College and Research Libraries


Buildings and Architecture 
The following is an example of a section de­
voted to a particular area of interest such 
as has been proposed for College and Research 
Libraries. This section was mainly prepared 
by Ralph E. Ellsworth, Chairman of the Com­
mittee on College and University Library 
Buildings of A.C.R.L. 

.N_MOST EVERYONE writing in to the A.C.R.L. 
Committee on College and University 

Library Buildings for information on postwar 
college and university library construction 
asks one of two questions: 

I. Are there new materials or engineering 
techniques that we should know about? 

2. Are there new ideas about how libraries 
might be planned? 

In response to the first question, it seems 
too early for anyone to speak with certainty. 
There probably have been many new materials 
developed which are not yet known to civilians. 
New methods of welding certainly will make 
for a freer use of steel in construction. The 
wartime expansion · of the aluminum factories, 
which has been accompanied by the breaking 
of the aluminum monopoly, may have the 
effect of making aluminum cheap enough to 
be a real competitor of steel for construction 
purposes. New types of paints and varnishes 

- should offer real possibilities for better wall 
and furniture surfaces. Various new con­
ceptions of chair construction exhibited 
recently in the New York City Museum of 

- Modern Art may result in library furniture 
that will be comfortable. Further refinement 

......- in fluorescent and even newer types of light­
ing can be expected, and it would be strange 
indeed if better ventilation equipment is not 
available after the war. In other words, the 
possibilities look good but it is too early to 
say at this time what materials may be avail­
ab~. 

In response to the second question, three 
of the larger libraries are developing methods 
of interior construction and arrangement that 
break sharply with traditional practices. All 
three buildings are using unit type construc­
tion based on varying iized modules. The 
three libraries are those of the State U ni­

versity of Iowa, Princeton, and Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology. Following is a 
thumbnail sketch of the Iowa plan. 

All floors throughout the Iowa building 
will have a uniform ceiling height of 8 ft. 6 
in. Each floor will contain rows of columns 
I9 ft. 6 in. apart in one direction and I3 ft. 
6 · in. in the other direction, thus providing 
a module size of I3 ft. 6 in. by I9 ft. 6 in., 
or a dimension in the clear of I 2 by I 8 ft. 
Column thickness will be I 8 inches. 

Between any two columns can be hung a 
partition, a bookshelf, either single or double 
faced, or a partition with door or glass upper. 
Lighting and ventilation fixtures will be built 
into the columns and ceilings in such a ·way 
that the space in each module can be used 
interchangeably for reading tables, book 
storage, faculty offices, seminars, conference 
rooms, microfilm readers, phonograph record 
players, map rooms, etc. 

Instead of a separate stack room in a 
special section, there will be various reading 
areas, each surrounded with shelving to take 
care of appropriate books. · Book storage can 
be set up at any desired location. Space above 
the normal 7 ft. 6 in. can be used for dead 
storage or can be wasted; or the space could 
be filled with a blackboard panel upon which 
could be written with chalk pertinent ob­
servations on the books shelved below. 

The front center of the building will con­
tain fixed fixtures such as lobby, stairways, 
elevators, cloakrooms, and a floor control desk 
on each floor. Two corridors running from 
front to rear will divide the building into 
three parts. Off each corridor will be the 
faculty offices and seminars. Reading areas, 
conference rooms, book storage, and carrels 
will be located between the seminars and the 
outer walls. 

The floor construction, as well as that of 
the walls, can be dry. That is, instead of 
being reinforced concrete or hollow tile it will 
be made of thin steel boxes ( 6 to 8 in.) rest­
ing on beams supported by the columns. Such 
floor construction offers the possibility of pre­
fabricating lighting fixtures, ventilation ducts, 
sound deadening properties, and painted sur-

JUNEJ 1945 279 



faces. The wall construction will be of the 
panel type, made either of steel, asbestos ce­
ment, or some one of the various types of 
flexible wall material. All the major library 
construction companies presumably will be 
ready with their own special methods of 
putting up this kind of library. 

The term "remutable" is used to character­
ize this kind of construction. The term 
"libratory" has been suggested by a member 
of the Iowa faculty to characterize the type 

of program being developed for the building. 
In breaking with traditional practices, the 

directors of the three _ libraries mentioned 
above should be humbled by the knowledge 
that three other men-Angus Snead Mac­
donald, Alfred Mo.rton Githens, and Earl U. 
Rugg-conceived this type of construction and, 
indeed, p~t it into a library building in I940 
at the Colorado State College of Education 
at Greeley. 

* * * 
It probably can be taken for granted that 

librarians who are planning new buildings are 
reading the current issues of such magazines 
as Pencil Points, Architectural Forum, etc. 
As an example of the type of information that 
can be found, the following articles might be 
pointed out: 

"Taking Stock for the Future" by Lopez 
in the January Pencil Points. This is a sum­
mary of new building materials and equip­
ment. Among other things, it raises a question 
of whether or not existing building codes will 
stand in the way of new methods and ma­
terials. The article summarizes what all the 
leading manufacturers are prepared to do. 
Notice the picture of a windowless building 
on page I I3 of the same Issue. 

