College and Research Libraries B y S T A N L E Y P A R G E L L I S Building a Research Library Should the acquisition policy of the research library be inclusive or selective? The librarian of the Newberry Library pre- sents the case for selectivity. AT ANY TIME w i t h i n the l a s t t w o h u n -. d r e d y e a r s c o m m e n t on this assigned topic w o u l d have t a k e n both c o u r a g e and h u m i l i t y . C o m m e n t t o d a y , in the m i d d l e of an i n t e l l e c t u a l r e v o l u t i o n w h i c h is a f - f e c t i n g o u r c o n c e p t s of research, takes a m e a s u r e of f o o l h a r d i n e s s to boot. T h e o n l y j u s t i f i c a t i o n f o r a n y l i b r a r i a n p u t t i n g himself into such a v u l n e r a b l e position is t h a t , simply because he is a l i b r a r i a n , he m u s t come to some c o n c l u s i o n s of his o w n . T h e real b u r d e n , the real responsibility, of b u i l d i n g a research l i b r a r y f a l l s on his shoulders. H e is e x p e c t e d to p u t on its shelves both books w h i c h s c h o l a r s w a n t n o w and books w h i c h they w i l l w a n t f i f t y or a h u n d r e d y e a r s hence. H e m u s t h a z a r d some guesses t h e r e f o r e a b o u t the m e a n i n g of research and distinguish to his o w n s a t i s f a c t i o n b e t w e e n the v a r i o u s m e n t a l exercises to w h i c h t h a t h o n o r a b l e n a m e t o d a y is applied, k n o w i n g w e l l t h a t w h a t he himself does w i l l h a v e some influence u p o n the c h a r a c t e r of research in the f u - t u r e . If the president of his u n i v e r s i t y or the dean of his g r a d u a t e school is a f a r - sighted m a n , he m a y g e t some help there. B u t m o s t l y he m u s t act a l o n e . W h a t t h e r e f o r e shall the l i b r a r i a n b u y or b e g ? T o w h a t , o u t of this N i a g a r a of m o d e r n p r i n t a n d t y p e s c r i p t , shall he pay the d i g n i t y of p r e s e r v a t i o n ? W h a t s h a l l he t r y to a c q u i r e in the o u t - o f - p r i n t m a r - ket or rescue f r o m attics and their e q u i v a - l e n t ? T o these questions, w h i c h represent the most i m p o r t a n t of the l i b r a r i a n ' s m a n y f u n c t i o n s , he seems to be g i v i n g f o u r m a i n a n s w e r s . Leave-lt-to-the-Facuity Method T h e easiest and perhaps the w i s e s t an- s w e r i n v o l v e s the simple r e c o g n i t i o n of the f a c t t h a t the g r e a t l i b r a r i e s of the w o r l d h a v e been a c c u m u l a t e d by m a n y h a n d s and m i n d s . T h e a c c u m u l a t i o n has been o f t e n a c c i d e n t a l . I n this niche are books on s i x t e e n t h c e n t u r y I t a l i a n m e c h a n - ics, s o u g h t o u t p a t i e n t l y o v e r m a n y y e a r s by a g r e a t s u b w a y e n g i n e e r ; in t h a t , is the r a r e and p r e c i o u s l i b r a r y of a m a n w h o l i k e d B i b l e s and Shakespeare, B u n y a n a n d the R o m a n I n d e x . H e r e sit the w o r k i n g books of a s c h o l a r w h o m a d e the R i s o r g i m e n t o his f i e l d ; there, a t h o u s a n d v o l u m e s on the F r i s i a n l a n g u a g e p u t to- g e t h e r by a d i c t i o n a r y - m a k e r w i t h a spe- cial h o b b y . E v e r y l i b r a r y of s t a n d i n g has t r e a s u r e s so amassed, and they g i v e it its v a r i e t y and its g l o r y . T h e y represent the interest and q u i r k s of those r a r e and g i f t e d i n d i v i d u a l s w h o s i m p l y like to c o l l e c t books, and perhaps the best t h i n g f o r a l i b r a r i a n to do is first to e n c o u r a g e his a d m i n i s t r a t i o n to h u n t o u t a n d a p p o i n t to e n d o w e d c h a i r s m o r e p r o f e s s o r s w h o are such i n d i v i d u a l s a n d then to t u r n o v e r to them e n o u g h m o n e y each y e a r to s a t i s f y their desires. T h r e e u n i v e r s i t y l i b r a r i e s in v 110 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES this c o u n t r y , in t u r n , h a v e been w i s e e n o u g h to g i v e his o w n w a y to one g r