College and Research Libraries


By R O B E R T J . D E T Z 

Kent State University Library 

Expanded by Addition 

IN S E P T E M B E R 1958, the doors to the new addition of the Kent State University 
Library in Kent, Ohio, were opened, and 
more than $1,500,000 worth of service 
was made available to students and fac-
ulty. It was this concept of service about 
which all plans were formulated, about 
which the building was constructed, and 
about which the library is being oper-
ated. 

T h e plant itself is a modern structure, 
symmetrical and uncluttered. Far from 
being accidental, this appearance is the 
result of a countless number of hours of 
consultation between head librarian J o h n 
B. Nicholson, Jr. and the architects Ful-
ton, Krinsky, and DeLaMotte of Cleve-
land, Ohio. 

Prior to his meeting with the archi-
tects, Mr. Nicholson visited a large num-
ber of well-known university libraries to 
determine not only which features of 
those libraries would be especially desir-
able at Kent, but also which have been 
troublesome, and would best be avoided. 
Mr. Nicholson's efforts in this direction, 
coupled with his already vast knowledge 
of the subject in general, have resulted 
in the erection of a structure which is 
among the finest of its kind anywhere. 

T h e addition itself is exactly as wide 
as the old library, 130 feet, and is 155 
feet in length. Ceiling height of the first 
floor is ten feet, but on the second and 
third floors it is nine feet and six inches. 

This article is based on an interview 
with John B. Nicholson, Jr., Librarian, 
Kent State University, and is published 
with his permission. 

In all, the addition will have a total floor 
space of approximately 60,000 square 
feet. T h i s represents a 300 per cent in-
crease in space which is available at the 
present time. T h e new area will provide 
room for more than 550,000 additional 
books. These, when added to the 165,000 
currently in the stacks, will bring the 
grand total of volumes to 715,000. An 
appropriation of $80,000 has already 
been approved for book purchases dur-
ing the first year. T h e seating capacity, 
now 300, will be increased to 1,400, and 
will consist of 175 single-place seats and 
1,225 four- and six-place seats. 

T h e more than three hundred win-
dows of the three-story addition are of 
the heat-refracting type. These windows 
permit maximum utilization of natural 
light but at the same time reduce by ap-
proximately 33 per cent the heat there-
from. T h e low-level-brightness lighting 
is provided by 2,325 fluorescent light 
tubes which are ceiling-recessed, and 
which provide optimum lighting for 
reading. T o insure over-all comfort, the 
entire building is air-conditioned. 

T h e 20,000 square feet of the first floor 
is covered by terrazzo, except that the 
circulation area has cork tile flooring. 
On this floor are located the library staff 
offices, a technical processes area, the 
circulation department, the main card 
catalog, a special collections room, and 
a 108-seat lounge. T h e lounge is fur-
nished with single- and double-place 
seats, a hi-fi set, a radio, television set, 
and a tape recorder. 

A unique method is employed to con-
trol the sound in the lounge area. Known 

MAY 1959 215 



as the intermittent-sound system, it oper-
ates on the theory that a person uncon-
sciously adjusts the volume of his voice 
to equal the volume of any other noises 
present so that he may be heard. Follow-
ing this principle, then, music is played 
at short intervals throughout the day. 
When the music is played, those present 
adjust their voices so as to be heard 
above the sound of the music; when the 
music stops, the volume of the voice is 
lowered because there is less noise to 
overcome in order to be heard. By con-
trolling the volume of the music, one can 
thus control the general volume of the 
speaking voices in a given area over a 
given period of time, for it is the volume 
of the music that establishes the pattern 
originally. 

With the addition to the library, the 
system of operation is changed from the 

functional to the subject division system. 
T h e subject division system lends itself 
more directly to satisfying the needs— 
both present and contemplated—of the 
university. Each of the three divisions is 
allotted an entire floor, and in each di-
vision are found all materials and serv-
ices related to it. 

T h e social studies division occupies 
the second floor. Here the floor tile is a 
light brown, and the stacks a suede 
brown. On the third floor is the humani-
ties division. T h e tile on the floor is a 
light green, and the stacks are a matching 
seafoam blue. One of the main features 
of the third floor are the four soundproof 
listening rooms for the use of those who 
wish to use recordings. T h e science and 
technology division occupies the old por-
tion of the library. 

