University of Virginia Library

The Library's Future

How long can the University maintain its
status as a center of academic excellence if
the library continues to decline in relation to
other universities? We have noted in a previous
editorial that the findings of the Library
Committee show that our Library compares
very poorly with those of other schools in the
South. There are glaring weaknesses in many
areas which must be attacked in a comprehensive
program if the Library is to return
to a leading position.

A library, of course, connotes books. In a
survey taken in 1968-69 the Library ranked
26th in the nation for total volumes but
was only 45th in the ranking for volumes
added. Certainly, since the educational program
at the University is seriously weakened
by our inadequate libraries, we should begin
expanding our financial outlay for books
immediately, but we should recognize that
the addition of many new books to the
Library will not solve all of our problems.

Lester A. Beaurline, Chairman of the
University's Library Committee, has noted
that members of the Committee "are convinced
that in order to make significant
progress the Library must improve on all
fronts, because it takes staff to buy and
catalogue books, buildings to store them and
rooms to read them in. For each dollar spent
on books, we must spend about two dollars
on salaries and operating expenses." We do
not wish to imply that the current staff of the
Library is doing a shoddy and inefficient job,
since indications from both faculty and students
point to the opposite conclusion. The
staff is simply undermanned and under-equipped.
In short, not only do we have to buy
more books, we must bolster the machine
which facilitates access to the books.

We would like to second the Library
Committee's recommendation that the University
begin a five-year plan of expansion at a
rate of 25 per cent per year using the total
budget of 1970-71 as a base. The total budget
for the Library (with Law, Medicine, etc.)
would increase from $2.4 million to $7.4
million by 1975-76. The money for books in
Alderman Library would expand from
$550,000 to $1.9 million over the same
length of time. According to the Committee,
by 1976 we can "level off to about a normal
10% growth and perhaps have an adequate
Library by 1980. The financial support for a
particular part of the Library would depend
upon its individual needs and the number of
students and faculty that it serves.

According to the Committee, this type of
budgetary progress would make it possible for
the University to have a collection of books
for a 100,000 book undergraduate library
(which would presumably be located in Clark
Hall after the School of Law moves to its new
home on Copeley Hill by about 1973) and for
graduate core-collections in humanities and
social sciences, and for a science library by
the year of 1976. The collection would
continue to grow to support both graduate
and undergraduate instruction as it does now.

The Committee also recognizes that as the
University grows in the next ten years, the
seating space in the various libraries on the
Grounds will also have to be increased. There
are other problems like the renovation of
Alderman Library, new lights, furnishings,
and ventilation that will soon have to be
faced.

The Library Committee's proposed budget
would start the University on the road of
repair for the Library on almost all of the
problems that currently beset our Library.
Perhaps, funds can be made available from
private sources or special governmental grants
which would relieve some of the pressure on
the Library. What is clear, however, is that it
is essential that the Library receive the level
of financial support outlined by the Library
Committee or else all of the educational
programs of the University will continue to
suffer at an ever increasing rate as the years
pass.