College and Research Libraries B y E D W I N E . W I L L I A M S The Administrative Organisation of the Harvard University Library Mr. Williams is assistant to the librarian of Harvard University Library. TH E O L D E S T A N D L A R G E S T u n i v e r s i t y l i b r a r y in the U n i t e d States is f a r f r o m simple in its a d m i n i s t r a t i v e struc- ture, but, like the institution of w h i c h it f o r m s a part, it may be described as hav- i n g a flexible o r g a n i z a t i o n . T h i s article is an a t t e m p t to outline the present ad- m i n i s t r a t i v e situation and to indicate the principal alterations that m a y be made as suitable occasions arise. C o m p l e x i t y is suggested at the outset by the f a c t that, as of J u l y i , 1942, H a r v a r d ' s 4,400,870 books w e r e divided a m o n g seventy-nine units. T h e main collection of the college l i b r a r y , u s u a l l y r e f e r r e d to as W i d e n e r , contained 4 4 per cent of the t o t a l ; 9 per cent w e r e in the fifty-two special libraries that m a k e up the rest of the college l i b r a r y ; 2 per cent w e r e in the eight house ( d o r m i t o r y ) l i b r a r i e s ; and 45 per cent w e r e in the eighteen libraries of professional schools and research institu- tions. T h e l a t t e r , at H a r v a r d , are k n o w n as department libraries. P e r h a p s the dis- persion of books is not quite as extensive as m i g h t be t h o u g h t at first g l a n c e , h o w - ever, since the main collection and six of the largest d e p a r t m e n t libraries a c c o u n t f o r 81 per cent of the total, fifteen of the largest libraries m a k e up 91 per cent of it, and 36 units contain all but 2 per cent of the books in the u n i v e r s i t y . T h e office of director of the university l i b r a r y w a s not created u n t i l 1 9 1 0 , and before that date there appears to have been no s t a t u t o r y provision g o v e r n i n g relations b e t w e e n the libraries of the u n i v e r s i t y . I t is n o w p r o v i d e d : The university library consists of all the collections of books in the possession of the university. The director of the university library shall be ex officio chairman of the council of the college library; shall visit and inspect the law, medical, business, and other departmental libraries, and be ex officio a member of their administrative committees, and their librarians shall an- nually make a report to him.1 A f u r t h e r step t o w a r d coordination w a s taken in 1 9 3 7 , w h e n the same man w a s appointed both director of the university l i b r a r y and l i b r a r i a n of the college l i b r a r y . T h e Statutes provide f o r the college li- b r a r y as f o l l o w s : [The college library] is for the use of the whole university. . . . The general control and supervision are committed to a council appointed annually. It is the duty of the council to make rules for the admin- istration of the college library. Subject to the direction of the chairman of the council {i.e., the director, who is now also the li- 1 Statutes, No. 15. I n the annual Catalogue of the university. 218 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES brarian] the librarian has the care and custody of the college library, superintend- ing its internal administration, enforcing the rules, and conducting the correspondence.2 T h e central unit of the college library is one of thirty-one academic budgetary departments of the university, and the librarian is responsible for drawing up the budget, which goes to the corporation for approval. He appoints all staff members who are paid from this budget, but those employees (fifteen at present) who are officers Of the university must be approved by the corporation, and appointments of officers for terms of more than one year must also be ratified by the overseers. T h e College Library Council consists at present of seven members of the faculty plus the director as chairman. It is ap- pointed annually by the corporation and it is customary each year to reappoint six of the members and replace the one who has served longest. In practice, the coun- cil is essentially an advisory and legislative body. T h e rules for administration it has adopted cover only matters that di- rectly affect the public—library hours, borrowing privileges of all classes of pa- trons, access to stacks, damage to books, fines and penalties. In accordance with the Statutes, it has left "internal adminis- tration" to the librarian. Duties 0/ Assistant T h e assistant to the librarian, who was originally described as the "general as- sistant," acts also as assistant to the direc- tor. Duties of the position have varied with changing circumstances and have in- cluded handling correspondence for the director-librarian, representing him in his absence, assigning and supervising N . Y . A . 1 Ibid., N o . 16. and Temporary Student Employment Service personnel, compiling statistics, su- pervising the project for filming foreign newspapers, giving special reference as- sistance to the director, and performing a good deal of work in connection with extramural activities of the director as an officer of the American Library Associa- tion, etc. Building services are supervised by a member of the staff responsible directly to the librarian. These include the doormen, coatroom attendant, caretakers (who are, however, on the staff of the university maintenance department), dispatch of packages and distribution of mail, and the messenger service between the main col- lection and other libraries of the univer- sity. T h e same person also supervises the stack employees at present but, in this capacity, acts under the direction of the assistant librarian in charge of reference and circulation. "Registrar" will probably suggest to most readers a university official whose duties, at Harvard, are handled by the bursar and by various deans. Here, in- stead, the college library has a registrar in charge of accounts, financial records and payrolls, purchase of supplies, arrange- ments for repairs and alterations in the building, recording and acknowledgment of gifts to the college library, and photo- stat and microfilm services. Logic sug- gests that one person might well be given responsibility for the building services noted in the preceding paragraph as well as for the duties of the registrar. This combination may take place when circum- stances permit, and it might prove de- sirable at that time to transfer gift records and correspondence to the order depart- ment. JUNE, 1943 20 7 O R O A N I Z A T I O t j u c s s i u bis O m a> u -< * > 0 0 •— 0> -rt t> V. •-I -rt «M »-« o o e _ HPHC 09 V ^ 4) t-i +» 2 S 5 S ao a •H C Ik, O l~i O •a .c .c -J* ii • « 8*3 S eS o 5 B> • O •O V ». «M • « O U o u o m p. *> "I at o IX P c •a Ji S2*. a v. o f t h e H A R V A R D U N I V E R S I T Y L I B H i H Y | Doormen"J | Coat room [ BUILDING] ORDER" 1 C a r e t a k l n g j | M a l l | B u i l d i n g R e p a i r | | S u p p l i e r M e s s e n g e r S e r v i c e REGISTRAR 3 1 f i n a n c e , A c c o u n t s . P a y r o l l P l n g | C l a s s i f i c a t i o n |—J S h e l f l i s t D e p o s i t L i b r a r y CATALOGUE ^ • G e n e r a l A s s i s t a n t j S t a n d a r d C a t a l o g u i n g D e s c r i p t i v e C a t a l o g u i n g S p e c i a l i z e d C a t a l o g u i n g ! C a t a l o g u e C u r a t o r L—l T i l i n g E d u c a t i o n Documents S e r i a l B e c o r d s 1 B i n d i n g | Union C a t a l o g u e A I n t e r d e p a r t m e n t S e r v i c e | REFERENCE A CIRCULATION R e f e r e n c e D i v i s i o n 5 E I n t e r l i b r a r y Loan B e a d i n g Room ( R e s e r v e d Books) C i r c u l a t i o n Desk S t a c k S t a l l s A S t u d i e s P e r i o d i - c a l Room SPECIAL •COLLECTIONS Houghton L i b r a r y ( R a r e b o o k s A Mas.) P o e t r y Room T h e a t r e C o l l e c t i o n D e p a r t m e n t of g r a p h i c A r t s E x h i b i t s W i d e n e r Room UNDERGRADUATE SERVICES H a r v a r d Union ( F r e s h m e n ) /Archives.!' [ S i ] | | ~ R e c r e a t l o n a l R e a d i n g Room | 3 D o r m i t o r y L i b r a r i e s " ! B o y l s t o n K a i l ( f o r l a r g e b e g i n n i n g c l a s s e s ) P r o p o s e d Un- d e r g r a d u a t e L i b r a r y 52 SPECIAL LIBRARIES - T e c h n i c a l l y p a r t o f t h e C o l l e g e L i - b r a r y , b u t r e l a t i o n s h i p s w i t h m a i n . c o l l e c t i o n a r e n o t u n i f o r m . I n c l u d e museum l i b r a r i e s , l a b o r a t o r y c o l l e c - t i o n s , s e m i n a r l i b r a r i e s i n main l i b r a r y b u i l d i n g , t u t o r i a l l i b r a r i e s , and many s m a l l , m i s c e l l a n e o u s u n i t s S p e c i a l l i b r a r i e s , w i t h a f e w e x c e p t i o n s , a r e n o t on t h e main l i b r a r y b u d g e t . 