College and Research Libraries By CARL W. E. HINTZ Evolution at the University of Maryland Libraries Not revolution, but normal development, is the key to the changes described by the li- brarian of the University of Maryland. T HE ADMINISTRATION of collegiate li-braries in a university and their rela- tionship to the general library and the uni- versity librarian, or director of libraries, is a subject which has engaged the attention of many librarians, professors, deans, and even university presidents. In the main there have been two schools of thought- the faculty, in many cases, seeking to main- tain independent collegiate libraries while librarians have striven for ce,ntralized li- brary systems, administratively speaking. As a result, various surveys of the subject made over a period of . years show a wide variety of practice, ranging from a high degree of centralization to complete inde- pendence for certain of the professional school libraries.1 It is interesting to note in this connection that the recently pub- lished Handbook of Medical Library Prac- tice has selected as a typical administrative organization in a university one in which the university librarian is described as the "nominal head of the dental library," with the direct flow of authority passing not through his hands but vested in the dean. 2 In . general, however, recent administrative 1 A.L.A. Survey of Libraries in the United States. Chicago, A.L.A., 19 26 . v. r, p. 1 68-9 5. Hausdorfer, Walter. Professional School and Departmental L-i- braries. New York City, Special Libraries Associa - tion, 1939. Works, George Alan. College and Uni- versdy Problems. Chicago, A.L.A., 192'7 , p. 63-79. 2 Doe, Janet, ed. A Handbook of Medtcal Library Practice. Chicago, A.L.A., 1943, p. 12. trends appear to be in the direction of cen- tralization of control in library systems, as well as in other types of enterprises. In fact, if the generally accepted principles of administrative organization as discussed, for instance, by Reeves in Current Issues in Library A dministration, 3 are followed, a centralized library system must almost in- evitably result. It is the purpose of this paper to describe the development of an administrative relationship based on the thesis of centralized control which, on the basis of experience, has proved its worth and practicability. The Setting The University of Maryland is a state- owned and state-controlled university, formed by a merger in 1920 of the old privately-owned and operated .university of Maryland in Baltimore and the Maryland State College at College Park. The Balti- more division traces its history hack to I 807 when the College of Medicine of Maryland was organized. In 18 I 2 the General As- sembly of Maryland authorized the College of Medicine of Maryland to "annex or constitute faculties of divinity, law, and arts, and sciences," and by the same act declared that "the colleges or faculties thus united should be constituted an university by the name and under the title of the University of Maryland." By authority 3 Reeves, Floyd W. "Some General Principles of Administrative Organization." (In Joeckel1 Carleton B., ed. Current Issues in Library Admmistration. Chica go, University of Chicago Press, 1939, p. 1-21.) 8 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES of this act, steps were taken in I 8 I 3 to establish "a faculty of law," and in I 823 a regular course of instruction in law was undertaken. Subsequently there were added: in I882, a department of dentistry, which was united in I923 with the Balti- more College of Dental Surgery, founded in I 840; in I 889, a school of nursing; and in I904, the Maryland College qf Phar- macy, founded in I841. The Maryland State College, at College Park, was char- tered in I856 as the Maryland Agricultural College and did not receive the current designation until I9I6. Prior to I920 then, the two units were separate and dis- tinct one from another. These divergent origins of the present university, which have been only briefly summarized here, together with the physical separation of facilities, must be realized and accepted as a compli~ating factor in the administrative process. However, the University of Mary- land is not alone in this respect, at least as far as the geographical factor is concerned, as several of our outstanding institutions are in a similar situation. 4 The Situation in 1937 In I937 the libraries of the university consisted of the general library at College Park ( 65,000 volumes), the dental library (5,700 volumes), the law library (I4,200 volumes) , the medical library ( I 8 ,ooo vol- umes), and the pharmacy library ( 6,500 volumes) i~ Baltimore. Each of these libraries operated as an independent entity, with the librarian at College Park respon- sible to the president of the university and the staff members of the four libraries in Baltimore responsible to the respective 4 Univer sity of Colorado, Boulder-School of medi- cine in Denver. University of Illinois, Urbana-Schools of dentistry, medicine, and pharmacy in Chicago. Indiana University- Bloomington-Schools of den· tistry, medicine, and nursing in Indiana1>olis. Northwestern University, Evanston, IlL-Schools of law, dentistry, and medicine in Chicago. University of Tennessee, Knoxville-Schools of den- tistry, medicine, nursing, and pharmacy in Memphis. DECEMBER, 1944 deans. It is true that a degree of informal cooperation had been achieved between the dental and pharmacy libraries, largely be- cause they occupied common quarters in the dental-pharmacy building. The law li- brary was housed in the law school building half a block away, and the medical library in a converted church building across the street. The staff in Baltimore totaled eight -two in the medical library, two in the pharmacy library, one in the law library, and three in the dental library--carried on the budgets of the respective schools. One of the three dental library staff members, a cataloger, was paid from the Grieves Li- · brary Foundation Fund and in this respect perhaps could not properly be classed as a university employee. This