When the School of Architecture was founded at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in 1973 a sizable collection of architecture books was purchased to support the activities of the school. These books were placed in the main library on campus - the Robert W. Van Houten Library.

To support the teaching activities of the School of Architecture (SOA) faculty, a slide collection and slide projection equipment was assembled, housed, and administered in by the School of Architecture. As the school grew through the middle and late 1970's, it became apparent that there was a need for a more immediately- accessible collection of books and journals than that in the Van Houten Library. Thus, the facility that housed the slide collection began to acquire books and journals with money earned through an annual Beaux Arts Ball. These books were chosen to support the studio curriculum and to form a core collection in support of the architectural history and theory programs.
The collection in this Architecture Information Center was a reference, non-circulating collection. It was staffed by two full-time staff members (one library professional, one paraprofessional) and a myriad of work-study students. A semicircle of book stacks in a corner of the exhibit gallery on the fourth floor of Campbell Hall defined the 637 square feet of the the A.I.C.

Through the 1980's, the A.I.C. and its collections continued to be funded, administered, and serviced by the School of Architecture. Concurrently, the Van Houten Library continued to purchase some number of books on architecture for its circulating collection, including increased book purchases in the year before National Architecture Accrediting Board (NAAB) visits. By the late 1980's, two parallel collections of architecture had grown on campus. The extent to which the staff at the main library and at the A.I.C. collaborated and consulted each other on purchasing, policy, and service decisions appeared to be minimal. Additionally, there was no common catalog of each facility's holdings.

By the early 1990's, the SOA, library, and university administration were reconsidering the dubious wisdom of duplicated efforts and fractured access under the system as then constituted. Concerns about the quality of library access, service, and facilities had also been expressed in NAAB accreditation reports.
Thus, in 1992, full responsibility for the management and growth of the Architecture Information Center was transferred to the Van Houten Library, and the A.I.C became the first branch library of the Van Houten Library. As one of the major results of the merger, the main library cataloged the Architecture Information Center's holdings, integrating the catalog with that of the main library and making the catalog accessible through the campus network system.
As another major result of the merger, in the summer of 1993, the Architecture Information Center moved up one flight to the fifth floor of Campbell Hall to an approximately 3502.5 square foot reconditioned facility an increase of over 347% in square footage over the old space. Many related to architecture materials in the Van Houten Library were transferred to the new Architecture Information Center facility. Most of that transferred material remained circulating, while most of the material already in the Architecture Information Center made up the reference collection. The Architecture Information Center denoted its new space and newly unified collections by changing its name to the Architecture Library, recognizing the completion of a journey from an architecture "information center" to a full-service architecture "library."

In January 1997, the university began construction on a long-awaited and long-needed project to provide the School of Architecture with new facilities. One year later, in January 1998, phase one of the $26 million, 195,000 square foot Building Science Complex was completed. For the first time in its history, the NJIT School of Architecture by now the fifth largest in the country was consolidated in one dedicated building. The completely renovated Weston Hall contains administration offices, imaging labs, model shops, and the Architecture Library. Studios are housed in the new Weston addition, designed as an open glazed structure providing long views to the city beyond the campus. Nighttime activity in the studios transforms the addition into a lantern illuminating University Heights. A soaring, kinetic, four story, atrium serves as an entrance to the school and connects the two spaces.

The new Architecture Library facility comprises 6,155.5 square feet (176% larger than the previous facility) on the fourth floor of Weston Hall (officially, room 456). Stack space is 150% larger, and user seating is 160% previous number.In this new facility, the library  assumed a new position of increased prominence and visibility. It occupies most of the 3rd floor of Weston Hall--one floor above the administration offices and student-faculty common space, adjacent to the first level of studios, and directly off and highly visible from the four-story atrium.
In the fall of 2000, the Architecture Library was formally renamed the Barbara & Leonard Littman Library. More information available. In 2002-2003 a new Digital Image Lab has been established and a rare book collection has been started in 2003-2004.
While the Architecture Library is no longer a unit of the the School of Architecture, the School of Architecture is the Architecture Library's primary client and purpose for being. The mission of the Architecture Library is to satisfy the architectural information needs of the School of Architecture students, faculty, and staff and to provide an atmosphere conducive to study, teaching, and learning. Library is also used by other university students and faculty, but alumni, and by professional architects from New York and New Jersey.

(This history written by Jim Robertson, Director of the Architecture Library in 1999. It has been updated by the ArchLib staff periodically since then. Most recent revision in fall of 2007)