1980
- UH-CLC Library was selected as a Selective Federal Depository Library for government documents.
- A new staff lounge and library classroom were constructed on the Library’s second floor next to the Special Collections Room.
1980-1981
- During the 1980-1981 academic year, UH-CLC Library began using Dialog Information Service, the world’s first online information retrieval system.
1981
- October 1981
- UH-CLC Library became one of the first Texas libraries to automate when they implemented the Virginia Technology Library System (VTLS), an automated circulation and cataloging system created for Virginia Tech University’s Newman Library in 1975. This was one of the first national computer-based cataloging systems for library resource records.
- This was the first Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC) implemented at UH-CLC Library.
1982
- January 1982
- On January 1, 1982, UH-CLC Library retired its physical index card catalog and official shelf list and replaced them with the VTLS Online Public Access Catalog.
1983-1984
- During the 1983-1984 academic year, the Library merged its Book Review Center with the Juvenile Collection to create a new “Learning Resource Center.”
- July 1983
- UH-CLC Library renamed to honor founding chancellor Dr. Alfred R. Neumann.
- Two months after Dr. Alfred R. Neumann’s passing, the Board of Regents of the University of Houston approved renaming the UH-CLC Library to the Alfred R. Neumann Library in his honor.
1984
- UHCL Libraries was placed under the new department name UHCL Learning Resources. This new campus department combined the UHCL Library and various learning resource operations in the Library (which included the curriculum library, audiovisual center, and Educational Communications and Technologies unit).
- UHCL Libraries Executive Director Walter Wicker was named Director of Learning Resources at UHCL, which included Neumann Library.
1986
- June 1986
- Walter Wicker left his Executive Director role at UHCL Libraries in June 1986.
- Patricia J. Garrett, Associate Dean of Public Services, assumed the position of Interim Director of the UHCL Library.
1987
- July 1987
- On Saturday, July 11, 1987, an automatic sprinkler malfunctioned in the ceiling directly over a large section of Neumann Library’s book stacks. This severely damaged the floor, shelving, books, and ceiling tiles.
- September 1987
- Dr. Michael M. Lee became the Dean of Library and Learning Resources for UHCL on September 1, 1987, making him the second library director for the university. Lee was the first Asian American library director in the university’s history.
1988
- May 1988
- In May 1988, Neumann Library became a state document depository, making it the first one in the Galveston-Brazoria-Harris Counties area of Texas.
1989
- Neumann Library founded the UHCL Archives.
- In 1989, the Educational Communications and Technologies unit of UHCL Library was closed permanently.
Photograph of UHCL Neumann Library staff posing around the Circulation Desk around the 1980s [from UHCL Archives and Special Collections].
