A Timeline of the Cayuga Community College Library

At Cayuga Community College's dedication ceremony in January 1954, some visitors, according to Dr. Albert Skinner, who later became the College president, had “misgivings about the future” of the library. Its collections consisted of about 75 books stacked in three small bookcases. (The very first book acquisition, Service is Our Business, is still a part of the CCC collection and is located in the Local History Room.)

John Syrgala, English department chairman, and Norman F. Bourke, Social Science chairman, for whom the library was later named, acted as library faculty advisors that first year. During the second year, Eloise Hilbert was hired as the College's first professional librarian, and by March 1955 the library had 2,146 book volumes and 65 periodical subscriptions.

The College moved to its current Franklin Street location in 1959 and the Library moved into considerably expanded facilities in what today is the Student Lounge. The year 1964 saw a major campus expansion that included a new building for the library. In the years that followed, many improvements in size and services have contributed the active and technologically up-to-date facility that the library is today. Among the key developments during those years:

• 1954 - CCC Library opens (James Street location)
• 1955 - Eloise Hilbert is hired as the first professional librarian
• 1959 - College moves to current Franklin Street location, with library located in today’s student lounge
• 1964 - Campus expansion includes a new building for the library, which remains its home today
• 1967 - Conversion from Dewey Decimal classification to the Library of Congress system
• 1968 - Library becomes a New York State Documents Reference Center
• 1969 - First automated circulation system is implemented, in conjunction with the College’s data processing center
• 1973 - Oscar Kerstetter is hired as library director
• 1977 - Library is officially named the Norman F. Bourke Memorial Library, by action of the College’s Board of Trustees and the Cayuga County Legislature
• 1978 - Douglas O. Michael is hired as director of learning resources
• 1979 - Library, Learning Skills Center, and Audio-Visual Center are incorporated into the new Learning Resources Center
• 1981 - Library joins OCLC, an international library cooperative for cataloging, reference, and resource sharing that today has over 36,000 members
• 1983 - Conversion begins from 3x5” card catalog to machine readable cataloging records (MARC) to create an electronic database of all the library holdings
• 1984 - First barcoding project begins
• 1985 - New Gaylord GS100 automated circulation system eliminates punch-card system used since 1969 to check books out
• 1990 - For a complete remodeling, the library moves its service area into two classrooms, with much of the collection housed in storage trailers
• 1991 - In September, the library moves into a renovated facility that doubles its space with an addition of more than 14,000 square feet and adds Law Room, Archives Room and Local History Room
• 1992 - Together with Monroe Community College, SUNY Cobleskill, and SUNY Plattsburgh, the library is among the first participants in the State University of New York Library Automation Implementation Program (LAIP) providing 40 campus libraries with networked, publicly accessible catalogs and an integrated software system (Multilis).
• 1996 - First library website
• 1997 - Opening of a small library branch at the College’s Fulton Extension Center in the old Holy Family School building
• 2001 - Judy Campanella is hired as first Fulton campus librarian
• 2001 - Fulton Extension Center moves into its current location at 806 West Broadway
• 2002 - As a participant in the SUNYConnect initiative, the library implements the ALEPH System for circulation services
• 2004 - First Library Research Award is presented to student Emily Hoercher
• 2004 - Martha J. Lollis is hired as the Library Director
• 2006 - Kathy Long, Auburn campus reference librarian for 37 years, retires
• 2006 - Cayuga migrates to SUNYConnect’s ALEPH v.16