The Donald O. Rod Library
University of Northern Iowa
Donald O. Rod was another person with librarian/architect conflicts. In the end he became a librarian, and Northern Iowa is the better for it. The original UNI library was built around the turn of the century. Came the 1960s and money flowed. The university decided to build a new library and Rod's early architectural instincts kicked in. The new building was originally a simple rectangle. When I interviewed there in 1974 the rectangle had been doubled into a square- I cleverly avoided being hired until after the collection was moved.
The 1960s building, and the 1970s re-building, were designed and built with expansion in mind. The footings and infrastructure were engineered for a much larger building. The 1970s addition was simply part of the plan. In the early 1990s they decided to add a fourth floor and do some internal reorganization of the building. The end design was not quite what Rod had laid out, but it works, and took advantage of his careful planning of the original structure. The floor plans of the present building are below, presented for comparison with Winsor's early design. Rod, unlike Winsor, was thinking in terms of open stacks, modular construction, and patron access, but I think there are some similarities between the two buildings.
Basement
First Floor
Third Floor
Fourth Floor
