College and Research Libraries


By I. T . L I T T L E T O N 

The Bull's Head Bookshop— 
A Unique Library Bookstore 

IN A R E C E N T A R T I C L E in College and 
Research Libraries, William B. Ready 

expressed concern about "the dire state 
of u n d e r g r a d u a t e r e a d i n g . " 1 Undergrad-
uate students are not being educated to 
form a life-long h a b i t of good and wide 
reading. " T h i s ignorance about reading 
is producing a class of leaders that is 
illiterate," says Mr. Ready. T h e r e are 
many ways to attack this problem b u t 
all of them are concerned with making 
more good books readily available. T h e 
question might be asked: H o w can a 
university library with a limited budget 
provide an adequate selection of good 
readable books when the greatest por-
tion of its budget must be spent for 
teaching and research materials? 

T h e University of N o r t h Carolina Li-
brary has attempted to solve this prob-
lem by providing a rental library and 
bookstore in the university library build-
ing. T h i s may not be a solution for every 
university library; local conditions, or 
taboos against competition with inde-
p e n d e n t booksellers may prevent the 
establishment of a bookshop in the li-
brary. However, the idea is worth ex-
ploring, a n d the Bull's H e a d Bookshop 
is an example of a bookstore experiment 
that has worked. 

T h e Bull's H e a d Bookshop has been 
an integral part of the University of 
N o r t h Carolina Library for a q u a r t e r 

1 R e a d y , W i l l i a m B., " L i b r a r i e s a n d t h e R e f r e s h -
m e n t of R e a d i n g , " CRL, X I X ( 1 9 5 8 ) , 124-25, 146. 

Mr. Littleton, formerly Assistant to 
the Librarian, is now Director, North 
Carolina Interlibrary Center, Louis 
Round Wilson Library, Chapel Hill. 

of a century. Housed in the L o u i s 
R o u n d Wilson Library, it is owned and 
operated solely by the university library. 
It is a friendly place where students, 
faculty members, and townspeople can 
rent or buy up-to-date fiction, non-fiction 
and m o d e r n editions of the classics. Usu-
ally visitors, and especially librarians, 
are surprised to find a bookstore in a 
university library because this is a serv-
ice rarely offered. However, t h r o u g h the 
years, the Bull's Head has filled various 
needs and has grown with the e x p a n d i n g 
university and library. T o d a y it is more 
useful than ever. 

Dr. H o w a r d M u m f o r d Jones, a former 
English professor at the university is 
credited with f o u n d i n g and n a m i n g the 
Bull's Head. It grew o u t of his desire 
to provide for his students current books 
which the library could not afford on 
the meager book budgets of the 1920's. 
In 1928 he placed on shelves in his small 
office a few books which were rented to 
students who met for "bull sessions." 
From this beginning, the rental collec-
tion grew, and the "bull sessions" 
developed into talks on current books 
by local authors and faculty members. 

I n explaining how the Bull's H e a d 
received its name, it seems best to q u o t e 
f r o m an article by Mrs. Jessica Valen-
tine, " H o w did the Bull's H e a d get its 
name? T h e only true response seems 
pretty tame: a m u r m u r e d reference to 
Dr. H o w a r d M u m f o r d Jones who says 
he f o u n d e d the enterprise so that his 
students might circulate current books 
and carry on discussions—or 'bull ses-
sions'—in an informal atmosphere 
mildly akin to that of the old English 

SEPTEMBER 1958 471 



taverns, the M e r m a i d or the Boar's 
H e a d . " 2 

I n 1935, a f t e r a s o j o u r n in the YMCA 
Building, the Bull's H e a d Bookshop 
a n d its financial a n d a d m i n i s t r a t i v e con-
trol came to the library w i t h a $500 
loan a n d a bookstock estimated at $500. 
It became a p a r t of the library's exten-
sion d e p a r t m e n t a n d occupied a corner 
of the same r o o m . 

W h e n the a d d i t i o n to the m a i n li-
brary b u i l d i n g was constructed in 1952, 
the Bull's H e a d was p r o v i d e d w i t h a 
large, redecorated, separate r o o m . T h e 
b o o k s h o p has always h a d a pleasant, 
f r i e n d l y at m osphere, b u t in its new 
q u a r t e r s it is even m o r e inviting. 

Since the late 1930's, it has h a d a full-
time m a n a g e r . Mrs. Jessica V a l e n t i n e 
has b e e n the spirit b e h i n d the b o o k s h o p 
a n d a p r i m e mover in its success. A pro-
fessional l i b r a r i a n , she combines experi-
ence in bookselling w i t h a knowledge of 
l i b r a r i a n s h i p to m a k e the b o o k s h o p a 
vital p a r t of the library a n d the univer-
sity.3 

T h e difference between the Bull's 
H e a d a n d o t h e r commercial bookshops 
lies in t h e i r emphases o n service a n d 
profit. T h e Bull's H e a d is a non-profit 
bookstore, o p e r a t e d solely f o r service to 
students, faculty, a n d townspeople. I t 
m u s t m a k e e n o u g h m o n e y to be self-
s u p p o r t i n g because it receives n o finan-
cial subsidy f r o m t h e library or the uni-
versity. F r o m its receipts, it purchases 
its book stock a n d pays t h e salary of its 
m a n a g e r a n d the wages of several part-
time personnel. A f t e r expenses are p a i d 
the r e m a i n d e r goes i n t o m o r e books a n d 
services. T h e l i b r a r y provides only space, 
heat, light, a n d j a n i t o r i a l service. 

T h e bookstock has g r o w n f r o m a few 
h u n d r e d titles to over eleven t h o u s a n d 
since 1935, a n d its total assets have in-

2 V a l e n t i n e , J e s s i c a L . , " T h e Double L i f e : or the 
R e w a r d s of L . S . T r a i n i n g to a Bookseller," Univer-
sity of North Carolina Library School Alumni Associ-
ation Bulletin, X V I I ( M a y , 1956), 22. 

3 M r s . V a l e n t i n e was succeeded on J u l y 1, 1958 by 
M r s . H e l e n H o g a n , also a professionally-trained librar-
ian. 

creased f r o m $500 to almost $20,000. I n 
spite of this growth, its p r i m a r y p u r p o s e 
is still the same as conceived by Profes-
sor Jones: to s u p p l e m e n t the library's 
general collection by p r o v i d i n g good 
books for r e n t a n d sale in o r d e r to en-
courage r e a d i n g a n d discussion. C u r r e n t 
fiction a n d non-fiction comprise the 
basic r e n t a l stock b u t these are by no 
m e a n s the only books w h i c h are sold. 
M o d e r n editions of classics are avail-
able, i n c l u d i n g a complete stock of 
M o d e r n Library, A m e r i c a n Everyman, 
a n d Viking Portables. P a p e r b a c k books 
are becoming a n increasingly i m p o r t a n t 
p a r t of t h e stock. T h e b o o k s h o p pro-
vides a complete coverage of high-grade 
p a p e r b a c k books. T h e carefully selected 
stock of two t h o u s a n d titles includes 
New A m e r i c a n Library, Penguins, An-
chors, Vintage Books, university press 
series a n d a very closely screened selec-
tion of Bantams, Dells, a n d Groves. 

T h e emphasis has been u p o n books 
which will encourage wide reading. 
T h e r e f o r e , n o textbooks are sold or 
r e n t e d . Occasionally maps a n d inexpen-
sive p r i n t s are available, b u t non-book 
materials, such as stationery, w r i t i n g ma-
terials, a n d all the odds a n d ends of 
a five-and-ten variety sold by some cam-
pus bookstores, are n o t stocked by the 
Bull's H e a d . 

All books are f o r sale a n d three-quar-
ters of t h e m may also be r e n t e d . T h e 
r e n t a l r a t e is now five cents per day 
w i t h a m i n i m u m of fifteen cents. T h i s 
r a t e has been in effect since F e b r u a r y 
15, 1954. W h e n a r e n t a l book is sold, 
the m i n i m u m fee of fifteen cents is de-
d u c t e d f r o m the list price of the book 
f o r each r e n t a l . T h i s m e a n s t h a t if a 
book has been r e n t e d ten times, $1.50 
is d e d u c t e d f r o m the list price w h e n 
it is sold. R e n t a l s usually pay at least 
the wholesale cost of most of the books. 

