College and Research Libraries


By J E A N M . S H A R P E 

Divisional Reading Rooms in 
the Small Liberal Arts College 
Jean M. Sharpe is librarian of the Rock-

ford College Library, Rockford, Illinois. 

TRADITION has decreed for college and university libraries a conventional plan 
which emphasizes the large central reading 

room. If of late there has been some 

questioning, uncertainty, and even uneasi-

ness w i t h this emphasis, w e must look for 

guidance, not only in the statements of 

our o w n profession but at the shift in 

educational methods and procedures w h i c h 

are compelling the library to assume a 

more important place in the educational 

scheme. W h e n the professor lectured and 

the student read a textbook, the library 

had its appointed place in the educational 

organization, but it w a s not one of first 

importance. M o r e recently w i t h the in-

troduction of honors and independent 

reading courses, tutorial systems, and the 

stressing of the advantages of the small 

class, the education of the student has 

become a more individualized process 

w h i c h centers around teaching w i t h books. 

A s these new directions become appar-

ent, librarians are discussing the type of 

library building best suited to fit in w i t h 

these methods. T h e y are studying the 

library f r o m the standpoint of "educa-

tional effectiveness rather than its admin-

istrative efficiency."1 T h e large reading 

1 Branscomb, H a r v i e . Teaching with Books: A 
Study of College Libraries. Association of A m e r i c a n 
Colleges and A . L . A . , 1940, p. ix. 

room as opposed to small subject or divi-

sional reading rooms is, of course, only 

one phase in the discussion. T h e size and 

type of the student body and the character 

of the teaching of the institution are deter-

mining factors in the conception of the 

building, and the problem is one which 

must be solved independently by each 

library. 

T h u s , in the new library at R o c k f o r d 

College, servi-ng a community of 300 stu-

dents and 45 faculty members, w e have 

chosen to omit the large reading room and 

to center our plan around the idea of divi-

sional reading rooms. T h e general type of 

teaching to which this library contributes 

is best described in an editorial introduc-

tion by Professor C a r l B e c k e r : 

Teaching and learning are most effectively 
conjoined when an alert and informed 
teacher engages in informal discussion with 
a small group of alert and informed stu-
dents. If the subject be history, the stu-
dents will on their own initiative and with 
mounting enthusiasm (it is an ideal we are 
describing) spend much of their time in the 
library, where they will be provided with 
tables and the necessary books for an in-
dependent study of the subject. Once or 
twice a week the professor will meet his 
pupils. In so small a group he may dis-
pense with lectures—those exercises in which 
students assemble, and amiably and passively 
sit while the professor, with great advantage 
to himself, clarifies his ideas by oral dis-
course. T h e students also will have an 
opportunity to clarify their ideas by oral dis-

DECEMBER., 1940 55 



course. Teaching and learning will then 
be conjoined, as they always must be to be 
any way effective: professor and pupils, each 
according to his talent, will be both teachers 
and learners. . . .2 

T h i s is not merely " i d e a l " ; it is the kind 

of teaching R o c k f o r d C o l l e g e seeks to offer 

and w i t h which the library must be closely 

integrated. 

Accessibility of Books 

T h e first requisite for independent 

study ( w e assume a well-selected book 

collection) is the accessibility of books. 

T h i s is possible w h e n everything is open 

to the w h o l e student body, stacks, reserves, 

art collection, periodicals, and these ma-

terials arranged to be used most effectively. 

A t R o c k f o r d the four divisional reading 

rooms f o l l o w i n g the general plan of the 

curriculum are devoted to humanities, 

social sciences, arts, and science. T h i s is 

in no sense a radical departure from w h a t 

w e had already been doing. T h e old li-

brary on the third floor of M i d d l e H a l l 

consisted of t w e l v e rooms which w e r e in 

reality subject reading rooms. T h i s ar-

rangement w a s not planned but developed 

as an expanding library took over room 

after room. T h e reserves w e r e open and 

placed near books in the same field, thus 

breaking down some of the artificiality of 

the reserve shelf. T h e r e w a s a charm in 

the old uneven lines, the individual study 

nooks, and the general atmosphere of in-

formality. T o quote from R a n d a l l and 

G o o d r i c h : 

Many students seem to prefer to study in 
a rather small informal room. T h e y choose 
such a room in preference to an imposing 
reading room. If it were possible to afford 
the necessary staff, a departmental system 

2 F e r g u s o n , W a l l a c e K., a n d B r u u n , Geoffrey. 
A Survey of European Civilisation. U n d e r t h e edi-
torial supervision of Carl L . B e c k e r . H o u g h t o n , 
Mifflin, 1936, p. vii. 

of reading rooms, similar to the Cleveland 
and Los Angeles public library plans, would 
fit into the present trend in instruction. . . .3 

In our situation the "necessary s t a f f " w a s 

not available but its function w a s fulfilled 

in some measure by the faculty, in courses 

and in conferences, giving bibliographical 

training, and by the creation in the student 

body of a feeling of responsibility w h i c h 

made the use of small unsupervised subject 

rooms possible. W i t h a circulation of 

over thirty-five thousand books last year 

there w a s a loss of only f o u r . 