18 DEPARTMENT LIBRARIES _ C o n t a i n i n g ktf of a l l b o o k s i n t h e U n i v e r s i t y L i b r a r y . A d m i n i s t e r e d b y D e p a r t m e n t s t o w h i c h t h * y b e l o n g , b u t r e p o r t t o D i r e c t o r , b y whom t h e y a r e I n s p e c t e d and a d v i s e d . , ( D o t t e d l i n e s i n d i c a t e r e l a t i o n s h i p s n o t y e t e s t a b l i s h e d ) 220 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES T h e w o r k of the order department at H a r v a r d falls into three main divisions. O n e assistant is in charge of selection of books, bibliographical checking, and or- dering books and continuations. T h e book selection problem has been simplified to a considerable extent by the policy of buying everything that appears to be of interest in the fields covered by the college library as soon as it is published in this country and by arrangements for a simi- larly comprehensive purchase program in E n g l a n d through an agent there. A n o t h e r assistant directs the checking and approval of bills, allocation of pur- chases to the proper fund, and bookkeep- ing. A l l books purchased for the main library are paid for from gifts and special endowment funds donated for this pur- pose, and it is necessary to account for 1 1 2 funds. T h e services of the order depart- ment are available for use by all libraries of the university, and at present most of the special libraries and six of the depart- ment libraries call upon it to handle all o r . p a r t of their purchases. Disposal of Duplicates and Handling of Exchanges Disposal of duplicates and handling of exchanges form the third m a j o r function of the department. Exchanges are re- stricted by the fact that the college library has relatively f e w new or current publica- tions at its disposal for e x c h a n g e ; some of the department libraries have more ex- tensive lists. In recent years the exchange assistant has served as coordinating agent for exchanges throughout the university library. T h e catalog department staff includes more than half of the professional em- ployees of the main library and has a relatively more complex organization than the other departments. T a b l e I shows the average number of persons employed in each department, 1939-42, classified ac- cording to A . L . A . definitions. T A B L E I A V E R A G E S I Z E OF S T A F F , 1 9 3 9 - 4 2 Librarian, assistant, and secretary Building Registrar O r d e r Catalog R e f e r e n c e & circulation Special collections Undergraduate services Special libraries on budget Total 6 4 28 20 7 4 8 6 3 2 3 I 2 18 3 14 21 4 1 3 6 6 12 70 46 19 54 36 5 45 28 i< A n executive assistant is in charge of the three activities that occupy the greater part of the clerical and subprofessional personnel—typing, preparation of books for the shelves by marking, labeling, etc., and searching. T h e latter process con- sists of checking material w i t h the catalog to discover duplicates, to determine whether or not L i b r a r y of Congress cards are available, and to note authors' names so that typists can make preliminary cards. T h e H a r v a r d system calls for checking both purchases and gifts, and the bulk of the material that must be handled is aug- mented by the buying of large collections en bloc as w e l l as by the fact that f r o m 50 to 70 per cent of all accessions in recent years have come by g i f t . A record w a s established last year w h e n 93,000 books were "searched." Cataloging Divisions T h e standard cataloging division handles descriptive cataloging and classifi- cation of ordinary books that do not JUNE, 1943 22 7 present special problems in handling. Maintenance of the shelflist is a sub- division of the classification section. T h e specialized cataloging division cata- logs and classifies books difficult to handle, those in Slavic and the minor languages, etc. It is, therefore, a division of special- ists. This system formerly prevailed for all books, with an individual subject or language specialist responsible for the clas- sification, subject heading, and descriptive cataloging of all books in his field. N o w in this division, that system is retained for the difficult books, but ordinary material can be handled more economically and the work can be more evenly distributed in the standard cataloging division, where classification and subject heading are sepa- rated from descriptive cataloging. T h e subject specialists of the catalog depart- ment, it should be added, have always been valuable sources of assistance for the ref- erence and order departments. T h e curator of the card catalog super- vises the filing staff and is also responsible for maintenance of the union catalog, which includes a depository set of Library of Congress cards as well as cards for books in all units of the university library. It serves, in addition, as the official cata- log, since accession information, tracings, etc., are added to cards for books in the main library. T h e union catalog section includes the interdepartmental telephone service between Harvard libraries, which makes information contained in the catalog readily available throughout the univer- sity. A division with headquarters in the Houghton Library handles cataloging of rare books and manuscripts. Other divi- sions care for documents and for educa- tion, which includes very large