College and Research Libraries Alternatives to a New Library Building By KEYES D. M E T C A L F R I THE P R I C E T A G for a new library build- ing in these days of high construction costs often comes to twenty times the li- brary's annual budget, or even more. T h i s being the case, alternatives to new con- struction ought to be considered. Build- ings may become inadequate for a variety of reasons; they do not usually wear out, but fashions, standards, and needs change. Inadequate size, however, is usually the most urgent consideration when replace- ment of a college or university library building is advocated, and it may be ap- propriate, therefore, to begin by saying something of growth and space. Library collections grow. New acqui- sitions for the most part do not replace the books that are already available. T h e r e are additions, but normally very few subtractions. T h e staff of a library also grows as the collection becomes larger and more complex and as use in- creases. Increased use requires increased space for readers. Changes in teaching methods in many institutions often result in larger demands on the library, and no end to this tendency seems to be in sight. T h e factors of growth that have been mentioned must be taken into account, even when the institution maintains a student body and faculty of constant size. Libraries grow, but most American col- leges and universities are growing rapidly in nearly every respect and expect still further growth. In spite of the apparent inevitability of library growth, the librarian will cer- tainly be in a better position to support a request for new construction if he has considered and studied carefully all the possible alternatives. T h i s article will try to deal at least superficially with these alternatives and will start by considering Mr. Metcalf is Librarian Emeritus, Harvard College Library. additional space needs for books, for readers, and for staff. S P A C E F O R B O O K S Obviously, a library ought not to add books indiscriminately. It is rare indeed for acquisition funds to be so plentiful that large quantities of useless material are purchased, but some libraries have made the mistake of accepting practically everything that has been offered to them by gift or exchange. T h e need for im- proved selection policies is generally rec- ognized; but, in a well administered library, more rigorous selection promises to improve the quality of what is added, rather than to reduce the quantity. Discarding is often a more promising method of reducing growth, because not all books that are added to a collection remain useful indefinitely. T h e problem is to identify those that are no longer worth the space they occupy. Almost any volume may conceivably be useful to someone's research some day. It is diffi- cult and expensive to select material for discard; the mistakes that are made in the process are more likely to be discov- ered and to be criticized than those that are made in choosing books to be added to the collections. It is also expensive to change catalogue records as books are withdrawn. A librarian is conscious of his respon- bility to scholarship generally. Even if it seems almost certain that a volume will never be used in his own institution, he feels, quite properly, that he ought to try to find a home for it where it will be S E P T E M B E R 1 9 6 1 345 useful, but intelligent relocation of such material is a difficult task and is also costly. Problems of this kind are being investi- gated at Yale, Harvard, Chicago, and other institutions. Adequate treatment of them would require a book, rather than part of a single article. It need only be emphasized here that, before he attempts t o o b t a i n m o r e shelf space, a li- brarian ought to satisfy himself that judicious weeding would not free the s h e l v e s t h a t h e needs and perhaps even make his col- lections more read- ily usable. S P A C E F O R R E A D E R S Since increasing use is one of the best evidences of a l i b r a r y ' s g o o d health, it may seem paradoxical to suggest the desirability of considering methods of solving space problems by decreasing use. It will cer- tainly not be suggested that use be dis- couraged by permitting collections or services to deteriorate. But many college and university libraries—particularly, in the large metropolitan areas—those with strong collections, are heavily used by stu- dents and professors from other institu- tions. This is not the place to advocate that they give such service freely, that they charge for it, or that they refuse to give it at all; but something ought to be said of the building costs that are entailed by that use. In most libraries the readers and reader services occupy far more space than books. A fair generalization, based on formulas that will be described in my book on library building planning, is that twenty-five square feet in a reading room, plus twenty-five square feet else- where in the building, are required for each reader and the services he needs. T h i s total of fifty square feet may well cost something like one thousand, two hundred and fifty dollars in construction at today's prices. When the demands on a library approach the limit