ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries In this issue: University of Arizona Opens New $12 Million Library . . . . 159 ACRL Internship Project Extended 161 National Information Policy Urged in New Government Report 162 News from the Field . . . 163 People 178 Publications 181 Classified Advertising . . 1 8 6 ISSN 0099-0086 COLLEGE & RESEARCH LIBRA n R e I w ES s NO. 6 • JUNE 1977 University of Arizona Opens New $12 Million Library The students, faculty, and other users of the University of Arizona Library waited a half- century between new main library buildings. Many of the current users, now totaling more than 30,000, think it may have been worth the wait. The new building opened its doors on January 13, the first day of classes for the spring 1977 semester, and the flood of users and visitors pouring into it has not abated. By the time of the formal dedication on April 13, the automatic exit counters had recorded 425,000 persons, more than the estimated an­ nual total for the old building. Certainly some of those visitors were just sightseeing, but gawking does not account for increased circula­ tion of books, which jumped (system-wide) more than 38 percent over the same period one year earlier despite a small decrease in the stu­ dent body size. Reshelving of materials used in the building, but not checked out, rose by a similar amount, and an increase of more than 25 percent in reference questions was recorded. These statistics will not surprise other aca­ demic librarians who have experienced the growth phenomenon associated with opening a new, attractive, comfortable, and easy-to-use facility. Librarians at the University of Arizona are delighted with the increased use, but an understandable sentiment of “thank God it wasn’t more” can be detected. The flood has al­ most drowned some departments. Many long-time library users have gone out of their way to tell us that, whereas they once found excuses to put off going to the old build­ ing, they now do just the opposite. That feeling is precisely what the architects (the Tucson firm of Friedman & Jobusch) were striving for in a design which had to meet the functional needs specified in a 100-page building program supplied by the library staff. Simultaneously, it had to respond to University President John Schaefer’s requirement that the new building be a statement of the library’s role as the vital center of the intellectual community that is the university. On a campus composed mostly of traditional red-brick buildings, the 300,000- square-foot building, the largest on the main campus, is a landmark which uses red-brick accent walls, walkways, and lobby floors. Its structure is bare concrete, sandblasted to ex­ pose the darker, warmer tones of the native rock aggregate, and prepoured concrete slabs densely covered with brown pebbles which pro­ duce a color sensation somewhere between warm red brick and the native Sonoran Desert soil surrounding Tucson. The building houses the library system’s ma­ jor resources, except those in a separate science library facility less than a block away and smaller branch collections in music, oriental studies, and library science. As such it is the research and study home for perhaps 80 per­ cent of all university readers. Its vital statistics do not tell the entire story. It contains a Media Center (to handle all nonbook materials except maps and microforms) and a current period­ icals area (for public access to the current, un­ bound issues of some 4,000 titles), two services News issue ( B ) of College & Research Libraries, vol. 38, no. 3 160 never before available in the library system. The building also includes specially designed quarters for the 150,000-item collection of maps. Special user spaces include 186 lockable, faculty/graduate student studies and separate smoking, typing, and group-study rooms imme­ diately adjacent to each section of the open stacks. The staff lounge includes both indoor and outdoor facilities to make maximum use of Tucson’s clear skies and warm weather year- round. But the building is more than just a collec­ tion of spaces which happens to store and make possible the use of library materials. As Pulitzer Prize winner Dr. Wallace Stegner said in his dedication speech: A library such as this is the storehouse of . . . amalgamation and cross-fertilization and adap­ tation. It is both a monument and an instru­ ment. It binds Arizona and the Southwest to world civilization, assures it a place in the history of the mind, at the same time that it encourages the process of regional self defini­ tion. It is better, they say, to collect a library than inherit one. In practice, those who love books cannot avoid doing both. This library looks both backward and forward, and in both di­ rections all the lights are green. —W. David Laird ■ ■ News items for inclusion in C&RL News should be sent to John V. Crowley, Assistant Director of Libraries, Milne Library, State University College, Oneonta, NY 13820. Advertising (including classi­ fied ads) should be sent to Leona Swiech, A d ­ vertising Office, American Library Association, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611. Production and circulation matters are handled by ALA Central Production Unit, at the above address. News editor: John V. Crowley, Assistant Director of Libraries, Milne Library, State University C ol­ lege, Oneonta, NY 13820. Associate news editor, W illiam B. Weiss, Assistant Librarian, Cataloging Department, Milne Library, State University C ol­ lege, Oneonta, NY 13820. Editor: Richard D. John­ son, Milne Library, State University College, Oneonta, NY 13820. President, ACRL: Connie R. Dunlap. Executive Secretary, ACRL: Julie A. Virgo. College & Research Libraries is published by the Association of College and Research Libraries, a division o f the American Library Association, 17 times yearly—6 bimonthly journal issues and II monthly (combining July-August) News issues—at 1201-05 Bluff St., Fulton, MO 65251/ Subscription, $15.00 a year, or to members of the division, $7.50, included in dues. Second-class postage paid at Fulton, Missouri 65251. (©) American Library Association 1977. A ll material in this journal subject to copyright by the Am eri­ can Library Association may be photocopied for the noncommercial purpose of scientific or educa­ tional advancement. Fact Sheet New Main Library Building University of Arizona Libraries Architects: Friedman and Jobusch, Architects and Engineers, Inc. General Contractor: M. M. Sundt Construction Co. Interior Graphics: Ampersand Studios Interior Consultants: Sandy Rosenthal Interiors Linda Taraldson, Interior Designer, Division of Physical Resources Library Consultant: Kenneth S. Allen, University of Wash­ ington Library Shelving: Andrew Wilson Co. (steel shelving) Bellview Furniture Co. (wood shelv­ ing) Furniture: Steelcase Office Furniture (nonpublic areas) Bellview Furniture Co. (public areas and offices) Seating Capacity: Formal Study Seating—1,270 Lounge Seating— 438 Graduate Student and Faculty Studies — 186 Nonpublic Areas—389 Building Size: Gross Square Footage—294,939 Assignable Square Footage—228,330 Percentage of Gross Assignable—78 Cost: Construction—$10,682,531 Per Square Foot Gross— $36.21 Per Square Foot Assignable—$47.59 Furniture— $ 1,812,115 Collection Capacity: Bound Volumes—2,000,000 U.S. and International Documents— 1,000,000 items Maps—300,000 Microfilm—70,000 reels Microfiche and Microcards—3,000 lin­ ear feet Instructional Materials—35,000 vol­ umes Nonbook Media—5,000 items Staff: Professional Librarians— 43 Career Staff—82 Students—30 ( f.t.e.)