College and Research Libraries B y F R A N K K . W A L T E R Essentials of a University Library Building—I Frank K. Walter is librarian at the Uni- versity of Minnesota. THE ESSENTIALS of a s a t i s f a c t o r y uni-versity library building do not differ in most respects from those of any satis- factory library building. T h e y include ( i ) adequate provision (with the possibil- ity of needed expansions) for a rapidly growing stock of books; ( 2 ) reading rooms large enough to care for those who need to use the building for reading or research and placed as conveniently as possible to the stock of books; ( 3 ) administrative fa- cilities both for the staff itself and for con- tact with the public, as the circulation desk, or desks, the librarian's office, and so f o r t h ; ( 4 ) suitable heating, light, and ventilation. Other features essential to a university library building are: varying provision for the varying needs of different classes of users such as the reserve book room, the seminar discussion and study rooms and facilities for using books within the stacks. T h e real difficulty arises when the rela- tive claims of these features must be deter- mined. Several tendencies in present-day education seem to indicate that specific emphasis on university activities is chang- ing rapidly and that university library buildings must change with them. In other words, the library building, to be effective, must be functional. It must therefore change with changes in func- tions and procedures of the institution of which it is a part. It is not unreasonable to insist that elasticity of use and ease of modification of specific parts of the build- ing to meet changes in university proce- dures and policies are perhaps the out- standing needs of a university library building that would serve the future as well as the present. Some of the leading causes which affect changes in university policies and which are affecting the library are: 1 . Limited or restricted registration. T h e endowed university may see virtue in excluding students who are financial as well as intellectual liabilities. T h e pub- licly supported institution would find it difficult to convince taxpayers that their sons and daughters should not be given access to university privileges. 2. Closely related to the number and kind of students is the scope of the curricu- lum. Other things being equal, the larger the student body, the wider the range of courses offered. 3. Enforced extension of school life due to unemplo)rment is increasing the number of entrants and steadily increasing the size of the upper college classes and the gradu- ate school. 4. Special types of library material once thought creditable possessions rather than essentials are becoming necessary equip- ment. Examples are phonograph records, photostats and microfilms, newspaper col- 40 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH L I B R A R I E S ' lections, lantern slides, prints and other artistic illustrative matter. A l l these re- quire special equipment, specialized stor- age and recording, and special rooms for their use. If this variation and extension of curriculum were always conditioned on adequate means for successful perform- ance the problem would be easier. U n f o r - tunately, this is not always the case. Inadequate library facilities are too often one of the most persistent conditions of the weak university or college. 5. Location of the institution. A n urban university without dormitories and with many day students must often fight a tendency on the part of its students to make its library building a social center as well as an improvised lunch room, news- paper reading room, writing room and, sometimes, a dormitory in which to re- cover from nocturnal extra-curricular activities. A university with a large pro- portion of student residents on or near the campus should need less room for tem- porary student storage. J u s t how these conditions will, or should, affect future library buildings is largely a matter of prophecy as well as ex- perience. On the basis of fourteen years tenancy in a building that was up to date when erected, the following points are presented for discussion. Book Storage I am conservative enough to believe that in a university library, provision for books is of primary importance. It is possible that the unprecedented growth of univer- sity libraries in the past decade or two may have reached its height. Microfilms may reduce necessary storage space to a fraction of what it now is but this is hardly yet the time to abolish book stacks entirely. For the present and near future, at least, ample provision for growth must be made. T h e growth of research work makes stack access necessary for greater numbers of faculty and students; carrels, desks, and tables here and there for brief consultation of books taken from the shelves are neces- sary. Improvements in artificial illumina- tion and air conditioning are making working space near windows less necessary than before. Book carriers, and teletypes for call slips, will be unavoidable in most libraries of any size, even though they do imply different organization and a larger stack staff than many libraries have. M o r e elevators for staff and patrons are, as medi- cal treatises say, "indicated." Further research in building illumination is still needed to ensure satisfactory lighting in most stacks used to any considerable degree for study purposes. Provision for either vertical or horizontal stack expansion is es- sential. A university library cannot, like many public libraries devoted chiefly to circulation of popular books, weed out its book stock frequently or even freely dis- card duplicate copies of books which later cultural fashions or subjects of research may make useful. In fact, this unpredict- able and often sudden shift of interest and use in a university collection