College and Research Libraries By J E A N E T T E P O O R Carpenter Hall—Cornell's N e w Engineering Library LAST F A L L the engineering library at Cornell University moved into its new quarters in Carpenter Hall. T h e million-dollar library and administration building is a gift of Walter S. Carpenter of the class of 1910. Announcement of the gift was made in J u n e 1955; plans were drawn up by the architectural firm of Perkins and Will, the contract was let in May 1956, and construction was be- gun that summer. In planning the build- ing, the engineering library committee, the director of libraries, the engineering administration, and the architect worked together to develop a library which would keep pace with the rapid advance of science and technology, one which would be a center for engineering educa- tion, research, and study. T h e engineering library at Cornell is a department of the university library and comes under the administration of the director of libraries. T h e library committee, made up of the librarian, a representative from each of the engineer- ing schools, and the university library board member from the College of En- gineering, acts in an advisory capacity. Preliminary planning was begun in 1952 when the library committee pre- pared a report on the space requirements and the predicted growth of the library as a separate unit. By this time the de- velopment of the projected engineering quadrangle was well under way; two buildings in this group had already been completed. It therefore seemed advisable to make a study of library needs and Miss Poor is Engineering Librarian, Cornell University. location in relation to the new buildings of the college. T h e recommendations of this report were used as a basis for plan- ning the present library. T h e recommen- dations stressed central location and easy accessibility for the building and sug- gested that the major portion of the li- brary be on the ground floor. Space and other requirements allowing for twenty- five years growth were based on an esti- mated future enrollment of twenty-three hundred undergraduates and three to five hundred graduate students. As the engineering library is only one of many library facilities on the campus, a seating capacity of approximately 15 per cent of the engineering college's enrollment seemed sufficient. Planning was based on an estimated volume capacity of sixty- five thousand. This would allow for growth at the rate of twelve hundred volumes per year for twenty-five years. Because of the relatively large increase in the number of graduate students, special emphasis was given to facilities for this group. It was recommended that space be provided in the stacks for approxi- mately sixty open graduate carrels. Carpenter Hall stands at the entrance of Cornell's new engineering quadrangle. In architectural style it is designed to harmonize with neighboring arts campus buildings, and at the same time to serve as an introduction to the contemporary design of the new buildings on the en- gineering campus. T h e exterior con- struction presents an attractive com- bination of light grey Indiana limestone with Lenroc stone, a blue-grey native stone. This native stone also forms an integral part of the building's interior, 202 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH L I B R A R I E S - Carpenter Hall for it is used as facing on lobby, reading room, and browsing library walls. Fur- nishings and paint complement the stonework in tones of soft blues, tans, and greens. T h e building contains about fifty thousand square feet of floor area on two floors and a basement, the major portion of which is occupied by the library. Ad- ministrative offices of the College of En- gineering are located along the north and east sides of the second floor. T h e offices of the dean and administrative staff and a conference room extend from a central reception area. A second suite of offices is assigned to various student services including admissions, scholar- ships, and placement. T h e placement area contains a large collection of com- pany and career material, and includes individual placement interview rooms. T h e editorial offices of the Cornell En- gineer, the engineering student publica- tion, are in the basement. T h e building arrangement is such that traffic to the various areas is entirely separate. T h e spacious main floor reading room has a seating capacity of 174 and includes large tables for problem work, individual study desks, and numerous lounge chairs. Materials most in demand are kept in this room. T h e periodical indexes are immediately accessible in three sections of counter-high shelving at the front end of the reading room. These indexes are flanked by individual study desks for convenient seating. T h e reference col- lection and ten-year runs of current bound periodicals are shelved in a series of double-faced wooden stacks im- mediately behind the periodical indexes on the south side of the room. T o the right of the entrance on the north side is the periodical alcove where current periodicals are displayed. T h e com- bination of recessed fluorescent lighting and daylight from windows on three sides, a full acoustic ceiling, rubber tile flooring, and a harmonious blending of colors with the birch furniture and in- terior stonework gives this room an in- viting air, and yet one in which the students can enjoy concentrated study. Included in the main reading room is the card catalog of four sixty-drawer sections with a consultation table between. T h e circulation desk is convenient to the catalog and also allows supervision of MAY 1959 203 adjacent areas. T h e closed reserve section is directly behind the circulation desk and in back of this, separated by a wood panel, is the work area. Of special note is the browsing library located near the main reading room. This room, which is handsomely fur- nished in the contemporary style as a lounge, is designed to provide students and faculty with an inviting collection of cultural reading in an atmosphere of leisure, quiet and dignity. It contains about fifteen hundred selected books in the fields of the humanities, social sciences, and related subjects. Books are those which might serve to stimulate in- terest in further reading. If this interest