L
The news in this publi
cation is released for the
press on receipt.
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
NEWS LETTER
Published Weekly by the
University of North Caro
lina for its University Ex
tension Division.
august 3, 1921
CHAPEL HHX, N. C.
VOL. Vn, NO. 37
Editorial Board * E. C. Brau:^on, S. H. Hobbs, Jr., L. R. Wilson, E. W. Knifjht, D. D. Carroll, J. B. Bullitt, H. W. Odum, Entered as second-class matter November 14,1914, at the Postoffice at Chapel Hill, N, C., under the act of August 24, 1912
A VISION OF USEFULNESS^
Four North Carolina librarians re
turning from the annual meeting of the
American Library Association at S wimp-
scott, Mass., a seashore resort twelve
miles out of Boston, came back to their
posts on July 1 with an enlarged vision
of the usefulness of the library’ as an
effective American educational institu
tion. After having fellowshipped with
some 1950 librarians from all parts of
the country and having visited the li
braries of Boston and its environs,
they were more heartily in accord than
ever with Thomas Carlyle’s dictum that
a library is the people’s university.
In view of the fact that North Caro
lina’s library resources, including pub
lic, college and university, State and
Supreme Court, and rural school libra
ries, total only approximately 1,125,000
volumes, they were doubly convinced
that more such universities should be
open to the state and that more North
Carolinians should matriculate in them!
Rich BacKground Given
North Carolinians who followed the
campaigns for higher education waged
in the state recently by both church and
state institutions will recall that it was
repeatedly urged that the colleges
needed enlarged funds in order that
they might furnish among other things
an enriched cultural background for
Every Town Has Library
their student bodies. The same might
be urged with equal truth today in the
case of North Carolina libraries. Un
fortunately, and unlike their Massa
chusetts contemporaries, their incomes
are too scant to furnish this. Collec
tions of musical scores, musical records, |
stereopticon views, lantern slides, prints, j
and pictures are almost entirely want- ‘
ing in North Carolina libraries, and
even special collections of local history
and museum material which the New
Englander has preserved in infinite va
riety is wanting, save in a few notable
examples such as the Greensboro pub
lic library, the North Carolina Room
I of the University library, the State li-
I brary, and the North Carolina Histori-
j cal Commission and Hall of History.
I Obviously the 48 North Carolina public
I libraries which according to the latest
The News Letter hasn’t all the facts
concerning Massachusetts libraries at
its finger tips. But it has the one fact, Carolina Library :
which is the boast of every Massachu-; ^ad a total of only 172,911:
setts librarian, namely, a every | 21 college and univer-1
sity libraries having only 283,054 vol-,
umes, cannot and do not furnish the!
town in Massachusetts save one mam
tains a free public library, and that
one is served by a branch library of
a neighboring city.
Donated by Residents
The second fact of which the Massa
chusetts librarian boasts is that the lo
cal library building is, in the majority
of instances, the gift of a citizen, who,
true to the New England habit of leav^
ing something to Harvard, or Yale, or
some other institution, cannot die happy
without making the local community
his beneficiary. “Let me build it”, in
stead of “let Carnegie build it’’, has
been the prevailing Massachusetts library
motto, with the result that the libraries
of Massachusetts cities corresponding to
Charlotte, Durham, Greensboro, Hen
dersonville, and Winston-Sale®r, and of
colleges like the University of North
Carolina and Davidson and the North
Carolina College for Women and Guil
ford and Rutherford bear the name of
some citizen of the local community or
state rather than that of the Laird of
Skibo. In this respect the Pages, of
Aberdeen, Pack, of Asheville, Duke, of
Trinity, and Raney, of Raleigh, have
followed the prevailing New England
custom and that too to their own honor
and the very great good of their- home
towns and institutions.
