History
In the early days, Wilmington College students and faculty used the New Hanover High School library and the public library. In 1950, after the college outgrew its space at the high school, the library moved down Market Street to the Isaac Bear Memorial School. Money for books and subscriptions was tight at this time. The library welcomed donations from staff and community members.
By 1958 the school outgrew its temporary home in the Isaac Bear Building. The Board of Trustees was the young college's governing body. The Board acquired land for a new campus off Highway 132. One of the three original campus buildings was for the library and administration. The library was on the north side of this building, with books on two floors.
On October 22, 1963, the Board considered adding to the library building to meet the needs of a growing student body. Trustee Frederick Graham opposed this idea. He preferred building a new stand-alone library.
At the Trustees meeting on April 27, 1965, Dr. Randall said that a new library for Wilmington College was 13th on a list of building prioirities from the State Board of Higher Education. He emphasized that a dedicated library building would be required for accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).
On July 6, 1965, the Board announced that the the college received more than $1.5 million in state funds for a new library. By October 26, Trustees had reviewed preliminary plans. Discussion included a request from Frederick Graham to change the style of the library's exterior. The Board approved final plans on November 9. Groundbreaking took place on July 11, 1967.
Excerpts from the Wilmington College Library circulation record book
Library staff used record books to count the number of books checked out by students, faculty and staff by month and day. This is a sampling of pages from the 1964-1978 book.
The new library was dedicated on March 30 and March 31, 1969. It was named for the third Wilmington College president, William Madison Randall. The building included an auditorium with slide and overhead projectors, a stereo record player, a stereo tape-recorder and an AM/FM radio. A decade later the building was at capacity.
During the January 1981 Board of Trustees meeting, the General Assembly of the North Carolina State Legislature granted $6 million for an addition to the library, pending capital improvement funding. It was finally approved in April 1984.
After two years of construction, the library moved into its new space during the 1986 winter break. Renovations on the original building finished during spring break 1987. Over the next thirty years the library would make continuous changes to the interior of the building to serve a growing student population with changing needs in information technology. By 2015 the library started to outgrow the existing footprint. The Randall Visioning Group formed in 2016 from staff across departments. The group integrated feedback from students and other stakeholders. The result was a vision for future services and technology at William Madison Randall Library for the people of the University of North Carolina Wilmington and the community. On October 19, 2022 UNCW and Randall Library broke ground on the expansion and renovation project. UNCW Library reopened as Discovery Hall and Randall Hall on August 15, with an official ribbon-cutting and grand-reopening ceremony planned for September 25.
