About

Growing alongside the Art and Music departments at Colby, the Art and Music Library in Bixler has expanded rapidly since its modest beginnings in 1959. Initially situated in a small room on the first floor now converted to classroom space, the library had a limited number of volumes and no circulation staff. The Art and Music Library is home to the bulk of the circulating collections in the Arts and Music disciplines.

The Bixler Art and Music Building, originally built in 1959 under President Julius Seelye Bixler, followed a large fundraising effort and the establishment of the Art and Music departments in 1940 and ’41. Both the building and the library within it have undergone many renovations since the initial construction. In 1973 Bixler was expanded to create the current library space, and numerous volumes were transferred from Miller Library. The Slide and Sound Recording collections were assembled in a room adjacent to the library proper. The first Art and Music Librarian was hired in 1983, which coincided with another renovation of the library, completed in 1984.

Although this renovation added shelving space, a closed listening area, and improved listening and viewing equipment, the library soon outgrew itself. The latest addition to the library was dedicated in 1992. Improvements included additional shelf space for growth in books and scores, a library seminar room, a new slide library and AV listening area, ample attractive study space for student use. Since 1992, many enhancements have taken place, including the addition of computing facilities, electronic databases for research, wireless access, and compact shelving for high-density storage of quickly growing art and music collections. In 2010, the old AV center was renovated into a multipurpose open lab and classroom for digital art and music.

The college broke ground on Miller Library, which lies at the heart of the Mayflower Hill campus, in 1939. Construction was funded primarily by Merton Leland Miller (1890, Colby) and the building was dedicated in 1947 to the memory of his parents, William and Esther Pearson Miller. The library was designed by Jens Frederick Larson of the firm Larson & Wells and modeled on Dartmouth College’s Baker Library. Miller, and is considered the main library among the three at Colby.

Miller Library supports the study and research in the humanities, sciences, and social sciences and also houses the Special Collections & Archives department, which stewards the college’s rare and unique materials that date from the 12th through the 21st centuries. An addition to Miller opened in 1983, doubling the size of the original building. The Libraries’ card catalog was automated in 1989.

The library provides individual and group seating, wireless Internet connectivity, and a 24- seat teaching and computer lab. Group study rooms and 24-hour study space are available on the ground level of the Miller building. Among the many services offered are reference and instruction, individual research consultation, including support services from academic partners like the Colby Writing Center.

The Colby Libraries provide access to an extensive physical collection of books, journals, and media and an equally extensive collection of digitized and electronic materials, and the libraries have and a robust document delivery system that provides Colby users with materials from other libraries in New England, the U.S., and abroad. Finally, the Colby Libraries are part of the CBB Library consortium, comprised of Colby, Bates and Bowdoin College libraries, which includes a shared catalog of physical items and cooperation across a spectrum of library services and endeavors.