College and Research Libraries By F E L I X E . H I R S C H College Libraries and International Understanding1 IT is SURPRISING to see how little space has been given in recent professional literature to the question as to how college libraries can promote international under- standing in a new era.2 A t the end of the long war emergency many college librarians seem to be preoccupied with more immedi- ately pressing problems: they are busy fight- ing for better budgets, improving their often disheartening personnel situation, or planning for a more adequate new library building. But, in the understandable urge of r e t u r n i n g to normalcy, librarians should not overlook the fundamental issues of their time and should offer their modest contribu- tion toward solving them. T h i s conviction is based on the writings of two great scholar-librarians of this cen- tury, the German, Adolf von H a r n a c k , and the American, W i l l i a m W a r n e r Bishop. T h e former director-general of the Prussian State Library drew the lessons of a unique career in a wise paper which he wrote in the turbulent period following the First W o r l d W a r . 3 " T h e spirit of universal enlighten- ment should preside over the library," H a r - nack stated there. " N o librarian ought ever 1 T h i s paper was read at the meeting of the College L i b r a r i e s Section of the A . C . R . L . at Chicago, Dec. 28, 1945. 2 T h e three most significant comments on the subject are to be f o u n d in the annual report of the librarian of W e l l e s l e y College, September 1944, in the annual report of 1942-43 of the librarian of Colgate U n i v e r s i t y ( p a r t l y reprinted in School and Society 59: 268-69, A p r . 15, 1944), and in the paper by Robert M c E w e n , " A m e r i c a n College Libraries in the P o s t w a r E r a " (College and Research Libraries 3 : p. 293, September 1942). 3 Zentralblatt fur Bibliothekswesen 40: 529-37, 1923. T h e gist of this paper is given in translation in the present author's essay on " T h e Scholar as L i b r a r i a n . " (Library Quarterly 9 : 299-320, J u l y 1939.) to forget that his building must be an asy- lum of peace." T h e more the great librar- ies, he goes on to say, are treasured and used as the common property of mankind, the more will they contribute toward a reunion of the divided civilized world. "Bibliotheca docet!" F o u r years ago, at the midwinter meeting of the American Library Associa- tion in December 1941, Bishop expressed himself in a similar spirit and warned his fellow librarians against the evils of propa- ganda.4 " I t is distinctly up to the librar- ians," he said, " t o resist hysteria, to acquire the printed sources of knowledge f r o m all countries, and to foster that intercourse of minds which alone develops understanding." H e concluded that every effort made in each individual library for a better appreciation of the culture of other peoples, every formal attempt at international cooperation, every personal gesture of friendship, counts in the great cause of freedom. An Inescapable Duty If Bishop was right, at the beginning of the Second W o r l d W a r when passion ran high, how much more strength can be de- rived from his noble words now that the crisis has passed and the cause of freedom has prevailed. T h e year 1945 witnessed the disaster of the Axis countries, but the world is yet far, f a r away f r o m true peace. Col- lege librarians have the inescapable duty to do their bit in order that the young people 4 " L i b r a r i e s in the International P i c t u r e . " A.L.A. Bulletin 36: 12-13, J a n u a r y 1942. 138 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES who are now engaged in academic studies may live and study in real peace. W i t h i n the natural limits set to the librarian's work, he should make the college students aware of the job ahead and of the dangers to be faced. H e and his staff should offer them every opportunity to investigate the impli- cations of the atomic bomb, the potentiali- ties of the United Nations Organization, the question of the reconstruction of Europe and the F a r East and of the American stake in it. In particular, he should present them with well-rounded, up-to-date, and abso- lutely fair pictures of foreign countries and leave it to the reader to draw whatever con- clusions he deems justified. T h e college librarian does not interfere with the rightful functions of the teaching faculty if he, on his own initiative, spreads the best available information before the young generation. O n the contrary, he merely supplements and supports the efforts of professors in various branches of knowledge—geography as well as physics, history and sociology, economics, and foreign languages. H e fills the gaps they are bound to leave in any college cur- riculum ; he coordinates activities and stimu- lates thought in his humble ways. Never should the college librarian push himself into the foreground; instead, he may have the deeper satisfaction that the reputation of his library will grow if it is able to serve as an effective agent of international under- standing on campus. Successful work in this direction is not a privilege of the heavily endowed institutions. T h