C a r e f u l book selection is the key to 
the successful m a n a g e m e n t of the book-
shop. T h e m a n a g e r m u s t k n o w the needs 

472 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



and demands of the students, faculty, 
and townspeople as well as the current 
book trade. Most of the titles are 
ordered in advance of publication date 
so that the book will be o n the shelf 
before or as soon as its official publica-
tion. Publishers' Weekly, Retail Book-
seller, and publishers' advance notices 
are studied carefully. T h e final pur-
chases are based u p o n experience and 
a feel for the demands of the clientele. 
Best-seller lists and reviews are usually 
too late for use in the initial selection 
of a title. However, reviews and best-
seller lists in the New York Times Book 
Review, Saturday Review, New Yorker, 
a n d Time are read regularly and avidly 
as supplementary guides in case best 
sellers or good books are overlooked 
before publication and in helping to 
decide how many copies to reorder for 
rental or sale. 

I n order to cut down the "dead-
wood," or the books which do not sell 
easily, several devices are employed. 
First of all, titles are b o u g h t in small 
quantities. Only books by local authors 
or sure-fire best sellers are duplicated 
in any great quantity. Orders are placed 
most frequently for one, three, or five 
copies, very rarely for as many as fifty. 
Another device for moving "slow sellers" 
is the three-for-a-dollar shelf, on which, 
ordinarily, there are a b o u t two h u n d r e d 
books which have been in stock for a 
fairly long period of time. T h e policy 
of selling used books (those which have 
been rented) at a reduced price also 
helps to sell them quickly. 

T o w n and gown booksellers in Chapel 
Hill operate peaceably together b u t the 
Bull's H e a d must m a i n t a i n a delicate 
balance between the indiscretion of ag-
gressive competition and the necessity 
of making ends meet and increasing its 
book stock. A fear that high-pressure 
bookselling might bring protests f r o m 
local book dealers may be imaginary, 
b u t the risk is never taken. T h e r e is 

practically no advertising except for dis-
plays in the library. Mrs. Valentine says, 
" O u r emphasis is on the things most 
modern competitive bookshops seem not 
to want to bother with. O n one h a n d , 
we give no discounts, except to imme-
diate library family, and apply no pres-
sure. O n the other, we h a n d o u t un-
expected extras amid the inviting in-
formality of comfortable chairs, good 
lighting, ashtrays, a n d an uncluttered 
display of a most distinctive variety." 4 

T h e Bull's Head's r e p u t a t i o n has been 
built u p o n the "extras." I n a d d i t i o n to 
the rental library, these include special 
orders for any book in p r i n t , searching 
for out-of-print books, a r r a n g i n g for 
magazine subscriptions, a n d placing 
orders for b o o k b i n d i n g with a nearby 
bookbinder. These, plus a readers' ad-
visory service, have m a d e the bookshop 
a truly personal bookshop where the 
needs of each individual are i m p o r t a n t . 

Discussions of books have always been 
an i m p o r t a n t p a r t of the Bull's H e a d . 
T h e original "bull sessions" developed 
into more formal talks by local authors 
and faculty members. For m a n y years, 
Bull's H e a d Teas have been held with 
regularity. T h e intellectual climate in 
Chapel Hill is so favorable to authors 
that it has never been a problem to 
procure a guest speaker for these "teas." 

In a recent " T r a d e W i n d s " column in 
Saturday Review, Pyke J o h n s o n refers 
to the Bull's H e a d Bookshop as " t h a t 
u n i q u e i n s t i t u t i o n . " 5 It is not only an 
institution b u t an established tradition 
in Chapel Hill. T h e only p l a n for its 
f u t u r e is to keep it as it is. As the uni-
versity grows, the library hopes to main-
tain in the Bull's H e a d an informal, 
personal rental library a n d bookshop 
where students are encouraged n o t only 
to read good books b u t to appreciate 
and own them. 

4 Valentine, Jessica L., " W a y s a n d M e a n s , " The 
College Store ( W i n t e r , 1954). 

5 J o h n s o n , Pyke, J r . , " T r a d e W i n d s , " Saturday 
Review, X L I , No. 3 ( J a n u a r y 18, 1958), 6. 

SEPTEMBER 1958 473