Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1914 [PAGE 190]

EXTRACTED TEXT FROM PAGE:

188

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS.

[March 5,

of agriculture, the most liberally provided for of all the departments of the State University of Illinois. It is absolutely necessary furthermore to add considerably to our farm holdings in order to meet the demands of the various agricultural departments; and, unless the institution is to be crowded into a straight jacket which will impede its growth seriously and warp and twist it to an injurious extent, it must add to its holdings for other general University purposes. The sum asked for will provide only the absolutely essential additions which should be made during the next two years. Among the departments of this institution which must be greatly strengthened, if We are to become a true university and be generally recognized as such,, the University Library stands first. It is safe to say that there is more reluctance on the part of the best men in the academic world to accept positions on the staff of the University because of the lack of library facilities than for any other single reason. The University of Illinois Library contains about a quarter of a million volumes. It is the twelfth in rank among the university libraries of the country, although it is very much lower than that if institutions are ranked by their access to library facilities. Thus Harvard University has in its own collection over a million volumes, more than four times as many as the University of Illinois, but it has in its immediate neighborhood additional collections containing two million volumes. Yale University has three times as many volumes in its own collections as the University of Illinois, and it is within accesss of the four and one-half million volumes in the city of New York. Columbia has a half million volumes, twice as many as the University of Illinois, but it has in the same city and practically next door additional collections amounting to four and one-half millions of volumes. The University of Chicago Library has 381,000 accessioned books with another 100,000 unaccessioned—in other words, more than twice as many as the University of Illinois, although it is situated in immediate proximity to collections in the neighborhood of another million and a half, and it does not need to provide library facilities for either agriculture or engineering. The people of this State, whether wisely or unwisely, located the University of Illinois 125 miles from any important collection of books, Speaking generally, therefore, the librarywhich is to quicken and stimulate and fructify scholarship and investigation at the University of Illinois must be a library located upon the campus of the University. It is impossible to day to undertake the investigation of any important subject without running up immediately against a stone wall for lack of library facilities. We must have at Illinois a much larger collection than such institutions as Harvard, Yale, Columbia, or Chicago, if we are to have at all equal facilities. It is plain that the University of Illinois cannot hope to take its place among the great institutions of the world until it has a far more adequate library. We have felt, therefore, that we ought to urge upon the attention of the Legislature very strongly that an appropriation of at least $100,000 per annum should be made for the purchase of books, but owing to the pressure of other interests we have deferred our request for the larger sum for another biennium. We have inserted in our askings for this biennium only the sum of $50,000 per annum, and we trust this will not be diminished. Next to the agricultural interest at the' University of Illinois, the engineering interests bulk up in the public mind the largest, if not the most important. We are asking for an increase of $50,000 in the biennial special appropriation for the College of Engineering and Engineering Experiment Station. This increase of $25,000 per annum is very greatly needed, and we trust that it may be granted in full. Many of the buildings on the University campus were erected in the last century, and some of them are forty years old. They were not of the best quality when erected, and they have begun to call for large expenditures for repairs and improvements. The appropriation made by the Legislature at the last session of $50,000 per annum for painting, repairs, reconstruction and improvements to buildings and grounds was far below the absolute need of the University. We are asking for an increase of $50,000 under this head. The last General Assembly granted an appropriation for the erection of a building to house our courses in commerce which, although established only a few years ago, have become among the most widely esteemed and valuable courses offered in the institution. We did not urge an increase in the appropriation for these courses in the last General Assembly. We do urge it now, however, strongly, since we are in a position to use the money wisely in the improvement and enlargement of these courses. We are asking'for $25,000 per annum for this purpose. The Graduate School, although established only a few years ago, has become one of the most important departments of the University. It' is safe to say that every undergraduate department in the institution has been greatly improved in the spirit, personnel, and efficiency of its work by the existence of the Graduate School as an assistant and a stimulus to the right kind of scientific spirit and scientific work throughout the institution. No increase was granted at the last General Assembly over the previous appropriation. We are asking, and urge upon your attention most strongly, the desirability of an increase of twenty-five thousand for the biennium for this important branch of our University work. For the first item of the first bill, that for salaries and operating expenses, weask an increase of $100,000 per annum. This is the most important single item in any of the bills laid before the Legislature. Whatever is necessary for the conduct of the institution which is not included in the special appropriations must be taken from this first item, plus the income from student fees and the appropriation from the Federal Government. Any crippling of the institution at this point means a crippling in all departments, and the failure of the General Assembly at the last session to make an adequate increase in this item has embarrassed the University in every direction during the