A brick in UMD history, Hornbake Library edition

By SARAH KREUTZ JUNE 7, 2016

College Park, MD When looking to rename the second largest library at the University
of Maryland to better represent the values of the campus in 1980, the committee decided
on Robert Lee Hornbake, former
Academic Vice President, for his
contribution to the schools
education department.

Built in 1971, sitting east of the

Adele H. Stamp Student Union,
Hornbake Library houses the College
of Information Sciences, the Gordon
W. Prange Collection, and Library
Media Services among other
resources.
Hornbake Library, University of Maryland

These extensive resources are invaluable to the students

and community. While communication, law, and language classes are held in the southern
wing students can utilize the quiet study areas of the building.
I choose Hornbake over McKeldin every time, said Allison Orr, a junior. Orr is among
the hundreds of students who choose Hornbake Library as their study location during
finals, its quieter and has plenty of areas to study, she said.
Adjacent to these study areas is the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities
(MITH). The institute is an internationally recognized research center that cultivates
innovative research around digital tools, electronic literature and other virtual outlets.
With groundbreaking projects like BitCurator, centerNet and Project Bamboo, the
institute is involved in on going research initiatives.
The library also houses interests like the Gordon W. Prange Collection, the most
comprehensive archive in the world of Japanese print publications issued during the early
years of the Occupation of Japan, according to the UMD Library Database.
Our collections are quite accessible to those outside the university. However, all of the
library catalogs can be accessed by anyone connected to the internet, as well as an index

to our archival collections and numerous digital collections, said Amanda Kate Hawk, a
librarian.
The Prange Collection, full of drafts of books and articles, lecture notes from University
of Maryland classes, and interviews with Japanese and American military figures
involved in Pearl Harbor and the Battle of 1Midway, provides useful and interesting
documents from a significant part of American History. These documents are accessible
to students, alumni, and general visitors.
My kids love speaking with the librarians about this new collection, said Mindy Lakire,
who brings her children to Hornbake Library every month to learn about whatever
collection is being displayed.
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Open to visitors from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each weekday; the library has librarians to answer
questions ranging from history to current clerical information.
Prospective and current students can utilize any part of Hornbake Library and its
resources throughout the year. The library is an integral part of the Universitys landscape
and the success of its students.

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1 "Special Collections at the University of Maryland: Blog." Hornbake Exhibit

Gallery, UM Libraries. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 July 2016.