College and Research Libraries


B y E . C A R L P R A T T 

Library Cooperation at Duke and 
North Carolina Universities 
In this article Mr. Pratt, head of circu-

lation at Duke University Library, stresses 

the flexibility of the cooperative library 

program of Duke University and the Uni-

versity of North Carolina. 

TH E D U K E - U N I V E R S I T Y O F N O R T H CAROLINA cooperation program 1 be-
gan in the A u t u m n of 1933 w h e n a joint 

committee was appointed by the presidents 

of these t w o institutions to formulate 

plans for cooperation in certain common 

educational undertakings. O n e phase of 

this program concerned the correlation of 

the resources of the t w o university li-

braries under a cooperative purchasing 

plan. 

T h e t w o libraries w e r e studied w i t h a 

v i e w of eliminating, as far as possible, 

duplication of library purchases. It was 

found that these libraries, for the most 

part, had special collections w h i c h supple-

mented rather than duplicated each other. 

In the U n i v e r s i t y of N o r t h Carolina, for 

example, there w e r e special collections on 

the history of books, A m e r i c a n and Span-

ish drama, N o r t h Carolinana, rural social 

economics, bibliography, mycology, etc. 

A t D u k e U n i v e r s i t y special collections in-

cluded newspapers, L a t i n A m e r i c a n his-

1 For previous accounts of this cooperation pro-
gram, the r e a d e r is r e f e r r e d to the following articles: 

Branscomb, H . and Downs, R. B., " P l a n for 
U n i v e r s i t y L i b r a r y Cooperation," School and Society, 
42: 64-6, J u l y 13, 1935. 

Downs, R. B. and Branscomb, H . , " V e n t u r e in 
University L i b r a r y Cooperation," Library Journal, 
60:877-79, Nov. 15, 1935-

tory, French literature, early Americana, 

transportation, entomology, and eight-

eenth century poetry and prose. T a k i n g 

their special collections as a beginning, 

D u k e U n i v e r s i t y and the University of 

N o r t h C a r o l i n a found in them a sound 

basis for cooperation. 

Basis for Program 

T h i s program is based on the f o l l o w i n g 

general principles. 

T h e r e is a concentration in each li-

brary of materials dealing w i t h specialized 

problems or fields of knowledge in which 

one institution is primarily interested; for 

example, D u k e has a school of forestry 

and a graduate school of religion, while 

the University of N o r t h C a r o l i n a has a 

strong department of geology and a school 

of library science. 

In some fields the research interests and 

activities of the departments in the t w o 

universities are practically identical. T h e 

practice here is to avoid, as far as possible, 

the duplication of expensive materials, 

such as files of periodicals and publica-

tions of learned societies. M u c h of this 

type of materials can be divided arbitrarily 

between the t w o libraries. 

T h e r e remains a correlation of certain 

of the activities of the libraries which fall 

under no departmental heading, such as 

documents, newspapers, reference tools, 

academy and society publications, etc. 

H e r e again some arbitrary agreement 

142 ' COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



needs to be made. W i t h regard to news-

papers, the University of N o r t h C a r o l i n a 

L i b r a r y is concerned w i t h the preservation 

of N o r t h C a r o l i n a papers. D u k e U n i v e r -

sity, on the other hand, is receiving and 

preserving important national newspapers 

from various regions of the U n i t e d States 

and also a number of outstanding foreign 

newspapers. T h e t w o libraries have 

agreed to the f o l l o w i n g cooperative plan 

in the acquisition of state documents: ( I ) 

both libraries are to acquire all the cur-

rent documents of N o r t h Carolina, South 

Carolina, Tennessee, and V i r g i n i a ; ( 2 ) 

D u k e University is responsible for the 

acquisition of documents from A l a b a m a , 

A r i z o n a , C a l i f o r n i a , Colorado, Connecti-

cut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, 

Kansas, M a i n e , Massachusetts, M i c h i g a n , 

Minnesota, N e v a d a , N e w Hampshire, 

N e w M e x i c o , O k l a h o m a , Rhode Island, 

T e x a s , U t a h , V e r m o n t , and Wisconsin. 

