The University of Colorado Library and Its Makers, 1876-1972

Written by a former director of the library, this history is enlivened by its remarkable props and cast of characters:
A university seventeen years old, rated among the top eleven in the U.S.
Three library buildings with a blown-down tower, shattering windows, floors near collapse, a roof near cave-in, and one with a rivulet running through it.
A treasurer of the University who invented two standard basic elements in library construction and installed the first fluorescent lighting in libraries.
A professor of English with greater knowledge of library methods than most librarians of his time.
A librarian who literally worked himself to death.
A librarian who was a remittance man from the East, and a famous football referee.
A director, appointed at the recommendation of the football coach, who became President of the University.
A director who left for greener pastures, then returned to over-top them all.

The story of the University of Colorado Library unfolds within the societal forces that shaped universities over a century, and within the special conditions in the University to which it had to respond. By describing librarians working at real library tasks, Mason presents a thumbnail sketch of the way librarians performed during a century of enormous change.