Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Parallel form(s) of name
Lincoln Memorial Library
Briggs Library
H. M. Briggs Library
South Dakota State University. Hilton M. Briggs Library
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
The university library at South Dakota State University developed alongside the growth of the institution and its academic programs. The library began in the fall of 1885, when two rooms on the second floor of Old Central were designated as reading rooms and housed a small reference collection of approximately 500 volumes. Early library administration was informal, with faculty members and students sharing responsibilities. The first book purchase occurred in 1886, and by the 1887–1888 academic year the collection had grown to more than 2,000 volumes. Continued expansion through donations and purchases increased the holdings to approximately 35,000 bound volumes by 1925.
In 1927, the library moved into the newly constructed Lincoln Memorial Library, the first land grant college library in the state dedicated to President Abraham Lincoln and the first building in South Dakota financed through a cigarette tax. The facility included reading rooms, classrooms, seminar rooms, and stack space, and it also housed academic departments as campus needs evolved. Collection growth accelerated following World War II and the establishment of doctoral programs in the mid 1950s, placing increasing pressure on available space. After years of study and planning, a new library building was completed in 1977 and named Hilton M. Briggs Library in honor of the university’s longest serving president, who led major campus expansion efforts. Since that time, the library has served as the university’s main academic library, supporting instruction, research, and preservation of institutional and regional history through its collections, archives, and digital resources.