University of Virginia Library

Law Library
Marks Growth

The University's law library, the
largest in the South, will add the 200,000
volume to its rapidly-growing collection
on Saturday.

Monrad G. Paulsen, dean of the
School of Law, will present the volume to
Miss Frances Farmer, law librarian, in a
10 a.m. Ceremony in the library's west
wing. Present will be law alumni, faculty
and students and invited representatives
of the University.

The book, "Criminal Law and Its Processes,"
will hold special meaning for Dean
Paulsen since he co-authored it with Sanford H.
Kadish, professor of law at the University of
California at Berkeley School of Law.

Volumes Double

The library's collection has doubled in the
last 16 years. And, in the 10 years before that,
70,000 volumes were added to the 30,000
collected over the first 116 years of the
library's existence.

The growth spurt began in 1940 with the
reactivation of the Law School Alumni
Association for the express purpose of reviving
the library to keep pace with the school's
national reputation. Alumni added their support
to the University administration in
encouraging the Virginia General Assembly to
increase book funds, as well as contributing
generously of their own money. By 1953, the
collection had reached 100,000 volumes.

"This revitalization movement could not
have come at a better time," says Miss Farmer.
"We were able to buy books during the war
when other schools could not. More than 50
per cent of the funds were donated by alumni."

Government Depository

The library has a well-rounded Anglo-American
collection and rapidly-growing foreign
and international law collections. In
addition, it is a partial government depository
receiving publications of congressional hearings
and rulings of U.S. administrative bodies.

A recent gift of one alumnus, Arthur J.
Morris of New York, has enabled the library to
convert the millions of cards in its cataloguing
system to the Library of Congress subject
heading list. The project, begun in January,
1969, was completed October 15. Mr. Morris
will be presented a special scroll of appreciation
by Dean Paulsen at the ceremony Saturday.

"An excellent library with extensive holdings
is central to the work of a law school,"
says Dean Paulsen. "Without a library of
significant size, neither the students nor the
faculty can perform their task effectively. With
a collection of 200,000 volumes, the University
of Virginia law school's library ranks as one of
the greatest research collections in the United
States."