The library in the fraternity house

Abstract

Sargasso Sea of discarded might be an apt description of the average fraternity house library of the past. Too frequently it was a disgrace to the intelligence of the college man and woman. Old textbooks, haphazard volumes of many sorts, a set of something left behind or given, an incomplete file of fraternity publications, a box of old themes collected thru the years-these filled up the few feet of shelving provided for a library. Dummies might have looked better. Few indeed were the books there which any undergraduate would care to take off the shelf and read. This was all wrong. For undergraduates do want to read interesting books. Busy they are with their many activities. But there comes a time when the student is sick of studying, bored by bridge, weary of the Victrola, disgusted by the radio, and has seen every movie in town. He would like something good to read. Why should he not be able to find in his chapter house library some reading to delight his heart, stimulate his mind, restore his soul, and fill his leisure minutes with happiness and profit? Even in the midst of their multifarious activities undergraduates will stop to discuss the things that interest them. The bull sessions are sufficient evidence of this. Will they not also read? In point of fact they do read; the only question is, What shall it be? A few years ago an alumnus had a book under his arm as he entered his fraternity house for dinner. In the course of the evening he read some extracts to the boys. The next day five of them went to the book store and bought a copy apiece. The book was The Mirrors of Wasiington. A faculty brother accidentally left a book at his fraternity house. When he called for it a few days later he was asked if he wouldn't leave it a bit longer as the boys wanted to read some more of it. The book was a collection of one-act plays, and it was being passed around. Similar examples could be multiplied, for personal recommendation and accessibility are recognized as the most favorable factors in the encouragement of reading. The bulk of everyone's reading is the thing which lies closest at hand-the daily paper, the popular weekly, the magazine or book which lies on the table. It is also fairly safe to say that never again will a person have as much time for reading as during his college days. Then is the time therefore to develop a taste for reading, to find out the books to be read for pleasure, relaxation, and inspiration, to learn how to find and use books. For several years fraternity officials have sensed the need of good reading available in chapter houses. Efforts have been made to get the chapters to