Northwest celebrates 40 years of Owens Library, leadership of former president, first lady

Northwest Missouri State University celebrated the impacts of its library and the legacy of its namesake on Tuesday, marking the anniversary of the building’s opening exactly 40 years earlier.

With Dr. B.D. Owens and Sue Owens in attendance for the event, Dr. Mike Steiner, associate provost of undergraduate studies and dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and Interim President Dr. Clarence Green reflected on the University’s evolution during the couple’s years as president and first lady at Northwest from 1977 until 1984 and thanked them for their contributions.

“This is a recognition of a 40-year history of library work but also a tribute to the spirit and leadership that you brought to this place to make it happen,” Steiner said to the Owenses during his remarks kicking off the reception at the library.

The evolution of Owens Library

A hub of student activity on the Northwest campus today, the B.D. Owens Library houses the Student Success Center, Learning and Teaching Center, International Involvement Center, Writing Center and a Starbucks, in addition to serving as a valuable resource center for learning and research.

The facility opened its doors to public use for the first time March 14, 1983, when students returned from their spring break and replaced the Wells Library, a historic campus building that was completed in 1939 but no longer offered the space and capabilities needed for the growing University.

Northwest staff and about 60 students worked two eight-hour shifts every day through the spring break of 1983 to move about 320,000 items and pieces of equipment, including about 200,000 books to the newly completed 120,000-square-foot library. Wells Library furniture also became a commodity on the campus, and an announcement board from the original library remains in use inside the entryway of the Owens Library, Steiner noted.

“They didn’t just move them over here,” Steiner said. “They had to land on the shelves here in order, which was a significant part of the undertaking, to get that much stuff moved in a week’s time and landed in a brand new library, perfectly as it should be and ready for use and they accomplished it.”

A Northwest student and resident of Cooper Hall while the Owens Library was being constructed, Steiner also recounted watching its progress from his window across the street. The Northwest campus was undergoing a transformation during the early 1980s, and the new library was a source of excitement and inspiration.  

“Computers were showing up in our mode of operation, and nearly everything we did was very rapidly changing,” Steiner said. “The sense was excitement and optimism, and I truly believe this building by itself had to do a lot with that. It was hugely impressive in its architecture.”

Within two years after the Owens Library’s opening, usage increased more than 30 percent, and monthly circulation of books jumped from 2,500 to 3,200. The move also facilitated the implementation of technology in ways that were not possible in the Wells Library, Steiner noted, pointing to reporting in a 1986 issue of The Northwest Missourian.

“Nancy Hanks, the library director who assumed the role in that period, oversaw the implementation of a computerized catalog in 1985,” Steiner said. “And she expressed to The Missourian the vision that at some point with computers in their dorm room, students would be able to see what was available in the library without leaving their room. I keep thinking I would love to go back and tell Nancy, ‘Oh, and by the way, they’re going to read the books on their phone, which is also their camera, which is also their music player and pretty much their life.’”

As technology has shifted library materials to digital modes, Northwest has reshaped the Owens Library and its spaces in ways that make the facility more indispensable to the campus than it was in 1983, Steiner said.

“We continue to plan ways to adapt to evolving student use,” Steiner said, pointing to the many mobile work stations, whiteboards and other resources scattered throughout the building to support student learning. “It’s still fascinating to me to walk around here at seven o'clock on a Wednesday evening and see the enumerable ways that students are figuring out or deciding how to use the library.”

The leadership of B.D. and Sue Owens

After earning their bachelor’s degrees at Northwest in 1959 and 1957, respectively, B.D. and Sue Owens returned to the University in 1977. B.D. had served as president of the University of Tampa and began a seven-year presidency at Northwest that involved strengthening academic programs, increasing enrollment and improving the institution’s fiscal outlook.

Most notably, the University confronted dire damage to multiple campus buildings in July 1979. In a span of days, high winds and rain severely damaged the roofs of the Olive DeLuce Fine Arts Building and Wells Library, leading to significant water damage in both.

Then, on July 24, an electrical malfunction above the fourth floor of the Administration Building caused a massive fire that destroyed about 60 percent of the facility. The next morning, President Owens famously set a tone of strength and resilience for Northwest, telling faculty and staff gathered in the Charles Johnson Theater that they would proceed with “business as usual.”

“Dr. Owens’ leadership and the simple statement he made that morning propelled Northwest into its next phase of life,” Green said. “The fire was devastating, but this laid the groundwork for Dr. Owens to begin the conversation of building a new theater, a new academic space in the Wells Library, now Wells Hall, and eventually making way for a new library facility that began construction in 1980.

“It takes a special kind of leadership in times of crisis. Dr. Owens exhibited boldness and tenacity in turning a terrible moment in our history into a tremendous opportunity. Northwest Missouri State University would not be in the shape we are in today without Dr. B.D. Owens’ leadership.”

Simultaneously, Sue Owens organized a group of Northwest employee spouses and community members to help clear the Administration Building, called the Diamond Damsels. In the aftermath of the fire cleanup, the group continued to serve where help was needed on the Northwest campus and in the Maryville community.

Reflecting on his observations as an undergraduate student at Northwest during the years after the Administration Building fire, Steiner said, “I would have to say my experience was one of excitement – literally seeing the campus not simply recovering but significantly improving due to the ingenuity of Dr. Owens, his staff and the considerable energy of the campus community.”