Large BooK Collections
'A very distinctive feature of the
New England library is the size of its
book collection. North Carolina press
notices of July 8 and 9 carried the news
that the 875,000 Carnegie Library of
Durham had just opened with 8,000
books on the shelves and that the early
addition of 1,000 new volumes was con
templated. Beverly, Massachusetts,
some twenty-odd miles out of Boston,
with a population.of 22,561—near enough
that of Durham for the sake of com
parison—has 43,000 volumes in its pub
lic library and has an income sufficient
to provide a steady increase of new
publications. Similarly, Salem, Massa
chusetts, with a population of 42,529,
which is about the same as that of
Charlotte-and less than that of Winston-
Salem, maintains the library of the
Essex Institute, with more than 500,000
volumes; the Salem public library, with
70,000-volumes; the Salem Athenaeum,
with 20,000 volumes; and the law library
of Essex county court house, with 30,-
000 volumes. Compared with these the
Carnegie library and the Salem Acad
emy and College library of Winston-
Salem conliain 10,554 and 7,226 volumes
respective!^ and the Carnegie Library
of Charlotte contains 10,396. Statistics
for the law libraries for Forsyth and
Mecklenburg counties are not available,
but in neither instance would the num-
wealth of books and periodicals and |
pictures and objects of local historical j
interest essential to a rich and colorful:
library offering. Furthermore, they'
cannot, and will not, until the commu
nities and' institutions themselves put
more money into the collections and in
dividual citizens open up their pocket
books and provide these distinctive
specialties. Long ago it was demon
strated that you could not make brick
without straw. It ought to be clear
today that you cannot run effective li
braries without books.
Libraries Help Win Trade
But possibly the most surprising use
of the library in New England is that
in the field of industry. The New Eng
lander has long since recognized the use
of books, magazine articles, and press
clippings as absolutely indispensable as
a means of winning and holding trade.
As a result, the Special Libraries
Association of Boston alone comprises
a membership of 117 special libraries,
and some 1,300-odd librarians through
out the North and Central West hold
membership in the Special Libraries ]
Association of America. The first of j
the Boston list, the Aberthaw Con-1
struction Company, which recently |
MODERN LIBRARY IDEA
The library is now required to be
an active, not merely a passive,
force; it not only guards and pre
serves its books, but it makes them
accessible to those who want them
and it tries to s4e that those who
need them realize that need and act
accordingly.
The oldest libraries were store
houses, first and foremost. But not
until very recent years did thejli-
brary begin to conceive of its duties
as extending to the entire commu
nity, instead of being limited to those
who voluntarily entered its doors.
The modern public library believes
that it should find a reader for every
book on its shelves and provide a
book for every reader in its commu
nity, and that it should in all cases
bring book and reader together.
This is the meaning of the great
multiplication of facilities in the
modern library—the lending of books
for home use, free access to shelves,
cheerful and homelike library build
ings, rooms for children, cooperation
with schools, inter-library loans,
longer hours of opening, more use
ful catalogues and lists, the exten
sion of branch-library systems and
of traveling and home libraries, co
ordination of work through lectures
and exhibits—the thousand and one
activities that distinguish the mod
ern library from its more passive
predecessor.—A.rthur E. Bostwick,
Librarian of St. Louis Public
brary.
Li-
consideration to the valu,e' of books in
the life of an educated citizenship.
Although the state has taken twenty-
two decades to achieve this result, there
is ground for optimism in the fact that
61,507 of these 100,000 volumes have
been added withiii the last two decades,
and that 39,738 of the 61,507 have been
added since June 15, 1911—ten years
ago. North Carolina’s book curve,
which, for two centuries, (fculd scarcely
be distinguished from a straight line,
has, latterly, taken a sharp turn up
ward!
COUNTY LIBRARY A SUCCESS
Harvard Library Visited
One of the libraries officially visited
by all the librarians at the Swampscott
meeting was that of Harvard Univer
sity, housed in the Harry Elkins Widener
Memorial building completed in 1915.
Young Widener, who was a collector of
rare editions in the field of English
literature, lost his life on the fateful
Titanic and the building, which contains
the collection assembled by him and
now preserved in the famous Widener
room, was, erected in his memory by^
his mother. It also contains the Col
lege library, founded in 1638, of 1,094,-
200 volumes, and its administration is
Books for everybody is the significant
slogan of the American Library Associ
ation today. Since 1900 this organiza
tion has been steadily on the job of
putting every man, woman, and child
in the country districts to reading books
that Instruct, delight, and inspire.