position, how- ever, terminated in June I938. The first step toward a coordination of the university's library resources and poli- cies came with the appointment of the present director of libraries as university librarian in September I937, with specific responsibility for all libraries of the uni- versity. This was a decided innovation and required the exploration of unplatted terri- tory in intra-university relationships. Procedure Inasmuch as the main seat of university administration was on the College Park campus, it was only natural that the library system should center there administratively. The general library presented no particu- larly unusual problems of an administrative nature, so the new office merely represented a change in executives as far as it was con- cerned. Apart from an occasional reference, the general library has no part in the ma- terial which follows. The first task was to become thoroughly familiar with resources of personnel and materiel and with conditions, and to this end the university librarian spent on the average two days a week in the Baltimore 9 libraries during the first year. Early in this period he became convinced that the most suitable plan would be to provide for centralized administration and preparations, with decentralized service. The physical location of the four libraries, combined with custom and the desirability of having mate- rials readily available to classrooms, ren- dered a centralization of facilities undesir- able, if not impossible. For some time the university librarian's duties, as far as the Baltimore libraries were concerned, were almost purely of a con- sultative nature. Major issues and prob- ·lems of service, personnel, and policies were discussed with the deans, but the day-by- day work of the libraries was still remote. The opportunity to make a change came in the fall of I 940, when the dean of the den- tal school proposed to reactivate the cata- loging position vacant since June I93~- By this time one of the other dental library positiOns was vacant too. The university librarian urged that the funds available for these two positions be utilized to secure one individual to take charge of both dental and pharmacy libraries, that the pharmacy cata- loger assume responsibility for dental library cataloging as well, and that the balance of the money available be used for a clerk- typist to assist the cataloger. The deans of the dental and pharmacy schools approved this proposal. As a result, on Jan. I, I94I, a staff member was transferred from the general library at College Park to be- come librarian of the dental-pharmacy li- brary. Here for the first time centralized control and preparations went into effect, inasmuch as there was now one individual responsible for general supervision, cor- respondence, and ordering; one individual, with a clerical assistant, for classification and cataloging; and two who were able to devote their entire energies to service to readers. The over-all number of staff mem- bers was not larger than in I937-38, although the composition had changed some- what. Salary costs, · increased by five hun- dred dollars over the 1937-38 figure, were still carried on the budgets of the respective schools. Pharmacy, in return for relin- quishing a portion of the services of its cataloger, received the benefits derived from the new librarian's appointment and the additional services of the typist. It should be pointed out, incidentally, that the com- bined annual accessions of both libraries, totaling in the neighborhood of I 500 vol- umes, can be processed by the cataloger and her clerical assistant without difficulty. As a result of the changes described above, the number of distinct units in Baltimore was. reduced from four to three. The M edica.Z Library Following a series of conferences between the university librarian and the acting dean and library committee of the medic"al school, the medical library came into the scheme on Oct. I, I942, with the librarian of the dental-pharmacy library assuming respon- . sibility for its administration under the general direction of the university librarian. The medical school agreed to carry one third of the librarian's salary and one third of the typist's salary. To offset this re- duction of assistance in the dental-pharmacy library an additional staff member was ap- pointed to be paid in the main from funds released by the assumption of a portion of the two salaries by the medical school. At the same time hours of service were in- creased from 43~ to 53~ a week in the dental-pharmacy library, thereby amply off- setting any slight increase in salary costs to the.se schools. A further step forward was taken at this time, as the schools agreed to transfer salary funds to the general li- brary budget each year, so that all library staff members are now on a centralized budget.. , With this change in administrative or- 10 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES ..... ..... I G~neral Lihrary College Park G~neral Library College Park ORGANIZATION CHARTS, UNIVERSITY OF ~1ARYLANO LIRRARIES As existing in 1937 January 1938 . Prrsident __Qf _!l_!_e_!J nivc-rsitr Drntal Library Pharmacy Library In 1943, after reorgani%alion I President of the University I t· I Director of Librarirs ~ l I Dental-Pharmacy-Medical_ Library I L Law Library I l Librarian-Administration Order work Correspondence Dental-Pharmacy Library Medical Library Preparations and Processing Preparations and Processing f-- 1 Cataloger 1 Cataloger . 1/3 Subprofessional 1/3 Subprofessional - 2/3 Clerical 1/3 Clerical Service to readers Service to readers 2 Profr.