FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY
The S.E. Wimberly Library is one of the oldest buildings on Florida Atlantic University’s Boca Raton Campus. In 1963, the facility was constructed on top of the abandoned, wooden structures of the old Boca Raton Army Air Field.
From the beginning, the library was at the heart of the campus and one of the most technically advanced centers at FAU. At the time, the Wimberly Library possessed a technologically sophisticated Media Center, an automatic check-out system and a computer-generated catalog instead of the familiar manual card catalog.
Through the years, the Wimberly Library has been at the forefront of innovation and technology as it evolved to meet the needs of FAU students.
Who was S.E. Wimberly, and how did we get our name?
President Glenwood L. Creech renamed the University Library to the S.E. Wimberly Memorial Library in honor of Stanley E. Wimberly on November 1, 1974. Stanley Wimberly started as the Dean of Social Sciences at FAU in 1964 before becoming the Dean of Academic Affairs in May 1967. The title, which Wimberly held until he died in 1971, was changed to Vice President of Academic Affairs a couple of months later.
During the November naming ceremony, Wimberly was described as being a leader of boundless imagination and an inspiration for those who worked with him.
Renovations through the years:
When the Wimberly Library opened on September 14, 1964, it was a five-story building that housed the office of the President, Dean of Academic Affairs, the College of Business, the College of Education, and all of the Administrative Affairs offices. The library only occupied the middle three floors.
At the time, Florida Atlantic University’s charter class only had 867 students, who were upper-division and graduate students. The first graduating class in 1965 was comprised of 30 students.
As the University grew in size, so did the library. In 1984, FAU admitted its charter freshman class of 257 students, officially making FAU a four-year university. One year later, the Wimberly Library saw its first major renovation.
All of the non-library offices were moved across campus to new buildings, while library staff were moved into a three story, 86,268-square-foot addition. The new wing was connected to the old building by a 60-by-80- foot atrium, which is where our lobby is today.
This phase of construction was completed in November 1985, and was ready for students to use in July 1986. In conjunction with the new wing, FAU also received a stainless steel and weather steal sculpture called “Collective Memory” by Dirck Cruser., which still sits outside the Wimberly Library today.
Twenty years later, the Wimberly Library would see its most current renovation. In 2005, enrollment was up to almost 25,000 students, and it was time to expand the library again. In the winter of 2007, the $5 million, 22,000-square-foot addition was complete. The five-story east wing would be named The Paul C. Wimbish Wing.
Today the Wimberly Library has about 850,000 visits a year and currently serves more than 30,000 students. While the physical building hasn’t been renovated since 2007, select spaces have been remodeled as funding permits. Under the direction of Carol Hixson, Dean of the University Libraries, the Wimberly Library is being reimagined in order to meet the demands of modern-day, college students.
