J.Y. Joyner Library

Building History
Other Names: none
Date Built: 1954
Date Razed:
Cost of Construction:
Gross Square Feet: 84,641
Assignable Square Feet: 66,347
Architects: Eric G. Flannagan, Henderson, NC [original building]

Namesake: James Yadkin Joyner (1862-1954), a North Carolina native, graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1881 with a Ph.B. degree (bachelor of philosophy) at age 19, the youngest member of the class. He taught at Winston Graded Schools (1884-1885) and served as superintendent at Goldsboro Graded Schools (1889-1893). During the intervening period, he studied at Greensboro Law School (1885-1886) and practiced law in the firm of Faircloth, Allen, and Joyner (1886-1889), in Goldsboro. In 1902 Governor Charles Brantley Aycock appointed Joyner superintendent of public instruction. Joyner held his position until 1919. During his term, he instituted many reforms in the state's system of public education. He was also the first ex-officio chairman of the ECTTS Board of Trustees (1907-1918) and later a member of the board (1922-1925).

Joyner also served as superintendent of the Lenoir County schools, chairman of the board of education of Wayne County schools, head of the English department of the State Normal and Industrial School for Women in Greensboro, member of board of directors at Meredith College and the University of North Carolina, and the first southerner elected president of the National Education Association.

In 1890, in a request for funds for the Goldsboro Graded School library, Joyner wrote:

Good books are great store-houses of educational material.

The child or the teacher who undertakes the work of education without access to these great store-houses must labor under great disadvantages. He may have his tools but, as Carlyle says of Burns, "He must discover his material where no eye before has seen it. "Teach a child to read, and then cultivate his taste for good literature by placing good books in his way and getting him to taste of them, and what a wonderful power you place in that child's grasp.You open to him the avenues to all knowledge. You give him the power to commune with all the great minds and all the great souls of the ages. Who can measure the influence of such companions upon the child's life and character!

For more information see the following titles in the Joyner Library Catalog:

Manuscript Collection #345, James Yadkin Joyner Papers, Special Collections
Books by J.Y. Joyner
Books about J.Y. Joyner

History: From the beginning of East Carolina Teachers Training School, the library was located in the original Austin Building, and then moved to Whichard for the period October 1924 to March 1954.

A notice in the East Carolina Teachers College News Vol. I, No. 2, November 5, 1923 mentions that:

the Library Building has been staked off and will soon be under way. The building will be well equipped and up-to-date for library service.

Opening day, October 15, 1924 is described in the October 27, 1924 issue of the East Carolina Teachers College News.

The east wing of Joyner was built from 1952-1955 and was dedicated on Founder's Day, March 8, 1955. This wing was an L-shaped building, 268 feet across the front, with a central four columned portico. It had a 230,000 volume capacity including the microfilm material. The next year a 136 foot radio tower was erected.

The 1964 addition included the air conditioning and divided the reading room into two floors. In 1966, the second addition added 15,000 square feet of floor space to the east wing stacks.

Two extra floors were added to the existing two at a cost of $736,251.The west wing was added in 1973. The connecting area between the east and west wings contained the circulation desk and catalogues. The west wing housed large stack areas and study space for students. The construction added 91,492 gross square feet with 70,084 assignable square feet of space to the library.

In 1974 it was decided to stop using the Dewey Decimal Classification to catalog most materials. A recataloging project was begun to convert the catalog to the Library of Congress Classification. Dewey is still used in to catalog materials in the Teaching Resources Department. The 1980's and early '90's saw the transition from traditional card catalogs to on-line searching. LS2000 was the first on-line catalog installed ca. 1986. Patrons used dumb terminals to search for books. By 1993 patrons were using Marquis which was renamed Horizon one year later. 1994 saw the completion of the recataloging, the card catalog was no longer being produced and was removed from the public area.

A three phase, $30.3 million renovation and construction project was carried out between 1994 and 1999 which increased the net square footage of the library by 49 percent. Seventeen miles of additional shelving were erected enabling the library to expand holdings to 1.5 million volumes. Other additions incorporated in the renovation and construction include:

250 computer workstations for public use that access library and Internet resources
100 graduate student study carrels
75 faculty study carrels
36 group study rooms
Sonic Plaza

Several departments were moved to the new addition, including Cataloging, Interlibrary Loan Services, North Carolina Collection , Special Collections and the University Archives. The building was rededicated Founder's Day, March 8, 1999.

Additions: 1956 - Radio Tower

1964 - Edwards, McGee & Scovil, Raleigh, NC, Additions & Renovations

1966 - Edwards, McGee & Scovil, Raleigh, NC, 2nd Addition

1973/74 - West Wing added, $3.2 million

1994-1999 - 3 Phase Construction & Renovation Project $30.3 million by Walter, Robbs, Callahan & Pierce

1991-1998 - construction of the Sonic Plaza, $110,000, designed by Christopher Janney

2001 - Naming and dedication ceremony for the Langford-Joyner Clock Tower and the Verona Joyner Langford North Carolina Collection held on Founders Day.