The Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library is a

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vi ...

located in the center of campus at the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

(USC).

History

After the shooting of his son, the Irish American oil tycoon Edward L. Doheny donated $1.1 million in 1932 to USC to build the Doheny Library. While the exterior of the library was designed by architect

Ralph Adams Cram Ralph Adams Cram (December 16, 1863 – September 22, 1942) was a prolific and influential American architect of collegiate and ecclesiastical buildings, often in the Gothic Revival style. Cram & Ferguson and Cram, Goodhue & Ferguson are partne ...

, the interiors and the final working drawings for the building were designed by Pasadena-based architect, Samuel Lunden. With its use of rounded arches, pale brick and limestone, the library was designed to be suggestive of Romanesque style architecture in Northern Italy and additionally, given its association with USC and higher education, is adorned with statues of Shakespeare and Dante in its main entrance and the marble etching above the front doors depicts a sitting scene of a teacher instructing two students. When the library was initially constructed it was built to hold between 450,000 and 500,000 volumes, but a wing expansion in the 1960 doubled that number, meeting the projects of then head librarian at USC, Charlotte Brown. The gardens were designed by A.E. Hanson (1893-1986).The Cultural Landscape Foundation
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Ground Floor

Composed of the rotunda, the Cinema-Television Library and the David L. Wolper Center, this section of the library is the main research and study area for the college's Thornton School of Music. In addition to the 20,000 books and archives of several movie and television production companies there are upwards of 55,000 music scores and 25,000 sound recordings that are accessible through the Doheny Library's own Music Library

First Floor

The first floor of the library is made up of the main nine levels of stacks (holding the majority of the library's book collection), the Treasure Room (containing materials from the library's special collection, Current Periodical Reading Room, the Los Angeles Times Reference Room (the busiest study room in the library and holds the main reference desk), the Dean's Suite, the Hall of Honor (formerly the card catalog room) and also the East Asian Library (offering a collection of references and periodicals in Chinese, Japanese and Korean).

Second Floor

Used primarily for offices and collaborative workspaces, staff members working on the section floor work in the acquisition, preservation, and display of unique archival materials that the library has in its possession.

Film Use

The Doheny Library was used as a filming location for

Mike Nichols Mike Nichols (born Michael Igor Peschkowsky; November 6, 1931 – November 19, 2014) was an American film and theater director, producer, actor, and comedian. He was noted for his ability to work across a range of genres and for his aptitude fo ...

' 1967 film ''

The Graduate ''The Graduate'' is a 1967 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Mike Nichols and written by Buck Henry and Calder Willingham, based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Charles Webb, who wrote it shortly after graduating from W ...

'', for the sequence in which

Benjamin Braddock ''The Graduate'' is a 1967 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Mike Nichols and written by Buck Henry and Calder Willingham, based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Charles Webb, who wrote it shortly after graduating from ...

(

Dustin Hoffman Dustin Lee Hoffman (born August 8, 1937) is an American actor and filmmaker. As one of the key actors in the formation of New Hollywood, Hoffman is known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and emotionally vulnerable characters. He is th ...

) waits by the fountain for Elaine Robinson (

Katharine Ross Katharine Juliet Ross (born January 29, 1940) is an American film, stage, and television actress. Her accolades include one Academy Award nomination, one BAFTA Award, and two Golden Globe Awards. A native of Los Angeles, Ross spent most of her ...

), who exits the library's main door. The library's exterior entrance, rotunda and one of its halls was also used to film the library scenes in Danny DeVito's 1996 film

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, though the library is left nameless in the film itself. The rotunda was modified to include a large rounded reference desk and two large stacks were added to the hall used in the film.

References

External links

*
LA Conservancy.org: Non-Modern Buildings of the University of Southern California
Libraries in Los Angeles University of Southern California buildings and structures University and college academic libraries in the United States Library buildings completed in 1932 1930s architecture in the United States Romanesque Revival architecture in California {{LosAngeles-struct-stub