collections of textbooks and college catalogs. Selec- tion and transfer of little-used books to the New England Deposit Library, plus simplified cataloging and classification by size for new acquisitions that are sent there directly, occupy another division. Serial records are handled by a division of the catalog department, and the binding rec- ords division, now unattached, may be added to the department in the future. Cataloging for Special Collections T h e department catalogs most of the books added to special libraries of the university as well as all or part of the acquisitions of four department libraries. Four special and two department libraries take advantage of its willingness to supply any Harvard library with copies of cards for all books in the field of the special library that are added to the main collec- tion. In sorting gifts, the catalog depart- ment keeps in mind the interests of all collections in the university and passes on appropriate material. T h e reference and circulation depart- ment, in addition to the activities named in its title, handles interlibrary loans, assignment of stalls and studies, and super- vision of the stack employees, the periodical room, and the main reading room, in which are shelved reserved books for all but the largest beginning courses in the college. As will be seen, the reserved book division will eventually be removed from the circulation and reference depart- ment if the hoped-for separate undergrad- uate library is constructed. T h e present main reading room would remain under the department, but it would then be a general reading room, with space for ex- pansion of the reference collection that is now confined to one end of it. 222 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES Special Collections T h e special collections department is concerned only w i t h those collections that are an integral part of the main library. T h e chief of these is the former " T r e a s u r e R o o m , " which now occupies its o w n build- ing, the H o u g h t o n L i b r a r y , connected w i t h W i d e n e r by a bridge and a tunnel. T h i s building has its o w n reading room, exhibit facilities, w o r k rooms, offices, and rooms for special collections, as w e l l as space for 250,000 volumes, and it houses most of the rare books and manuscripts of the college library. N a t u r a l l y it handles its o w n circulation and much of its o w n reference w o r k . T h e rare book divi- sion of the catalog department is located in H o u g h t o n and is closely associated w i t h the librarians in charge of that building. A l l exhibits of the college library theo- retically come under the authority of the special collections department, though in practice at present the exhibits in W i d e n e r are managed by the assistant librarian in charge of the order department. T h e division of printing and graphic arts, w h i c h maintains its o w n special col- lections and equipment and offers instruc- tion in the subject, has its headquarters in the H o u g h t o n building and is under the direction of the assistant librarian in charge. T w o separately endowed special collec- tions in W i d e n e r , the theatre collection and the poetry room, have recently become divisions of the special collections depart- ment. T h e W i n s o r M e m o r i a l M a p C o l - lection, the H a r v a r d i a n a and H a r v a r d U n i v e r s i t y A r c h i v e s Collection ( w h i c h at present, for physical reasons, serves also as the newspaper reading r o o m ) , and the W i d e n e r Room, containing the remark- able library of fine books assembled by H a r r y Elkins W i d e n e r , are the other important special collections of the college library. T h e o r e t i c a l l y they should become divisions of the special collections depart- ment, but various considerations make this coordination undesirable at the present moment. Undergraduate Services T h e department of undergraduate serv- ices w i l l be little more than a plan until H a r v a r d can have a separate library build- ing in which undergraduates w i l l not be forced to find their w a y through a book collection at least t w e n t y times as large as w o u l d best serve their purposes. T h e r e is n o w only unified supervision of the freshman library in the H a r v a r d U n i o n , Boylston H a l l , which serves the large beginning classes in history, government, and economics, and the house libraries. T h e latter are collections of from ten to twelve thousand volumes each located in the seven houses occupied (except for the duration) by sophomores, juniors, and seniors, plus a n e w collection for com- muters. T h e y are under joint control of the director and the various house masters; their