then leads the student on to more ad- vanced works, these are available in li- braries on other parts of the campus. T h e room is named for Albert W . Smith, director and dean of the Sibley College of Mechanical Engineering from 1904- 1921, who is especially remembered at Cornell for his fostering of broad cul- tural interests among his students. T h e major part of the book collection is shelved on the three stack levels which are open to all students by direct access from both the reading room and the work area. T h e present stacks have a capacity of some seventy-five thousand volumes and include space for seventy-two open graduate study carrels. T h e stack area plus the shelving in the reading rooms provides space for 100,000 volumes. There is an adjacent unused basement expansion area which will give an ulti- mate capacity of over 200,000 volumes. T h e central area of the second floor serves as an auxiliary reading room with a seating capacity of 117. Here are shelved engineering theses, various do- (Continued on page 234) A R L Discussions D o n a l d Coney, librarian, University of California, Berkeley, is the a u t h o r of " T h e Bases of Selection: or, Reflections in a Bloodshot E y e , " a paper in- cluded in the Minutes of the Fifty-first Meeting of the Association of Research Libraries, July 12, 1958, Stanford University. Mr. Coney raises a n u m b e r of questions relating to such topics as (1) the individual library a n d the n a t i o n , (2) comprehensiveness vs. selection, (3) selection, the o r p h a n function, (4) the springs of decision (offers, subject interest, library image, ideal collection, building to strength, avarice, evocation), (5) competition, (6) the uses of coop- eration, (7) photoduplication as a complicator, and (8) specialization. I n con- nection with selection as a function, he writes: " F o r the guidance of librarians can book selection policy be stated explicitly enough to be a real guide? I t is easy enough to draw up broad canons of selection which, like virtue, will attract universal praise, but a selection code for the amateur selector would have to be very detailed. T h e r e is probably no substitute for substantive knowl- edge and the conclusion would appear to be that if library staff are to select they must be as well prepared as the scholars they serve." Also included in the Minutes is a report prepared for the Social Science Research Council, Committee on the Near and Middle East, " T h e Acquisition and C o n t r o l of Publications from the Middle E a s t , " by David W i l d e r . T h e mechanism suggested is " a B i b l i o g r a p h i c C e n t e r for Near and Middle East Materials which would carry on the functions of acquisition, listing, catalog- ing, and the encouragement of the acceptance of local responsibility in what- ever areas this appeared feasible." M r . W i l d e r suggests that the C e n t e r be established with the L i b r a r y of Congress as host. 204 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH L I B R A R I E S - chief of the division for scientific classifica- tion in the Social Science L i b r a r y of the Academy of Sciences of the U . S . S . R . , died suddenly on O c t o b e r 31, 1958, at the age of seventy-four. T r o f i m o v was distinguished both as a teacher and as a constructive think- er in both descriptive cataloging and classi- fication theory. Carpenter Hall (Continued from page 204) mestic and foreign government technical reports, and a special collection on sani- tary engineering. A corridor from this room leads to a series of faculty studies. These are small offices which are assigned on a temporary basis to staff members of the College and to visitors who wish to make extended use of the library. T h e library has been in operation for several months in its new quarters. A comparison of attendance figures for a similar period in the fall of 1956 shows that use of the library has tripled. Sev- eral innovations that were tried have met with wide approval. T h e individual study desks in the reading room are very popular and are usually filled first. T h e microfilm and typing room which has full acoustical treatment is used not only for these purposes, but also by students who wish to talk together quietly about their work. T h e present collection covers all fields of engineering offered in the curriculm. T h e allied fields of economics, archi- tectural planning, mathematics, chem- istry, and physics, as they are applied to engineering, are also represented. Much material which was scattered in out-of- the-way areas because of the inadequate space in the old library is now brought together in Carpenter Hall. Now with sufficient room for expansion, plans are under way to enlarge this collection and make it one of the outstanding research facilities in the country. Kent State (Continued from page 216) On the second and third floors, special classroom areas may be formed through use of accordion walls. Except for these, there are no walls in any of the main areas. Such areas will be compartmental- ized by arrangement of the stacks. This type of division permits a great deal of flexibility for it is easily changed to meet any needs that might arise. Persons using the library are permitted complete freedom in the stack areas, but as a means of expediting withdrawals, one may merely request a book at the cir- culation desk. T h e order will then be forwarded to the proper division where the book will be located and then dis- patched to the circulation desk by means of a book lift which serves all three floors. At present the library staff consists of fifteen professional librarians, fifteen non-professionals, and fifty students. T h e students provide approximately two thousand hours of assistance per year. T o operate the enlarged library, five profes- sional and five non-professional staff members will be needed. Perhaps the most phenomenal aspect of the entire project, and one that best indicates the emphasis placed on the concept of service, is the fact that during the entire period of construction, despite the ever present noise and dirt, the old library was kept operative, and never at less than 75 per cent efficiency. 234 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH L I B R A R I E S -