gives rise to one of its greatest problems. T h e uni- versity library should provide liberally for book stacks for dormant and less generally used material, even at a distance, as in the newspaper branch of the British Museum or the storage branches of the Providence Public Library. Reading Rooms It may be questioned whether the old assembly hall with high ceilings and many cubic yards of vacant space is any longer very often really essential. Forced ventila- tion and humidification make possible D EC EMBER, 1939 41 lower ceilings and the ability to make two reading rooms function where one was lo- cated before. T h e desires of architects to build for themselves in lofty ceilings a monument more lasting than bronze may be overcome. T h e r e is much evidence that oversized reading rooms sacrifice in condi- tions suitable for study much of what they are intended to gain in economical super- vision by a staff too small to service such large areas. If the university administra- tion will not finance a staff large enough to service a group of connecting reading rooms, assigned to different fields of knowledge, provision for later partitions to provide for such separation should be considered. T h e old high ceilinged rooms made this impracticable. Sceptical univer- sity administrations may sometimes be con- verted by dependable data on the saving in light bills in lower ceilinged rooms and in the extra space provided by second stories or mezzanine rooms for special study pur- poses in large reading rooms. It is quite probable that this feature, so common in older library buildings, may be more gen- erally revived in altering some of our pres- ent buildings. In the reading rooms in particular as well as in the building in general, sound deadening material should be used as f a r as possible for walls and floors. M a x i m u m shelving capacity, with adequate lighting, should be provided for larger open shelf collections of books for reference. In- creased wall space resulting from smaller rooms will help here. On the other hand, too much optimism should not be indulged in with regard to the efficiency and economic maintenance of present-day air-conditioning systems. T h e y are almost certain to improve in both re- spects. T h e same may be said of lighting. T h e theory that the cure of lighting ills is more light, more power, and more expense has recently been somewhat discredited. A very wide margin of possible over actual current consumption should be provided and conduits installed with enough spare room to permit additional wiring if neces- sary. Nevertheless, more light and power outlets more generally distributed are often quite as important. W e are learning that proper location of lighting units may be as important as high general intensity of light. Addition or changed positions of furniture may cast shadows which only relocation of lighting units can disperse. Carrels, Study and Seminar Rooms Adequate provision should be made for carrels or work tables in the stacks, study rooms for individual research workers, and rooms of moderate size for seminar and other research groups. J u s t what will be adequate in the future of any university is difficult to predict. If the present state of affairs with abundant W o r k Projects Administration and National Y o u t h A d - ministration funds for individual research projects continues, and most of the major and some of the minor faculty continue to be provided with research retinues for whom stack privileges, carrel and private study room assignments and extensive transfers of source material to distant buildings and offices are demanded, noth- ing short of an office skyscraper will suffice for any university of even moderate size. Even this will not be quite satisfactory as not all of the individual offices can be im- mediately contiguous to the particular group of books which the director of the project believes are needed for his research of the moment. If some of our present conditions persist this may be one of the major problems of the future university library building. It will be if the univer- 42 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH L I B R A R I E S ' sity continues to expand its fields of re- search and to multiply the individual proj- ects in each field. Closer coordination of reading rooms with circulation desk, public catalog and book stack also becomes necessary as the number of research workers increases and the intricacy of reference questions also in- creases. It seems probable that future university faculties, administrators, and students will not entirely overcome the tendency to consider the staff of the circu- lation desks a group of clerks of low schol- arly attainment who do little but perform simple evolutions with varicolored cards (or perhaps, with charging machines and other mechanisms) and, as a side line, lo- cate in the specialists' special fields ma- terial which the specialists themselves cannot find if the catalog entry varies even slightly from a simple norm or from the specialist's favorite terminology. Every possible saving of time in locating and delivering books must be cultivated. Con- necting doors between rooms or arrange- ment of rooms in suites will increase elasticity of use and economies of time and effort. T h e advance of microphotography and the development of archives and other manuscript material, and the intimate re- lations of these classes of material with printed matter make the need for smaller rooms for the specialist and the special attendant greater than ever. T h e reading room of the future university may not be so much a unit as a mother-ship with a group of satellite rooms of related use. Another Tendency T o offset this, another possible tendency may be noted. It has been almost a part of the librarian's credo to oppose the es- tablishment of departmental libraries in the