of its capacity, the student or professor from another institution who uses it does not s i m p l y o c c u p y space that would otherwise go to waste; he hastens the day when a new building will be necessary. This point should not be overemphasized, but in a number of our metropolitan institutions it is pertinent. S P A C E F O R S T A F F In most college and university li- braries space for staff becomes inadequate before space for books or readers. Staff needs are often neglected because it may be possible to find a corner for one more desk without realizing the loss in efficiency and in pro- ductive labor that results from over- crowding. However, a careful rearrange- ment of work rooms will often make it possible to provide for additional staff members without decreasing their effec- tiveness. M O R E E F F I C I E N T U S E O F S P A C E If a crowded library has few books that ought to be discarded and is serving only readers whom it ought to serve, there may still remain a possibility that, by making better use of the space it occu- pies, as has just been indicated in the preceding paragraph dealing with space for staff, it can postpone the date at which additional space will be essential. Mr. Metcalf is engaged in preparing a book on the planning of college, uni- versity, and research library buildings. "Alternatives to a New Library Build- ing" is the preliminary version of a chap- ter from that volume which CRL is pleased to publish here as the second of a series of excerpts from it. Mr. Metcalf invites suggestions and comments for consideration for use in the final version of his work. The research for his book and the ivriting of it is being done by Mr. Met- calf as the director of a special project sponsored by a grant from the Council on Library Resources (CRL, XI (1960), 136). 346 C O L L E G E A N D R E S E A R C H L I B R A R I E S Difficult and complex problems can be expected, and it may turn out that costs of alterations and rehabilitation will be greater than can be justified. It is not easy to assess or describe all the factors that ought to be taken into account. Be- fore a decision is made, possibilities in at least six areas should be considered. 1. Provision of shelving for additional books may be practicable. Compact stor- age of one kind or another may increase the capacity of a stack by fifty per cent or more, even if the stack is of the self- supporting, multi-tier variety. T h i s is likely, however, to be an expensive in- stallation. If reading areas are larger than necessary, as they may be in an old build- ing, it may be possible to place addi- tional shelving at one end of a reading room. Extra sections of shelving can usu- ally be inserted in one place or another. 2. Additional seats for readers can often be provided by rearrangement of tables and chairs. T h i s may be neither convenient nor aesthetically desirable; many reading rooms are so crowded that it is almost impossible for readers to get to and from the seats, and in many cases the table space for each reader is inade- quate for serious study. T h e r e are monu- mental reading rooms, however, with needlessly wide aisles and spaces between tables. It might be pointed out here that the secret of providing as many seats as possible is to make all aisle space do double duty. Twelve or thirteen square feet will normally suffice for a reader's table space and chair. An additional area of about the same size ought to be enough for aisle space, but it is often increased and even doubled if aisles are used which serve seats or shelving on one side only. 3. As already noted, it is usually possi- ble to squeeze in one more desk for one more staff member; the problem is to de- termine the point at which this creates overcrowding which in turn reduces ef- ficiency. It may be added that in aca- demic libraries overcrowding usually oc- curs first in the space assigned for staff use because the librarian at the time of construction was too modest in his re- quest or failed to understand the pro- spective needs, or at least did not convince the authorities that the staff would grow as time went on. 4. It may be possible to make use of halls, lobbies, and what is sometimes called "architectural space"—that is, space that has not hitherto been assigned for library purposes. An unused base- ment might be brought into use. One difficulty in making better use of base- ments is that they are often damp, if not wet, and it is expensive to rehabili- tate them. Monumental corridors can also be used for exhibits, which may en- able the library to devote its former ex- hibition room to readers of books, or staff. 