College and Research Libraries


By B L A N C H E P R I C H A R D M c C R U M 

« Peace, Like War, Must Be Waged" 

DR . V A N N E V A R B U S H ' S brave words, used as the title of this greeting to 
members of the Association of Col-
lege and Reference Libraries, set the pace 
at which I hope we may work together 
during 1945-46. O u r country and its allies 
have won our w a r ; the long battle for 
enduring peace seems hardly to have been 
joined. Public opinion, if rightly informed 
and energized, may just barely save the day. 
And so the call is clear to librarians who 
collect, keep, organize, dispense, expend, 
expound the wisdom of the ages to go for-
ward in their work for peace with the same 
standards of achievement that have been the 
glory of the armed forces in time of war. 
Within this frame of reference, may I sug-
gest three lines of endeavor for our con-
sideration? 

First, the creation of a stronger, more 
productive association. T h e reorganization 
of the College and Reference Section, 
1936-38, which resulted in the present 
association, brought together over eight 
hundred members; in December 1944 the 
membership numbered 2223. T h i s is a 
fine rate of growth. If it can be accelerated 
now, without a time-lag, there is every 
hope that a membership of five thousand 
eventually will increase our manpower and 
our funds, will adequately support our com-
mittees in their work, and will bring into 
being new lines of accomplishment to meet 
the needs of the times. T o this end, each 
individual member, each head of a refer-
ence department, each head librarian, all 
specialists in educational librarianship, are 
besought to constitute themselves recruiting 

officers for the maximum membership in the 
association. 

T h e learned societies of the United States 
are bulwarks of its intellectual life, as wit-
ness the contributions of groups of scientists 
to the winning of the war. A.C.R.L. 
should not "cease from mental fight" until 
it has an organization as good in its own 
sphere as the best organizations in other 
fields. 

As one means of the accomplishment of 
this greatly desired end, on J u n e 23, I 9 4 5 > 
the officers and directors, under the leader-
ship of W i n i f r e d Ver Nooy as president, 
made an application to the Executive Board 
of the A.L.A. for a service which has been 
requested repeatedly over a period longer 
than ten years. T h e application calls for 
a specialist on the staff of A.L.A. Head-
quarters who will serve the particular needs 
of all groups whose collective strength 
forms the A.C.R.L. Research and inform-
ation, consultation and advice, promotion 
and development of reference, research, and 
educational librarianship, are envisaged as 
the contributions to be stimulated by such 
an appointment. 

In spite of the sympathy and courtesy 
with which the case was heard and the mak-
ing of certain suggestions of possible future 
developments, the board has not yet notified 
the A.C.R.L. of affirmative action on its 
request. T h e situation is a difficult one, 
since the A.L.A. has heavy commitments 
to projects already launched, as well as an 
imposing list of applications for support of 
new undertakings. I t cannot be denied, 
however, that there seems to exist some 



lack of understanding of the value that 
would accrue to the achievements and repu-
tation of the whole A.L.A. from the work 
of a specialist devoted to the scholarly inter-
ests that exist in all libraries, functionally, 
without being confined to any one type of 
institution. T h e A . C . R . L . must certainly 
bear its own share of the blame for failing 
in the past to press its claims to a point 
where a final decision was reached and for 
lacking a unified will to win objectives in 
which it believes devotedly. U n d e r these 
circumstances, it is of first importance for 
the association to decide how it will pur-
sue these aims in the f u t u r e and in what 
direction its best development lies. T h e 
president for 1945-46 solicits guidance and 
direction from the membership to advance 
such understanding throughout the year. 

Second, the development of devices for 
wide distribution of the formative ideas, the 
discoveries, the innovations that are even at 
this moment making history in many a 
library off as well as on the beaten path. I 
should like to see many more librarians 
publishing the results of their work, not in 
essays consisting of general statements based 
on questionnaires, but as laboratory reports 
of work in progress. Such reports are 
familiar mechanisms in other fields of scho-
larship. T o no profession can they possibly 
be more useful than to one still in the active 
stage of assembling its source materials. 

O u r o w n j o u r n a l , College and Research 
Libraries, now essential reading for a grow-
ing number of us, has succeeded in pub-
lishing original material of unusual value. 
Even judged by so gross a measure as its 
financial situation, it is a success. Rarely, 
indeed, have so many owed so much to so 
few, as its readers have owed to its editors. 
W i t h a considerably enlarged subscription 
list, which seems to be in the making, it is 
not Utopian to hope for this journal a 
growth in size that will accommodate much 
more laboratory material. Provision of 

such data when new and useful should 
then be assumed as a professional obliga-
tion by all members of the A.C.R.L. 