In the main, four agencies have been
developed and employed in this effort:
(1) The Free Public Library, or a li
brary in every village as in the case of
thickly populated Massachusetts; (2)
the School Library, such ^s that to be |
found in 4,686 North Carolina schools,
with a total of from 350,000 to 600,000
books in the hands of the school children
and their parents; (3) the Traveling
Library, operated by a central library
commission and going into every rural
community which shows sufficient in
terest to apply for service; and (4) the
County Library, established, supported,
and administered by the county with
branches and parcels post service in
every section, of which California fur
nishes the most successful type,
j Of these four agencies, the last men-
; tioned, though least understood in North
' Carolina, is the one most stressed at
the Swampscott meeting, and is de-
I scribed here for the consideration of
! North Carolinians who would see the
I state develop most effectively a read-
1 ing citizenship. ^
' Special Characteristics
The three predominant characteristics
of the county library are:
1. It serves the citizenship of an en
tire county rather than of a town or
city.
2. It is supported by a direct tax (usu
ally not less than one and one-fourth
cents nor more than 5 cents on the $100)
on the total assessed property of the
operate public libraries, 4,686 schools
have collections of from 85 to 125 books,
and the North Carolina Library Com
mission in the biennium 1919-1920, op
erated 831 travelings libraries in 620
communities in 92 of the 100 North Ca
rolina counties.
County Work Begun
The county library of a modified type
has also been successfully tested in
North Carolina. In October, 1912,
Mecklenburg county, through the coun
ty board of education, appropriated $300
annually to the support of the Carnegie
library of Charlotte. In return, the use
of the library was made available to
the teachers of the county, and during
the two and a quarter years of service
7,000 volumes were circulated in rural
districts. In January, 1915, the plan was
abandoned because the support was too
inadequate to secure the results de
sired.!,
Durham County Sticks
In Durham county the board of coun
ty commissioners have been the con
tracting parties. In April, 1914, they
appropriated $400 and today the appro
priation is $1,333.33. East and West
Durham are served, the latter having a
branch library supported in conjunction
with the Erwin Mills; and Lowes Grove,
Union, Mineral Springs, and Patrick
Henry stations have received special
collections, the teachers at these places
having served as librarians. All the
county schools have made use of the
city library for reference and debate
and essay material and individuals from
every section of the county constantly
borrow books.
combined with that of eleven distinct-
wWcr'recertly i departmental libraries and thirty-
came into North Carolina and surveyed I one special libraries housed m other
came mro inui ui buildings The total collection, as ana-
a building program involving the ex-1 fo'‘omg!..
penditure of a million or more dollars,
by
lyzed in a recent handbook issued
the University, is as follows:
College Library 1,094,200
Law School. 208,300
these, subjects is avail- Andoyer-Harvard Library . 175,500
maintains a highly specialized collec
tion on engineering, construction, con
crete, and industrial management. In
finite data on
able.
in the light of which the firm is | Museum of Comparative Zool-
able to give its patrons an exact pro- ogy
gram of procedure. Similarly, the Roger Peabody Museum to, _ou
Statistical Organization | Astronomical Observatory
and i Herbarium 30,500
W. Babson Statistical urgamz"""-' ■ ■ ■ 51,900
specializes in financial statistics ...
business. The Boston Society of Civil Arnold Arboretum 40,900
Engineers maintains a collection of 10, Bussey Institution 0^7/10
000 volumes and 3,000 pamphlets on 1 Medical School 96,100
municipal, state, and federal engineer- Dental School ... ^ 4 aoo
ing, engineering text bo'oks, and en- Blue Hill Observatory 23,600
gineering periodicals, and the Massa-! Special Libraries 134,300
chusetts Horticultural Society places
Guilford Leads
Guilford county followed . suit in 1915
with an appropriation of 81,250 later
raised to $1,600, the combined appro^
priations from city and county being
$7,600 at present. For 10 months the
county support was discontinued, but
through the personal contributions of
Mr. E. P. Whorton, of Greensboro,
county service was not allowed to lapse.
Today twelve stations carefully located
throughout the county distribute books,
and teachers, students, and citizens
from all sections draw books from the
city library. The total county loans
amount to ten or twelve thousand vol
umes annually and the county is unani
mous in its praise of the service.
