Originally, the New College Library was maintained in College Hall, the mansion left over from Charles and Edith Ringling, and was converted in the mid 1960s from living space to learning space. The acquisition of books was fairly quick and the collection grew to around 27,000 volumes within the first three years. When the request was made to make the conversion, there wasn’t a perceived need even for a new library building, this however changed soon as space in the mansion was running out quickly for materials plus there was still a need for much more materials as well. In 1975 the school became part of the State University System allowing for many more sharing opportunities for the library and in the mid 1980s the colleges together with the New College Foundation with its many supporters managed to amass enough capital to construct a new library which would be shared with USF. It received its name officially two years later as the Jane Bancroft Cook library and remains a shared library between the two institutions.
Jane Bancroft Cook
Jane Bancroft Cook, sometimes mentioned as the Dow Jones heiress, was a prolific philanthropist giving to many campuses across the United States. She moved to Sarasota in the early 1950s and as time progressed she found herself more and more involved with the town; Cook served on the Resource Center's Board of Directors for Sarasota County in the late 1980s and was even a trustee for the college and foundation. The JBC Library holds tribute to her name and her contributions to the school overall.
Offerings
The Jane Bancroft Cook Library uses the Library of Congress Call Number system and holds its main circulating collection of physical books on the second floor, beginning in the far northwest corner with the Juvenile section. This proceeds to the DVD stacks coupled with alternative media such as audiobook cassettes and CDs, and VHS videos followed by musical CDs. The rest of the general collection then starts at A and wraps around the northeast corner, then heads south and wraps around the southeast corner where it stops at Z and the Oversized collection. In this area there are tables, soft furniture, and study carrels. Downstairs, where the lobby can be found, is where the Circulation Desk sits. Reserves for classes are located here and it is also the location for interlibrary loan or UBorrow pick-ups. The large selection of physical periodicals is located on the first floor as well. There is a section where the Faculty/Alumnus Authored and Writer in Residence works are on display, and on the far side of the periodical shelves, there is the Dr. Helen N. Fagin Collection for Holocaust Genocide Humanitarian Studies. Physical copies of undergraduate student theses are also located on the first floor. The library houses many other areas of specialized studies including the Writing Resource Center, the Qualitative Resource Center, Educational Technology Services, Language Resource Center, Study Abroad, and the Center for Engagement and Opportunities. Lastly, the JBC Library also has regular study rooms available to check out, many computer stations for active students, staff, and faculty of NCF and USF, a 'Collab' room for open group collaborations, a silent study room, a workshop room available by appointment, and a section displaying the Student Theses.
Collection
The Collection stands around 280,000 volumes, 400 serial titles, has access through UBorrow to lend and borrow from all the institutions in the State University System and Illiad which allows borrowing and lending from institutions world-wide. USF is able to contribute, in addition to books of their own in the library's stacks, access to hundreds of Ebooks and databases ranging from dissertations to news articles and full-text academic journals.
Users
The Jane Bancroft cook facilitates to active USF and NCF Students, Faculty, and Staff. Faculty receives a checkout length of one academic year, Students and staff receive an academic semester, and community members that have applied for and obtained a guest borrower pass are allowed three weeks with their loan. Media for all borrowers are allowed a week.
