Library Report

ADDITIONS TO THE BOOK collections of Baker Memorial Library totaled 12,- 730 volumes during the . academic year 1942-43, it was reported to the faculty last month by Prof. George C. Wood, chairman of the Faculty-Committee on the Library. This raised the total as of June 30, 1943, to 557,613 volumes.

The accession list for the year was only 1,849 volumes short of the figure for the previous year, despite the difficulty now of obtaining books in the English and European markets. The 1942-43 figure does not, however, include the 1,650 books in the rare Robert Burns Collection, nor does it include the 4,715 bound volumes in the Dexter bequest of George Ticknor's library, both of which would swell the annual figure to 19,095 volumes. Gifts during the year totaled 2,759 volumes, an increase of 562 over the year before.

Professor Wood also reported that circulation during the year had suffered a drop of only 4,120 from the previous year's total of 222,326, about half of the decrease occurring at the Reserved Book Desk where reduced student enrollment would be reflected. Withdrawals of 66,234 at the main desk represented a drop of only 706.

"The Library is, therefore, in a state of continuing good health," Professor Wood declared, "and is, moreover, in a favorable financial position for taking advantage of any extraordinary opportunities for purchase which may arise in the post-war period."

The report referred to the completion of the new stacks in the rear of the main building, and stated that, at any normal rate of expansion, they would provide ample book space for another ten or fifteen years. It also stated that more and more recognition throughout the country is being given to Baker Library as "a great and convenient working library with ample basic collections," and commented upon growing use of Baker as a center of liberal arts teaching at Dartmouth—a development recently pointed up by the arrival of Robert Frost as Ticknor Fellow in the Humanities, with headquarters in the library.

Special tribute was paid to the entire library staff in meeting the unusual requirements of the Navy V-12 Unit at Dartmouth, and the work of the Friends of the Dartmouth Library in acquiring rare volumes and manuscripts for the College collections was pointed out as an invaluable activity which more alumni and faculty members might undertake.