◊ THE PAST: The History of the James Lide Coker III Memorial Library
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Coker College was founded by Major James Lide Coker (1837-1918). Major Coker was one of the early settlers of Hartsville. Educated at The Citadel, he also spent one year, 1857, at Harvard College studying botany, chemistry and zoology. In 1860, the Major married Susan Armstrong Stout of Alabama, and they had ten children. He started Welsh Neck High School in 1894, which later was the foundation for Coker College, begun in 1908.
- The library is named as a memorial to Major Coker's grandson, James Lide Coker III (1903-1961), who was the son of Elizabeth Howard and Charles Westfield Coker (1879-1931). He graduated from the University of North Carolina and the Harvard School of Business Administration. At the young age of 28, he became president of Sonoco Products Company and later served as the Chairman of the Coker College Board of Trustees. He married Elizabeth Boatwright, an accomplished author.
- The Coker family carries on the tradition of supporting the missions and goals of the college. For information about the history of the college and its missions, visit The Mission and History of Coker College on the college's website.
- In 1910, the library moved into the newly-completed Administration Building (now known as Davidson Hall), into a large room on its second floor. By 1952 all the rooms on the second floor housed the library. In January 1963, Coker opened the current library building.
◊ THE PRESENT:
Mission, Services, Policies, Facilities
- The mission of the James Lide Coker III Memorial Library is to support the mission of the college by providing resources, services, and instruction for learning and research in coordination with faculty.
- The library staff is available to assist patrons in using the online catalog and databases. In addition, reference librarians are available to provide individual research assistance and classroom library instruction for both general needs and specific projects. Professors are encouraged to request library instruction classes. These sessions can include using the online library catalog, research strategies, using databases, searching the web and evaluating sources. Sessions are customized to meet the research needs of the class.
- Books and copies of articles in periodicals that the James Lide
Coker III Memorial Library does not own may be requested from
other libraries by using interlibrary loan.
- The library also acts as the open computer lab for the campus; the computers are managed and maintained by the Information Technology Department.
- Most of the books, scores, CDs, videos, and DVDs circulate. Reference books, periodicals and rare or valuable items do not circulate. Professors can put library materials on reserve for students; these materials usually do not circulate. Non-circulating print materials can be photocopied in the library for a small charge. Patrons may use the library’s listening and viewing equipment for non-circulating audio-visual material. Coker College students may check out materials from the Francis Marion University and Florence-Darlington Technical College libraries and other academic college libraries across the state. Check our circulation webpage for details.
- For more
information about the library's collections, visit the collections webpage.
◊ THE FUTURE: The Charles W. and Joan S. Coker Library-Information Technology Center
- We are excited to have a new library-information technology facility opening next year as part of Coker's Gateway to the New Century Campaign . For more information, visit the College's LIT Center webpage.
- The following watercolor image has been supplied by the architectural firm that has designed the new library.
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