University of Guelph Library
The McLaughlin Library
The McLaughlin Library, which opened on October 25, 1968, was built at a cost of $8,175,000, including a 1 million dollar contribution from Colonel "Sam" McLaughlin, an Oshawa philanthropist. L.S. Langmead of Hancock, Little, Calvert Associates were the architects and designed a building with a floor area of 270,000 square feet. Furnishings were by Eaton's of Canada Ltd.
The McLaughlin Library in the bloom of spring (the Library Image Bank)
In 1990, major renovations were completed at the cost of $650,000. The Archival, Rare and Special Collections Area was enlarged which added 5000 square feet to the total Library floor area, with space for 40,000 more volumes. At the same time, the Circulation, Interlibrary Loan and Reserve area on the 1st floor was redesigned. The architect was L.S. Langmead. Beckman Associates were the consultants.
The new building was designed to house 300,000 volumes; it currently houses over 2 million equivalent volumes although the square footage has increased only slightly. In addition to the collection in the McLaughlin Building, about 104,000 volumes are in the off-campus storage facility.