interests of economy and greater gen- eral access to library resources. Most of the objections were, and are, valid if in- terpreted under conventional conditions of dispersion among faculty offices or in de- partmental offices under the nominal (and often very nominal) care of a clerk or stenographer to whom the library was, or is, just another thing to be cared for. In the meantime, a somewhat contra- dictory situation has been developing. Spe- cialists are specializing more than ever, but more than ever before they are finding many points of tangency or even whole areas of coincidence with the fields of other specialists. Minute analysis is compelling synthesis of the formidable number of de- tails in any separate field. T h e r e are more books which belong on common ground. T o cite a single case: T h e problems of bio- chemistry involve biology and its applied fields of medicine, botany and zoology. T h e whole field of chemistry touches it and the physicist must aid the chemist all the way from atom smashing and spectroscopy to photo-microscopy and microphotogra- phy. In other fields, similar conditions prevail. These and similar developments have made the old time "main building" with its combined classrooms, laboratories, library and administrative offices not even a possi- bility in a modern university. Separate small departmental buildings are disap- pearing or becoming parts of unified fields. It is highly probable that, at least in grow- ing universities, the university library of the future may more closely resemble the public library system with its special branches and even its circulating stations. If so, it will find its special justification in locating larger collections in fewer places, in efficiently staffed library branches, in an efficient system of locating as well as dis- D EC EMBER, 1939 43 tributing books, and in a centralized corre- lated administration that ensures the maximum of service to a maximum of users. A s a matter of fact, there are f e w present university libraries of any size which are not systems rather than build- ings. In the smaller institutions, separate rooms for specialized fields may serve the same purpose as separate buildings and at much less cost. T h i s will intensify rather than remove the problem of the main library. T h e multiple reading rooms will still be used by those who are not specialists. T h e humanities will probably still retain their traditional axis. T h e r e will be many thousands of volumes in overlapping fields and much storage of dormant material for which -the central library unit must still care. Circulation Facilities Whether there will or should be a uni- fication of circulation and reference serv- ice will depend largely on local conditions and curriculum development. In a heavily used building, there should be auxiliary centers as well as a main center of circula- tion. In any university which does not find it entirely desirable to give complete open shelf access to books for assigned class work, the reserve room will obviously be one such center. Similar service should be given in any other room or rooms open for special use and with a regular attendant. Physical provision for as wide a "spread" as possible for returning and receiving books and for consultation of the public catalog are essential. It is perhaps scarcely necessary to repeat what is already a common practice in lo- cating these centers of use. In general, the most easily accessible place, usually the first floor, can most easily take care of a large amount of short time use—the kind that most lower-class undergraduates make of the library. Increasing seclusion and less accessibility seem logically to belong to more advanced research. T h e seminar rooms seem naturally to gravitate to the upper floors or to the stacks. In a new building it is fairly easy to locate these several types of use with access to the por- tions of the stack collection to which they are related. A s one soon learns by experi- ence, this relation tends to be easily spoiled if either the number of research workers appreciably increases or the collection of books much outgrows its assigned limits. Whether or not the classroom and read- ing room purposes of the seminars are united or separate is important. In the former case, freedom is limited in both di- rections. Readers must leave when classes recite. Classes must make concessions to readers. A division of purpose is the more economical. Experience in at least one university indicates that the traditional need of consulting many books during a seminar discussion is for the most part no more necessary than holding a court trial in a law library. In both cases, the really necessary citations and exhibits can be as- sembled when needed with no undue trouble. A "browsing room" seems to have be- come a desideratum if not a necessity in the modern university library building. Unless used as an auxiliary study room— which may easily defeat its professed pur- pose—it need not be closely connected with the other reading rooms in location. Like other good things, it will be an added expense not only in duplication of books but in supervision. Administrative Quarters T h e r e are two schools of thought in re- 44 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH L I B R A R I E S ' gard to these. T h e first, representing many readers, is that the staff can work in any place in which there is desk room. T h e second viewpoint, held in varying degrees by the staff, is that the public should share its privileges of space, light and air with those who serve the public. T h e r e is no reason why the experiences of business houses and factories should not be utilized. T h e best possible artificial light should supplement enforced lack of natural light. Ventilation and heat should be cared for quite as much as in the public reading rooms. Probable