First Librarians
Little is known of Miss Eugenie Archibald, BA, who served as the University’s first librarian from 1909 until 1911. Then Mr Cecil Race, the University Registrar, was named Acting Librarian. In 1912, Mr Frank Gresty Bowers (1863–1921), graduate of Oxford University, former schoolmaster and civil servant, was appointed University Librarian. Bowers served during a period of very rapid growth, slowed only by World War I, but the last years of his tenure were blighted by chronic ill-health that preceded his early death.
; "F.G. Bowers")
By 1912, the faculty had grown to 26, and there were 320 students. By 1914, their numbers were 34 and 440 respectively, and that year programs were established in Applied Science (i.e., engineering), Medicine, Law, Pharmacy, and Accounting. The Extension Department was established in 1912. The Extension Library, which held 4,000 volumes by 1922, for decades supplied books to rural residents throughout Alberta. Although enrollments dropped by as much as 30 percent, to a low of 309 in 1916–1917, expansion of the curriculum continued during the war years. Agriculture was established as a full faculty in 1915; Pharmacy was elevated to the status of a school in 1917; and Dentistry, Household Economics, and classes in soils, mining, and economics were added in 1918. Thus, with an eye to the future, in 1915 a Library Committee was established, whose original membership included President Tory as well as Professors Alexander, MacEachran, and Sheldon.