Poetry fills the University of Arizona Poetry Center, housed in a building named for Tucson arts patron Dr. Helen S. Schaefer. This building, moved into in fall 2007 and designed by Line and Space, LLC, finally makes the center's entire collection of contemporary poetry fully accessible for the first time in decades. Inside is one of the most extensive collections of contemporary poetry in the United States — the largest such collection which is "open shelf.
The center began in 1960 when Ruth Stephan founded it "to maintain and cherish the spirit of poetry. Its mission is to promote poetic literacy and to sustain, enrich and advance a diverse literary culture. You can think of this place as both archive and living room for poetry: it sponsors readings, lectures, classes and workshops, writing residencies, writers-in-the-schools and writers-in-the-prisons programs, contests, exhibitions and online resources, including standards-based poetry curricula.
An area of special emphasis within the College of Humanities, the Poetry Center is open and fully accessible to the public. Notice the open shelves inside the Schaefer building, home to one of the most extensive open-shelf poetry collections in the country.