In 1901 President Dabney launched a campaign to obtain funds from Andrew Carnegie for a library. Dabney envisioned an elaborate library system with traveling collections to serve the state. In 1905 Carnegie promised $40,000 for a library building, with the stipulation that this sum should be matched with a like amount to maintain it, by either the state or university. The board accepted the offer, but not until 1909 did the state legislature provide (in the General Education Bill) the matching funds. The State provided a certificate of indebtedness of the State, bearing a 5 percent per annum interest.
The contract for a $54,000 Carnegie Library was let in the spring of 1910, and the library opened May 30, 1911. In fact, it took only 363 days to construct UT’s first library building, which had stack capacity for 75,000 volumes. The building also contained a large reading room, 86 feet by 35 feet with an 18-foot ceiling, which would accommodate 150 readers at a time. The library was moved to this building from Science Hall, where it had occupied four large rooms since 1894. (Prior to its move to Science Hall, the general library was housed in Old College beginning in 1880, and collections designed to serve the disciplines of agriculture, horticulture, and botany were in Agricultural Hall—later named Morrill Hall.) Architects for Carnegie Library were Patton and Miller of Chicago. The building was constructed of brick with marble trim. It stood two and one-half stories, all above a basement.
The grand opening of the Carnegie Library was a gala event, with an open house and speeches. A high point was the presentation of a bust of Dante, a gift to the library from Charles Perkins, obtained on a trip to Europe the preceding summer.
In 1920 UT made a request to the Carnegie Foundation for expansion of the library. James Bertram, an executive with the corporation, responded that the organization was working with colleges and universities without state aid, and that the university should look to its state. UT did so, built a new library that opened in 1931, renovated and expanded the Carnegie Library into a renamed Austin Peay Memorial Building.
The Kappa Alpha House was razed for construction of the Carnegie Library.