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1972–today
Lineage: University library service in Fort Wayne began downtown — Indiana University extension classes from 1917, and the Purdue University Center permanently established in 1941 — before Indiana University–Purdue University Fort Wayne opened its joint campus in 1964.
The Book Walk: When the campus's four-story library building was finished in 1972 it lacked only its books. On 20–21 September 1972 students, staff and faculty ran a Book Walk, carrying the entire collection by hand the half mile from Kettler Hall to the new building — 100,000 books, 85,000 of them on the first day, the first trip led by the brass of Concordia High School's marching band.
The naming: In 1977 the library was named and dedicated for Walter E. Helmke, a prominent Fort Wayne attorney who served on the Indiana University Board of Trustees and in the Indiana-Purdue Foundation. The building covers 113,000 square feet; Helmke, the only public university library in northeast Indiana, holds nearly one million printed items and is open to the general public as well as the campus.
Later: A 42,400,000-dollar Student Services Complex, begun in 2009, tied Helmke to the Walb Student Union with a 265-foot glass-enclosed elevated walkway and recast the library's second floor as the Learning Commons; both opened in November 2011. When IPFW divided on 1 July 2018, the library went with Purdue University Fort Wayne.
Sources:
- Wikipedia, "Indiana University–Purdue University Fort Wayne" and "Purdue University Fort Wayne," library sections — the 1977 naming and dedication for Walter E. Helmke, the building's size, holdings and public standing.
- IPFW, Helmke Highlights, September 2012 — the 1972 Book Walk and its numbers.