The University is in sore need of the new library which is included in the budget submitted to the Legislature for appropriation. Tentative plans, which have already been drawn up for the building, present an idea of what will be included in the new library. The 11 separate libraries which are now being maintained on the campus will be included under one roof. It has been necessary with the present cramped quarters of the library to conduct special libraries of various departments due to a lack of space in the central building.
When the library was built back in 1907 the size of the student body was 785 and the total number of volumes owned was around 50,000. Today the size of the student body numbers over 2,000 and the library owns over 140,000 volumes and is adding from 10,000 to 15,000 volumes annually. The present library building will not possibly hold these volumes and consequently the departmental libraries were necessary.
The new building will have space to contain all the volumes now owned and will have ample room for additional volumes that will be acquired from time to time. It will be possible when the new building is complete for students to get at all the volumes without having to go from one building to another. There will also be provided rooms for study, which are seriously lacking in the present building. The building will be three stories high besides a basement. The reading room will run from the second through the third floor. In the basement there will be room for a number of activities that are not included in the library building.
In adopting the plans for the new building, those in charge did not look to other institutions in the South as much as they did to the Northern and Western Universities. Due to the adoption of plans for a library building similar to the more advanced institutions, the University of North Carolina will lead the way in Southern universities to better equipped library buildings. The building will be constructed so that additional stack space can be added as is needed.
For many reasons the library appropriation items is one of the most acute needs of the University. It is one which can be felt by student and faculty men as well as the administration. We welcome the plans for the new building, and express the hope that it will be soon a reality.
From page 2, the editorial page of The Tar Heel, Chapel Hill, N.C., Jan. 24, 1925
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92073227/1925-01-24/ed-1/seq-2/#words=January+24%2C+1925
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