~sional ---- 1/3 Subprofessional 2 Professional ~ ganization, the medical scho~l was per- suaded to provide funds for a full-time cataloger and, as a result, recataloging and reclassification of the medical collection is now under way. The Boston Medical Li- brary classification is being discarded in favor of the Library of Congress classifica- tion, which was already in use in the dental- pharmacy library. As a result of the changes described above, the number of units in Baltimore was further reduced from three to two and the number of classification schemes in use from two to one. The Law Library No attempt has been made as yet to bring the law library into the organizational scheme and to have the law librarian eport directly to the university librarian. The fact that its problems, needs, and subject matter differ so radically from those of the other units, which have a defini.te com- munity of interest and subject matter, is the principal reason. At present there appears to be little to gain from an arbitrary re- organization. The Situation in 1943 The period in which these changes were taking place was also that of the greatest growth on the part of the university li- braries. By June 1943 the number of vol- umes had increased to over 101,000 in the general library at College Park, to 10,000 in the dental library, 18,ooo in the law library, 22,500 in the medical library, and 9,200 in the pharmacy library, representing a net increase of some 50,000 volumes. From the administrative standpoint one person in the university, namely, the di- rector of libraries, is now responsible for the conduct of library service. This does not mean, of course, that the libraries of the professional schools are administered with- out regard to the wishes of the respective deans and faculties, since consultations are constantly in progress looking toward the best development and greatest usefulness. As the organization now stands the di- rector of libraries, with his staff, is entirely responsible for technical processes, service, and personnel. Book selection, as is usually the case in the college and university library, is carried on in large part by the faculty, but the library staff is active in checking for desirable items and calling them to the at- tention of fac1,1lty members concerned. Salary funds are transferred to a central budget each year while book funds remain on the budgets of the individual schools. In this way each school is enabled to express its interest by the degree of support fur- nished to its library, which still, of course, retains its own identity as a collection. It is gratifying to report in this connection that two schools have increased book funds considerably in the past two or three years. The old and new plans of organization are set forth graphically in the charts on an accompanymg page. Conclusions That certain benefits have derived from the changes herein described is generally conceded. In the first place, as has already been pointed out, there is one person in the university who is cognizant of all library activities regardless of school or locale. From the standpoint of coordinating infor- mation, statistics, and reports, this has been especially important. The increased em- phasis on professional training and conduct has tended to strengthen morale and stand- ards. There has been closer cooperation between the general library at College Park and the Baltimore group culminating in joint staff meetings at not too frequent in- tervals. The staff has increased in size but this perhaps is only incidental to the re- organization and ~ight have taken place {Continued on page 22) 12 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES . I Limits of ·Collections Another suggested basis for limiting our collections is by division of subject responsi- bility with other libraries. In respect to manuscripts and very rare books this is probably inevitable. The professional ma- terial we have already abandoned to other libraries. Our requirements otherwise are so large that any proposal to limit the col- lections should be approached with the ut- most caution. But neither should we agree to accept responsibility for making exhaus- tive collections in any subject, since this would compel us to get the professional books, manuals, reprints, and translations, of . which we have made a general exception. Even in the event of cooperative agreements it would be unnecessary to acquire all these classes of publications because professional libraries in the city will get them anyway. The library as we have attempted to de- scribe it in our report is a metropolitan research institution. In my opinion, shared to greater or less degree by members of the committee, supplying visitors with informa- tion on the repair of automobiles or prepara- tion of income tax returns is merely one of its incidental functions and one which could be performed better by libraries in which the catalogs and distances are smaller. Our resources should not be dissipated in purchasing material of temporary useful- ness, still less in duplicating it. The ultimate purpose of our collect.ions is to preserve the true record of human life. In Amiel's 1 ournal is an observation perti- nent to our work here: "A lively, persistent and disinterested liking for the truth is extraordinarily rare." Yet it is this same liking for the truth, together with the in- telligence to recognize it, which is the mark of the educated man . It is our job to pro- vide an instrument for the use of educated men in the hope that eventually we shall have contributed to the development of an educated community. Evolution at the University of Maryland Libraries (Continu ed from pag e 12) anyway. It is without doubt more flexible and consequently better adapted to handle emergencies caused by illness or resigna- tions. There has been a standardization of procedures, service, and hours, as well as a greater utilization of resources through knowledge of the holdings of the other li- braries. The purchase of duplicate expen- sive items can be controlled by means of centralized ordering. A final point which appears to merit emphasis is the fact that this is an organiza- tion which has come about as the result of guided evolution and not revolution. It was developed in concert and on the basis of mutual agreement rather than by edict on the part of the university administration. Moreover, it contains within itself the seeds for further development without departing from the present basic lines. 22 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES