The records of the University of Michigan Residence Hall Libraries (3 linear feet) date from 1954 to 2005. The record group has been divided into four series: Academic Connections, Administrative Files, Benzinger Library (East Quadrangle) Files, Media, and Planning.
The first organized residence hall library system was established at the University of Michigan in the late 1950s. Originally, the mens' and womens' residence hall libraries were under separate administrative control. However, in the 1964/1965 academic year, all were united under one coordinating librarian. By 1965, libraries were in place in the following residence halls (names in parentheses indicate dorm library name, if any): Alice Lloyd, Couzens, East Quad (Benzinger), Jordan and Mosher, Markley, South Quad, Stockwell (Cross), and West Quad (Strauss). The Simpson Library at Bursley Hall was in place by 1970, with a larger collection of reference and other materials to compensate for the dorm's distance from central campus.
The libraries served to merge student living and learning, and to provide certain graduate students in the School of Information and Library Studies with a sophisticated "practicum" in which to develop professional skills. Head Librarians were chosen each year by the Housing Division to oversee day-to-day operations of the residence hall libraries. Head Librarians' responsibilities included selection, purchase, and processing of the library materials; hiring and guiding of library assistants; compilation of monthly reports outlining statistics and activities; and submission of annual reports of budget and usage statistics, activities and promotion, and goals of recommendations for the future of the libraries.
By the late 1990s it was apparent that the mission of the libraries needed to change in order to reflect changing technologies on campus, and subsequent changes in student needs. The result was the transition to the Community Learning Centers (CLCs) over the 2003/04 school year. Only two Residence Hall Libraries, Benziger (East Quad) and Simpson (Bursley Hall), operated in the traditional model that year. Collections from the other libraries were deaccessioned, and portions sold off. The CLCs became popular studying and gathering places. The Head Librarian positions were replaced with University Library Associate (ULA) positions, continuing the connection with School of Information students.