e a t E n g l i s h historian w h o w a s j u s t such a c o l l e c t o r ; each of t h e m has been perma- n e n t l y enriched t h e r e b y . U n f o r t u n a t e l y this m e t h o d , if m e t h o d it can be c a l l e d , does not w o r k o u t as w e l l as it m i g h t . L i b r a r i a n s w o u l d h a v e an easy time of it if t h e r e w e r e a t t a c h e d to their staffs, as in t h e o r y is the case in a u n i v e r s i t y , a g r o u p of scholars t e l l i n g them w h a t to b u y . M o s t professors, h o w e v e r , l a c k the c o l l e c t i n g instinct. T h e y e x p e c t a book to be on the shelves w h e n they w a n t it. S o m e w i l l m a k e r e c o m m e n d a - tions n o w and then or even put in a list of desired books. B u t f e w h a v e the u r g e to read c a t a l o g s or keep a w e a t h e r eye out f o r l i b r a r i e s w h i c h m i g h t be a c q u i r e d or chase d o w n in person some a l l u r i n g l e a d . I n a f e w places l i b r a r i a n s still u n h a p - pily appear to resent " i n t e r f e r e n c e " f r o m the f a c u l t y , as if a s u g g e s t i o n t h a t they buy a book i m p u g n e d their j u d g m e n t and c r i t i c i z e d their fitness f o r their j o b . N o r d o u n i v e r s i t y a d m i n i s t r a t i o n s , in a p p o i n t i n g n e w professors, a l w a y s pay s u f - ficient a t t e n t i o n to the s t r e n g t h s of the l i b r a r y . E v e r y l i b r a r y has in it m o r e t h a n one m a g n i f i c e n t torso, a splendid col- lection of books on some s u b j e c t w h i c h w a s l o v i n g l y a c q u i r e d d u r i n g some g r e a t s c h o l a r ' s l i f e and n e v e r either kept up or even used a f t e r his d e a t h . T h e r e it lies, a c c u m u l a t i n g dust, to the s o r r o w of o t h e r scholars in the field and to the dismay of its c u s t o d i a n . T h e n e w m a n w h o c o u l d d e v e l o p it, a t t r a c t students, and t u r n o u t u s e f u l w o r k , m a y sit e l s e w h e r e w i t h o u t the tools he needs, w h i l e the a d m i n i s t r a - tion chooses someone in a d i f f e r e n t field. T h e l e a v e - i t - t o - t h e - f a c u l t y m e t h o d of b u i l d i n g a research l i b r a r y , then, w h i l e p o t e n t i a l l y the best and soundest, is too c l o g g e d by l a c k of c o o p e r a t i o n b e t w e e n a d m i n i s t r a t i o n , f a c u l t i e s , and l i b r a r i a n s to be w h o l l y depended upon. T h e l i b r a r i a n m u s t d e v e l o p others. Follow-the-Crowd Method H e m a y be f o r g i v e n , if not praised, f o r a d o p t i n g the f o l l o w - t h e - c r o w d m e t h o d . T h e r e are f a d s in book c o l l e c t i n g . F i f t y y e a r s ago a D o r e - i l l u s t r a t e d book cost m o n e y and a Z e n g e r i m p r i n t c o u l d be picked up f o r a d o l l a r . T o d a y it is the Z e n g e r w h i c h is s o u g h t f o r . F a s h i o n s d e r i v e f r o m v a r i o u s sources. A f a m o u s d o c t o r m a y get an interest in old m e d i c a l books, e n c o u r a g e the d e v e l o p m e n t of medi- cal history, send prices s k y - h i g h , and cause e v e r y m e d i c a l l i b r a r y in the c o u n t r y to f o l l o w suit. N o t l o n g a g o a P e t t y or a B e n t h a m nestled a m o n g the other ten- s h i l l i n g books in a c a t a l o g ; n o w they are h e a d l i n e d . T h e cause is the d e v e l o p m e n t of interest in the history of economic t h e o r y , itself an expression, in these days of c o n f l i c t i n g ideologies, of a g e n e r a l in- terest in the h i s t o r y of t h o u g h t . P r i n t e d lists of the h u n d r e d best books or of h i g h spots, if l a u n c h e d w i t h some a u t h o r i t y be- hind t h e m , m a y l i k e w i s e become g u i d e s t o b u y i n g . T h e y reflect, in a w a y , our recent d i s c o v e r y of the richness of o u r A m e r i c a n h e r i t a g e . I n f e c t e d by the same d i s c o v e r y are those l i b r a r i e s w h i c h h a v e r e c e n t l y g o n e in f o r W e s t e r n A m e r i c a n a , t h o u g h y e s t e r d a y no one in them k n e w the d i f f e r e n c e b e t w e e n a H a l l and a M c - K e n n e y and H a l l . A l i b r a r i a n w h o keeps up w i t h the procession by f o l l o w i n g c u r - r e n t t r e n d s in c o l l e c t i n g can console him- self w i t h the t h o u g h t that at a n y rate he can n e v e r be behind it. S u c h b u y i n g , of course, is expensive. I t is also an i l l u s t r a - tion t h a t in the book business the economic l a w s of p e r f e c t c o m p e t i t i o n , w i t h all the MARCH, 1944 111 w a s t e f u l n e s s w h i c h it b r i n g s , still a p p l y . I t also seems a l i t t l e u n o r i g i n a l and un- c e r t a i n . Grab-All Method I n o r d e r to escape such u n c e r t a i n t y some l i b r a r i a n s f o l l o w t h e g r a b - a l l m e t h o d . T h a t m e t h o d r e q u i r e s c a r e f u l e x a m i n a t i o n . I t is based u p o n a k i n d of f a i t h , a phi- l o s o p h y of scholarship, t h a t e v e r y piece of paper w i t h m a r k s u p o n it has n o w or w i l l some day h a v e v a l u e to some as y e t un- identified r e s e a r c h e r . P e o p l e w h o h o l d this f a i t h in an e x t r e m e f o r m s h u d d e r w h e n e v e r they hear of a n y t h i n g b e i n g de- s t r o y e d t h r o u g h carelessness or i n t e n t . T h e y l a y u n d i s c r i m i n a t i n g h a n d s u p o n a l l they can g e t and to the best of their abil- ity see to it t h a t n o t h i n g w h i c h m a y some day t h r o w l i g h t u p o n this c i v i l i z a t i o n o r its predecessors shall perish f r o m the e a r t h . I t is a l a u d a b l e a m b i t i o n , n o t the less l a u d a b l e f o r b e i n g c o m p l e t e l y u n r e a l i z a b l e . F o r of course it is p h y s i c a l l y impossible to r e a l i z e . T h e r e is n o t e n o u g h w a r e - house space a v a i l a b l e to l i b r a r i e s at the m o m e n t t o save even a s i n g l e y e a r ' s o u t p u t of books, p a m p h l e t s , a d v e r t i s i n g m a t e r i a l , m a g a z i n e s , reports, a n d especially letters. N o r c a n e v e r y t h i n g w h i c h m i g h t some day be of v a l u e to an u n k n o w n s t u d e n t possibly be g o t a n d stored a w a y . S o m e e d i t o r s of l e a r n e d j o u r n a l s d e l i b e r a t e l y a n d in m a l i c e c l e a n o u t .their c o r r e s p o n d - ence files e v e r y six m o n t h s , t h e r e b y m a k i n g it impossible f o r a n y s t u d e n t to appraise f i n a l l y t h e i r j u d g m e n t , e d i t o r i a l s k i l l , a n d a c u m e n . W r i t e r s d e s t r o y their first d r a f t s . H o w m a n y u n i v e r s i t y l i b r a r i a n s m a k e s y s t e m a t i c e f f o r t to a c q u i r e a l l the l e t t e r s and papers of each of t h e i r f a c u l t y — t h e s e r e c o r d s of v a l i a n t f i g h t e r s a g a i n s t the f o r c e s of i g n o r a n c e and i n d i f f e r e n c e ? W h o does or s h o u l d do a n y t h i n g a b o u t the w a s t e b a s k e t s of the w o r l d , w i t h their d a i l y e v i d e n c e of the hopes and b u r d e n s of m a n k i n d ? C l e a r l y e n o u g h , they a r e e m p t i e d and w i l l c o n t i n u e to be e m p t i e d . A l l l i b r a r i a n s , even the g r a b - a l l v a r i e t y , are t h e r e f o r e selective l i b r a r i a n s . Selec- t i v i t y is f o r c e d u p o n t h e m ; w h e t h e r they w i l l or no, s t r i v e as e v e r they m a y n o t to be, they a r e selective s t i l l . S o m e t h i n g s indeed t h e y m a y save, b u t the precious t h i n g s , the w o r k i n g notes of some t w e n t i - eth c e n t u r y S h a k e s p e a r e , say, are b o u n d to j o i n those of his predecessor in o b l i v i o n . P h i l o s o p h i c a l l y speaking, the g r a b - a l l m e t h o d represents a c u r i o u s and t r a n s i t o r y c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of m u c h m o d e r n scholarship. I n E u r o p e t h e y speak of " l a m e t h o d e statistique, l a m e t h o d e A m e r i c a i n e . " T h o s e w h o a p p l y it h a v e the ' c o n v i c t