5. A mezzanine can sometimes be in- stalled over part of a reading room that is two or more stack stories high. T h e cost of doing this, particularly if it must include air conditioning, may be too great, but the possibility is worth keeping in mind. 6. Many libraries house non-library fa- cilities such as classrooms or administra- tive offices. Whether or not this use of space has been desirable, it is obvious that when the library needs more space for books, readers and staff, the librarian ought to be prepared to explain why more of the space within the building should be made available to the library. T h e best way to determine probable costs when considering any of these six possibilities is to have the structure care- fully examined and to obtain an estimate from a reliable builder, after consultation with an architect. Let us take a hypothetical example. A library finds that the stack capacity of its building can be increased by 100,000 volumes if compact shelving is installed in an unused basement. T h i s would post- pone the need for a new building for an additional ten years, but it would require the installation of a new stairway, the S E P T E M B E R 1 9 6 1 347 discarding of old furniture, and the re- moval of an unused coal bin. Old heating and water pipes that are no longer useful would have to be torn out; a cement floor would need to be replaced and a new floor covering provided for it, as well as new lighting, the refinishing of the ceil- ing and repainting. T h e cost of these al- terations, plus the new shelves might, because of the difficult problems in- volved, amount to $150,000, or as much as it would cost to build an addition to the library large enough to house the same number of volumes. T h i s might in- dicate that an addition would be prefera- ble. T h e r e may, however, be other factors to consider. It may be easier to obtain funds for renovation than for new con- struction. It may be that only a single addition to the building is practicable and that a larger one will be feasible at some later date but not at present. On the other hand, providing for 100,- 000 volumes in the old basement may take care of only a fraction of the total needs for space that can be foreseen in the near future; a new building may be the only real solution, and, if so, renova- tion of the basement may be an expensive way of providing space that will become nearly if not completely useless as soon as a new building is constructed. Yet, if the new building will cost $1,500,000, each year that its construction is post- poned it might be regarded as saving the income on that sum. T h i s income, at five percent is $75,000, which means that renovation of the basement at the cost of $150,000, if it enables the library to postpone construction for more than two years, may be an economical course of action. Prospective increases in building costs and business cycles should not be forgotten. Finally, however, a good new building ought to enable a library to provide better services than are possible in an old one. It is difficult indeed to esti- mate how much this is worth to the insti- tution. Many a librarian may be sure, both before and after he reads the above para- graphs that only a new building or an addition can provide space of the kind he needs and in sufficient quantity. But his position will be stronger if, before he asks for new construction, he has care- fully investigated the alternatives, in- stead of waiting for others to do it for him. He ought to be prepared to demon- strate that he has considered them and that they will not be satisfactory. He ought to be able to show that the space now available is not being wasted and the cost of continuing to live in the pres- ent building, including the cost of re- quired rehabilitation work and the im- paired efficiency in services, is greater than the cost of new construction. In the course of examining all the possibilities, he may discover means of postponing such construction; if not, his examination ought to have provided him with con- vincing arguments for it. S T O R A G E AND D E C E N T R A L I Z A T I O N Even if it is proved to the satisfaction of all that a library needs more space, it does not necessarily follow that it must have a completely new central building. An addition or annex of some kind may be practicable, and problems involved in the construction of this sort will be discussed later. First, however, it is de- sirable to consider whether or not the useful life of a building can be pro- longed without altering it by storing a part of the library's collections or by detaching portions of its services and col- lections and housing them separately. Expedients of this sort should be re- garded as forms of decentralization. Storage should always be considered when a library has many books that are used infrequently but seem to be worth keeping. Such books can be housed more inexpensively in a structure designed for them than in a central library building that occupies expensive quarters. Cooperative storage with other librar- 348 C O L L E G E A N D R E S E A R C H L I B R A R I E S ies offers further advantages if it prom- ises to develop a common pool of resources and to eliminate needless dupli- cation. T h r e e quite different organiza- tions have been pioneering in this field in the past twenty years; the New Eng- land Deposit Library, the Hampshire In- ter-Library Center, and the Midwest In- ter-Library Center. Other libraries have made arrangements for their own storage buildings. These include the University of Michigan, the New York Public Li- brary, the Iowa State University Library. T h e Bowdoin College Library has used a chapel basement for local storage, and Iowa State a Nissen hut. By making its own arrangements for storage, a library can avoid