Ralph Brown Draughon Library

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Ralph Brown Draughon Library
The front of Ralph Brown Draughon Library.

The front of Ralph Brown Draughon Library.

Built 1962
Namesake Ralph Brown Draughon
Address 231 Mell Street


The Ralph Brown Draughon Library library was built in 1963[1] to replace Mary Martin Hall as the primary library of Auburn University. The library was expanded and the parking deck was built in 1991[2]. A further extension, the Mell Classroom Building, was announced in 2014 and opened in Fall 2017.[3] The library features two entrances on opposite sides of the building: the Mell Street entrance is on the west side of the building and enters the building at the second floor; the Library Parking Deck entrance is on the south side of the building and enters the building on the first floor.

History[edit | edit source]

Navigating the Stacks[edit | edit source]

The library uses the Library of Congress Classification system on all the books and signs posted around the library. The first half of the call number (before the period) indicates the Library of Congress Classification for the book. The letter and number after the period is the Cutter Number, which is based on the work's author and used to make sure that no two books in a library have the same number. The last number is the publication year.

Letter Subject area Floor containing
A General Works First floor
B Philosophy, Psychology, and Religion First floor
C Auxiliary Sciences of History First floor
D General and Old World History Second floor
E History of America Second floor
G Geography, Anthropology, and Recreation Second floor
H Social Sciences Third floor
J Political Science Third floor
K Law Third floor
L Education Third floor
M Music Third floor
N Fine Arts Third floor
P Language and Literature Third floor
Q Science Fourth floor
R Medicine Fourth floor
S Agriculture Fourth floor
T Technology Fourth floor
U Military Science Fourth floor
V Naval Science Fourth floor
Y A subclass used by Auburn University to designate government documents First floor
Z Bibliography, Library Science, and General Information Resources Fourth floor

If items are listed in special collections, the closed stacks, or another special area, they will not show up in the library stacks despite their classification.

Layout[edit | edit source]

Basement[edit | edit source]

This is the location of the special collections. The special collections contains documents and items significant to the history of the university, the city of Auburn, and the state of Alabama. This is also where items that do not fit on the bookshelves are kept. Among other things, you can find past editions of the Glomerata, floor plans for buildings, and past editions of the Plainsman and the Orange and Blue.

This is also the location of the closed stacks (created in 1980)[4], which contains texts that are no longer in print or otherwise valuable, including government publications. This is also where the university keeps its phonograph records[5]. Items in the closed stacks can be accessed at the first floor circulation desk.

First Floor[edit | edit source]

The first floor is the location of the Circulation Desk, a number of group and individual study desks, and the Media Digital Resource Lab (MDRL), which includes a number of lab computers equipped with high-resolution scanners and digital video and audio capture equipment, large-format poster printers, and microfilm and other microformat readers, as well as CDs and DVDs available for check-out and the microfilm stacks.

Second Floor[edit | edit source]

This is the main floor of the building and the location of the Mell Street entrance. The main lobby contains the Study ER bookstore, and the Information Desk. Study ER is an extension of the Bookstore. It has a limited selection of items but does carry scantrons and office supplies. As of Spring 2013, Study ER also provided fax service[6]. The second floor also includes a coffee-shop area which, until December 2016, featured a Caribou Coffee coffee shop, which offered coffee, drinks, and pre-prepared lunch and snack items to visitors of the library. This location was the only Caribou Coffee remaining in the state of Alabama after the close of the Village location. In December 2016, the library Caribou Coffee announced that it too would be closing at the end of the semester.

Behind the lobby is Miller Writing Center lobby and front desk, the Study Partners study area, and the Learning Commons. This study lounge includes a number of conference tables, desks, booths and whiteboardsfor group or individual studying, several dozen computer terminals for student use,[7], copiers and printers. At the north end of the building there are study carrels for individual study as well as current periodicals and stacks.

Third Floor[edit | edit source]

Fourth Floor[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]