The Principle Library Buildings of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill in Context

This paper is a history of the four library buildings that housed the principal library over the course of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hillís history. The four buildings are Smith Hall, Carnegie Library, Louis Round Wilson Library, and Walter Royal Davis Library. The histories of these buildings are examined in the context of general academic library buildings trends in the United States. Special interest is devoted to the effects from increasing enrollment at universities, complementary growth in the size of collections, and the changing pedagogy of higher education. As enrollment and collections increased, and educational techniques changed, new library buildings were needed to replace existing buildings at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The period covered is 1853-1984.