The Robert E. Kennedy Library is the primary library of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Opened in 1980 and named in honor of President Emeritus Robert E. Kennedy, the five-story building houses nearly five million items, and is the largest library between Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara.
Cal Poly's first library was founded in 1903 in a single room of the original administration building on campus (now demolished). In 1942, the library made its first move to the newly completed clock-tower administration building.
The first building to be constructed at the university after World War II was The Walter F. Dexter Library, which cost $700,000. Dedicated in October 1948, the building was named after the Sacramento administrator who had helped secure collegiate status for Cal Poly eight years earlier. In 1980, the library moved to its current location, a building named in honor of President Emeritus Robert E. Kennedy (1966-1979). The building was designed by architect Robert Marquis, and built between 1977 and August 1980 at a cost of $11 million.[1]
The library contains nearly five million items, including books, journals, electronic resources, multimedia, K-12 learning resources, and government documents.
The library is currently undergoing a $77 million renovation and is expected to reopen in 2025.[2]
Special Collections, a department of The Robert E. Kennedy Library at Cal Poly, was established in 1969 to build primary source research collections to support the polytechnic curriculum of the university.
Major subject areas in the collections include:book arts, environmental history, ethnic studies, fine printing, graphic arts, landscape architecture, regional history & social history.
Researchers from every state and many countries have traveled to the Kennedy Library to use the archival collections of manuscripts, rare books, architectural drawings, and photographs. Special Collections materials have been featured on BBC, CNN, PBS, A&E, and in international print media.[3]
The library collects archival and printed materials on the history, growth, and development of Cal Poly in the University Archives.
Before the renovation, the building included seven computer labs, twelve large collaboration rooms for up to eight people, more than twenty group study rooms on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th floors, and a number of non-group study rooms, available at all times. There were 300 computers, and equipment available on loan including laptop computers and camera equipment.
The Robert E. Kennedy Library has been voted "Best On-Campus Study Spot" every year since 2006 by readers of the campus newspaper, Mustang News.
Kennedy Library offers a number of ongoing and special events for both the campus and the community: