Austin Peay State University history

The history of the Austin Peay State University library began with the opening of Austin Peay Normal School in 1929.

Harned Hall, pictured top middle, is the only building still standing from this aerial image circa 1935.

The degree was first conferred on the graduating class at the 1942 Spring Convocation.

The library’s second home was located in the east wing of the Browning Building which was completed in 1950.

Austin Peay Library in the Browning Building In 1958, Miss Johnnie Givens took the position of head librarian and spent a total of 34 years working in all three library buildings under six Austin Peay presidents.

In July 1962, an advisory committee was created to begin the planning and development of a new library building on campus.

Miss Givens and Dean Woodward were part of the committee to develop a statement of building program that would be approved by President Joe Morgan in October of 1963.

Prior to its opening on February 20, 1967, library activity was shut down for ten days so the collection could be transferred to the new building by a moving company.

The state Board of Education relinquished its governance of higher education institutions to the Tennessee Board of Regents in 1972.

In 1974, the Tennessee Board of Regents authorized the Bachelor of Fine Arts and the Education Specialist degrees.

Waters, Charles M. (1977). The First Fifty Years of Austin Peay State University.

In 1983, the Tennessee Board of Regents approved the Master of Music degree.

In 1987, Doctor Donald F. Joyce was selected as the director of the Woodward Library.

22, 1999, tornado that ripped through Clarksville.

Doctor Deborah Fetch was promoted from cataloger to director of the library in 2000 after the death of Doctor Joyce.

In 2001, the Tennessee Board of Regents authorized the Bachelor of Professional Studies.

In Fall 2009, enrollment reached a record 10,188, surpassing the 10,000-student mark for the first time.

Today, Austin Peay offers graduate and undergraduate programs to nearly 11,000 students, and the 2016 acquisition of more than 10 acres has expanded the campus deeper into downtown Clarksville.

On March 30, 2017, the university's inaugural Board of Trustees held its first meeting on the APSU campus.