the complications of coopera- tion, though it must also forego the ad- vantages. If a new building for other pur- poses is to be constructed near a library, it may be possible to plan its basement as a storage area. In this way the Harvard Law School Library acquired space for five hundred thousand books beneath the Harvard Graduate Center at a total additional cost for excavation, construc- tion and equipment of less than twenty- five cents per volume. T h e large mature library is more likely to find storage ad- vantageous than the rapidly growing young institution that normally has not yet acquired an extensive body of infre- quently used materials. Most university libraries are decen- tralized to some extent, with libraries for professional schools, such as law and medicine, housed separately from the cen- tral collection. Other subjects may also be detached. T h e sciences may develop their libraries near laboratories and museums. It is preferable in most cases to establish a central science library, rather than one for each subject. T h e humanities and so- cial sciences are more resistant to separa- tion from the main collection, but music, fine arts, Far Eastern language materials, and Slavic literatures are among the sub- jects that have been housed in separate libraries in some large universities. Decentralization of this sort has both advantages and disadvantages. I t is clearly undesirable when the units are too small to warrant a staff that can pro- vide service during full library hours. Some of the financial considerations that may need to be weighed can be suggested by the situation at Harvard, where re- placement of the central library building, the Widener Library, would require thirty million dollars, if the additional cost of the upkeep of the new building were capitalized and added to the cost of construction. Hence, each year that de- centralization enables the University to continue to use Widener might be said to represent a saving of one and one-half millon dollars, which can provide a con- siderable book fund and useful library service. As has been noted, subject decentrali- zation is common in university libraries. In addition, Harvard has adopted an- other form of decentralization, within the central library itself, with infrequently used materials in storage at the New Eng- land Deposit Library and in basements throughout the University, and with spe- cial provision for rare books and manu- scripts in the Houghton Library build- ing and for undergraduates in the La- mont Library building. In this way books have been sorted out and housed appro- priately, the infrequently used materials in inexpensive storage; the rare books and manuscripts in nearly ideal atmos- pheric conditions in a building designed to facilitate careful supervision; the un- dergraduates with a selected collection to which they have free access. Removal of undergraduate services from the Widener building has made it a better place for research, and its stacks are open to those who need access to them, including many undergraduates. Decentralization of this kind is by no means confined to Harvard. At Michigan the Clements Library houses many of the rare books, and there is also an un- dergraduate library, as well as a storage S E P T E M B E R 1 9 6 1 349 building. Yale is about to build a sepa- rate rare book library, and is prepared to place large quantities of material in either regional or local storage. Cornell has constructed a new central research library and is rehabilitating its old build- ing for use as an undergraduate library. T h e University of California at Los An- geles is following a similar procedure, as is the University of Alberta. A N N E X E S AND A D D I T I O N S If a library must have more space and if storage or other forms of decentraliza- tion will not take care of the situation, an alternative to the construction of a new building may still remain—an addi- tion to the existing structure. T h i s is rarely an easy way out. It is usually more difficult to plan a satisfactory addition to an old library building than to design a completely new one. Since it promises to call for only as much new construction as is required by growth, it often appears to be a much more economical solution than a whole new building, and it de- serves to be investigated. T h e apparent savings, in particular, call for scrutiny. T h e y may turn out to be much smaller than they seem, or may even prove to be nonexistent. A hypo- thetical, but by no means impossible, example may illustrate this. Let us say that a library occupies fifty thousand square feet of gross space in an area where new construction, including archi- tects' fees but omitting equipment, can be estimated to cost $20.00 per square foot. T h i s would seem to mean that pro- viding the same space in a new building will cost one million dollars, and that this amount might be saved if construc- tion of an addition would enable the li- brary to continue to occupy its present quarters. Further analysis, however, might demonstrate that this estimate is far from sound. It should be said to start with that an architect, a reliable builder, or an ex- perienced library consultant should be consulted on the problem. T h e following paragraphs indicate why, in some cases, the addition might not turn out to be a wise investment. 1. T h e gross square footage in the pres- ent building may include an unreason- ably low percentage of useful space. Anal- ysis might show, for instance, that 50 per cent of the total square footage consists of what can be called "architectural," "monumental" or "non-assignable" space. These include such things as lobbies, stairways, corridors, and walls, as well as unusable attics and basements. It is im- possible to avoid a substantial percentage of such space, but 25 to 35 per cent has proved to be sufficient in many recent li- brary buildings. A new building should always prove to be more efficient and useful. It may, therefore, be possible to demonstrate that 40,000 square feet in a new building could provide as much use- ful space as the old one does with 50,000. If so, the $1,000,000 shrinks to $800,000. 2. It may be necessary to sacrifice space in the present building or in the addition or in both if satisfactory connections are to be provided between the present build- ing and the addition. If this loss amounts to a total of 5,000 feet, it will reduce the value of the new space by $100,000 and reduce the $800,000 gain to $700,000. 3. Because the old building has read- ing rooms fourteen feet high, it might seem necessary, in order to avoid irregu- lar floor levels, to build higher and there- fore more expensive reading rooms in the annex than would otherwise be needed. T h i s may well mean an expenditure of an extra $100,000, which must be sub- tracted, and the $700,000 becomes $600,- 000. 4. It might be impossible to fit new stack heights for full capacity into the old pattern, or if they have to be multi- tier like the old, desirable flexibility will be sacrificed. T h i s may decrease values by $75,000, thus reducing the $600,000 to $525,000. 5. T h e cost of breaking through walls 350 C O L L E G E A N D R E S E A R C H L I B R A R I E S of the old building to make connections with the annex may be estimated at $25,- 000, which will bring the net gain down to $500,000. 6. It may well be that the old building with an addition would not be as easy to operate as a new one could be, and would require for good service one addi- tional staff member at $5,000 a year, or the income on $100,000, thus reducing the net advantage of the annex to $400,- 000. 7. T h e location of the old building may be such that with an addition a sec- ond entrance will be required, which will have to be manned at all times when the building is open. If a completely new building could be so located and planned that two entrances would be unnecessary or that one of them could simply have a crash lock, it would save $10,000 per year, or the interest of a capital sum of $200,- 000, which ought to be deducted from what would be saved by continuing to occupy the old building. T h i s would re- duce the $400,000 to $200,000. 8. T h e r e may be serious long-range considerations. T h e present building, though centrally located in the campus when it was built, may no longer be so due to new construction for class- room buildings, or the addition may fill up all the available space that remains, making any further construction impossi- ble, yet the institution may be growing so rapidly that more space will be needed within a comparatively few years. T h i s means that an addition now will entail a completely new structure in the near fu- ture. It is difficult to make any monetary appraisal of these disadvantages, but if the poor location is a $100,000 handicap and if the fact that the original building, plus the annex, can be expected to be useful as a library for only ten years is also assessed as a $100,000 disadvantage, the saving from using an addition in- stead of new construction, which started as $1,000,000, has changed to no saving at all. 9. Finally, the coup de grace may be provided by consideration of other needs within the institution. T h e university's fine arts department may badly need a new building that would cost a half a million dollars. It may be ready to accept the old library, which is a handsome and monumental one and could be adapted to serve its purposes. T h e cost of altera- tions for this purpose may be little more than would have to be paid for the re- habilitation that would be needed in any case if the building continued to house the library. T h i s hypothetical illustration has been described as a possible one; this is not to say that it is typical or that there would be many cases in which all the disadvan- tageous factors that were enumerated would occur. Each situation should be ex- amined to determine which of these fac- tors or others are present. T h e decision should not be reached without consulta- tion with an architect and perhaps with an experienced builder and possibly with a library consultant. An addition can be an economical solution and can be en- tirely satisfactory from the library stand- point. T h i s is demonstrated by some of the specific cases that follow. Wellesley College offers an excellent example of a successful addition to a building, although the original library was nearly fifty years old and was