"Building in One Package" in the January 
issue of Architectural Forum. This is a story 
of the organization and construction tech­
niques of the Austin Company. It gives new 
information on ventilating and lighting ques­
tions. Notice also the advertisement of the 
Detroit Steel Products on page I88-89. This 
is only one type of dry construction. Another 
type is pictured in the Johns-Manville ad­
vertising on page I62. 

The American School and University Year 
Book. is, of course, worth careful study. In 
the I944 . issue there are a number of valuable 
articles. The ·ones beginning on pages 25, 36, 
6o, 228, and the RCA advertisement on page 
I 84 are especially good. 

* * * 
As soon as conditions permit, Princeton 

University will erect a new building to house 
its library and to provide conference rooms, 
administrative headquarters, and individual 
studies for the 'teachers and students in the 
humanities and social sciences. The family of 
Harvey Firestone, including his five sons, has 
made a major gift to the fund for the erec­
tion of the structure. 

The library will be located in the north­
eastern section of the campus, about where the 
school of science stood before its destruction 
by .fire in I928. The structure will form the 
norther~ wing and complete, architecturally, 
a group of important buildings, the other 
components of which are the university chapel 
and two classroom buildings, McCosh and 
Dickinson Halls. 

The new center, which because of its con­
. cept of bringing together teacher, student, and 
books has been called a "campus workshop," 
has been a matter of discussion and planning 

I
by faculty and trustees for two decades. It 
will not only "remedy a shortage of storage 
space which threatens to. stunt the essential 
growth of the Princeton library, but ... also 
provide physical facilities for the development 
of Princeton's philosophy of education, which 
is based upon the intimate intellectual associa­
tion of teacher and pupil and the encourage­
ment of self-education." 

The new building will have shelf space for 
two million books, nearly double the capacity 
of Princeton's present libraries, and will lend 
itself to almost indefinite expansion. While 
all fields of study in the university will benefit 
from it, the workshop concept applies partii:u­
larly to those departments that do not now . 
have the physical facilities, such as their own 
buildings or labora!ories, which bring the stu­
dent and teacher into contact. 

Carrying out this idea, it will provide ac­
commodations, in each case near the book 
collections in their respective fields, for faculty 

COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 280 



and students in classics, economics, English, 
history, modern languages, Oriental lan­
guages, philosophy, politics, religion, and vari­
ous other divisions. Each student who needs 
one will have his own individual study carrel 
for his independent and thesis work. There 
will be about 500 such workrooms.. 

The bookstacks in the Firestone Library 

Summer Program at G. L. S. 
THE Graduate Library School of the Uni­

versity of Chicago is condensing its 1945 sum­
mer quarter courses to a period.of nine weeks, 
from June 25 to August 25. During these two 
months students :in either the advanced cur­
riculum or the bachelor of library science cur­
riculum may enroll for three regular courses, 
or approximately one third of the requirements 
for either program. 

The needs and interests of college and uni­
versity librarians, school librarians, and public 
librarians are all well represented in the list 
of fourteen advanced courses scheduled for 
the summer. These offerings include both 
basic courses for new students and also addi­
tional courses for former students continuing 
their programs of study. 

In the B.L.S. curriculum, open to college 
graduates, a second group of courses in the 
three-summer cycle is scheduled. These courses 
are open both to former students and to be­
ginners. 

The six-weeks W orhhop for School Librar­
ians (June 25 to August 4) will again be 
directed by Mildred L. Batchelder, school and 

will be largely underground. , This plan makes 
possible a system of vertical circulation of 
books from the stacks to the seminars, con­
ference rooms, special libraries, and other 
rooms above, a unique feature which is ex­
pected to result in efficiency and economy of 
operation. O'Connor and Kilham, of New 
Y otk City, ·are the architects. 

children's library specialist of the American 
Library Association. The activities of the 
workshop will be directed at the consideration 
of special problems and projects of experienced 
school librarians and teacher-librarians, but 
all registrants will participate in the sessions 
of the workshop in secondary and elementary 
education conducted by specialists in these 
fields in the department of education. 

Tentati~e plans for the tenth annual insti­
tute of the Graduate Library School have been 
made for the summer of 1945. A program i.s 
under consideration on the principles and tech­
niques of personnel administratiqn, to be 
discussed by specialists from libraries, govern­
ment, and industry. The tentative dates are 
August 27 to September I. Final decisions 
regarding .the institute will depend on trans­
portation facilities available. Later announce­
ments will be made if the institute is to be 
held. 

Correspondence regarding any phase of the 
school's program is i~vited. , 

Carleton B. J oeckel, D~an 

JUNE, 1945 281