T h e University of N o r t h C a r o l i n a L i b r a r y 

is responsible for the remaining twenty-one 

states; ( 3 ) whenever a faculty member 

of either institution should require a par-

ticular item for class or research purposes, 

the document division of the library which 

regularly serves his needs may acquire 

the material though such procedure con-

flicts w i t h the above allocation; ( 4 ) the 

plan of cooperation should be adhered to 

in the acquisition of departmental reports, 

such as auditor, treasurer, etc.; ( 5 ) both 

libraries w i l l collect the manuals or legis-

lative directories of all states; and ( 6 ) 

since the University of N o r t h C a r o l i n a 

L i b r a r y is a depository particularly for all 

state journals and laws, it is deemed ad-

visable that the document division of that 

institution should continue to acquire 

those items from all states, w h i l e D u k e 

w i l l secure the journals and l a w s of the 

states for which it is responsible. 

Author Cards Duplicated 

T h e General Education Board of N e w 

Y o r k made a grant of $12,500 in the 

Spring of 1934 to be used in duplicating 

and exchanging the author cards of the 

two libraries. T h e s e cards w e r e dexio-

graphed in A u g u s t , 1935, by Remington 

Rand Corporation at a cost of three cents 

per card. N e w cards for current ac-

cessions have since been regularly ex-

changed. T h e exchange of card catalogs 

has facilitiated the avoidance of duplica-

tion and has made the resources of each 

library available to the students and fac-

ulty of the neighboring institution. 

Since the amount of borrowing between 

the t w o libraries tended to increase as the 

fields of specialization became more dis-

tinct, a daily messenger service was in-

augurated in A p r i l , 1935. T h e amount 

of b o r r o w i n g between the t w o libraries 

has increased fourteen times since the ex-

change of author cards and the inaugura-

tion of the daily messenger service (see 

T a b l e I ) . T h e s e figures do not take into 

T A B L E 1 
D u k e - U n i v e r s i t y o f N o r t h C a r o l i n a 

I n t e r l i b r a r y L o a n S t a t i s t i c s 

D a t e 

1929-30 
1930-31 
1931-32 
1932-33 
1933-34 
1934-35 
1935-36 
1936-37 
1937-38 
1938-39 
Sept. 1, 1939-

J a n 1, 1941 

N u m b e r of 
books lent by 

Duke 

N u m b e r of 
books lent by 

Univ. N.C. 

60 
40 
60 
74 

190 
47i 
738 

1221 
815 

1955 

• 5i 
95 
65 

H I 
82 

346 
1186 
1475 
1128 
1174 

account the large amount of b o r r o w i n g 

that is done direct by students and faculty 

members. T h i s direct borrowing is great 

because the t w o universities are only nine 

miles apart and f u l l privileges are ex-

tended to faculty and graduate students 

at either library. 

MARC hi, 1941 143 



Grant for Research Collections 

In December, 1935, the G e n e r a l E d u -

cation Board made a generous grant of 

$50,000 to be divided equally between 

the t w o libraries. T h i s fund w a s used to 

build up research collections in the bio-

logical, physical and social sciences, and 

English literature. A n effort was made to 

avoid duplicating the holdings of either 

library. T h e r e f o r e , everything acquired 

through the grant was an addition to the 

total resources of the t w o libraries. Par-

ticular attention has been directed toward 

securing materials of special significance to 

this region. 

T h e total periodical resources of this 

area have been greatly increased since 

!935> w h e n both libraries agreed to ex-

change current periodical numbers as w e l l 

as books. Since this date the t w o li-

braries have avoided as far as practical 

further duplication of the current periodi-

cals allotted to the other institution. 

By June, 1936, the daily messenger 

service had proved indispensable, and it 

was decided by mutual agreement to con-

tinue it through the summer terms. 

F r o m A p r i l , 1935, to September, 1939, 

this daily exchange of books had been 

handled by students traveling f r o m one 

campus to a n o t h e r ; but the increasing 

amount of borrowing made it necessary to 

place the service on a more substantial 

basis. T h i s being the case, arrangements 

were made for the joint purchase and 

operation of a station w a g o n . It is pro-

posed that the station w a g o n carry Stu-
dents and faculty members as w e l l as 

books and other items. T h e schedule w i l l 

be adjusted to the use made of this vehicle. 