in an architectural style that was impracticable to duplicate. T h e old building was ide- ally located, well constructed and attrac- tive. T h e architects found a reasonably satisfactory solution to the extremely dif- ficult problem of floor levels. Available floor space was more than doubled by the addition which cost considerably less than a completely new building, and it is generally agreed to have been a good so- lution. T h e present structure is in most ways more satisfactory functionally than it was in the past. Smith College successfully added a large new wing to a fifty year old build- ing about a decade ago and is now plan- S E P T E M B E R 1 9 6 1 351 ning two other additions. Both are rela- tively small and involve few complica- tions. A third and considerably larger addition can be made later if needed. T h e library is fortunate in its floor levels, and "circulation patterns" throughout the original structure and the additions can be kept simple without undue con- struction costs or waste of space. Amherst College, though it has a stur- dily constructed building that is as old as Wellesley's or Smith's, is confronted by very difficult problems in attempting to plan an addition because its present multi-tier stack has only 6 ' 9 " in the clear throughout most of its area, and no way has been found to provide direct corri- dors from the present building to any ad- dition except through the stack. T h e University of Connecticut library is only twenty years old, but was expen- sive to construct and wasteful in the use of space. Satisfactory additions will be difficult because any new reading areas directly connected with the present building will have to have unduly high ceilings. Stack levels are too low to match new ones, and it will be hard indeed to provide a good circulation pattern. T h e University of Michigan enlarged its library more than forty years ago by wrapping a new structure around the old one. T h i s proved to be resasonably suc- cessful. T h i r t y years later, however, when plans were considered for wrapping a third building around the second, it was decided that the complications would be too great, and the present undergraduate library was built instead. An addition to the old building may still be worked out later. T h e Library of Congress managed to get along in its building for longer than could have been expected in view of its rapid growth from 1900 to 1935, because it could fill in all or part of three of the four large courts around which it was built. T h e University of South Carolina found it unwise a few years ago to add to a twenty year old structure, though adjacent space was available; the existing building was too inflexible and was cut into rooms too small for satisfactory use by internal walls that would have been very difficult and too expensive to re- move. T h e University of Alberta, finding its library building overcrowded at the early age of nine years, was faced by great dif- ficulties in building an addition. Stack floors were of unequal heights, connect- ing corridors were lacking, and monu- mental construction proved to be a very costly handicap. T h i s list could be enlarged almost in- definitely, and any library contemplating an addition might be well advised if it studied the problems involved at a num- ber of the institutions considered in the preceding paragraphs. T h e r e are relatively few cases in which it is now possible to build a satisfactory and economical large addition to a li- brary that is more than fifty years old. T h e reasons for this have already been suggested, but it may be desirable to enumerate them here. 1. Modern lighting and ventilation have radically changed requirements for floor heights, and it is generally uneco- nomical to plan new construction that will match the old. 2. T h e older architectural styles, Gothic, Renaissance, classical, and to a lesser extent, Georgian (particularly if it has a pitched roof), are often too costly to duplicate; if an addition departs radi- cally from the style of the original build- ing, aesthetic difficulties may be almost insurmountable. 3. T h e cost of tearing out old walls may be excessive, unless the existing building was planned with a view of fa- cilitating access to new wings. 4. T h e location of many library build- ings has become unsatisfactory for library purposes because of shifts in the position of other activities in the institution. 5. Many a building was planned as a 352 C O L L E G E A N D R E S E A R C H L I B R A R I E S complete architectural unit by an archi- tect who did not want to have his " g e m " modified or damaged aesthetically by future generations. T h i s last point calls for further com- ment. More than one architect has said that he would refuse a commission if his instructions included a requirement that the building be planned in such a way that additions would be readily practica- ble without impairing it functionally. It would be rash to propose a universal rule that no library building should be planned without a suitable addition in mind, but the presidents and governing boards of colleges and universities ought to realize that most academic and re- search libraries, unless they are