College Hall Library

From 1915 to 1934, the college library was located on the second floor of College Hall. In 1920, library contained about 5,000 volumes, "some rare and valuable," in addition to pamphlets. The library also provided "an up-to-date reading room" for students to use.

In February, 1920, the College included the library among the improvements to be made during the next year. In a new space arrangement, the library would have two rooms allocated to it for book-shelving areas. This arrangement left the "well-lighted reading room intact, and would give space and filing room for years to come".

The renovation plan also included a "complete overhauling and classification of our present collection of books."

At that time the library was in dire need of additional volumes of all classes: "Standard fiction and poetry; history; complete files of standard magazines and periodicals; stimulating books on war issues, labor problems, education and missionary movements; books of travel; standard biographies, especially of men of letters, complete sets of standard fiction writers, both English and American; books of criticism—in fact, anything that is useful in a college library". Since the Board of Education of Southern Methodism required the colleges under the Church's jurisdiction to have a library of at least 3,000 bound volumes, the College faced a problem; it would need over 1,500 new volumes to retain its classification. Thus, in addition to all other appeals for money by the College, the library advertised its plea for books, periodicals, and money. The library needed a minimum of $1,000 to replace old books and purchase new ones. Students realized that "in this day of momentous changes, we find ourselves in a new world, working with new problems, and we need new materials, new books, and new equipment.” So the Oracle appealed to the friends of the College to respond to their request.

Still unable to employ a qualified librarian, Henderson depended on student workers to fill the post. Two who served during this period were Miss Aileen Hodges, 1918-20 and Miss Glenn Moore 1920-21.

As with the other departments at Henderson throughout its history, the library was affected by the perennial financial crunch of the institution; and its fortunes fluctuated accordingly. Yet, two forces motivated College in special efforts to improve the library during the 1920s. The first force was Dr. George F. Zook's study of the colleges of Arkansas in 1920-22. The second force was the establishment of rules for the standardization of colleges by the General Board of Education of Southern Methodism and later by the North Central Association.

In his study, Dr. Zook painted a bleak picture of the condition of the libraries in the colleges of Arkansas. He reported that "aside from scientific equipment, the thing most lacking in Arkansas Colleges is library facilities." He further noted, "Not a single higher institution in Arkansas has a separate library building. One possesses no library at all. In all the others the library is housed in the main college building, usually in a single room. The number of books, except at the university, is extremely small, and often they are uncatalogued and poorly selected. Old magazines are seldom bound and are therefore not available for the use of students or faculty. Good college work is practically impossible unless adequate library facilities are at hand".

Of the libraries in the Methodist Colleges in Arkansas, Zook reported that Hendrix was first with 10,000 volumes; Galloway second, 3,828; and Henderson, third, 2,500. To be the last in this trio was intolerable for the College

Motivated by these observations, Henderson initiated a few improvements in its library. As an initial move in 1921, the College employed Mrs. Minnie Belle Huie, the first trained librarian to have charge of the work. Mrs. Huie had been a student at Baylor University and the University of Arkansas; later, she did special work in library Administration at the University of Illinois. Before any other improvements of the facilities could occur, the librarian inventoried the stock of books. With the aid of student assistants, she examined the stock, "culling, assorting, and arranging the books." She discarded needless duplicates and worthless books. She then listed and classified the remaining books according to the Dewey Decimal System.

Two heartening events influenced the schedule of improvements in the library in 1923. In January, the librarian and a few faculty members, notably, Dr. Percy W. Turrentine, professor of English, focused on increasing the number of volumes on the shelf. As in 1890, friends of the College and students donated both books and money. A talented alumna, Miss Pauline Colson, Class of 1922, gave a concert in Leola and shared the profits with H.B.C. library. With this contribution, the library could join the library of Congress and purchase cards for the catalog then in the process of construction.

The second heartening event occurred in September, 1923. After inspecting the Henderson-Brown library on September 20, Mrs. V.S. McClellan, of the State Department of Education, observed that "in regard to your college library... I am pleased to say I found conditions there above the average. You have the foundations of a splendid library". To the College, this unbiased comment was most welcome.

