History of the Rodgers Library

The University of Alabama's Eric and Sarah Rodgers Library for Science and Engineering opened to the public on June 5, 1990. The library represents a merger of the Science Library collection from Lloyd Hall and the Engineering Library collection from the Mineral Industries Building. The Rodgers Library was named in honor of two long-time faculty members.

The late Dr. Eric Rodgers (B.S., mathematics; M.S., physics, The University of Alabama, 1932; Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1937) was a faculty member of The University of Alabama from 1932 until 1971. He was professor of physics and subsequently head of the Physics Department. For the last thirteen years of his career at The University of Alabama, Dr. Rodgers served as dean of the Graduate School.

Sarah Rodgers (B.S., mathematics,The University of Alabama; M.S., University of Chicago, 1934) was an assistant professor emerita in business administration, taught statistics at The University of Alabama from 1930 until 1971.

The Science and Engineering Library is the first departmental library at The University of Alabama built with the intent of taking maximum advantage of computer-based information systems for research. Representatives from IBM's national library research team and other library consultants from across the country met to design the floor plan of the building in order to accommodate new as well as traditional forms of information storage and retrieval. In anticipation of the electronic publication of library materials, planners studied and prepared for the use of digital information technology in the new facility. A scientific communications laboratory helps instructors teach students how to use on-line databases, the Internet, and other electronic research systems.

Aesthetically, the new library is compatible with existing Greek Revival buildings on the Quadrangle. The Library at the University of Virginia designed by Thomas Jefferson was the inspiration for the original University of Alabama Library, which was burned during the Civil War. The Eric and Sarah Rodgers Library for Science and Engineering incorporates dome and rotunda elements reminiscent of this earlier library. While the building's exterior is traditional in effect, its interior is distinctly high-tech.

The Rodgers Science and Engineering Library is located on the corner of Hackberry Lane and Campus Drive in Tuscaloosa and is a component of the University of Alabama Energy & Mineral Resources Complex. This complex also comprises the Mineral Industries Building and the recently completed Tom Bevill Energy, Mineral & Material Science Research Building.

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