much more mature than 95 per cent of those in this country, still grow at a rate that doubles their space requirements every twenty years or less—every ten years in some cases. Unless the institution is pre- pared to provide completely new housing for its library every ten or twenty years, it ought to arrange for planned expansion. T h e exceptions should not be over- looked. T h e r e are mature institutions that have acquired their basic research materials and have library collections growing at the rate of only 2 per cent each year, instead of the prevailing 5 or 10 per cent. If such an institution also has a student body reasonably static in size (an unusual situation at present), it may hope to get along without addi- tions to its central library building for many years, if the building is reasonably adequate now and if the library will make the most of savings in space that are possible by means of microfilming, discarding, storage, and other forms of decentralization. It is recommended that all other institutions deliberate very care- fully before they employ an architect who insists that no additions be made to his building. T h e r e are a number of questions that need to be answered before plans are made for an addition. 1. When the present building was planned was an addition contemplated? If so, are there drawings for it that were made then? Are they still suitable? Many architects fortunately have realized that an addition would be needed and have proceeded accordingly. T h e plan of the main library building of the University of Illinois may be regarded as standard. Repeated additions have been made and still more are practicable. T h e r e is room at the rear for almost indefinite expan- sion of stack and reading areas. T h e limi- tations of the Illinois plan are that addi- tional cubicles in the stack are available only in places where there is no outside light, new space for readers and stack may not be in a satisfactory proportion in each addition, and, finally, it is not easy to provide for new staff. It may also be noted that the magnificent monumen- tal reading room over the front entrance does not in 1961 seem as attractive func- tionally as it did fifty years ago, and this valuable space in the building can not be used to best advantage. 2. Is it possible when adding to a li- brary building to obtain an easy and satisfactory circulation pattern with di- rect access to the new part of the struc- ture? T h e University of Florida Library at Gainesville, which was built in 1929 and has already had two additions, is an example of a building that is still in good physical condition but is hard to enlarge because difficult circulation pat- terns would result and would require the sacrifice of valuable space; moreover suf- ficient additional space to provide for many years ahead is not available in any direction. 3. Do floor levels in the present build- ing make efficient use difficut? I t was not unusual during the past century and, alas, even later to plan a library in which it was impossible on any level, even the main one, to go from one end of the building to the other without ascending or descending a few stairs along the way. American technology has not yet devised S E P T E M B E R 1 9 6 1 353 a satisfactory and inexpensive method of taking a loaded book truck up and down short flights of stairs. Additional elevators may help, but they are expen- sive, particularly if their mechanism must be capable of making frequent stops a few feet apart. T h e old Cornell Uni- versity Library, dating back to the 1890s, is a good example of what ought not to be done. Shifting of books from one part of the building to another is seriously complicated by the numerous short flights of stairs, many of them without elevator connection. T h e r e is also the danger that the users of the building will fall on unexpected stairs. In the Widener building at Harvard, where there were two steps and then a landing just before the main stairway to the read- ing room began, someone fell every week on the average for thirty years. T h e two steps were finally replaced by an unat- tractive ramp which has now saved count- less sprains and breaks, to say nothing of bruises. It is recommended that short stairs, primarily for architectural pur- poses, be avoided wherever possible in library buildings. 4. How large an addition will be re- quired? It is one thing to add a small stack or a small wing for reading areas, increasing the size of an old building by 20 or 25 per cent. It is quite a different matter to build an addition that is larger than the original building, something that is often required in these days of rapid growth. T h e small addition, if it will provide satisfactory space and will not crowd other buildings or encounter other complications, is likely to be de- sirable. T h e large addition is more likely to result in problems because it tends to perpetuate any unfortunate features of the old building, making "the tail wag the dog." 5. How long can the proposed addi- tion, plus the present building, be ex- pected to provide adequate space, and what can be done at the end of this pe- riod? Will still another addition then be practicable or is this the