Celebrate Library Lovers’ Month
Happy Library Lovers’ Month, Bruins! Library Lovers’ Month is celebrated throughout February and is a time dedicated to showing appreciation to libraries as well as other hubs of books, learning and connection. Keep reading for some fun facts about UCLA’s libraries.
The UCLA Library is one of North America’s largest library systems with a collection of over 12 million books. The library has 12 locations across campus which include Powell Library, Young Research Library and other departmental libraries such as the Biomedical Library, Law Library and Music Library. The 10 UC campus libraries together hold more books than the Library of Congress.
Powell Library, UCLA Library’s main and most iconic location, was built in 1929 as one of UCLA’s original four buildings on Royce Quad. It is named after Lawrence Clark Powell, who served as the university librarian of UCLA from 1944-1961. Powell Library is famously where Ray Bradbury wrote an early draft of his novel Fahrenheit 451 using a rented typewriter. It was also frequented by Powell Cat, a stray campus cat that became an unofficial mascot of the library.
Young Research Library (YRL) was built in the 1960s and opened as the University Research Library in 1964. It was renamed in 1997 in honor of UCLA’s longest-serving chancellor. YRL houses the UCLA Library Special Collections, which hold rare and unique primary source materials including books, manuscripts, photographs and more, such as the Elmer Belt Library of Vinciana, which contains materials and books about Leonardo da Vinci and the Italian Renaissance.
UCLA Libraries are not just study spaces, but living parts of campus history and life. This Library Lovers’ Month, take some time to explore a library you’ve never been to before, appreciate the stories held inside their walls and celebrate the spaces that support Bruin learning and community.
