Library's growth charted over 50 years
285,000 to 1.5 million volumes
By DEBBIE HOWLETT
Of Emerald
Editor's note: The University
Library celebrates its centennial
this year. This is the second of a
three-part series
in the mid-1930s, whiie the
issue of building a library was
debated, existing facilities were
wholly inadequate and over
crowded
This method alleviated the
overcrowding to some extent,
but a new library was obviously
needed
Construction on the new li
brary began in 1937 and was
finished the next August De
signed in a modified roman
esque style which was popular
at the time, the building was
constructed to accommodate
later additions
Considered modern and innovative, the
library even carried an unabridged edition
of “Mein Kampf’’ at a time when Hitler rose
to power.
A temporary solution was
rendered: Students would go to
a reference desk requesting a
book, the librarian then would
send a card up a pneumatic
tube to work-study students in
the stacks, who would send the
book down a chute to the li
brarian
The library contained a
browsing room with easy chairs,
a fireplace and, as an Emerald
article from the period stated,
‘‘all the comforts students
seek "
The building cost a half-mil
lion dollars, holding more than
285,000 volumes The old li
RCYB ejected from class
Members of the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade
allegedly disrupted a University chemistry class Tuesday morning,
says Officer Al Williams of the Eugene Police Department
Ralph Barnhard. senior chemistry instructor, reported he was
lecturing in his Chemistry 101 class when four RCYB protestors
waving red flags entered the room and disrupted the session
"We asked if they were students.” Barnhard explained
Receiving no answer and failing to reach campus security by
phone Barnhard attempted to persuade the RCYB members to
leave At this point a female student left the class to notify campus
security, he said
According to later reports Barnhard was able to persuade one
demonstrator to leave while students and a girl in a pink sweater’
pushed two others out the door
* "They received a very hostile greeting from the class,”
Barnhard said
RCYB member Mark Freeman told a reporter he and his fellow
revolutionaries entered the class to "alert the people to the trial ”
Freeman was referring to the trial of accused "yellow ribbon"
arsonist John Joseph Kaiser which began Tuesday
No charges have been filed and the incident is under inves
tigation by the Eugene Police Department
• Full Bar Service & Imported Beers •
• Video Games • Chess •
• Backgammon • Checkers •
• Cards • Dice • Pool •
• Big Screen TV for Sports •
• Happy Hour 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM
MON.-FRI. •
PLUS
MON. - Happy Hour extended to 8:00 PM
TUE. - 25c off Imported Beer (6:30 til closing)
WED. - $1.00 House Wine (6:30 til closing)
THU. - Watney’s Nite -16 oz Mug 1.25 (6:30 PM til
closing)
WE HAVE IT ALL AT PERRYS UNDER
PEARL!
Open 11:00 am Mon.-Fri. 1:00 pm Sat.
Construction on today 's University library began in 1937 and was completed in August of the next year
brary building — Fenton Hall —
was converted into a law library
During the transition, the Red
Cross helped library staff pur
chase Braille books for blind
students
Considered modern and in
novative, the Library even car
ried an unabridged edition of
"Mein Kampf’ at a time when
Adolph Hitler rose to power
New purchases included two
“micro-projectors" for viewing
16mm film Librarian Matthew
Douglass called the projectors
“like television a relatively
new process " These were the
kinds of modern equipment that
major newspapers like the New
York Times used
Douglass died in 1947 after
serving as librarian from 1908 to
1942 In his will, he bequeathed
music collections worth more
than $10,000 to the University
At Douglass' retirement the
library had grown to more than
300.000 volumes Much of the
credit for the library's growth
and reputation in the early part
of the century is reserved for
Douglass
The library installed "pay
typewriters" in 1948 A dime
would buy a student a half-hour
of typing — not the best buy for
hunt-and-peck typists
After completion of the li
brary's first addition in 1950 the
number of volumes on the
shelves rose to over a half-mil
lion
Also at this time librarians
removed the partitions between
students and books, allowing
access to almost all books ex
cept rare materials
In 1956, a journalism
graduate student donated a
collection of presidential auto
graphs ranging from Presidents
Washington to Truman Perry
Morrison, a library department
professor, believes the collec
tion has been kept up to date
Six years later, the Library
purchased a photocopier, one
of the few on campus Installed
to deter students from clipping
pages from books, the machine
produced "short-term" copies
— after a few months they began
to deteriorate
The Library also completed its
second addition in 1962, mak
ing room for nearly 800,000
volumes
Today the library holds 1.5
million volumes, with more than
800,000 titles worth up to $19 5
million In the final part of this
series, current head librarian
George Shipman discusses the
problems the library faces and
his plans for the future
Classifieds
T-SHIRTS
Latter SMfcscreen has mover] Visit the new
studio at ?85 Lawrence and check out the
moving specials '42-22CK; Night 342-1927
12710-16
GORETEX JACKET wanted to tit mar six feet
tall 140 lt)S 244-9224 or 244-9160 10 7
r
Clothing 10 cents & up
"The Company Store”
245 Potfc 4*4 7007
Quality Recycled Goods truckloads in e^jch
week 154 10 11
YARD SAUE this Saturday Kitchen furniture
camping more 840 Washington Street 10 7
1
Nader's Raiders 1981
Fall Projects
• PUBLIC ACCESS CABLE TV
• LOW COST HOUSING
• END HANDGUN VIOLENCE WEEK
Oct 25-31, 198T
• UTILITY RATES
PHONE and PUB
• EDUCATIONAL FORUMS
OPEN MEETING Thursday OCT. 8 4 pm
Suite 1 EMU x4073
STONES TICKETS
Sat Oct 17th Candlestick Park Wed Oct
14th Seatlle best otter days 7474 9412
Kent tO 12
TYPEWRITER
Manual Sear Constellation Excellent condi
lion Cleanerl adiusted new ribbon include;,
case $68 Michael ‘44-0026 10 7
STONES IN SEATTLE 2 ticket', lor sale best
otter 242-844 7 bob or Scott 10 7
REFRIGERATOR MO Woodstov. $50 Adler
Manual typewrite' $20 Small bike overhauled
$50 Tennis rackets $6 each Lee '44 880'
10 7
STONES TICKETS Oct 14 Seattle si«
100-leve' tickets tor sale/trade best otter Call
663-9101 io /
TEN-SPEED SCHWINN rebuilt good condi
Don. $100 Mike 245-9392 10 7
CLOSE TO STAGE 100 level Stones ticket tor
Oct 14 stiow 686 2549 10-8
Imported
Coffee
& Tea
l>\ th<- pound or l>\ the- nip
Kinko’s
M-t vi i r,.(, i | ;ij|
Bean of the Month
Excelsior
Blend
$4.65 lb.
t 1 ltljp.lt > I llll I ’l I1T,