i o n t h a t t r u t h is m a t h e m a t i c a l , t h a t it c a n be f o u n d by c o u n t i n g . I f a h u n d r e d B a b y - l o n i a n tiles g i v e us some insight into the n a t u r e of a n c i e n t business and social transactions, a h u n d r e d t h o u s a n d w o u l d g i v e a t h o u s a n d times as m u c h . I n its w o r s t f o r m , this k i n d of scholarship has p r o d u c e d such dissertations as t h a t f a m o u s one on the use of the w o r d " t h e " in the s i x t e e n t h c e n t u r y ; it has p e r m i t t e d h u n - d r e d s of g r a d u a t e s t u d e n t s to believe t h a t the w o r t h of their papers is d i r e c t l y pro- p o r t i o n a l to the l e n g t h of their b i b l i o g r a - p h i e s ; a n d it has t u r n e d o u t as d o c t o r a l dissertations some of the most e p h e m e r a l and w o r t h l e s s l i t e r a t u r e of o u r t i m e . I t is this k i n d of t h i n k i n g w h i c h has set us to s a v i n g a l l the r e c o r d s of this present w a r and e v e n d e v i s i n g n e w m e t h o d s of m a k i n g t h e m to save, in such q u a n t i t i e s t h a t t h e y c a n n e v e r a l l be used or u n d e r s t o o d . F r o m the v o l u m i n o u s r e c o r d s of the l a s t w a r f e w books h a v e been w r i t t e n , and the P u b l i c R e c o r d s O f f i c e is f u l l of m a t e r i a l on w a r s a c e n t u r y old w h i c h has n e v e r v 112 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES I been combed. There is such a thing, as every scholar knows, as having too much material, material in amounts which swamp judgment, stultify the imagination, and kill productive scholarship, which must feed on ideas and not figures. Good books come from the mind and not from card files, and a man might measure and index every brush stroke of Michelangelo, without understanding at all why his painting is good. M y main point—that some selection on some basis is desirable, inescapable in fact — i s nothing new. It is known to all great scholars. Some years ago the leading au- thority on the O l d South, in company with a group of young students, looked over with a view to purchasing for a uni- versity library some fifteen large cases of letters which had been accumulated by a prewar Southern family. T h e youngsters would have bought the lot; the master picked out a single small assortment. "These only are worth keeping," he said; " I don't care what happens to the rest." Buy-a-Good-Book-When-You-See-lt Method Let us call the fourth, the last, and the best method of building a research li- brary the buy-a-good-book-when-you-see- it method. It is a definition of an aim adaptable in many ways. It holds good both for the great library and the small special one. A mass of manuscript, a pile of tracts, a litter of pamphlets, a bookseller's catalog, or a publisher's w e e k l y — i t s principles, which are variable, can be applied to them all. In essence this is the method used by all librarians who recognize that not all of anything, not even of incunabula or 1640 books, is worth saving, who have the conviction and the courage to say, " I will not have that book in this library." Since in the nature of things librarians are compelled to be selective, it lets them be selective according to principles. Not, of course, to any single set of principles. Heaven forbid that all li- braries should be alike. Some rejoice in buying for quality's sake materials which others would not have in the place. Some may even buy, in a single field or two, what most others would consider trash. But the point remains, that a book is not bought because someone wrote it and persuaded or paid a publisher to put it out but because it is something for which at least one intelligent critic can find good reason. It is not sufficient reason for acquiring material in which no first- rate critic can see any merit whatsoever that some day some poor graduate stu- dent may be lured or forced into wading through it. Posterity will give thanks to be spared that dissertation. Specifically, then, the great research library should deliberately set out to ac- quire the best books in any field. T h a