Since
the school’s founding in 1892, the library has played a central role in
supporting faculty research and student learning. From its humble beginnings in a single classroom
to its current massive holdings of physical collections and online journals and
databases, the library has sought to keep pace with emerging scholarly trends,
changing researcher needs, evolving applications of technology, as well as a
growing student population. Starting in 1892 and ending in 1945, this post will
examine the profound changes in the library’s collections, services, and space
during that time.
When
the school opened its doors to students in the fall of 1892, its library
consisted of a small collection of donated books. Indeed, President McIver donated a number of
reference titles from his private library to help build the school’s collection. Incoming students were encouraged to bring “any
books in their possession relating to Science, Literature, History, etc. to be
used as reference books.” The State Normal
and Industrial School (now UNC Greensboro) had a very small budget for book
purchases. The first purchases of books
took place at the end of 1892, the school bought standard reference titles and
established American and British authors.
There were no purchases of more “current” fiction.
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| Main Building (Foust) |
Within
a short period of time, the library had to be moved to a larger classroom in the
Main Building (Foust) to accommodate the growing number of books and
periodicals. The new space also had a
reception area for visitors. This space was
managed by a faculty member and some student workers. In 1895, with the increased use of its library,
the school hired its first full time librarian, Annie F. Petty. Ms. Petty was able to introduce a more formal
method of cataloging works and meeting user requests. She also oversaw the move of the library’s
collections to larger space in the Main Building. She was able to repurpose a former gymnasium
to address a number of immediate space issues.
By 1900, the library had 3,000 titles.
President McIver concluded that this new space was not a permanent solution.
Recognizing
that the state legislature would not be making funds available soon for a new
library, President McIver decided to write to the philanthropist Andrew Carnegie
for help. Mr. Carnegie had established a
program to fund the construction of public libraries around the country. McIver’s appeal to support the public
education of women seemed to resonate with Carnegie. The State Normal and Industrial School was
awarded $15,000 for a new building and nearly $4000 for furniture and
shelving. The new library building (Forney)
was built on College Ave. It was
considered a “modern” building and was equipped with steam heat and electrical
lights. Annie Petty described the
building as being of “red brick and granite trimmings, and contains seven rooms
on the first floor and two on the second.
It is furnished in light oak and furnished throughout with Library
Bureau furniture, which is artistic, durable, and convenient in every respect.” The Carnegie structure also contained a
fire-proof stack-room which had the capacity of 30,000 volumes and also a
fireproof vault. Ms. Petty opened the
doors of the new library to students in October 1905.
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| Carnegie Library Building, 1905 |
With
the ending of World War One and rationing, the state’s legislature turned its
attention to reconstruction and a growing postwar economy. The school (now called the North Carolina College
for Women) experienced a postwar growth in student enrollment. To meet the needs of this larger student
population, the state allocated funds ($75,000) to expand the footprint of the original
building. Starting in 1921, a year-long
construction project took place. The newly
expanded structure was nearly three times as large as the original building. The expanded building would include new
public seating to increase the total public seating to 373. The expansion of stack space now allowed for
95,000 volumes. With Ms. Petty’s retirement
in 1920, the new space was supervised by Charles B. Shaw. Shaw was a trained librarian. He also was a strong and vocal advocate for
libraries. Through his tireless
promotion of the library, he would obtain funds to dramatically build the book collection
as well as nearly double the size of the library’s staff. The 1920s represented a decade of growth in
the library.
On
September 15, 1932, the library suffered a significant set-back. A fire broke out in the middle of the night. Thankfully no staff or patrons were injured since
the building was closed. Yet, the damage
to the building was significant. The
greatest damage centered on the reading room and the library science room. The estimates are that 12,000 to 15,000 titles
were damaged by smoke and water. But,
the majority of the library’s holdings survived in the fire-proof structure in
the building. The damage was estimated
to be $98,000. The library’s staff and surviving
collections were temporarily moved to the Students’ Building.
Under
the supervision of the college librarian Charles H. Stone, the rebuilding of
the library began almost immediately.
The year-long project involved both the repair of fire damaged areas as
well as the expansion of the building.
The expansion project would involve the addition of two wings to the
building and a new stack space.
Additionally, the expansion project allowed for a new space for students
to enjoy current and “popular” works for recreational reading. Beyond the construction project, the library
undertook a collections development project.
New titles had to be purchased and other damaged titles replaced. The library would also struggle to “rebuild”
its card catalog system since it was almost completely destroyed in the fire. Finally, the library sought to develop new
services to support student research.
The library instituted the position of a “readers’ advisor” to assist
individuals in selecting what “they need or want to read.”
On
the eve of the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the school, there was a
flurry of news accounts about the library and the college. A number of newspaper articles written in
April 1941 noted that the library was recognized as the largest woman’s college
library in the South. The school was now
called the Woman’s College of the University of North Carolina. The library served nearly 2,300 students and
300 faculty members with approximately 100,000 titles. The library now employed eleven professional staff
to meet the needs of 1000 daily users.
Only
four years later in 1945, a number of newspaper articles were written discussing
the space crunch that the college’s library was deemed to be facing. One article noted that the present structure
is “inadequate.” Drawing on the library’s
own statistics, these newspaper accounts stressed the steady growth in book
purchases and circulation. The authors
concluded that these growth numbers were straining the library’s current spaces
and services. Additionally, they
declared that the library’s seating capacity had not kept pace with the significant growth
in the student population.
Not
surprisingly, the college submitted a request to the 1945 North Carolina General
Assembly for monies to build a new library.
Dr. Walter Clinton Jackson, Dean of Administration, stated that $380,000
was requested for the building of the new library. Of the $380,000 asked for the library,
Jackson noted that $365,000 would be for construction and $15,000 for
equipment. The proposed new three-story library
building would be built directly across College Ave. from the 1905 Carnegie
library building. The new space would
relieve the “cramped” conditions and would include: four large reading rooms, an
exhibit room, a rare books room, an audio-visual laboratory, music audition
rooms, and a series of small seminar and study rooms. Jackson also noted that the current Carnegie library
could be quickly converted into an art center or classrooms. The immediate challenge for the college was
to convince the General Assembly of this pressing space need.
