Beaver Tracks @ Oregon State University Libraries and Press

When space in Benton Hall was inadequate for the library collection, administrators looked to John Bennes to design a new building. Originally named “The Library” when it opened in 1918, the space quickly filled with books, offices, and classrooms. It expanded again in 1941 with the addition of the west wing, and again in 1954 with the in-filling the reading rooms with an additional floor. The space still wasn’t enough, and in 1962 the college began construction on a new building. When the new library building opened in 1964, the old library building was renamed Kidder Hall in after Ida Kidder, the college’s first professional librarian.