HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
Ohio State's 1913 Beaux-Arts main library, named for the university's fifth president — workers in the basement special-collections stacks report Olive Branch Jones, OSU's first full-time librarian, still walking the rows.
1858 Neil Avenue Mall, Columbus, OH 43210
Research updated May 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free and open to the public during posted library hours; OSU ID required to check out materials.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Fully accessible academic library with elevators
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1913 · Ohio State University Flagship Library · Beaux-Arts Architecture by Allen & Collens · Named for OSU's Fifth President William Oxley Thompson · Library Journal Landmark Library (2012)
The library replaces a sequence of earlier OSU library locations — first in University Hall in 1873, then on University Hall's third floor in 1884, and later in Orton Hall in 1893 — as the university's collection outgrew shared space. A dedicated library building was first proposed in 1897. In 1910 the Boston firm Allen & Collens won a design competition and produced a Beaux-Arts main library that anchors the western end of OSU's Oval.
Ground was broken on December 23, 1910. The building was completed two years later on December 18, 1912, and opened to the university community on January 6, 1913. The library was officially renamed in 1951 for William Oxley Thompson, the university's fifth president.
The building has undergone three major expansions: a 1951 addition that included a 10-story book tower and wing extensions, a 1977 west-wing addition, and a comprehensive $108.7 million renovation completed in 2009 that restored the original Beaux-Arts spaces, added an atrium, and modernized the building's infrastructure. The library now houses millions of volumes plus the University Archives and Rare Books & Manuscripts in basement special-collections stacks.
Olive Branch Jones served as OSU's first full-time professionally-trained librarian from 1900 until her death in 1933 — a 34-year tenure during which she built the library's holdings from a few thousand items to more than 300,000. The University Archives publishes her biographical material as part of its institutional history.
Sources
According to The Lantern (Ohio State's student newspaper), one of the most recent campus hauntings centers on Thompson Library and its first full-time librarian, Olive Branch Jones. Jones served from 1900 until her death in 1933, building the library's collection from a few thousand items to more than 300,000 over a 34-year career. The University Archives publishes her biographical material.
The activity is reported in the basement special-collections stacks — staff-access areas that hold the university's rare books and manuscripts. One library worker described feeling she was not alone, occasionally hearing footsteps and the rustling of a long dress. A second worker reported similar phenomena that escalated: the footsteps and rustling did not pass through but resolved into a woman in a black dress walking past her.
According to The Lantern's reporting, the two workers were later shown a photograph of Jones from the University Archives and 'were shaken' by the resemblance to what they had encountered in the stacks. The university does not promote the haunting; reports come from working staff during the course of their day.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Visit the public reading rooms, atria, and the eleventh-floor Buckeye Reading Room. The basement special-collections stacks where Olive Branch Jones is reportedly encountered are not open to the general public — but the Buckeye Stroll virtual tour and University Archives biographical material provide context for the haunting story.
Thompson Library is open to the public during library hours, including the main reading rooms and the atrium. Special-collections access requires advance request. The lower-level stacks are the locus of the Olive Branch Jones lore but are not casually accessible to visitors.
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