NEW UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

Although the past year has brought the actual construction of a new university library building no nearer, it has seen much done in the way of deciding on policies to be followed and the general form and situation of the proposed new building.

The Committee Appointed to Visit the Library have made their report to the Board of Overseers and in it recommend that an entirely new building be constructed. It may be constructed in sections, if necessary, but on no account should it contain portions of old buildings in its completed form. Briefly, their recommendation is to do away with the old building, and to erect on its site a much larger building which, when completed, will form four sides of a square. The front and principal entrance is to face Appleton Chapel. The east and west sides will extend from the facade towards Massachusetts Avenue; the south side, joining the other two sides, will be set back a suitable distance from Massachusetts Avenue and will be approximately parallel to it. The building completed will provide shelving for about 2,400,000 volumes.

The plans suggested call for the erection of a building which will cost $2,000,000. If the necessary funds are available, $500,000 more is to be set aside as a permanent fund, the income of which together with other incomes of funds applicable for the same purpose is to be used to carry on such a new library in a suitable manner.

In order to do away with the confusion that would necessarily arise if Gore Hall were torn down before new quarters could be built, a scheme has been proposed by which successive additions are to be made to the book-storage space, one stack after another being added to the present building, so that Gore Hall can be continued in use as the administrative portion until funds can be provided for completing the new building when the old part can be torn down to make room for the new administrative offices.

The building will be situated in the same site as Gore Hall but will cover much more ground. The main facade is to be on a line with the middle of Weld Hall and the opposite wing will border on Massachusetts avenue. When completed the structure will be in the form of a quadrangle with a court in the middle. Here will be placed the delivery room, connected with and having easy access to the three wings of the stack. The main entrance and facade will face Appleton Chapel.

The proposed building is to contain, besides the stacks and accompanying rooms, one large and three smaller reading rooms, separate rooms for special collections, map room, and rooms for exhibitions, and for administration, with the reading room screened from the street noises by the stack, and with entrances both from the Yard and at the southern end.