ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


369

F rom  In s id e  th e  D L S E F

By Dr. Katharine M. Stokes

College and University Library Specialist, Li­
brary Planning and Development Branch, Di­
vision of Library Services and Educational Fa­
cilities, U.S. Office of Education, Washington, 
D.C. 20202.

The deadline for applications under Title 
III of the Higher Education Act was Novem­
ber 15, so my description of the two projects 
here is intended only to set you thinking about 
possibilities for next year if you are working in 
a “developing institution.” The term is a hard 
one to define. The few library projects identi­
fied under this title have involved a strong 
library in helping a weaker one. However, two 
institutions that are trying to develop their 
programs and are in a position to join forces 
to help each other did apply successfully for a 
grant.

Simmons College and Emmanuel College, 
both in Boston and for women, were awarded 
a Title II grant to carry out such an arrange­
ment. In addition to the liberal arts and gen­
eral program which the colleges offer, Sim­
mons has several professional schools, includ­
ing one of library science, and Emmanuel em­
phasizes teacher preparation. Their library ad­
dresses are respectively 300 and 400, The Fen­
way; and the colleges were founded in 1902 
and 1919, respectively.

The two colleges entered into a formal 
agreement to develop cooperation in library 
services and resources. Interlibrary loan and 
reference services are available at both for 
their students and faculties. Lists of periodical 
holdings have been exchanged “with a view to 
developing coordination of acquisitions and 
binding policy advantageous to both.” Under 
Title III the colleges were awarded a grant 
for the services of an interinstitutional library 
consultant during the academic year 1967-68. 
The responsibility of the consultant was “to 
survey and evaluate the general collections of 
each library, to establish areas of strength and 
weakness in each collection, to develop a plan 
for the purchase of books to bring each col­
lection to a minimum parity, and to strengthen 
complementary areas of specialization in each 
library.” In addition the consultant was to “ini­
tiate implementation of the plan through the 
expenditure of funds being requested” in the 
application for the development of an orderly 
procedure whereby acquisitions by either li­
brary were to be examined before orders were 
placed in an effort “to reduce duplication of 
expensive and not frequently used but desira­

ble books and other materials.” The $10,000 
requested for purchases in each library was 
not included in the award, but under Title 
II-A of the Higher Education Act each library 
received about $7,500 for purchasing books 
and other materials between July 1, 1968, and 
June 30, 1969. The colleges were fortunate in 
being able to secure the consultant services of 
a Simmons graduate, Katharine Harris, the 
well-known reference librarian of the Detroit 
Public Library who retired in 1967. Through 
this cooperative venture the almost 130,000 
volumes at Simmons can be combined with the 
70,000-volume collection at Emmanuel to serve 
a student enrollment over 2,000 at Simmons 
and around 1,500 at Emmanuel.

Another successful Title III application in 
1967–68 involving the College of the Virgin 
Islands and the University of Connecticut at 
Storrs included funds for visiting scholars and 
consultants to travel from Connecticut to the 
Virgin Islands. Among the consultants re­
quested was the director of libraries at Storrs, 
John McDonald, who visited the Virgin Islands 
this summer to advise the college library on 
the “application of current cataloging and ref­
erence techniques” and the “utilization of 
space” in a new building which will eventual­
ly accommodate 100,000 volumes.

The Title III program is administered by 
Dr. Charles Hayes, Division of College Sup­
port, Bureau of Higher Education. His office is 
in Room 3066, in the same building as the Di­
vision of Library Services, at 7th & D Streets, 
Southwest, zip code 20202. The Higher Edu­
cation Act’s 3-year extension authorized $35 
million for 1969, $70 million for 1970, and 
$91 million for 1971 under Title III. Even 
though authorization does not guarantee that 
those sums will be appropriated, planning to 
apply for a grant in 1969 might be a worth­
while project. ■ ■

SPEAKERS NEEDED
The College Library Section of ACRL has 

offered to the accredited library schools of the 
country to arrange to have college librarians 
speak to assemblies of students, if the schools 
should so wish. Any college librarians willing 
and able to accept invitations to speak to library 
school convocations under ACRL auspices are 
requested to notify Evan Farber, chairman of 
the College Library Section, at Earlham Col­
lege in Richmond, Indiana. ■ ■