last? Are the institution and the space needs of its li- brary growing so rapidly that a much larger building will be needed within twenty years? If so, it may well be un- economical to enlarge now instead of starting over. In a privately endowed, liberal arts college, such as Smith, an ad- dition may be desirable, even if the ex- isting building is fifty years old. Smith does not expect to increase its student body to any considerable extent. Its li- brary collections are mature enough to be growing only approximaely 2 per cent a year, and the Hampshire Inter-Library Center is available to house and supply infrequently used materials. But tremendous physical expansion of its library must be expected by a tax- supported state university if it now has 5,000 students but plans to have 15,000 within a generation; if its collections, now no larger than Smith's 400,000 vol- umes, are growig at the rate of 10 per cent a year; and if it expects to support advanced research in an increasing num- ber of fields. Money may well be saved in this case by replacing a building that is only twenty years old. Each institution has its own problems that must be ex- amined before an intelligent decision can be reached. 6. Are there serious aesthetic obstacles to an addition? Following the style of an older structure is likely to be prohibi- tively expensive, but building a contem- porary flat-top wing on a collegiate Gothic, classical or Georgian building may be very difficult. Even if it is done to the satisfaction of many persons with good taste, it may arouse violent alumni criticism. It has been done successfully— the 1958 addition at Wellesley is an ex- ample—but there have been many fail- ures. 7. Are there strategic financial con- siderations to be weighed? T h e r e are cases in which the donor of a building or members of the donor's family will (Continued on page 362) 3 5 4 C O L L E G E A N D R E S E A R C H L I B R A R I E S paperback publications. Reviews or book notes published in the college newspaper or lists on various subjects such as "Great Books," "New Paperbacks," "Books Es- pecially Enjoyed by Faculty Members," "Books Especially Enjoyed by Students," may stimulate reading. Prizes may be given to students for the best lists of books suggested for purchase. T h i s de- vice has value as the student becomes acquainted with book selection aids. Book reviews or discussions on radio and television may play an important part in interesting people in reading. Faculty influence on the reading of stu- dents is rated very high by all librarians. T h e most casual mention of a book in class by a well-liked and admired faculty member tends to set wheels in motion. Excerpts read from a book in class may cause a run on a book. Any instructor who teaches so that he arouses intel- lectual curiosity will stimulate reading on the part of his students. Unplanned, informal meetings between faculty mem- bers and students are conducive to read- ing when books enter the conversation. Students may help in stimulating the reading of other students by selecting a week end shelf of books to recommend to their fellow students, by preparing a list of popular reading books in various fields, by getting comments on books students like, by getting students to vote on their favorite books, or by getting students to suggest books for purchase for recreational reading. Informal read- ing groups may be organized on the campus. A pure reading course may be offered since students sometimes justly complain that they are too busy to read anything except class assignments. An honors reading course based on lists sup- plied by deans of the various colleges may be established. Whatever methods used, if you suc- ceed in endowing your students with life- time reading habits so that reading be- comes attractive to them you have done much to aid in the progress of education and in the development of an informed citizenry. Alternatives to a New Library Building (Continued from page 354) give funds for an addition but would not contribute to a new structure. T h e sentimental value of an old building may be so great that it would be unwise to discard it or use it for other purposes. T h e library of Delaware State College in Dover has occupied the oldest building on the campus for many years—a build- ing that was once the chapel of the slave plantation on which the college devel- oped after the Civil War; students and faculty regard it with great affection as the heart of the institution. T h e college was fortunate in being able, without ma- terially changing the character of this building, to enlarge it and continue to use it for its library. Despite all difficulties, the possibilities of an addition ought to be examined be- fore it is decided to give up an old build- ing. It will often be desirable to call in an architect, a builder or a library con- sultant or all three to make sure that an addition is practicable. T h e costs ought to be estimated as carefully as possible and the advantages and disadvantages assessed. No simple formula will take the place of thoughtful study in light of the library's future and the institution's edu- cational program. 362 C O L L E G E A N D R E S E A R C H L I B R A R I E S