Innis, the business library on central campus, is closed for the construction of a new multi-storey addition to the DeGroote School of Business. We'll be back better and brighter in the McLean Centre for Collaborative Discovery, scheduled for completion in 2025.
During our closure, support for business will continue online and from Mills Memorial Library. Watch this space for updates!
During Innis Library's closure, support for business will continue online and from Mills Memorial Library. Additional information about research support, library instruction, course reserves, collections and other resources for business is noted in the Our Services and Our Collections tabs above.
The future home of Innis Library will be on the third floor of the McLean Centre for Collaborative Discovery (MCCD). Learn more about the new building at the links below.
During Innis Library's closure, library services and support for business will continue online and from Mills Memorial Library. For more information on services, select a category below.
During Innis Library's closure, its print resources will be available from the Keep@Downsview or Mills Memorial Library. Online resources continue to be available through the Library's website. For more information on accessing collections, select a category below.
Many of the resources available for business research are highlighted below.
Innis has been the business library on central campus for almost 46 years (July 1974 to March 2020). Although currently closed, a new Innis Library is expected to open in a few years when the construction of the new McLean Centre for Collaborative Discovery is completed.
Explore this page to learn and reminisce about the original Innis Library and its namesake.
The Way We Were ...
Innis Library has closed for the construction of a new multi-storey addition to the DeGroote School of Business.
Although Innis Library's last chapter in Kenneth Taylor Hall (KTH-108) came to an end on March 19, 2020, our story will continue on the third floor of the McLean Centre for Collaborative Discovery, expected to open in 2025.
The INnisCrowd will be back again soon!
To learn more about the new building, visit ...
Innis Library (circa 2014), located on the north side of campus in Kenneth Taylor Hall (KTH-108)
In the late 1960s, when the plans for the Arts III building were being finalized, it was decided that the new home for the Faculties of Anthropology, Business, Economics, Political Science and Sociology would also include a study space for the students in those Faculties.
In 1971 when the newly dubbed Kenneth Taylor Hall opened to the campus community its new study hall featured seating for about 90 students as well as a caged area that housed reserve material for courses offered by the various Faculties. Materials would be accessible only for a few hours a day, courtesy of a temporarily transplanted staff member from Mills Memorial Library.
This new space was named after Harold Innis, famed economist, communication theorist and McMaster alumnus. The Innis Room was quickly embraced by students from the moment it opened its doors.
The heaviest users of the Innis Room were from the Faculty of Business. To stay competitive with business programs at other universities, McMaster pursued accreditation. One of the requirements for this level of certification was to have a dedicated business library.
In the fall of 1973, after much deliberation and negotiation with the adjoining Faculties, it was decided that the Innis Room would become known as a business library. A full-time librarian was hired and plans for the transition began to take shape.
In the early summer of 1974, the Innis Room was closed so that the reserve cage could be removed. Books, shelves and furniture were also transferred from Mills Library.
On July 2, 1974 the Innis Room officially re-opened as a business library and soon boasted over 5,000 reserve items. Despite its modest size, the space saw approximately 180,000 people pass through its turnstiles in its first year of operation.
Traffic at Innis continued to grow at a steady pace throughout the seventies and into the eighties. By the end of that decade, it had become quite clear that overcrowding had become a problem, exacerbated by the steady growth of its book and periodical collections.
By the early nineties, when construction began on the DeGroote School of Business building, a major expansion and renovation of Innis was integrated into the plan, eventually more than doubling its floor space and seating capacity and most symbolically, changing its designation from “Room” to “Library”.
Over the decades, microfilm and print have slowly been usurped by the proliferation of online databases which provide access to countless reports and articles in thousands of periodicals. Despite the changes in technology and access to information, the needs of McMaster’s business and commerce students remain very similar to those of the early seventies; to find reliable and relevant information, quickly and efficiently.
Innis Library has proudly been taking care of business for 40 years and will continue to strive for new and innovative ways to serve its users.
Source: Erasmi, Alessandro (November 4, 2014) "Taking Care of Business for 40 Years: A Brief History of Innis Library" McMaster Libraries.
ADDENDUM: Innis Library closed on March 19, 2020, but will reopen in a few years when the DeGroote School of Business building expansion is completed. Until then, library service and support for business will be delivered out of Mills Memorial Library.
A collection of images taken during the decommissioning of Innis Library in Kenneth Taylor Hall (KTH-108) during October and November 2020.
Don't worry. This is temporary. We'll be back in the McLean Centre for Collaborative Discovery in 2025.
Innis Library is named after Harold Adams Innis (1894-1952), influential Canadian scholar and McMaster alumnus (BA 1916, MA 1918, Hon. LLD 1945).
View Harold's graduation portrait when he received his master of arts from McMaster University in 1918. Read his MA thesis The Returned Soldier online via MacSphere, McMaster's institutional repository.
Find books, articles and other resources by and about Harold Innis at McMaster and other Omni libraries.
Read a profile of Harold Innis from The Canadian Encyclopedia.
Here's a sneak peek at the design concept for the new Innis Library to be located on the third floor of the McLean Centre for Collaborative Discovery (MCCD).
Plan by Sweeny&Co Architects
Innis Library (August 2002)
Borrowing from Innis Service Desk (March 2018)
Innis Library Lounge Area (March 2015)
Research Help from Innis Service Desk (March 2018)
Innis Library Public Computers (March 2015)
Innis Library Group Study Room (March 2015)
Innis Library Quiet Learning Zone - Carrels (October 2012)
Innis Library Quiet Learning Zone - Tables (March 2015)
Innis Library Silent Learning Zone (2008)
Innis Library with DSB and KTH in Background (February 2007)
From June to August 2022, the demolition of the Innis Library (and its surrounding areas) took place to make room for the construction of its new home in the McLean Centre for Collaborative Discovery (MCCD). We will miss our old library, but look forward to welcoming the new Innis in 2025!
Watch the demolition in this time-lapse image courtesy of the DeGroote School of Business and Facility Services, Design and Construction at McMaster:
Read more in this article from the Daily News: From Demolition to Development: MCCD Construction Update (August 25, 2022)
See also: Transforming spaces and places to create a Brighter World (November 23, 2022). Story includes video that highlights MCCD construction at the 1:10 minute mark.
Construction of the McLean Centre for Collaborative Discovery (MCCD), the building which will house the new Innis Library and several other services, is entering its next phase of development. There is the potential for additional noise between August 2023 and February 2024 as the steel frame is erected. For more information, see this alert.
McLean Centre for Collaborative Discovery under construction, September 2023
Windows are being installed on the new McLean Centre for Collaborative Discovery (MCCD). Expected to open in 2025, the new Innis Library will be located on the third floor of the new building. We look forward to the light, bright space!
McLean Centre for Collaborative Discovery under construction, June 2024.
The new McLean Centre for Collaborative Discovery (MCCD) reaches new heights in construction. When complete, the building will be 10 storeys tall.
McLean Centre for Collaborative Discovery under construction, April 2024
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