le Battalion
Aggielife
Page 5 • Thursday, October 1, 1998
test Campus Library caters
business, agriculture
BY MEREDITH MIGHT
The Battalion
■ looking for the most recent selection
|rom Oprah’s Book Club, students
Ihould not expect to find it at the
iVest Campus Library.
^■hat is because the West Campus Li-
irai caters to the Lowry Mays College
^■Graduate School of Business and the
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences,
the services provided are geared to-
Mds research and house databases re
jig to business and agriculture.
ERIC NEWNAM/The Battalion
^trium of the West Campus Library spans
j stories. The building, designed by Ray Bailey
Itects Inc., was erected in 1994.
houses journals and research materials primarily
iihe areas of business and agriculture.
The West Campus Library, designed
by Ray Bailey Architects Inc., opened in
August 1994. The library’s area totals
45,000 square feet. It cost approximate
ly $8 million: $6 million went towards
the construction of the building, $1 mil
lion towards furniture costs and $1 mil
lion towards design and miscellaneous
costs.
The library carries a total of 18,000
volumes of which 12,000 are journals.
Only 6,000 volumes are allowed to cir
culate. The volumes cover topics relat
ing to business or agriculture.
The library also houses the R.C. Bar
clay Reference and Retailing Resources
Center.
The Barclay Center was initially orga
nized by the Center for Retailing Studies
as a memorial to Randall C. Barclay. Bar
clay was one of the two founding part
ners of Randall’s Foods in Houston.
Robert McGeachin, interim head of
the West Campus Library, said most of
the funding for the library came from a
permanent university fund package that
was allocated nine years ago.
“The actual endowment, set up in
1993 while the library was still under
construction, is funded by corporations
and individuals,” he said.
There are two tiers of donors. Ran
dall’s Food Market makes up most of the
top tier. It includes three different com
panies of the Barclay family.
The second tier is composed of Am
bassador Cards, Fleming Companies,
Anheiser Busch and the Houston A&M
Club, Mrs. Baird’s Bakeries, the Kellogg
Company and Nabisco.
Most of those donors were contacted
by the Center for Retailing Studies,
which existed in the College of Business
before the library was built.
Mike Goldwater, assistant director for fa
cilities and maintenance, said the state pays
for a portion of the library’s expenses.
Rumored hauntings,
agriculture makeup
history of building
BY MARIUM MOHIUDDIN
The Battalion
R oy Simms, meat laboratory manager in the Animal
Industries Building, was doing some routine meat
cutting with his co-workers one weekend afternoon
in 1965. Simms got up on to the table to better cut
across the meat. Simms was not wearing a cutting
apron. On the third slice, he cut straight through the meat
and into his leg, severing his femoral artery and bled to death.
From that tragedy, many stories have emerged about the
building being haunted.
Sightings, voices and moving objects have been recorded
in the building. Custodial workers remind professors to leave
the elevator on the bottom floor so Simms can use it at night.
Otherwise, Simms’ ghost cannot get into the elevator and will
wander around the meat lab instead.
According to Cushing archives, visitors to the building
have reported hearing someone walking through the halls or
doors loudly opening and closing when there was no one in
the building.
However, the ghost of Roy Simms is not the only legend
attached to the Animal Industries Building.
From the rise of its walls in 1929, the 44,859-square-foot
larchitecture
k
see Library on Page 6.
building has enjoyed celebrity status.
Built for $225,000, the Animal Industries Building first
housed the animal science department.
In 1931, the building was opened, and in 1936, it was ded
icated as a memorial to the pioneer livestock men of Texas.
Barron Rector, assistant professor and an extended range
specialist, said the building is a hallmark of the Depression era.
“It was built by people out of work who were part of the
programs set up by President Roosevelt,” he said. “The Uni
versity brought in people who were masters of masonry and
metal work. It was well built and has beautiful artistry.”
The workers wanted the architecture of the building to re-
GREG MCREYNOLDS/Thi li u I \i ion
The entrance to the Animal Industries Building adorns heads
of cows and horses in its architectural decor.
fleet a theme of agriculture. The masons outfitted the build
ing with many stone images of animals. Concrete horse
skulls, horse profiles and cattle and goat heads lend to the
building’s character. Above the south entrance of the build
ing, two goat heads support a crown above a shield wearing
a bovine skull. Inside, the animal motif is continued in the
lobby.
Iron workers created the main door, which was adorned
with iron grills, and made brass and steel figures of long
horns.
The floors are laid with marble instead of tile, which is
commonly found in many other buildings on campus.
Transporting the marble was not an easy task for the builders.
Rector said for a building of that period, the Animal In
dustries Building was of above average construction.
see Animal on Page 6.
dies,
llxk
11
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