Brown resumed the library directorship on September 1, 1946. The Friends of the Library organization was formed on September 21, 1946, and library holdings reached 75,000 volumes by 1947 and 100,000 volumes in February 1949. During the immediate postwar years, the library struggled; the now-obsolete building only provided seating for four percent of the total student and faculty population. Library expenditures, while by now $75,000, remained inadequate to support a well-functioning library. Finally, the 1948–1949 N.C. General Assembly approved $1.25 million to construct and outfit a new library building. Planning began in 1949, and the contract was awarded to Northup and O'Brien Architects of Winston-Salem on August 6, 1951. Construction of a new D. H. Hill Library to replace the outgrown building began in the spring of 1952, at the present location on the Brickyard. The new four-story brick and limestone library (today the "East Wing" of D. H. Hill) was completed in December 1953 and opened in the summer of 1954. It provided 900 seats for patrons, space for 400,000 volumes and the possibility of adding another two stories should the need arise. Bookstacks were closed to undergraduates, but were open to graduate students and faculty once they had been given a tour by the circulation librarian and received a stack permit. The library was formally dedicated on March 12, 1955, and the School of Design moved into the vacated library building (now Brooks Hall).