librarians, usually graduate students, are appointed w i t h the approval of the director, w h o must also approve their book purchases; but each library does its o w n ordering and cataloging. W h e n the undergraduate library is built, it w i l l house the Boylston and perhaps the U n i o n libraries, most of the tutorial collections that w i l l be mentioned later, and a c a r e f u l l y selected undergrad- uate collection of something less than one hundred thousand volumes, together w i t h its o w n reference, circulation, and reserved book service. T h e latter, it has been noted, is now handled in the main JUNE, 1943 20 7 reading room at W i d e n e r and in Boylston H a l l . T h e F a r n s w o r t h Room for recre- ational reading w i l l also come under the new department of undergraduate services. H a r v a r d ' s f i f t y - t w o special libraries (to be distinguished f r o m the special collec- tions already mentioned and the depart- ment libraries treated in the next section of this article) vary in size f r o m one or t w o hundred books to more than eighty thousand and serve a great variety of needs. F i v e of them, for freshmen and large beginning classes, have just been mentioned as potential units of the under- graduate library. T h e proposed new de- partment w o u l d also include the eight tutorial collections, relatively small li- braries needed by tutors of various sub- jects in connection w i t h their w o r k . Seminar Collections T h e main library building houses nine seminar collections covering history, math- ematics, and the principal fields of philol- ogy and literature. T h e s e are open to graduate students w h o hold keys. T h r e e small temporary collections for research committees, and nine small miscellaneous libraries ( f o r the infirmary, physical edu- cation department, medical adviser, etc.) need not be examined here. T h e n there are nine laboratory collec- tions ranging in size from 553 volumes for the geographic laboratory to 34,692 for cryptogamic botany and 72,662 for the biological laboratories. It is hoped that construction of a new building w i l l make it possible to combine most of the research materials of the latter t w o col- lections, the orchid library, and three department l i b r a r i e s — t h e A r n o l d A r b o r e - tum, G r a y H e r b a r i u m , and M u s e u m of Comparative Z o o l o g y — t o make a single life sciences library of more than four hundred thousand volumes. E i g h t other libraries have functions comparable w i t h those of the laboratory collections: the music library, Isham O r - gan L i b r a r y , philosophy, and sociology; and four museum collections, Germanic, Semitic ( n o w being absorbed by W i d e - n e r ) , fine arts (in the F o g g M u s e u m ) , and D u m b a r t o n O a k s Research Collection ( B y z a n t i n e a r t ) in W a s h i n g t o n , D . C . Service for Professional School F i n a l l y , the L i b r a r y of the School of Public Administration ( L i t t a u e r C e n t e r ) is unique among the special libraries be- cause it belongs to a professional school rather than to a department under the F a c u l t y of A r t s and Sciences. I t is the newest of the professional school libraries and its w o r k is on the budget of the main library and under direct administra- tive control of the librarian of the college. I t n o w houses many of the documents formerly kept in the W i d e n e r B u i l d i n g and functions as the document center for the university. I t must be evident by now that the special libraries do not have a great deal in common. T h e y are all, technically, a part of the college library and, w i t h the exception of L i t t a u e r , under the control of the F a c u l t y of A r t s and Sciences.3 It has been seen that most of their order w o r k and cataloging is handled by the staff of the main library, but this does 3 U n t i l this y e a r there w e r e , in addition to Lit- tauer, f o u r e x c e p t i o n s to the rule that libraries in- dependent of the F a c u l t y of A r t s and S c i e n c e s w e r e " d e p a r t m e n t l i b r a r i e s , " while those u n d e r it w e r e " s p e c i a l l i b r a r i e s . " B e g i n n i n g Jan. i , 1943, h o w e v e r , all of the museums and research institutions except H a r v a r d - Y e n c h i n g w e r e placed u n d e r g e n e r a l super- vision of the F a c u l t y of A r t s and S c i e n c e s . I t re- m a i n s to be seen w h e t h e r or not this a r r a n g e m e n t will be c o n t i n u e d a f t e r the w a r . 