SCVHistory.com | College of the Canyons | Photo Gallery: Instructional Resource Center (IRC) Under Construction, 5-20-1973.

Photos (35mm negatives, Kodak Tri-X Pan Film) by Al Francis / The Signal.

May 20, 1973 — COC's first permanent building, the Dr. William G. Bonelli Instructional Resource Center, or IRC as it was commonly known — later called Bonelli Hall — is under construction at the 2-year community college's (then only) campus in Valencia.

Bonelli, founding board president of the Santa Clarita Community College District, died mid-term on February 22, 1972.

The IRC was the centerpiece of a massive building program that would transform COC from an all-portable-classroom institution of 1,900 students (1,000 taking day classes, 900 taking night classes) into a proper campus equipped for a projected enrollment of 7,500 students by 1982.

It does not appear that these Signal photos were published in the paper, although The Signal did cover the construction several times throughout the year. The building was completed in early 1974 and dedicated April 22, 1974, with Governor Ronald Reagan in attendance.

The story below is from a special election edition of the student newspaper, "The Canyon Call," which advocated for passage of a local $8 million construction bond measure which, coupled with state matching funds, would complete this initial building program. Many more bond measures to accommodate ever-increasing enrollment projections would follow in the coming decades.

New Bonelli Center to Serve All Citizens in District.

The Canyon Call | January 31, 1973.

Click to enlarge.

College of the Canyons' first permanent building, the William G. Bonelli Instructional Resource Center (IRC), is under construction and will be ready by next winter.

The center, a $2,560,000 project, both structurally and philosophically, will be at the heart of the campus. In addition to its library containing 25,000 volumes, the IRC will provide numerous instructional and informational services available to all citizens of the Santa Clarita Community College District as well as students.

Initially, space in the four-level structure will be shared by 13 classrooms, five seminar rooms, a testing room and faculty offices. Later, virtually all the space in the IRC will be used for instructional resource services.

The study skills laboratory on the second level will provide help to students in reading, vocabulary, spelling, writing, outlining, math, listening, speaking, study techniques and organization. Tutors will be available in several subject areas.

The language laboratory on this level will contain facilities for practice in French. German and Spanish.

In the audio laboratory the student will listen to tape cassettes in music and math, for instance, and others will practice speeches in enclosed booths.

The instant response classroom will contain facilities for multimedia presentations with films, slides, TV and audio.

Desks in this room will be equipped with pushbuttons, enabling students to answer questions electronically either during lectures or examinations. The instructor reads the responses on a master console.

On the third level students may read or study at the carrells and tables in the reading room. Paperbacks, bestsellers and records will be available for checkout on this floor.

Additional rooms will be equipped for business machines practice, typing, research, drafting, small group study and reading.

The fourth level will house stacks for books, pamphlets, cassettes, filmstrips and film loops, the various reference services, and the check-out stations.

The first level will be reserved for classrooms.