FBimJ, ffi-RCH 26, 1956
THE DWLETTE
PAGE 2
'3IT0RIAL ;0*JR library today
"The hsart of every college is the library," says Miss Virginia Buchanan, head
librarian at Montreat-Anderson College. The library at Montreat is gradually growing
to a larger and better one, but it needs more space and room for the number of new
books, periodicals, college catalogues, etc. that are being acquired. Miss Buchanan
says that, at the present'time, the shelves in the library are very crowded.
There is a total of l,C5l square feet of shelving space (including estimated
shelving space in the Reading Room). The libfary standards estimate that fifteen
books are shelved per square foot of space. Our library houses 23,OOC books in a
space that should house 15,765 books. As one can see, this is a big problem ’.which
is getting bigger instead of smaller.
A library should accommodate one fourth of the student body of the college. For
Montreat College, which had at the beginning of the year 3h0 students, the library
should accomodate P5 students, but our library is not able to do this v comfortably.
By library space standards it should seat 60 readers. Each rearer should be given
a space of 25 square feet, and as the above figures show, we don't even have enough
room to seat the readers, much less giving each one 25 square feet.
Many times at night the library is very crowded. The library staff has often
thought that if those students who have off hours during the day would go induring
their free time, there would be more room at night. Miss Buchanan states that there
are still many hours during the day when there seem to be very few people in the
library.
At the present time the library is open sixty-four hours a week. Many . students
think it would be much more convenient if the library woulr be ooen lonaer hours such
as from P:CC in the morning to 11:CC at night. They feel that^they ooulb do much
more work if the library did not close at 5:0C. It woulc^ certainly bea. great aevan—
tage if the library stayed open until 5:CP on Saturdays.
Many of the facilities in the library are not as good as they should be. It needs
air conditioning, especially in the summer. In the winter, a student has to be
bothered by the noisy fans, which are necessary because they heat the library.
The sound conditioning is terrible. The floors are marble with no floor covering and
the walls are of stone. It seems as if the next most neeced builcing at Montreat-
Anderson College is a new library.
The citizens of Montreat, Black Mountain, Old Fort and Swannanoa use the library
to a limited degree. High school students are welcome and use the library to a limi
ted degree also. In the summer the library is opened ten weeks for . residents
and guests who come to Montreat,
The library is under the supervision of two professional librarians,Miss Virginia
Buchanan, head librarian, and Mrs. Seth Gilkerson, assistant librarian. There are
Pit hours of student help, three sophomores and six freshmen. Mr. Maters works six
nights a month.
It is interesting to note what our library really does contain. The collections
of books is very outstanding. Each year'an average of between800 and 900 new books are
being added through gifts, purchases, and bindings. The library at the present time,
contains 22,595 books, between 1,5CC and 2,000bound oeriodicals, 132 recordings,: 5l6
filmstrips, U9P slides, 11 tapes, 55P colleae catalogues, and an estimated 15C maps.
God must
have loved the'pTain people; He made so many of them. -LineoIn