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THE MICHIGAN IIAILV

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UL,')LlAY, AUUUZST 24, 1965


IT' Libraries -Storehouse

of

Human

Knowledge

By DEBORAH ISACKSON
i its 1965 annual budget, the'
versity has asked the state
lature for an additional $658
[on to maintain and expand
three million volume library
ities, one of the world's land-
ks to man's knowledge. .
granted, this would boost the
1 library budget to well over
million.
espite the fact that the Legis-
re had cut the total Univer-
request for this year by $3.5

million, the University placed such
a high priority on the library sys-
tem that they were still allocated
$2.98 million-$50,000 more than
originally sought.
Ph ~-

According to the appropriation scripts, songsheets, maps and mi-
request, "the increasing quality crofilms.
of the student body permits more Odd Construction

independent study" and therefore,
"greater use of library facilities."

urposes The University has over 20 i-
This increase in library funds
has been earmarked for staff ad- braries and library service divi-
ditions, remnodeling, equipment im- sions. The largest of these librar-
provement and expansion of the ies is the General Library, or as
bbok fund. it is sometimes called the Univer-
To accommodate the expected sity or Graduate Library. This
31,000 students next fall, the Ii- library contains approximately 1.3
brary system plans an 8.2 per cent million volumes, including not

increase in personnel.
---

only printed books, but manu-

. r win i n r rr o s

Have youe thought
of rumiiig for President?
Many of our staffers 'do.
One of our alumni even DID it!

i

The General Library is a
strangely - constructed building,
and many freshmen have difficul-
ty finding the stacks the first
times they use the library.
For each floor of the library,
there are two "stack floors" so
that the tenth "story" of the
building is actually only a little
more than five stories high.
On each stack level, there are a
number of carrels, which are
small alcoves containing desks,
chairs and book cases. The car-
rels belong (for a one year per-
iod) to graduate students, who ap-
ply to the library's circulation
department for a carrel assign-
ment.
In the past, undergraduates
have been free to use the carrels
when they were not in use by
graduate students. However, there
was "generally too much misbe-
havior on the part of some un-
dergraduates," according to Fred-
erick H. Wagman, director of the
University Library.
Doors and Lockss
Theref ore, most of the carrels
have been fitted with doors andI
locks.
Wagman explained that many
graduate students had complained
about the destruction or theft of
their books, doctoral notes and
that some undergraduates had re-
sponded rudely when asked to let
graduate students use the carrels.f
All students are permitted to
study in the reference room where
encyclopedias written not only in
English, but in German, French
and several other languages are
kept. Other reference works, such
as the New York Times Indices,
are also housed in this room.
The Rare Book Room,, although
open to undergraduates, is used
predominantly by graduate stu-
dents and faculty members.
Don't Circulatet
The volumes (over 50,000 books
and manuscripts) kept under the
auspices of the Rare Book Room
do not circulate.
This year, the number of vol-
umes at the General Library in-
creased by some 40,000. Because
there is rather limited stack space
3L large number had to be shift-
d to the library extension' on
North Campus.
Several years ago, when suffi-
cient funds were available,Uni-
versity administrators, realizing
that the General Library could
not meet the needs of the un-
dergraduates, considered building
a library specifically designed for
undergraduate use. This proved
to be a monumental task.
When the planning was fin-
ished, the contractor had com-
pleted his work and the last

The General Library, A Central Campus Landmark


W hy?

Because some of the Daily staff members feel

they could do a better job.

And why notf? They have a

thorough knowledge of the world and national scenes. They
have felt the pressures of our 2 A.M. deadlines.
If the news of the day gives you headaches, join our business

drops of turquoise, orange and
bright yellow paint had been ap-
plied, the Undergraduate Library
opened its doors. That was in 1958.
Institution
Since then, the Undergraduate
' Library, or as it is affectionately
called the UGLI, has become
something of an institution. There
aren't too many libraries like it
in the world.
Roberta C. Keniston, director of
the UGLI, explained that "a sort
of national trend made us build
the library. In a university where
a lot of graduate students do
research, it becomes increasingly
difficult to give library services
to the undergraduates. This li-
brary is organized for their needs
-everything is simplified," she
said,
"There is also a very strong ref-
erence service and librarians are
always on duty to explain the
workings of the library. That's
what we want this to be-,more
than just a library. We want it to
be able to instruct undergraduates
in library use so that they'll be
able to go, some day, into a large
world of libraries and use them
all well," Mrs. Keniston said.
Besides its volumes and in-
3tructional librarians, the UGLI
offers the undergraduates and the
University community as a whole,
features not found in any other
building on campus.
Multi-Purpose
A large hall-the multi-purpose
room-may be used by any Uni-

staff and help run a $3/4 million business.

