First and Focused - College of Saint Benedict & Saint John's University

Libraries since antiquity—and best exemplified by the famed
library in Alexandria—have been celebrated for the accumulated
knowledge stored within. Erected as grand palaces, or secular
temples, they maintain a physical record of the collective intellect.
For centuries, librarians have sustained and revered the life of
the mind. Chief among them, Benedictines have labored for 1,500
years in the preservation, creation and transmission of knowledge
and its artifacts.
At Saint John’s University, the library represents that Benedictine
commitment to the wisdom tradition. Completed in 1966, Alcuin
was one of the great libraries of its time. Designed by renowned
architect Marcel Breuer, Alcuin remains widely recognized for its
stately granite exterior. Inside, massive concrete columns known as
“trees of knowledge” dominate the expansive reading room, with
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their dramatic branches reaching across the ceiling.
Johnnies from that era may recall the construction site, and how
they improvised an outdoor obstacle course of sorts, as described by
Jon Hunstock in his report on library construction progress in The
Record (Sept. 30, 1965):
“The same snowdrifts which caught Johnnies jumping off the
uncompleted library amid sawhorses and concrete slabs last winter
were the same ones which brought progress on the library almost to
a standstill.”
Hunstock goes on to describe the many modern amenities in
store once the library was transformed from Johnnie playground to
a more scholarly purpose. Features would include two audio-visual
rooms, a record library equipped with earphones, private study
rooms and rooms for typing and smoking. Smoking? That was then.
“Libraries will be valued well into the future because of one abiding
constant: students and faculty seeking to make intellectual progress
will continue to require help in accessing the accumulated knowledge
of those who have come before them.”
To increase access to librarians, offices
will be relocated to bring them closer
to users in an open area dedicated to a
student research center.
- Council on Library and Information Resources