224 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES not distinguish them f r o m all of the de- partment libraries. F i f t y - t w o is, perhaps, a startling number, but it is less disturb- ing w h e n one considers that some are small office collections, that nine are housed in W i d e n e r and thirteen more should eventually be coordinated by the depart- ment of undergraduate services, w h i l e several others may eventually be combined into collections serving broader fields of knowledge. Department Libraries T h e eighteen department libraries should, according to the terminology used by most writers on university library ad- ministration, be called " c o l l e g e " libraries. N i n e of them serve graduate professional schools and the other nine are in research institutions such as observatories and mu- seums. T o g e t h e r they are slightly larger than the main collection of the college library, and the l a w school library, w i t h 557)753 volumes, is larger than the librar- ies of many universities. T w o of them are not entirely H a r v a r d property. M o r e than half of the A n d o v e r - H a r v a r d L i b r a r y in the divinity school belongs to the A n d o v e r T h e o l o g i c a l Semi- nary, which no longer has any legal con- nection w i t h H a r v a r d , w h i l e the Chinese- Japanese L i b r a r y is supported by the H a r v a r d - Y e n c h i n g Institute, a separate corporation collaborating w i t h both H a r - vard and Y e n c h i n g University. Several of them are not in C a m b r i d g e . T h e Busi- ness School is across the Charles R i v e r in B o s t o n ; the dental and medical schools are several miles farther a w a y ; the A r n o l d A r b o r e t u m , H a r v a r d Forest, and B l u e H i l l Meteorological Observatory are more distant s t i l l ; and the Astronomical O b - servatory L i b r a r y includes a collection located at Bloemfontein, South A f r i c a . Relationship to Main Library A l l of the department libraries, like most of the special libraries, are finan- cially completely independent of the main library. U n d e r these circumstances it is obvious that a director w o u l d encounter great difficulties if he attempted to assume authority over these libraries rather than to make advice and help available to them. T r a n s f e r s of books between the college library and the department libraries are often arranged, but relationships differ. T h e school of education, for example, does not attempt to maintain historical research collections but turns older mate- rial over to the main collection; the Insti- tute of Geographic Exploration is the university center for current maps and the W i n s o r M a p Collection in W i d e n e r con- fines itself to older material. T h e librarian of the business school serves as adviser to the college library on purchases in the field of economics, which prevents needless duplication by the main library of material covered by his collection. Union Catalog Maintenance of a union catalog of all university holdings is regarded as the m a j o r essential activity in the field of coordination. T h i s w o r k w a s neglected for several years because of lack of funds, but the lost ground has now been regained and the record is nearly complete. T h e catalog now also offers telephone reference service which, in combination w i t h a regu- lar system of deliveries between the librar- ies of the university, makes it possible for any department to locate and obtain books JUNE, 1943 20 7 quickly from any part of the university. Only four of the eighteen department libraries depend on Widener for any of their cataloging, and emphasis on mainte- nance of the union catalog has not been combined with insistence on uniform cata- loging. T h e utility of the union catalog is not impaired by the wide variety of cataloging and classification schemes used throughout the university, and editing by the college library staff takes care of vari- ations in entries. It is much cheaper to do this editing than to require depart- mental and special libraries to adopt more detailed and technical systems of catalog- ing than they need. Many of the departmental and special collections, before they came to the uni- versity, were built up by professors as private libraries, and many have continued to be closely identified with individual collectors after becoming Harvard prop- erty. Other collections that were begun by the university owe most of their de- velopment to the labor 'of one or more faculty members. It has appeared a sound policy not to dampen or interfere with collecting enthusiasm by insisting on unessential expense or work in keeping records. It is believed that it would be undesirable, even if it were practicable, to impose uniformity on the seventy-nine Harvard libraries; order librarians and catalogers in the central unit could hardly hope to match the interest and the skill in many