Then be presi-

dent of G.M.

versity group who wishes to use
the room for an educational or in-
tellectual purpose, so long as the
event it sponsors is open to un-
dergraduate students.
Another feature of the library
is the audio room, in which stu-
dents may listen to music or
spoken-word recordings.
The audio room has 72 turn-
tables, each of whichaccommo-
dates two listeners. Moreover, the,
library owns 3400 records which,
while they may not be taken from
the audio room, provide students
with many enjoyable hours.
The UGLI uses the "reserve"
book plan. Under this, a profes-
sor sends the library a list of
books which are required reading
for his course. These books are
then put "on reserve" for mem-
bers of his class.
Hours
This means that no one can
take them out of the library be-
fore 7:30 p.m. and they must be
returned by the following morn-
ing. High fines (50 cents per
hour) are charged for unreturned
reserve books.
The UGLI also has a number of
small reading rooms, among these
are non-smoking rooms, "quiet"
rooms, and an Honors Lounge.
The Michigan Historical Collec-
tion is a small but revered library.
The collection began Ivery mod-
estly in 1934, when an assistant
professor of American history at
the University applied for a grant
from the graduate school's facul-
ty research funds. The purpose
was a unique.one for a Rackham
fund grant-the locating and col-
lecting of manuscript and print-
ed sources relating to Michigan
history.
Project Grows
Prof. Lewis Vander Velde even-
tually became chairman of the
history department, and his 1935
roject eventually grew into a li-
brary containing millions of man-
iscripts and records, occupying
six rooms in the Rackham Bldg.
The first of these rooms is a
general storehouse, in which
bound and unbound newspapers,
some inactive University records,

duplicate copies of books, large
collections of papers, and miscel-
laneous books and papers not fre-
quently called upon are kept.
Four of the other rooms house
books and manuscripts for old
historical records which is the
specialty of the department and
which seldom come in book form.
The collectors prefer primary
source material.
However, the sixth room, Room
160 Rackham, is the "library"
which most people who use the
collections' material get to know.
Exhibit Cases
The room has four exhibit
cases in which manuscripts and
other printed materials are dis-
played. There are also many lock-
ed c a s e s containing diaries,
church records and the early
stories of Michigan schools, col-
leges and other organizations.
The work of the collections is
principally of three kinds.
The first includes gathering
manuscripts and printed mater-
ials relating to the state of Mich-
igan and is carried on by cor-
respondence and through personal
contacts.
Thesecond activity of the col-
lections consists of making manu-
scripts and printed materials
available for use-often books,
letters, or diaries must be clean-
ed before they can be used by
graduate students or other re-
searchers. And after this, it is
necessary to catalogue and re-
bind the books or letters.
Dissemination
The third function consists of
disseminating information about
the state of Michigan.
The resources of the Michigan
Historical Collections may be
used by anyone seeking informa-
tion about the state.
While the collections deal only
with Michigan history, and fol-
low the history through to fairly
modern times the collections
maintain articles and letters on
movements as recent as the es-
tablishment in the 1920's of the
Michigan League), the Clements
Library deals with American his-

tory only through the early nine-
teenth century.
The Clements Library, one of
the most austere yet beautiful
building on campus, houses one of
the special libraries at the Uni-
versity-special inasmuch as it re-
ceives its own budget and its own
funds, separate from the control
of the General Library.
Gift
The Clements Library was a
gift from George Clements, i uni-
versity alumnus and regent trom
Bay City.
In 1922 Clements donated his
books-almost all were source ma-
terials-and built the marble
structure
Fearful that it would appear
like any other library, he also
finished it with rugged early-
American furniture, m o s t of
which is still in the library.
The scope of the library ranges
from the time of Columbus to
about 1835.
Books and Maps
The library contains about 38
thousand books, 200 thousand
manuscripts and some 25 thou-
sand maps.
"The material in the Clements
Library is used by textbook writ-
es and biogaphers, and historians
in general who produce the sec-
ondary source books," Howard
Peckham,. director of the Clem-
ents Library, explained.
"We don't buy books about the
American Revolution-for the
author wasn't there. What we're
after is the source material.
"Their source materials come
in various forms: printed books,
colonial newspapers, early maps,
atlasses, and to some extent ac-
counts of geographic knowledge
of the time," Peckham added.
Off-Campus
About 40 per cent of the Li-
brary's users come from .off-
Campus-they are usually auth-
ors or professors.
It would be difficult to appraise
the value of the volumes which
belong to the Clements Library,
because opinions about the worth
of arparticular letter or series of
letters is bound to, vary. How-t
ever, Peckham said that a rough
estimate-and one he feels is
somewhat conservative-is be-
tween three and five million dol-
lars.
The Law Library contains well
over 300 thousand volumes. It is,
like the Clements Library, inde-
pendent of the Graduate Library
and is one of the largest libraries
of its kind in the world.
It maintains itself as a closed
stack library because it is "used
primarily for research, and a
closed-stack arrangement is- best
for this," Fred Smith, one of the
librarians, explained.
"We carry books which tell
about .the cases, which have the
cases in them, which have stat-
utes about the cases and cases
about the statutes. We have other
books about similar cases in India
and England. It's fascinating
reading," he said.
There are also divisional I li-
braries, run by various depart-
ments and schools in conjunction
with the General Library. Most
of these are located in the same
building which houses the school,
such as the Natural Science Li-
brary or the library located in the
Frieze Building for the use of
social work students.

*

But whatever your ambition or interest, drop in and see us.
Don't cheat your future out of a break it needs.

JOIN

/


i w

£urigt3n

:43a6I v

see Judy Fields or Judie Warren
Call 764-0560 or 764-0562

w w


BOOKS - SUPPL E S
EVERYONE IN ANN ARBOR FRESHMEN!
After Preregistering
SHOPS AT Drop in and reserve your
books for fall courses.
AVOID THE RUSH
Books guaranteed to be official text

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