Small Tax Will Do
In these three instances the cost has
county, or an appropriation is made by ] been only a fraction of one cent on the
the county commissioners to a library , $100 worth of property, and for a tax
already established by a town within it, | of one cent every county in North Car-
in return for which books are made a-1 olina could maintain, in conjunction with
vailable to town and county citizens i its principal town or county seat, a
alike. 1 county-wide library with an income
3. It is administered by a special li-1 ^om $285 in Clay to $14,722 in Forsyth,
brary board similar to the county board j 'whose assessed valuations in 1920 were
of education, which may receive lands, ; the lowest and highest respectively in
for the use the state. People’s universities of this
23,000 volumes on agriculture, horti
culture, and landscape gardening at
the disposal of .its members. The shoe
and electric industries of Lynn, the
jewelry manufacturers of Providence,
the cutlery factories of New Britain,
the textile mills of Lowell, all main
tain complete technical libraries; and
instead of scrapping them as non-essen
tials at the beginning of the present
period of depression, have increased
the use of them and their group of ex
perts in finding a lower cost production
of their wares-a thing which North
Carolinians who produce and manufac
ture cotton goods, and woolens, and
tobacco, and furniture, etc., must con
sider and employ if they continue to
her run as high as the 30,000 in the Es- | - - - - North
sex county court house, which far and , compete ^":=“f"''y7' resenl market
away exceeds the 6,500 volumes in the | ern _compe 1 or . 1, iug gr
law library of the University of North is
Carolina and the 22,616 volumes in the miss method can f«ly^^LTno
Courtof North and the New Englander .is taking no .
library of the. Supreme
Carolina.
chances.
Total 2,018,100
From 40,000 to 60,000 volumes are or
dinarily added to the whole collection
by gift and purchase each year.
The University Library
Two hundred and twenty-one years
after the founding of the Bray Library
at Bath (the first to be founded in the
state) and one hundred and twenty-
seven years after the laying of the
corner stone of the Old East building
(the first to be erected on the campus
of the University), North Carolina has
finally achieved the distinction of hav
ing built up within her borders a library
of 100,000 volumes-the library of the
University, which, on June 15, 1921,
passed this mark and began to climb
from 100,000 to 1,000,000 which it must
attain if the University is to become
the dominant University of the South
and the State is to be placed in the list
of those commonwealths which give due
buildings, gifts, books, etc.
of the library, choose the librarian and
assistants,' determine the number and
location of branch libraries or loan sta
tions throughout the county, or contract
with a library already in the county for
services to the entire citizenship.
Distinctive Advantages
That a strong centralized library thus
provided for affords'its patrons distinct
ive advantages is at once apparent.
These are:
1. It has financial support sufficient
to provide books of a varying character
and in sufficient quantity to meet the
requirements of all classes of citizens.
2. ft can establish a unified system of
service to isolated settlements, schools,
and villages, thereby reaching at regu
lar intervals every section of the county.
A book wagon or automobile can be run
on a regular fortnightly schedule, and
can serve every local station.
3. It can employ an efficient librarian
and assistants in sufficient number to
administer the work effectively..
4. It lends itself to the uses of other
county organizations, such as the board
of health and the board of education.
5. It promotes unity of interest and
cooperation in all undertakings having
as their object the betterment of the
county. '
State Agencies Employed
In North Carolina, at present, three
sort certainly should be established, and
every North Carolinian should at once
become a regular matriculate in them.
The Law in the Case
The Genera! Assembly of North Ca
rolina has enacted the following law
relative to county libraries:
Section I. That'the board of county
commissioners and the county board of
education of any county in which there
is a public city or town library are here-,
by authorized and empowered in their
discretion, tti cooperate with the trus
tees of said library in extending the
service of such library to the rural com
munities of the county, and to appro
priate out' of the funds under their
control an amount sufficient to pay the
expense of such library extension ser
vice.
Section 2. This act shall be in force
froip and after its ratification.
Ratified this the 5th day cf March,
A. D. 1917.-L. R. W.
MANY NEW BOOKS ADDED
For the year ending May 31, the
Greensboro public library reports an in
crease in circulation of 12,116 volumes.
The number of new borrowers during
the year was 1,270, and over 1,300 books
were added to the myriad now on hand.
The total number of books circulated
during the year amounted to 54,130 vol
umes. The Greensboro library furnishes
books to readers not only in the city,
but to the people of Guilford county.
The local library is well equipped, be-
of the agencies mentioned above are | jjjg to provide a reader'witb almost
generally employed. 1 According to'the I any sort of good, interesting reading-
latest statistics published by the North : matter. Probably not in the history of
^ T -1 Vi • e. 1Q1Q^ i the county has reading become so popu-
Carolina Library Commission (for 1919) | citizens, as will be noted
and the office of the Superintendent of | ^y the large increase in the circulation
Public Instruction (for 1920), 48 towns | of books.—Greensboro News.
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