Borrowing Privileges Extended 

A n o t h e r progressive step was made in 

September, 1939, w h e n both libraries ex-

tended borrowing privileges to the N o r t h 

C a r o l i n a C o l l e g e for Negroes, located in 

D u r h a m . F o r the first time this insti-

tution was offering graduate courses in 

commercial education, English, education, 

science, and social science leading to a 

M a s t e r ' s degree. T h e resources of its 

library w e r e l i m i t e d ; so D u k e and the 

University of N o r t h C a r o l i n a came to its 

aid. T h e station w a g o n now includes this 

institution in its rounds w h e n there is 

material to be borrowed or returned. 

In June, 1 9 4 1 , the Rockefeller Founda-

tion made a grant of $75,000 to be di-

vided equally between D u k e University, 

the University of N o r t h Carolina, and 

T u l a n e U n i v e r s i t y for the acquisition of 

L a t i n A m e r i c a n materials. T h e division 

of the field w a s geographical w i t h subject 

divisions cutting across the geographical 

assignment in special cases. T h i s grant is 

to be spent over a five-year period. 

Program in Eighth Year 

T h i s program is now in its eighth year 

of operation and has passed far beyond 

the experimental stage. It must, how-

ever, of necessity be flexible, calling for 

constant expansion and adjustment. T h i s 

is made necessary by progress in research, 

addition of faculty members and new de-

partments. Complete elimination of du-

plication is not possible nor intended. 

< T h e real purpose of such cooperation is 

the elimination of duplication of rare and 

expensive materials of a research nature, 

thereby increasing the total resources of 

the t w o libraries. T h e result of this co-

operation has been the creation in the 

D u r h a m - C h a p e l H i l l area of one of the 

important library centers of the South. 

T h e faculties of the t w o universities 

w e r e frequently consulted in making the 

study of m a j o r research interests. In 

144 ' COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



some instances there w e r e joint meetings 

of faculty representatives of departments 

to determine an intelligent and practical 

division of fields in which library collec-

tions w e r e to be developed. 

T h i s program could very easily be ex-

panded to include four or five other col-

leges and universities located w i t h i n a 

fifty mile radius. A beginning along this 

line has already been made at the U n i v e r -

sity of N o r t h C a r o l i n a where a joint cata-

log of all books of a research nature found 

in N o r t h C a r o l i n a libraries is being col-

lected. 

Encouraging Freshmen to Read 
(Continued from page 125) 

of seven days. A c c o r d i n g to the records 

kept by the librarians over a number of 

years, an average of about seventy-five 

students w i t h d r a w books daily. 

T h e expense for equipping and operat-

ing the Freshman Reading Room exclu-

sive of the cost of processing and servicing 

the books, has amounted to $ 1 8 1 0 : furni-

ture (desk, shelves etc.) $ 3 1 0 ; books 

purchased in 1 9 3 7 ) $800; and books 

(purchased since 1 9 3 7 ) $700. In the 

spring of 1940, the committee selected 

101 books for addition to the collection 

and added 20 additional copies of books 

already on the list. 

Students Benefit More 

T h e exact measurement of the values 

of a freshman reading room is impossible, 

no doubt, but, since the opening of the 

room, most of us w h o are members of 

the rhetoric staff have felt that students 

have benefited much more from their sup-

plementary reading than they did in the 

old days before they had direct access to 

the books and had to make their selections 

w i t h o u t the privilege of examination. 

A m o n g other valuable results generally 

agreed upon by the older instructors a r e : 

1. T h e freshmen approach their supple-

mentary reading much more favorably 

than they used to. 

2. M o r e freshmen are reading books from 

the collection in addition to the mini-

mum requirement of three per semes-

ter. 

3. Better book reviews appear more often. 

4. T h e Freshman Reading Room has 

served as an introduction to the facili-

ties of the library to many of our stu-

dents. 

T h e problem of supplementary reading 

has always been difficult, as every in-

structor knows and the results are fre-

quently unsatisfactory. Y e t there are f e w 

instructors w h o do not believe it is w o r t h 

while. 

A t the University of Illinois, the prob-

lem of supplementary reading has been 

at least partially solved through the suc-

cessful operation of the Freshman Read-

ing Room. M u c h of the credit for w h a t 

has been accomplished must go to the 

members of the library staff w h o have not 

only granted the requests made by our 

staff but have also cooperated enthusi-

astically in our attempt to encourage fresh-

men to read. 

MARC hi, 1941 145