TCC student newspaper, March 2, 1966

Building the Library Collection

Before the namesake of the Wanamaker Library had even been chosen, the Friends of the Tacoma Community College Library formed in order to build the library's collection. The March 2, 1966 issue of the Challenge shows the group - entirely white and male representatives of the Tacoma business community - at their (presumably first) meeting, with TCC librarians Doreen Faure and Morris Skagen to the side (page 4).

The Collegiate Challenge, December 6, 1968

The December 6, 1968 issue of The Collegiate Challenge announced the approval of funds for the library to purchase "books and materials in Afro-American studies" (page 1). The brief article goes on to note that the TCC Library was "serving as the central agency in Pierce County for a bibliography of books in Afro-American studies for the Tacoma Urban Coalition."

This bibliography project was published in 1969 as Tacoma Area Urban Coalition Education Task Force Project in Cooperation with Pierce County Libraries: A Bibliography of Afro-American Print and Non-Print Resources in Libraries of Pierce County, Washington with subject arrangement supplement. A copy can be found in the Tacoma Community College Library records in the TCC Archives.

The Collegiate Challenge, April 11, 1969

The bibliography was further described in the April 11, 1969 issue of the Challenge upon its completion. A collaborative effort between TCC, Fort Steilacoom Community College, University of Puget Sound, Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma Public Library, and Pierce County Public Libraries, much of the work was performed by TCC Library reference assistant Lorraine Hildebrand, and the cover was illustrated by TCC art instructor Frank Dippolito. The first copy was given to Governor Dan Evans at a Tacoma Area Urban Coalition meeting.

The TCC Library would go on to produce additional collaborative bibliographies Issei, Nisei, Sansei, Yonsei: A Bibliography of Japanese Holdings (1972) and ...A Change of Worlds: A Bibliography of the holdings of the Tacoma Public Library and the Tacoma Community College Library by and about American Indians with special emphasis on the Pacific Northwest (1977) as part of early efforts to leverage other area collections to expand subject material available to TCC students. These publications can also be found in the Tacoma Community College Library records in the TCC Archives.