Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 21, 1972)
I I University iibrary largest in state l By KATHY O’GRADY Of the Emerald “I will give $1,000 for the foundation of a library for the University. I will personally undertake to have the most suitable works of reference selected by competent ex perts." stated Henry Villard, president of Northern Pacific Railroad, in a letter to University regents on October 25, 1881. The books selected arrived in the spring of 1881 and the first library at the University was established in a classroom in the northeast corner of Deady Hall. From that small classroom with its part time librarian-full time teacher the Library has grown to “about 1.2 million books, making this the largest library in the state,” said Carl Hintz, Universtiy librarian. “The Library has a lot more than books and periodicals,” Hintz said,“in addition to this we have material on microfilm, we have slides, sound recordings, films and maps. We also have 1.3 million manuscripts, these are so called source material, correspondence of authors, papers of prominent persons and records of organizations.” These are housed in the General Library, located south of PLC; the Ar chitecture and Allied Arts Library in Lawrence Hall; the Law Library in the Law building; the Science Library below ground level in front of the science com plex; the EMU Browsing Room; the Bureau of Governmental Research and Services Library in Commonwealth Hall; and the Map Library in the basement of Condon Hall. “These are all open to anyone connected with the University,” Hintz said. The job of Hintz and his staff of 48 librarians, 85 clerical personnel and part time student help “is to acquire the materials which will support the in structional and research purposes of the University and to organize these materials for use and to help people in the use of these materials in their search for in formation,” said Hintz. "Students come to the Library as in dividuals, one to one, if they need help in their search for information, this is how they get it, one to one,” Hintz said. “Students are given individual attention, this contact between the, say, reference librarian, and the student, we see this as a highly teaching and learning association,” he said. The Library is one of few places on the ever-expanding University campus where this one to one association can still take place, according to Hintz. Other university libraries are set up in much the same way as the University Library, according to Hintz, depending on the size of the library, student population and geographical location. Hintz is in charge of the total Library system with the Law Library having the most autonomy, but responsibility for the Law library budget is Hintz’s. The other Library branches fall under the responsibility of either the humanities division or the social "Science division of the General Library. The first Library building on campus was built in 1908, Fenton Hall, the present Library was built in 1937 with additions in 1950 and 1965. According to Hintz the present Library has two drawbacks which he hopes to see eliminated in the future. Douglass l istening Room on the third floor of the General Library building which is used mostlv for classes and has a large collection of records and tapes and the Audio Visual Media Center located in the Hint/ lack of carpet, which cuts noise, and the lighting is of a type which causes a glare that bothers students, Hintz would also like to see “an undergraduate library, sometime, with 75 to 100 thousand volumes and lots of com fortable study space, carpet on the floor, easy chairs and a coffee shop.” Many undergraduates, from small towns especially, are overwhelmed by the present Library and would feel far more comfortable using a smaller library which would contain materials for all undergraduate courses, he said. The library has two special facilities, the basement of the General Library building. There are facilities for copying located here and if someone wishes to listen to their own recordings or tapes they may do so here, according to Hintz. The library is geared to the rest of the University according to Hintz, “you don’t build a library in a vacuum, it’s there for a purpose in the context of the rest of the University ” “We wouldn't develop a collection in agriculture or engineering, that’s Oregon State’s baby,” he said, "we do have collections in history and music and all of the things here at the University.” 'We have all kinds of junk' Special collections: a supplement to library “All of the stuff in Special Collections has been donated. We’re the biggest beggars in the country.” Martin Schmitt was speaking of the Special Collections Department housed in the General Library of the University Library. Special Collections is on the second floor of the General Library and is a catch-all for many different materials. “We have all kinds of junk,” Schmitt, Special Collec tions curator, said. “This department takes all the things that should be in a library, but are hard to handle, and takes care of it “The two largest collections are the Oregon Collection and the manuscripts,” Schmitt said The Oregon Collection contains anything printed in Oregon or about Oregonians or the state. The manuscripts is a category that most everything else in Special Collections fits into Schmitt and his staff of one assistant collect and catalog the various materials in the manuscripts Manuscripts include “collections, diaries, and correspon dences.” "When Newberger died his wife gave us his papers, and when Charlie Porter lost his seat he gave us his papers,” Schmitt said “We have papers on every Oregon congressman back to the ‘20’s unless they burnt them,” he said “They are glad to give them After all, what would they do with them?” The Special Collections has more than one and a quarter million pieces in the manuscript division. There are many other articles housed in Special Collections such as Hallett Cole’s collection relating to zeppelins. “These are scraps of zeppelins shot down in World War I,” Schmitt said. There is also a large collection of |K»sters. a collection of 100 thousand photograph negatives, mostly of Oregon, and a sheet music collection of about 100 thousand pieces which dates back to the Civil War “Then, we have a collection of paperbacks westerns, mysteries, science fiction, and pulp magazines,” Schmitt said A large group of donators to Special Collections is alumni. “We have the Ernest Haycox working library,” Schmitt noted as an example. “He graduated from the University and used to be the top western writer for Collier’s. When he died, his wife gave us all of the books he used to do research for his books. There is quite a collection of western history represented.” Very rarely will Special Collections buy an addition to its collection of paraphemalis, and Schmitt said it hasn't happened lor at least three or loui years. There is one hitch to Special Collec tions it’s pretty much reserved for graduate students Undergraduates may use the book materials .thin ute walls 01 Special Collections but ma> take nothing out and generally may not even see manuscript materials “Undergraduates just haven’t got the background to handle these materials,” Schmitt said. Graduates may not remove many of the manuscript materials, either, but may use them in the Special Collections department. “By and large, these things cannot leave the library," Schmitt said. “Usually there is only one of it (non-book material) and if it gets destroyed, there is no replacing it. A lot of this stuff is unique, there is only one copy.” Even though you may not be able to take many of the articles out of the library and may not even see others, Special Collec tions is a worthwhile place to visit just to enter the nostalgic world of the past. The Special Collections Department even smells old, and if you like to read mystery or westerns or science fiction persons can go on up and sit at one of the tables to read some of the old relics that you generally don’t see on any library shelf