library has established new methods of delivering traditional content over the course of the past several years.  Five years ago students who chose to attend LMU for its personalized college experience did so at the expense of having access to an extensive research collection.  This simply no longer holds true.  Faculty as well as students can now conduct scholarly research at our library; in many fields they have as extensive an array of resources as are available at large research institutions.  When you combine the quality of the library collection with its truly personalized, attentive and friendly service, you will discover why so many patrons refer to the Carnegie Vincent Library as the scholarly hub of Lincoln Memorial University.