Mills Memorial Library is turning 60 but it's staying hip in its old age.

A celebration will be held for McMaster students from 1-3 p.m. on Thursday,
March 31 to commemorate the Library's evolution since it opened. With plenty of
activities (and tasty treats) the event will focus on Mills's beginnings in the 1950s. It'll
be cool, daddy-o!

The festivities will feature a green-screen photography booth, where students can have
their image imposed on a background of McMaster's campus circa 1951. For some old-
time fun, there will be a historical-themed scavenger hunt beginning at the McMaster
Art
Museum, home of the original Mills Library. Students can explore an array of historical
displays with archival photographs and memorabilia and see just how dramatically
campus has changed in the last six decades.

Walking across today's bustling campus, it is difficult to imagine McMaster any other
way. But when planning for the Library began, there were fewer than 10 permanent
buildings on campus (compared to more than 55 buildings today). Marion Bates, Ivor
Wynne, Kenneth Taylor and Togo Salmon were still working at McMaster, unaware that
they would one day lend their names to some of the University's most prominent
contemporary buildings.

Mills was McMaster's first dedicated library building; at the time of its construction, the
Library collections were housed in a cramped space in Convocation Hall. With post-war
student enrolment climbing steadily, McMaster needed a new building to properly
accommodate the surge in student population. Head librarian J. W. Spurr and assistant
librarian Marget Meikleham were passionate advocates of the importance of having a
good university library system. They advocated that a library is the “principal laboratory
of a university,” a concept that has evolved as the Library embraces the role of
technology in learning.

“There are parts of Mills today that would be unrecognizable to them, such as the
Learning Commons and the Lyons New Media Centre,” said University Librarian Jeff
Trzeciak. “While how we work has changed, our core mission has not: the University
Library continues to play a central role in the discovery, dissemination and curation of
knowledge.”

The Library was funded by a donation from the Davella Mills Foundation in memory of
philanthropists David and Ella Mills. David made millions later in life, from a spark plug
he invented, and the couple decided to bequeath the entire fortune to create a
foundation for charitable giving. The donation to McMaster was one of scores made by
the Foundation between 1935 and 1955. During that time, it donated well over $4-
million to projects at more than 100 international educational institutions, including
another Mills Memorial Library, at New York University.

Today, Mills Memorial Library houses the archives and research collections for the
humanities and social sciences faculties, including the Bertrand Russell Archives,
government publications, library data services, the Lloyd Reeds Map Collection, and the
University's music collection. It maintains late-night hours for students, offers a variety
of spaces for everything from quiet study to high-tech group work, and ensures that
students have important access to computers and online resources. While its services
are evolving, the Library will always provide the McMaster community with access to an
ever-expanding collection of books, journals, and archives.

“These are the foundations upon which we are built and upon which we will continue to
develop over the next 60 years and beyond,” said Trzeciak.