UPEI Robertson Library continues the celebration of UPEI’s 50th Anniversary Year with a display honouring the 45th Anniversary of the Library itself. Once UPEI opened for the 1969-1970 academic year, the building of a new library became the top priority. UPEI’s first President, Dr. Ron Baker, realized that a strong library was essential for the new university’s success, and later declared, “I’ve always been nuts about libraries.”
Built in 1973-1974, at a cost of $3.2 million (~ $15.8 million, adjusted for inflation), the new Library opened to students in January, 1975. The Library was officially named in honour of Dr. Samuel Napier Robertson, former Principal of Prince of Wales College, at a ceremony in March (as it happens, UPEI’s current Chancellor, the Hon. Catherine Callbeck, is a grand-niece of Dr. Robertson: then a provincial Cabinet minister, she was a guest of honour at the 1975 naming ceremony). A special Fall convocation in September completed the opening formalities.
In a recent interview (right), Dr. Baker noted that those who built the Library were determined that it be, "capable of change". The Robertson Library continually strives to honour that founding vision in our ongoing efforts to carry the best of our past traditions into the innovative and ever-expanding academic library universe of the 2020s.
Launched for Heritage Week 2020 (February 17 - 23), the display will be on view in our main lobby until mid-March.