Stimulated by the depository acts of the federal and state
governments in the early 1930s, the University Library created a
Documents Department in September 1933 with Olin V. Cook as head.
Using student workers paid with NYA funds, Cook began organizing
the Library’s document holdings.  In September 1935, the Social
Sciences Reading Room was made a responsibility of the Documents
Department, and the following year the newly formed General
College Library was also placed under its supervision.  During
the 1937/1938 academic year, the Department’s responsibilities
were defined to include state documents, federal documents, and
microphotography.  In January 1939 a new federal depository act
greatly increased the volume of documents received by the
Library.

     During the years 1942-1945 wartime conditions led to the
consolidation of the Library’s Documents and Circulation
Departments, and limited staff meant that little time could be
devoted to the documents collection.  In June 1946, however, the
Documents Department again became a separate entity, and the
Library became a depository for United Nations publications and
for selected British documents.  An increasingly severe shortage
of space was alleviated in January 1952 with the occupation of
expanded quarters in the Current Affairs Reading Room.

     On June 1, 1958, the Library’s collections were organized
under a divisional plan.  Documents became a section of the
Business Administration/Social Sciences Division and during the
following academic year was staffed by part-time workers.  In
September 1959 supervision of the section was vested in a full-
time professional librarian, and in August 1963, the quality of
the documents collection was recognized by the designation of the
University Library as the Regional Federal Depository for North
Carolina.  During the 1975-1976 academic year the Division’s name
was changed to Business and Social Sciences Reference Department.
At this time the archival records include only materials related
to the Documents Department/Section.

     Heads of the Documents Department/Section have been as
follows:

          Olin V. Cook, Librarian of the
               Documents Division                 1933-1934
          W.W. Smiley, Documents Librarian        1934-1937
                       Chief, Documents Dept.     1937-1939
          G.F. Shepherd, Chief, Documents Dept.   1939-1947
          J. Isaac Copeland, Documents Librarian  1947-1951
          William R. Pullen, Documents Librarian  1951-1957
          Catherine Maybury, Documents Librarian  1957-1958
          Louise J. Hawkins, Documents Librarian  1959-1966
          Sue Moody, Acting Documents Librarian   1966-1967
          Louise J. Hawkins, Documents Librarian  1967-1971
          Betsy Williams, Documents Librarian     1971-1972
          Ridley Kessler, Documents Librarian     1972-

     For more information on the development and work of the
Documents Department, see the Records of the Office of the
University Librarian, Series 4, Subseries 1 and 5.


SUBGROUP 1: DOCUMENTS DEPARTMENT/SECTION FILES

Box 1:
     Administrative Correspondence, 1948-1976
         (includes data on the department’s organization plans,
         needs, budget requests, etc.)
     Annual Reports, 1934-1964
     Depository Status and Development:
          Air Force Collection, 1952
          Atomic Energy Commission Documents, 1950-1969
          North Carolina State Documents Plan, 1985
          Regional Federal Depository, 1962-1970
          World War II Military Collection, 1952-1953
     Planning:
          (see also Administrative Correspondence and Annual
          Reports above)
          Davis Library Quarters:
               Equipment/Furniture Needs, 1977-1981
               Holdings Shift, 1982-1983
               Space Requirements, 1977-1982
     Outside Organizations:
          Documents Librarians of North Carolina:
               Survey of Document Holdings in North Carolina
                    Libraries, 1972
               Documents Librarians Conference, 1973
          Government Printing Office:
               Pilot Micropublishing Project, 1974-1976