In addition to formal, and informal pub-
lications on an increased scale, we need a 
subject index in a central place (preferably 
in the office of a specialist at A.L.A. Head-
quarters) of the undertakings of all 
libraries in the college and reference field. 
From such an index a consultant service 
of real power could be developed for large 
as well as small libraries. Questions to be 
answered would have a wide range, as for 
example, Is there a satisfactory testing de-
vice for finding out a freshman's ability to 
use a college library? W h a t is being done 
to make displays and exhibits useful in 
teaching subject material? W h a t applica-
tions are being made by teacher-training 
colleges of such documents as the Yale and 
Harvard reports on long-term educational 
planning? H o w does an institution con-
duct an architectural competition for a new 
building so that it is in line with the prac-
tices approved by the American Institute of 
Architects? W h a t are the promising new 
ideas for library buildings? W h a t should 
reference libraries be preparing to do in 
view of pending legislation in support of 
research on a national scale? Could li-
braries assume responsibility for carrying 
on the courses in reading and communica-
tion recently given by the Army ? Some of 
this material is hidden away in graduate 
theses; infinitely much more is discovered 
and practiced in isolated instances, with no 
carry-over that is f r u i t f u l for librarianship 
as a whole. T o do good and to be willing 
to communicate is sound scripture and an 
equally important enterprise to which 
A.C.R.L. may well dedicate itself. 

Third, the stimulation of librarianship 
as a learned profession, to meet the chal-
lenge of the atomic age, whatever that 
challenge may be. In the past librarians 
have been timid about calling themselves 

4 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



educators, so that it came with something 
of a shock when the New York Times, on 
Aug. 4, 1945, published an editorial in 
support of "another large group of teachers 
. . . the city's librarians." But to anyone 
whose duty it is to read the bills now before 
Congress on the promotion of scientific re-
search for the public good, it seems quite 
possible that as a nation we are moving into 
a greatly improved understanding of the 
value of knowledge and research, with their 
attendant spirits: books, libraries, and li-
brarians. Professor Einstein's comment 
that even if atomic bombs destroy two-thirds 
of the human race there will be enough men 
and enough books left to start over again 
sheds the light of a great mind on the place 
of books in the world of tomorrow. How, 
then, are these books to be served and serv-
iced so that the teaching function of li-
braries will be developed on a scale to meet 
opportunities as they come? 

Certainly this will not be accomplished 
by continuing to think in the categories that 
meant progress thirty years ago. American 
librarianship has gone through its technologi-
cal revolution, and great are the blessings 
that have resulted. Now it seems evident 
that a new division of labor should be made, 
as long ago it was made in another great 
institution of ou;- civilization, the hospital. 
Obviously, libraries will always need labor-
atory technicians and attendants, just as 
hospitals need laboratory technicians and 
nurses. Quantitatively this will continue 
to be the larger demand. A t some levels it 
may be the only demand, with the result 
that professional training for such work 
should be more rather than less practical, 

highly energized, and socially conscious. 
T h e instant the real teaching function of 

a library is emphasized, however, the 
teacher must know a great deal more than 
the taught. If he cannot be a man of uni-
versal learning in One W o r l d swollen with 
books, he can at least be a thinker whose 
capacity has been tested by the highest 
standards of formal education or proved by 
the quality of his independent research. 
Within the disciplines of our universities 
there is ample opportunity for selecting 
subject fields particularly appropriate to li-
brarianship. Comparative literature, com-
parative government, public administration, 
the history of science, the history of a r t — 
to mention only a few—could provide con-
genial specialization for the advanced 
student who would go also to the school of 
librarianship for his bibliographical work 
and for the special slanting of his interest 
that any profession requires. T h e members 
of A.C.R.L. could hardly perform a more 
statesmanly service to their profession than 
to initiate investigations that would result 
in new definitions of librarianship on vary-
ing levels of opportunity, responsibility, and 
reward. As early as 1902 D r . William 
W a r n e r Bishop wrote an illuminating 
paper, "Should the Librarian Be a Biblio-
phile?" Forty-three years later librarians 
such as he called for are still rare. Have 
we not waited long enough to be active in 
helping to produce them? 

About these and many other ideas and 
plans your new president needs your advice, 
instruction, admonition, and most of all 
your help. W i l l you not write to me, giv-
ing me my marching orders? 

J A N U A R Y , 1946 
3 7