Pepperdine University Libraries Records

When George Pepperdine College opened in the fall of 1937, there was no library building and no librarian. The registrar, J. Herman Campbell, purchased the initial order of books, which faculty chose by selecting titles from Charles Shaw's A List of Books for College Libraries. The basement of the President's home on campus served as a staging area for library book processing, and two rooms in the administration building served as the library for the first school year, 1937-1938.

Marian Wright was the first librarian at George Pepperdine College during the school year 1937-1938. After resigning in June, 1938, she was replaced by David Otis Kelley. Kelley stayed from 1938 until approximately 1945, when his duties as Librarian were temporarily taken over by other campus library staff including Pearl Ward and Marian Pedigo. Robert Broadus was the librarian from approximately 1947 to 1953. A library building was eventually built on the Los Angeles campus, and the library staff published their own newsletter to broadcast information to faculty and students (the George Pepperdine College Library Bulletin, and later Views and Previews From Your George Pepperdine College Library).

Other staff at various times included Harold Holland (as a librarian in the 1950s, and as Library Director from 1981 to 1989), Dorothy W. Moore (a librarian and eventual Library Director), Terry Leung (a librarian), Robert (Bob) Sanders (an archivist), Herbert (Herb) Gore (an archivist), and James Smythe (an archivist). As of 2013, the current Dean of Libraries is Mark Roosa.

A library at the Pepperdine University campus in Malibu (Payson Library) was dedicated on October 15, 1972, in the fall of the first year students came to the Malibu campus. There are also other libraries on campus in Malibu, libraries on satellite campuses, and libraries at study abroad locations.