t is no easy assignment. T h e British Museum, perhaps because it is a deposit library, does not have all the best books printed in the English language. It was ten years before a certain book written by an American scholar, a minor classic in its field, was acquired by the British Museum. One of the skills w e lack is intelligent bibliography-making. Libraries put out proudly long lists of all their holdings in some subject, with a worthless item which should have been stifled at the moment of its birth occupying as much space as the best book in the field. T h e student can't distinguish between them, and the list doesn't tell him. H e flounders, wastes time, and comes to distrust all MARCH, 1944 113 such inclusive lists, which thereby serve no purpose but the encouraging of other libraries to acquire what they should not need. A n intelligent young scholar of my acquaintance, recently faced with the problem of naming and commenting upon all the best editions, all the best supple- mental material, and all the best second- ary work in his field, came to the conclusion, after looking at lists and so- called bibliographies, that there was a vast conspiracy on the part of libraries to compel him to spend his time on trash and inferior stuff. Library schools might well emphasize courses in selective bib- liography-making; it is an art which can be acquired. In the new Cambridge bibliography of English literature there are some 2500 entries under Shakespeare. Perhaps forty of these are really good books which contribute something to our critical ap- preciation and understanding. By that same proportion, if there are fifteen mil- lion books in the w o r l d — o r is it ten or twenty—250,000 of these do the job of carrying the accumulated wisdom and knowledge of civilized man. G o further if that figure seems pitifully small. Say there are two or three hundred books on Shakespeare which a thoughtful scholar ought to read before he ventures into a book of his own. By that proportion a library of a million and a half volumes, if they were the right ones, would suffice for the creative scholar. O n l y the book- keeping kind of scholar, the counter, would find them too few. Conclusion T h e point of this brief paper is the same point which is being made today in other connections. T h e librarian who deliberately and undiscriminately gathers in everything he can is traitor to our civilization, which has always, until the last half-century or so, recognized that some things are better than others. H e is preserver of mediocrity, slave to the fiction of size, and servant to a specious gospel of relativity in human affairs. A final word, lest those in the preced- ing paragraph seem much too uncritical, should be said on special collections. If a great research library has the best books on all subjects, it should have too its special collections, which are deliberately more inclusive and which give it, to re- peat, its variety and glory. If collected by a scholar or a discriminating collector, these too will be selective., It would be a poor Shakespearean library, a travesty on scholarship and the bard both, that bought every pamphlet which contained his name. T h e tragedy about special col- lections is that, among modern libraries, they are too often duplicated. It is a strange commentary upon the comrade- ship which binds scholars together that one librarian, if he has started a collec- tion on, say, accipitraria, scarcely dare tell his brother librarian. There is no need for duplication of collections which only a handful of scholars, within the next century or so, will ever use. Let the accipitrarians travel to their books. O n the other hand, there is great need for the starting of new special collections, either on new subjects like plastics or neo-mercantilism or jive which our chang- ing age produces or on the many interests of every description in the local region where the library is situated. Such a service to one's own community will nourish, in time, that local patriotism upon which all sound national feeling must be based and without which interna- tional understanding is' impossible. v 114 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES