College and Research Libraries


eron, chief, school housing section, United 
States Office of Education. Other papers in-
clude discussions of "departmentalized" 
school libraries, and of elementary school 
libraries. 

The final section includes a discussion of 
planning for such libraries as that of the 
United States Civil Service Commission, the 
Upjohn Company (pharmaceutical), and a 
correctional institution. 

The concluding paper, by Donald E. 
Fearn, is on "Architectural Barriers and the 
Handicapped, the Infirm, the Elderly, and 
the Physically Limited." It contains a num-
ber of recommended specifications which 
may well be considered by all persons plan-
ning new buildings but especially by college 
and university librarians. 

As in any such collection of papers and 
proceedings, there is considerable uneven-
ness in quality, and some duplication as well 
as contradiction. It is necessary for the 
reader to evaluate those presentations of in-
terest to him, and to keep in mind the 
source of information being given, as well 
as the identity of critics and questioners.-
Archie L. McNeal, University of Miami. 

The University of North Carolina Under 
Consolidation, 1931-1963. By Louis R. 
Wilson. Chapel Hill: The University of 
North Carolina Consolidated Office, 1964. 
xxiii, 483p. 

The Depression which began in 1929 
dealt North Carolina a severe blow, but one 
result was that state and university officials 
decided to take a hard look at the University 
to assure the protection of its good reputa-
tion and the strengthening of its sister in-
stitutions in Raleigh and Greensboro. In 
March 1931 the General Assembly ratified 
the Act of Consolidation which brought in-
to one system North Carolina State College 
of Agriculture and Engineering, North 
Carolina College for Women, and the Uni-
versity of North Carolina. Not everyone was 
happy with the idea of consolidation, but it 
was accepted because it afforded a practical 
means of stretching the limited funds which 
were available. Dr. Wilson's book records 
the story through its first thirty-two years 
with State College and the College for 
Women emerging as The University of 
North Carolina at Raleigh and The Univer-

NOVEMBER 1964 

sity of North Carolina at Greensboro. Af-
fording, as it does, an example of what can 
be accomplished through intelligent leader-
ship and careful planning, the book makes 
a significant contribution to the literature of 
higher education. 

After the decision in favor of consolida-
tion had been reached, Governor 0. Max 
Gardner and the state's educational leaders 
took immediate steps for action. The Com-
mission on Consolidation was appointed by 
the governor, and a survey committee was 
selected to prepare a detailed study of the 
three institutions. It was the work of these 
two groups that set the pattern for con-
solidation; some changes were to be drastic, 
such as the transfer of all engineering pro-
grams to the Raleigh campus, but decisions 
were made with care and changes were de-
signed to come gradually. It is safe to say 
that North Carolinians had little conception 
of what consolidation really meant but, in 
general, seemed to view it as " ... an econ-
omy measure rather than one that might 
transform the institutions into a great, uni-
fied, modern state university which, although 
located on three campuses, would be so 
modified as to provide instruction, research, 
and service to the public for undergraduate, 
graduate, and professional students, and 
North Carolinians generally." 

The volume traces in detail the changes 
which have taken place on each campus, 
and whether the discussion is of physical 
plants, instructional programs, or the men 
and women who translated plans into action, 
it is always the word of a keen and articulate 
observer. Furthermore, it is fitting and log-
ical that Dr. Wilson should have been 
chosen to write this book. He was a mem-
ber of the Commission on Consolidation, 
and, with the exception of ten years spent 
as the dean of Chicago's graduate library 
school, has been for more than half a cen-
tury a source of wisdom and advice fre-
quently drawn upon by the university's 
chancellors and presidents. Chancellor Emer-
itus Robert B. House has recently referred 
to him as "The Silent Force," which is in-
deed an appropriate phrase to describe the 
man who has been such a significant figure 
in shaping the affairs of one of the South's 
great universities.-]. Isaac Copeland, 
George Peabody College for Teachers. • • 

521