College and Research Libraries


By E U G E N E P. W A T S O N 

The Remodeled Library Building at 

Northwestern State College of Louisiana 

TH E M I L L I O N - D O L L A R enlarged and re-modeled Russell Library building of 
Northwestern State College of Louisiana, 
at Natchitoches, was formally opened on 
November 1, 1957. T h e ceremonies, at 
which W. Porter Kellam, director of li-
braries, University of Georgia, delivered 
the main address, climaxed a ten-year 
campaign to secure modern and ade-
quate library facilities for the College. 

T h e three-story brick structure, built 
in 1936, originally was shaped like the 
letter T , with the three reading rooms 
in the cross-bar, and the four-tier book-
stacks in the somewhat shortened stem. 
In order to make possible the conversion 
of the building from the traditional type 
to an open-shelf, divisional arrangement, 
a two-story addition was constructed in 
the form of a squared U around the sides 
and rear of the bookstacks. Thus the 
non-convertible stacks, which had previ-
ously extended out at the rear of the 
building and had thereby been separated 
from the reading areas, now became the 
core of the building, their central po-
sition providing easily accessible book-
storage space. 

T h e new portion of the building con-
tains two group-study rooms, a student 
typing room, two listening cubicles, the 
reference office, and the librarian's office. 
Except for these rooms and the stair well 
and rest rooms, the new portion of the 
building is partitionless. T h e large open 
areas thus provided on each floor are set 
up as subject division areas—social 

Dr. Watson is Librarian, Northwestern 
State College of Louisiana. 

sciences and education on the first floor, 
and humanities and natural sciences on 
the second floor. All four division areas 
are filled with ranges of free-standing 
double-faced shelves, so placed as to 
provide numerous open spaces among 
the ranges. Each such open space con-
tains one or two reading tables with 
chairs; thus books in all the various sub-
ject fields are readily available, while at 
the same time the students are afforded 
a considerable amount of privacy. In-
dividual carrel desks are available, both 
in the divisional areas and in the book-
stacks, for graduate students and faculty 
members who are engaged in research. 
Included in the educational division are 
a curriculum laboratory, a textbook col-
lection, and a juvenile collection. 

T h e less frequently used materials in 
each subject field are shelved in that por-
tion of the central bookstacks immediate-
ly adjacent to the appropriate divisional 
areas. There is no reserve book room; 
reserve books are kept in their regular 
classified order on the open shelves. T h e 
fourth level of the stacks houses the 
depository collection of United States 
documents, while the second level 
(which lies between the two main floors 

of the building) contains the depository 
collection of Louisiana state documents 
as well as other Louisiana materials. 

With the exception of a small audi-
torium at one end, in the original struc-
ture, all of that part of the first floor that 
extends across the front of the building 
was divided into a series of offices and 
classrooms. Removal of the numerous 
partitions was not feasible; so these 

210 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH L I B R A R I E S -



smaller rooms have for the most part 
been retained, but have been converted 
to new uses: a shipping room; a micro-
film and microcard reading room; a 
microfilming laboratory, complete with 
dark-room; a conference room; a library 
science classroom, with adjoining office; 
a staff room; and a North Louisiana ar-
chives room. T h e second floor rooms 
which previously served as the periodical 
reading room and the browsing room 
have been combined into a single, large 
technical processes room; a private office 
for the circulation staff has been provid-
ed at the side of the charging desk; the 
former reference room now houses the 
card catalog, the office of the head of 
reader services, and a recreational read-
ing area adjoining the humanities di-
vision. T h e third floor, comprising four 
seminar rooms and a large classroom, re-
mains unchanged. In addition to the 
rooms and areas already enumerated, 
there are several large storage closets on 
each floor, quarters for the janitor, and 
a machinery room. 

T w o of the most important features of 
the building are the lighting and the air-
conditioning systems. T h e fluorescent 
light fixtures, which are recessed into the 
ceiling, are placed end-to-end in strips 
running across the entire width of the 
building, the strips being three feet apart 

on centers; the illumination provided is 
evenly distributed and shadowless, with 
an intensity of approximately eighty 
foot-candles at table top level. T h e en-
tire first and second floors have been air 
conditioned. A hydraulic elevator has 
been installed also. 

T h e building is of modified T u d o r 
architecture, with exterior walls of red 
brick in blended shades. T h e interior 
walls are painted in pastel hues of blue 
and green; the stair-wells and first floor 
corridors are enlivened with touches of 
orange. T h e concrete floors are covered 
with asphalt tile, which is so designed as 
to resemble cork. T h e old portion of 
the building and the new have been so 
completely integrated that it is now diffi-
cult to distinguish between the two. 

T h e library furniture and the filing 
cabinets were supplied by Remington 
Rand, the free-standing steel stacks and 
the carrel desks by Estey, and the office 
furniture by Security. 

William H. Jesse, director of libraries, 
University of Tennessee, assisted with the 
preliminary plans. Edmon Low, librarian, 
Oklahoma State University, served as 
official library consultant throughout the 
planning and construction stages. E. P. 
Dobson, of Houston, Texas, was the ar-
chitect. 

Under One Roof 
(Continued, from page 201) 

Equipment contractors 
Stacks: Estey Metal Products. 
Library furniture: Loan and reference 

desks, catalogs, tables. 
LC shelving: Twombly Associates 

(Myrtle Desk Company). 
Lounge and occasional chairs: Inter-

national Hotel Supply Company 

and New England Contract Fur-
nishings, both Boston, Massachu-
setts. 

Steel furniture: All-Steel Equipment. 
Curtains: Edwin Raphael Company; 

Margeson's, Portsmouth, New 
Hampshire. 

Picture racks: Nevlen Company, Wake-
field, Massachusetts. 

MAY 1959 211