(Continued on page 234) 

Voltaire in Leningrad 

" I n three large Russian cities—Kiev, Moscow, and Leningrad—I visited both li-
braries and universities. I was not prepared by what I had read previously for what 
I was to see. T h e libraries and universities were filled, with men and women of all 
ages, but, for the most part, with young men and women deeply and seriously en-
gaged in intellectual and scientific endeavor. It was a revelation to look into great 
reading rooms and to see every seat taken at every table and to observe that others 
were waiting to fill vacancies as fast as they occurred. It was a unforgettable ex-
perience to walk through the stacks and see students and librarians, as thick al-
most as ants, at work on amazing collections of books, including many present-
day American writers in English-language editions. 

" I asked in the vast Leningrad Public Library if I might see a collection of which 
the library was especially proud. In less time than it takes to tell it, I was sur-
rounded by the magnificent library gathered through his life time by Voltaire. 
When I asked if I might look at a book particularly treasured among those historic 
volumes, the cooperative custodian of the collection took down several and hand-
ed to me the first posthumous volume of Helvetius, printed in London in 1774. 
Almost every page bore interlinings and marginal notes in ink in the hand of 
the great philosopher. On the first flyleaf was the French ('Si Dieu n'existait pas 
il faudrait l'inventer') as written out by Voltaire for these words: 'If God did not 
exist He would have to be invented.' I do not need to tell you how astonished I 
was that this book with this inscription should have been chosen by a librarian 
in Communist Russia in fulfillment of my request."—Irving Dilliard, from a speech 
delivered at Mount Holyoke College. 

216 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH L I B R A R I E S -



chief of the division for scientific classifica-
tion in the Social Science L i b r a r y of the 
Academy of Sciences of the U . S . S . R . , died 
suddenly on O c t o b e r 31, 1958, at the age of 

seventy-four. T r o f i m o v was distinguished 
both as a teacher and as a constructive think-
er in both descriptive cataloging and classi-
fication theory. 

Carpenter Hall 
(Continued from page 204) 

mestic and foreign government technical 
reports, and a special collection on sani-
tary engineering. A corridor from this 
room leads to a series of faculty studies. 
These are small offices which are assigned 
on a temporary basis to staff members of 
the College and to visitors who wish to 
make extended use of the library. 

T h e library has been in operation for 
several months in its new quarters. A 
comparison of attendance figures for a 
similar period in the fall of 1956 shows 
that use of the library has tripled. Sev-
eral innovations that were tried have met 
with wide approval. T h e individual 
study desks in the reading room are very 
popular and are usually filled first. T h e 
microfilm and typing room which has 

full acoustical treatment is used not only 
for these purposes, but also by students 
who wish to talk together quietly about 
their work. 

T h e present collection covers all fields 
of engineering offered in the curriculm. 
T h e allied fields of economics, archi-
tectural planning, mathematics, chem-
istry, and physics, as they are applied to 
engineering, are also represented. Much 
material which was scattered in out-of-
the-way areas because of the inadequate 
space in the old library is now brought 
together in Carpenter Hall. Now with 
sufficient room for expansion, plans are 
under way to enlarge this collection and 
make it one of the outstanding research 
facilities in the country. 

Kent State 
(Continued from page 216) 

On the second and third floors, special 
classroom areas may be formed through 
use of accordion walls. Except for these, 
there are no walls in any of the main 
areas. Such areas will be compartmental-
ized by arrangement of the stacks. This 
type of division permits a great deal of 
flexibility for it is easily changed to meet 
any needs that might arise. 

Persons using the library are permitted 
complete freedom in the stack areas, but 
as a means of expediting withdrawals, 
one may merely request a book at the cir-
culation desk. T h e order will then be 
forwarded to the proper division where 
the book will be located and then dis-
patched to the circulation desk by means 

of a book lift which serves all three 
floors. 

At present the library staff consists of 
fifteen professional librarians, fifteen 
non-professionals, and fifty students. T h e 
students provide approximately two 
thousand hours of assistance per year. T o 
operate the enlarged library, five profes-
sional and five non-professional staff 
members will be needed. 

Perhaps the most phenomenal aspect 
of the entire project, and one that best 
indicates the emphasis placed on the 
concept of service, is the fact that during 
the entire period of construction, despite 
the ever present noise and dirt, the old 
library was kept operative, and never at 
less than 75 per cent efficiency. 

234 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH L I B R A R I E S -