specialized fields that now go into Harvard book collecting and organization of research materials for use. Coordinated Decentralization Perhaps the essential feature, as sug- gested at the outset, is flexibility. Indi- vidualism naturally brings a certain amount of inefficiency, of unsatisfactory service in units that are too small, of inconvenience for those whose work does not fall wholly within an established field, and of duplication, though the union cata- log makes it possible to forestall much un- necessary duplication and to reduce that which has already taken place. But the middle road of "coordinated decentraliza- tion" brings freedom to meet the needs of scholars, to utilize a maximum amount of faculty interest and enthusiasm, and to maintain economical systems of cata- loging and records. Harvard administra- tors are by no means ready to agree with M r . Branscomb that, as opposed to the often-repeated advantages of centraliza- tion, there "is virtually a single argument, the desirability of getting directly at the books needed in one's work."4 Logical organization might seem to call for appointment of an assistant director who would be responsible for relations with and between the special and depart- mental libraries. For the present at least, however, there does not appear to be enough work to warrant creation of the position. T h e staff at Widener, particu- larly the catalog and order departments, offer their services to all libraries that wish to use them and, when there is a project calling for coordination, such as assembling information for the new edi- tion of the Union List of Serials, it is possible to centralize it under the direc- tion of a member of the college library staff. Problems of Organization There are, of course, good reasons for doubting that a theoretically quite logi- cal administrative organization, either throughout the libraries of a university 4 B r a n s c o m b , H a r v i e . Teaching with Books. As- sociation of A m e r i c a n C o l l e g e s and A . L . A . , 1940, p. 134. 226 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES or within the main collection itself, is practicable in any but a new—or totali- tarian—institution. A s soon as the con- ditions that gave rise to the original organization have changed, and as soon as relationships are affected by traditions and personalities instead of explicit regulations alone, every feature of the organization involves a good deal more than simple logic, and many changes suggested by logic must be made slowly or postponed to a more suitable time. T h e danger is that if too little or too late an effort is made to keep the organization changing in the proper direction, it will become hopelessly inefficient and incapable of ful- filling present needs. T h e proposed developments mentioned in this paper seem to indicate that the officers of the Harvard library are trying to look ahead and to initiate changes that, in their opinion, will improve the organi- zation of the library. T h e y believe that too many of the important department and special libraries have staffs too small to give all-round library service of high quality and that too many of them cover fields so narrow that overlapping is a serious problem. T h e y believe that the solution is development of fewer but larger collections covering related fields of knowledge. One proposed combination of this sort, in the field of the life sciences, has been mentioned. T h e y believe that undergraduate services ought to be de- tached physically from the main library and have made plans for a separate build- ing which would become headquarters for a department of undergraduate services. T h e y believe that in the past too many minor divisions of the college library have been responsible directly to the librarian. A number of these units have been coordi- nated in recent years, and the relatively new, still incomplete department of special collections is the appropriate agency to take over most of those that remain. If the suggested coordination of func- tions of the registrar and building serv- ices also takes place, the general library (with undergraduate and dormitory col- lections) would then be administered through six divisions. These would in- clude a business office handling finances, records, building, supplies, and special services, and five departments covering order work, cataloging, reference and cir- culation, special collections, and under- graduate services. In any case, the administrative organi- zation of the Harvard University Library, after three hundred years, has not ceased to change and to adapt itself to changing environments. This appears to support the hypothesis that it is still alive and reasonably vigorous. JUNE, 1943 22 7