ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


57

Letters
Dear Editor:

In his letter in the December issue of C&R L  
News‚ Eugene Dukes agreed that the ACRL 
Board of Directors made a mistake when its 
members approved a policy statement at their 
Midwinter meeting in January of last year to 
the effect that the master’s degree in librarian­
ship was the appropriate terminal degree for 
academic librarians.

I find myself no less in agreement and wou
go a bit further in characterizing the Directors’ 
action— it was retrograde. Notwithstanding the 
academic arguments, which Mr. Dukes has 
stated well, the action is incongruous with the 
realities of the employment market. Ten years 
ago, it might have been at least superficially 
credible, but now, with the collapse of the 
market, it is hopelessly regressive. When a can­
didate for academic employment has not only 
the best qualities of the generalist, whatever 
those may be, and a second master’s degree or 
the doctorate as well, what employer could select

l

 instead someone with only the generalist’s 
qualities? When a large proportion (over a 
quarter in my estimation) applying even for 
beginning positions have an advanced degree 
in some subject, this situation is the rule, not 
the exception. Despite antiacademic resistance 
on the part of some academic employers, the 
expectation still must be that employment op­
portunities will deteriorate increasingly for 

d those with only the ordinary degree. The ad­
vanced degree in librarianship alone, which has 
been something of an anachronism for a decade 
or longer, now constitutes an even more unim­
posing credential. The cause is lost. The march 
to the advanced degree cannot be stopped, and 
it is more than a little ironical that the acad em ­
ic library division should try.

Sincerely yours,
Thomas Gwinup 
Associate Librarian 
San D iego State University 
San Diego, California ■■

Academic Library Statistics Released for 1 9 7 4 -7 5

The National Center for Educational Statis­
tics (N C ES) has released a preliminary report 
of its 1974-75 survey of college and university 
libraries. Based on a 95 percent return for the 
2,977 academic libraries in the U.S., NCES 
reports that total expenditures for libraries in­
creased at an annual average rate of only 5 per­
cent from 1972-73 to 1974-75. The increase is 
considerably less than the previous average an­
nual rates of increase of from 12 to 15 percent 
for the years from 1967-68 to 1970-71.

Average book prices increased 8 percent 
since the previous survey in 1972-73, while ex­
penditures for books increased only 2.8 percent 
over the same period. Average periodical prices 
increased 34 percent during the two-year pe­
riod between surveys; expenditures for peri­
odicals increased 36 percent, indicating that li­
braries were continuing to keep up with the

sharp price increases for periodicals.
Expenditures for salaries and wages in­

creased at an average annual rate of 8 percent, 
compared to the average annual rates of 14 to 
16 percent for the previous years. Libraries in­
creased the total number of librarians 3 percent 
over the two years, while decreasing sharply 
the number of other professional staff employed 
in libraries (down 18 percent over the two- 
year period). Size of clerical and support staff 
increased 5 percent. The total size of staff in 
college and university libraries increased 2.6 
percent from the fall of 1973 to the fall of 
1975.

The survey was prepared under the direction 
of Stanley V. Smith. Inquiries should be direct­
ed to NCES, 400 Maryland Ave. SW, Wash­
ington, DC 20202. ■■

News From the Chapters
LeMoyne Anderson addressed the ACRL 

Oregon Chapter on Friday, December 12,
1975 in the Oregon State University Memorial 
Union on the topic: Implementing Full Faculty 
Status. Mr. Anderson is visiting the Oregon 
State campus as a consultant in technical services.

 He is director of libraries at Colorado 
State University, Fort Collins, where he has 
done much to advance the position of librari­
ans. For the past two years, he has headed a 
committee that is evaluating the goals and or­
ganization of ACRL. ■■