Grouping of Subjects That Belong To-

gether 

In the new building it seemed wiser to 

have in place of many subject divisions a 

grouping of those subjects w h i c h naturally 

belong together and to place in the pre-

ferred position on the first floor the hu-

manities and social sciences, subjects for 

which the library serves as a book labora-

tory, and on the second floor the arts and 

sciences w h i c h have their o w n studios and 

laboratories elsewhere on the campus. 

T h e reading rooms are divided by alcoves 

to preserve the feeling of the small room 

and to keep in so far as possible the direct 

and natural approach to books. T h e books 

and materials w h i c h are essential to these 

several fields have been placed in the read-

ing rooms: information files, periodicals, 

reference books and bibliographies, and 

reserves. W e are also w o r k i n g on a "core 

collection" for each room w h i c h w i l l be 

selected by the f a c u l t y of each division in 

cooperation w i t h the librarian. 

In the central position on the first floor 

the circulation desk has been placed, and 

near by, the general catalog where every 

search for information begins. H e r e also 
3 R a n d a l l , W i l l i a m M v a n d Goodrich, F r a n c i s L . D . 

Principles of College Library Administration. A . L . A . 
a n d the U n i v e r s i t y of Chicago P r e s s [ c l 9 3 6 ] , p. 171. 

56 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



is space for exhibits, bulletin boards, and 

displays of new books. In the rare book 

room on the second floor the treasures of 

the library have been housed and w i l l be 

placed frequently on exhibit. 

Conference or study rooms are adja-

cent to the reading rooms. W h i l e no 

classes w i l l be scheduled regularly in the 

library, small groups can, of course, at 

any time reserve one of these conference 

rooms w h e n the instructor wishes to con-

duct the class near the books, but primarily 

they are w h a t they have been termed, 

"conference rooms." T h e divisional 

rooms w i l l also be available at certain times 

(perhaps between four and six w h e n the 

attendance in the library is usually very 

l i g h t ) for an occasional meeting of a larger 

class. In the old library this type of use 

was most successful. 

Conveniently located in relation to the 

reading rooms are the stacks, four tiers in 

height, where materials of perhaps less 

immediate importance are kept. T h e car-

rels for students doing honors w o r k or 

special projects are ranged on t w o sides 

of the stack levels. T h e student typing 

room, the staff room, the w o r k space, as 

w e l l as three of the conference rooms are 

also in the stacks. 

A Friendly, Informal Air 

T h e furniture is in keeping w i t h the 

simple and direct lines of the G e o r g i a n 

building. Fireplaces in three of the read-

ing rooms add to the friendly, informal 

air of the library and around them have 

been grouped comfortable chairs and occa-

sional tables. In all the furniture enough 

variation has been presented to avoid the 

institutional appearance. Single study 

desks, for instance, have been placed near 

the wide w i n d o w s which look out over 

the river or across the north campus. 

T h e r e is no special room for leisure read-

ing. T h i s seemed unnecessary not only 

because of the general informality of the 

entire library but because the book pro-

gram of the college has always stressed 

the dormitory library for recreational 

reading and the browsing feature of the 

bookshop at M a d d o x House where the 

emphasis is on reading rather than on 

sales. 

T o administer this new library w i t h a 

small staff w i l l be quite definitely an ex-

periment and w i l l call for the closest kind 

of faculty and student cooperation. T h e 

aim w i l l be to carry into the new and 

more formal building as much of the in-

formality of the old as possible. B y in-

formality w e mean the complete openness 

of everything, the simplified charging sys-

tem, the privilege of all students to take 

out an unlimited number of books, the 

absence of a time limit (the books are 

checked three times a y e a r ) , the open re-

serves, and the very liberal hours during 

w h i c h the library may be used. 

Experimental as the R o c k f o r d C o l l e g e 

L i b r a r y is in some of its features, w e be-

lieve it fits the needs of our particular 

college. In its new and more spacious 

setting w e hope it w i l l continue to do w i t h 

even more effect that which it has done 

for many y e a r s — t o make accessible and 

as attractive as possible to the student the 

precious volumes which comprise her intel-

lectual and spiritual inheritance, the ac-

quaintance w i t h which w i l l guide and 

direct her in that difficult and eternal 

pursuit of significant and elusive truth. 

DECEMBER, 1940 x 57