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The University of South Carolina Thomas Cooper Library has received a $2 million anonymous gift that will go toward a library expansion to house the university's nationally prominent special collections and rare books. The 40,000-square-foot addition, estimated to cost $10 million, will include glass pavilions on each side of the library, a longtime campus landmark that faces Greene Street. Each pavilion will contain space for staff and the public, as well as above-ground and underground storage space. The announcement of the gift Monday (Nov. 8) to the University Libraries' friends and patrons included a rare tour of the Thomas Cooper Library vault, where books and selections from the university's special collections were on display. Among the items were a three-volume history of England, published in 1800 and the first book acquired for South Carolina College; an 1863 leaflet of the Gettsyburg Address; a 1775 alphabet primer with illustrations; selected items from USC's Audubon collection, purchased for $925 in the 1800s and now valued at more than $8 million; and a Book of Psalms from the 1400s.
"Since South Carolina College opened it doors to students in the 19th century, one of our historic strengths has been the library," Sorensen said. USC's libraries are nationally ranked for their overall quality and internationally recognized for their unique research collections," he said. "Increasingly, USC's libraries serve citizens across the Palmetto State. And, in an era of the Web and instant communication, the libraries also represent USC's academic reputation and holdings to a worldwide community of researchers," said Sorensen. Paul Willis, USC Libraries dean, said the new facilities will enable the university to showcase its extensive and growing collections and make its holdings more accessible for students, researchers and readers. "The current facilities were never designed to house the collections that we have acquired in recent years. Over the past 15 years, more than 50 distinct collections have been added to the library's special collections, more than quadrupling the number of books in the department's care," Willis said. "In order to protect these collections and make them available to those who want to use them for study and research, new facilities are critical."
USC's rare books and special collections include the G. Ross Roy Collection of Robert Burns & Scottish Poetry; the C. Warren Irvin Jr. Collection of Charles Darwin; the Anthony P. Campanella Collection of Giuseppe Garibaldi; the Joel Myerson Collection of 19th-Century American Literature; the Joseph M. Bruccoli Great War Collection, with the Joseph Cohen World War I Poetry Collection; the Matthew J. & Arlyn Bruccoli Collection of F. Scott Fitzgerald, with the Warner Brothers/Turner Entertainment F. Scott Fitzgerald Screen Play Collection; the Speiser & Easterling-Hallman Collection of Ernest Hemingway; the Joseph Heller Papers; the James Dickey Library; the John Jakes Archive and the James Ellroy Papers.
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USC President Andrew Sorensen said USC's libraries are of central importance for the university's mission of teaching and research. 
The library's special collections comprise more than 100,000 volumes in addition to substantial holdings of archives and of related visual materials valued between $150 - $175 million. 
USC is among a number of universities around the nation seeking to build facilities to house their rare books and special collections. Rare book facilities have recently been rebuilt at the University of Florida, and the University of Georgia is building a new rare book library. Duke and Emory have major library building projects in the works. 