50th Anniversary Interesting Facts
- The Lower Level of Pius was designed to act as a fallout shelter in case of emergency.
- For many years, the library also served as an art museum.
- Pius Library was the first building to be named after a living pope.
- The building was designed by the architecture firm, Leo A. Daly Co, which has worked projects such as the Creighton University Administration Bldg., the Houston Astrodome, the Houston Intercontinental Airport, the U.S. embassy's in India and Pakistan, the Los Angeles International Airport, and the Southwest Airlines Headquarters, among others.
- Pius Library was the university's first independent building to house a library. The library has previously occupied the Pere Marquette Gallery in DuBourg Hall.
- Dr. Nathan M. Pusey, then President of Harvard University, delivered the main address following the library's dedication ceremony.
- The original design for the library featured an all-glass exterior.
- When the library opened, all the floors were covered in cork tiles.
- The Anheuser-Busch Wing (where the current entrance is located), opened in 1986.
- The first three floors of the Lewis Annex are where the university's first auditorium was located.
- The fourth floor of Lewis Annex once held the collections of the Law Library.
- The Vatican Film Library was the first collection of Vatican Library manuscript reproductions in the world.
- The Library has only had 6 directors: James Jones, Wrayton Gardner, Eugene Kennedy, William Cole, Dr. Frances Benham, and currently, Dr. Gail Staines.
- In the 1960s, the library had an automated Circulation system that used punch-cards.
- The Rare Book Collection contains items obtained by Fr. De Smet in Belgium in the 1830s.
- The third floor of the Anheuser-Busch wing once housed a Fine Arts library until the mid-1990s.
- From 1986 until 1994, the fourth floor of the Lewis Annex was the location of the Doisy Science and Technology Library.
- The Divinity Library of the Missouri Province of the Society of Jesus was moved from St. Mary’s, KS to the Lower Level of Pius Library in 1967.
- The Parks College Library was incorporated into Pius Library in 1997.
- The library holds almost 1.5 million volumes in its collection.
- By estimate, over 15 million people have entered the library since it opened in 1959.