Progress was the goal of the library. Yet, according to one basis for progress, the librarian announced to students in 1924 that "you will not find late fiction on our shelves. You have not the time, nor we the space to give to a book that does not have a universal appeal or has not stood the test of time." Further, she continued, "Our ideal today is acquiring the 7,500 books by 1924 necessary to standardization".

That word, standardization, saturated the consciousness and conscience of the College at the time. Besides an endowment of at least $150,000 "in bankable notes,” the College needed at least 6,000 volumes in its library. Yet, in February, 1925, according to the most recent inventory, the library had only 4,000 passable volumes. Consequently, the next step was to launch a concerted campaign for more books.

By 1925, besides government publications and periodicals, the library contained about 6,000 volumes "classified and catalogued in accordance with the Dewey System". And in September, since "valuable additions had been made to the library,” it had met "the demands of the Church Board of Education".

Students, faculty, and friends of the College worked to bring the library up to standards established by the North Central Association, the accrediting agency for all Arkansas colleges and schools, which superseded the Southern Methodist Board of Education for the three Methodist institutions in Arkansas. The Senior Class of 1927 sponsored a book reception "to pave our way into the North Central Association and make our library one of the best in the South." To attend the reception, guests had to present one of the books placed on sale and purchased at Williams and Phillips Grocery Store, Sloan's Drug Store, or the Henderson Bookstore. Students provided the program in the auditorium for the guests and served refreshments after the program. Faculty and friends of the College donated still more books to the library.

In October, 1928, the library staff was having to add more book shelving for "all the new books." Mrs. Huie stated that "with the addition of the new books and upon completion of the shelves, the Henderson library will be ready to meet all requirements." In further good news, the College had allotted $1,500 in the budget for library funds.

In 1928, the library contained 8,000 volumes and housed "a splendid collection of magazines and papers" that gave the student access to the leading contemporary writers. The magazines had all been "selected with reference to the list in the Reader's Guide, and most of them are preserved in bound volumes". All efforts to improve the library had finally paid off for the College.

But the big prize—accreditation by the North Central Association—was too elusive during these years, despite all noteworthy and proper motivations to improve the library. For the immediate purposes of the library, Mrs. Huie stated that “our policy as custodian of your library is to carry out the slogan of our great school and convince you that your library is a 'library with a heart in it'".

As Henderson grew over the years, so did its library. The library had better trained employees; it increased its holdings because of improved funding; and eventually it was housed in a structure separate from College Hall.

In 1930, the library had its first head librarian with a degree in library science, Elma Irene Courter, who remained until 1935. Mrs. Huie became reference librarian in 1930. Other head librarians were Juanita Browning, 1935-37; Althea Ragsdale, 1937-39; and Georgia Coffin, 1939-41.

By 1929-30, the library contained 9,000 volumes exclusive of public documents and 150 magazines and newspapers. The library received a set of the New English Dictionary from the H.B.C. Class of 1929, who believed in the "perpetuity of the traditions, the loyalties, and the ideals of the old school in its new life as a state college". In like spirit, the local Henderson State Club presented the library with $1,000 to buy needed books.

The Henderson library had a true friend in President J. P. Womack. "With vision and financial acumen," he hoped in time for the library to become "not only a tool carving well-equipped teachers” but a more beautiful and convenient place for students to spend hours". President Womack recognized that one of the urgent needs of the new College was a good library, housed in a separate structure, and not in the main building. From the very first, he started working toward satisfying that need.

During the summer of 1930, the College made certain changes to enlarge the library's quarters. The mathematics recitation room adjoining the library was converted into a reading room and joined to the main reading room. In another departure from the Henderson rules of segregating the men and the women in different reading rooms, the college now allowed both men and women to use the same reading room. The room hitherto known as the men's reading room was converted into a stack room for the library.

In the initial effort to provide a separate building for the library in 1932, the Trustees and President Womack discussed the construction of a library on the south half of the old Alumni Building foundation, the part nearer Henderson Street. They believed that this seemed the most feasible solution at the time. However, they abandoned this plan because of later developments in the gradual growth of the College.

At last, however, after working on the problem for five years and after the removal of the Dining Hall to Mooney Hall, the College was able to move the library in October, 1934, from College Hall to the recently remodeled Dining Hall.