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News

1979: Climate Change, in Librarians’ Terms

March 6, 2016
50th 1979

Good intentions gone awry: Librarians at Winthrop College, in Rock Hill, S.C., warned that President Carter’s energy-saving order to keep public buildings hotter in summer would ruin their books. “Mold began to grow and spread through the library’s collection,” we reported, “soon after the college adopted a voluntary energy-saving program much like the one the White House was developing.” Limits on the library’s use of air-conditioning were soon dropped. Today, Winthrop University’s library houses more than half a million volumes. Meanwhile, in something of a prelude to current events, representatives at a conference of church-related colleges were urged to resist “secularization” and undue government regulation of their institutions.

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50th 1979

Good intentions gone awry: Librarians at Winthrop College, in Rock Hill, S.C., warned that President Carter’s energy-saving order to keep public buildings hotter in summer would ruin their books. “Mold began to grow and spread through the library’s collection,” we reported, “soon after the college adopted a voluntary energy-saving program much like the one the White House was developing.” Limits on the library’s use of air-conditioning were soon dropped. Today, Winthrop University’s library houses more than half a million volumes. Meanwhile, in something of a prelude to current events, representatives at a conference of church-related colleges were urged to resist “secularization” and undue government regulation of their institutions.

A version of this article appeared in the March 11, 2016, issue.
Read other items in 50 Years of Page Ones.
We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
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