The Williston Library Atrium Once Split in Levels Now Opens to the Sky

1930s

In 1935, as students accessed the Williston Memorial Library from the doors opposite Clapp Hall, they entered on the same floor as students do today, but the center of the building was divided into levels, and lighting was provided on each level by hanging lamps rather than skylights.

The ground floor was split into several rooms, including at least three coat rooms, one designated for faculty. A large room, labeled “staff” on the floor plan from the time, was presumably an office or meeting space for College employees who worked in the library. The ground level also included a kitchenette and a student bathroom.

One floor up, the “delivery room,” as it was called on the floor plan, featured a curved wooden circulation desk and rows of card catalogue cabinets. Walking through this area students could reach the main reading room.

A second floor, which could be accessed by a balcony in the reading room or by the main marble stairs upon first entering the library, included several rooms labeled “study” on the floor plan as well as a room for “maps and charts.” The balcony is no longer accessible, as the space is now fully open from the ground floor to the glass-paneled roof, but the stairs that led to the balcony remain and can be ascended to imagine the space in a previous layout or simply to offer a new view of the iconic reading room.