at the end of 1945 she was succeeded by Mr. Horace A. Tollefson, and after his resignation in 1946 by Mr. Fred Dimock, both of whom had been brought up in the Department. Under their direction, many improvements were made in details of routine, while useful innovations in the instruction of readers in the use of the Library were introduced. For 1953-54 circulation of books from the General Library for home use amounted to 123,768 volumes; including the branches it was 343,340 volumes.
Despite extraordinary effort, skill, and ingenuity, all departments of the Library were greatly handicapped by the lack of sufficient space for the proper performance of their duties — a situation which worsened as the years went on. From the time of its completion Dr. Bishop had foreseen that the General Library Building would soon prove too small. The distribution of collections in divisional libraries was a natural, a necessary, and a moderately successful method of meeting the problem of growth; but the system of divisional libraries developed, in great measure, by improvisation rather than by generous and systematic plan, with the result that the branches soon became congested. The storage of "little-used materials," a scheme born of necessity and undertaken on a piecemeal basis, was gradually put into effect, books, newspapers, and serial publications being transferred to attics, basements, and other undesirable locations as these could be found. A large and reasonably convenient storage area was at length provided in empty stacks in the Business Administration Library; but it was obvious that these could be used for a short time only. In addition to the inconvenience of bringing books from remote widely scattered locations for the use of readers, there was necessarily a considerable expense and labor involved in the changing of records. The need for a modern library with adequate stack space was thus made not only evident but pressing, especially as the inadequacy of facilities affected not only the storage of books but the convenience of readers, who as their numbers increased were more and more crowded and uncomfortable.
Whatever could be done to remedy this state of affairs was done. Small additions were made to divisional libraries; some space for new libraries and reading rooms (usually much less than was asked for) was assigned in new buildings planned for the campus. The Director, in preparation for the enlargement of library quarters, participated in the deliberations of a group of University librarians who, with the aid of a Carnegie grant, applied themselves to the study of library buildings, criticized the plans devised for new libraries, conferred with architects, and investigated all developments in the field. In August, 1946, Michigan obtained a federal loan, to be expended in planning an extension to the General Library. The firm of Albert Kahn Associates was employed; and with the aid of Mr. Lynn Fry, the University architect, the staff of the Library, assisted by the Library Council, labored painstakingly to perfect, under the conditions set, a workable scheme. Complete plans were ultimately drawn, and approved, for the extension of the existing building on the east, south, and west, with the raising of the stack tower. In 1952, however, this project was finally discarded. For it there was substituted in 1953 a plan to erect a storage library on the North Campus. This met, in part, the difficulty of finding space for books; but the larger problem of getting really adequate accommodations for readers, for Library operations, and for book collections