expansions in service should be anticipated as f a r as the building committee and the building fund permit. T h e old question of making the public catalog convenient to both the pub- lic and the catalogers may not be com- pletely solved in every case. When the catalogers must yield, they should be given strategically placed stairways, elevators or space for official catalog. T h i s is their right in the interests of the public. If the catalog staff is too small to keep the de- partmental shelves free from uncataloged books, extra shelf space should be given them. A n extensive exchange system will in- volve extra stack space for duplicates, packing rooms, additional files and file clerks in addition to the normal demands of the order department. Suitable loading and unloading facilities for trucks are needed and easy access for donors. If it is necessary to maintain a bindery, basement space should be given it. A n y other space will unavoidably cause trouble when the power machinery of the bindery is in operation. Storage space for stock, material in progress, and spare space for the installation of new machinery are im- perative for economical and efficient oper- ation. Prophetic vision and a thorough under- standing of the present and probable future policies of expansion of the specific uni- versity are necessary for suitable provision for increased or newly acquired activities. If the university library conducts an ex- tension service, space for office, clerical work and book storage is needed. T h e same is true for microfilm and photostat service. In addition there must be labora- tories for these services. A division of ar- chives or rare books will require a different policy of use, emphasizing the preservative function of the building: Even so simple a place as the librarian's office needs differ- ent treatment in an institution where routine correspondence, files, and other de- tails require changes in staff size and duties, particularly in case an assistant shares the librarian's administrative labors. It is doubtful whether any permanent standards of general utility can be formu- lated in these respects. T h e librarian must often echo the alleged last words of Goethe, " M o r e l i g h t ! " H e must always have in mind the even more apposite ones, " M o r e r o o m ! " In doing so he will not forget to check his plans for rest rooms, lunch rooms, coat rooms and other pro- visions for staff comfort. T h i s problem is often complicated at present by the presence of workers on various types of federal aid projects. T h e probable per- manence or revival of these projects should be considered in planning a new university library or extending an old one. An Often Neglected Detail One detail too often neglected or re- fused approval by architects and university administrators is plenty of elevator service and other satisfactory mechanical labor saving devices, such as book carriers that really carry, vacuum cleaning installations D EC EMBER, 1939 45 or outlets, service aids such as janitors' closets, wash stands in the stacks, and the like. Particularly in the case of elevators, the nonlibrarian can seldom grasp the fact that efficiency is promoted by elevator service in any building of more than one story or that increase in efficiency increases the demand for more elevator service for even greater use of the building. I close as I began. T h e basic essentials of a university library building are: pro- vision for books in increasing numbers; provision for readers to meet an increase in their extensive and intensive use of the library; and provision for the efficient per- formance of the administrative processes of the library. These are the same as in any library building. T h e y require spe- cial study in a university building because the university library is affected much more quickly and closely by changes in univer- sity policies than the public library is by general changes in the reading habits of its patrons. It is doubtful whether a good university library can have a detailed pol- icy of any assured permanence either in building or procedure, apart from the policies of its institution. Its preservative function is no less essential. Its building must be planned with that in view. Its scope must widen and its procedures must change to include new fields of study and research in which the university engages. W h a t these will be, no one can tell with certainty. W h a t their relations and appli- cations and their extent will be is equally unpredictable. T h e triviurn and quad- rivium with their citadel of basic classics are no longer our refuge and the apparent tendency to synthesize in many scientific fields increases the uncertainty. In view of these conditions, it may not be unreasonable in the light of present knowledge to reduce the essentials of a uni- versity library building to these t w o : first, room for all present activities with gener- ous provision (probably no less than 50 per cent) for their probable expansion and a plan which correlates them in location to permit the greatest amount of use by patron and staff with the least time and e f f o r t ; second, since the present tendency toward rapid changes in all human and intellectual relations makes permanent correlation of use or function impractica- ble, building with a view to permit reloca- tion of services, the introduction of new activities and expansion to care for needs which cannot now be anticipated. In other words, maximum adaptability at minimum cost. T h i s will certainly interfere with the old idea of a library building as a perma- nent architectural monument incapable of major changes. Such monuments are al- ready for the most part obsolete, or di- verted from their original use. It would be folly needlessly to repeat these mistakes. 46 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH L I B R A R I E S '