i s paper, on the contrary, aims to demonstrate how much a college library may achieve with an annual appropriation of less than five thousand dol- lars for books and periodicals if the library staff shows the right spirit and builds up the collection intelligently and systematically. More Foreign Encyclopedias T h e reflections should start from a critical survey of the collection, for the best spirit will not lead the librarian far, if he lacks the indispensable tools. T h e reference collec- tion, of course, deserves first attention. Most college libraries will have to add to their holdings of foreign encyclopedias. T h i s is a rather expensive proposition, but Britannica and Americana simply won't do the job. T h i s writer is obligated to state, from his experience as chairman of the area training program for the A . S . T . P . language and area unit at Bard College,5 that the instructors would never have been able to give their soldier students an adequate idea of Central and Western Europe, had it not been f o r Der Grosse Brockhaus a n d La Grande Encyclopedic with their unrivaled wealth of detailed information. T h e latter set should be supplemented by Larousse du XXkme Siecle which will soon be imported again from France; the former will be in- directly kept up to date by the Schweizer Lexikon which Swiss scholars prepared dur- ing the war and whose first volume is about to reach the shores of this country. High on the list of desiderata for college libraries is also the Enciclopedia Italiana, even though there may be linguistic handicaps for its extensive use. In many respects, this is the best product of modern European en- cyclopedia-making and therefore should be accessible to qualified readers. T h e pur- chase of the costly set of Enciclopedia Uni- versal llustrada Europeo-Americana w i l l be advisable in any college stressing the study of Hispanic civilization. Wherever possible, college libraries should also acquire out- standing subject encyclopedias in foreign l a n g u a g e s , e.g., Handworterbuch der Staat- swissenschaften a n d Propylaen-Weltge- schichte will help considerably to improve reference work in the social sciences. T h e r e is a pressing need to streamline the 5 T h i s experience is described more f u l l y in his article, " S o l d i e r s S t u d y F o r e i g n A r e a s . " Wilson Li- brary Bulletin 18: 599-603, A p r i l 1944. APRIL, 1946 139 collection of foreign language dictionaries. It would be a poor college library which did not have on its shelves the major dictionaries in Russian, Polish, Portuguese, Dutch, Chinese, and Japanese, regardless of whether or not there are courses in these languages offered on campus. College libraries should be ready to face any emergency; the reader who wants urgently to get at the meaning of some pamphlet or periodical article from abroad should not have to wait till the librarian might condescend to order the needed dictionary from his bookseller. All these dictionaries are today within reach of the smaller college library. T h e same holds true for most of the international statistical handbooks and various yearbooks; it should be made a practice to have the major publi- cations of such organizations as the League of Nations and the International Labour Office available in their latest editions. T h e r e is also frequent demand for biograph- ical information as provided in the more important foreign who's whos. T h e biblio- graphical coverage of international prob- lems, too, deserves attention; the two indispensable volumes of the Foreign Affairs Bibliography should be supplemented by such handy tools as Philip Grierson's Books on Soviet Russia, 1917-1942. F i n a l l y , t h e r e is need for more and better atlases. N o col- lege library should be satisfied before having acquired the major European atlases. T h e y surpass their American counterparts as far as solid geographical information on the Old W o r l d is concerned, as anybody will admit who has ever examined the jubilee edition of Stielers Atlas of Modern Geog- raphy a n d t h e Great Soviet World Atlas. 25 Imperative Periodicals T h e next job is a thorough overhauling of the periodicals collection; this is a very exacting and time-consuming task. T h e smaller college library cannot subscribe cur- rently to all important foreign periodicals nor acquire innumerable costly sets. There- fore a well-balanced cross section must be aimed at which will provide for a wide range of solid and readable information. T h e list given below should satisfy a great variety of demands. In all cases current subscription should be accompanied by the purchase of reasonably extensive backfiles, e.g., the set of the London Economist, which was gradually expanded back to 1924, has certainly been a tremendous help to many Bard students in search of knowledge on world affairs. T h e list does not include American general magazines like Atlantic Monthly, Harper s, Nation, New Republic, Yale Review, etc., which are available every- where, nor those learned periodicals such as The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences, Economic Journal, L o n d o n , Political Science Quarter- ly, a n d Public Opinion Quarterly, w h i c h d o not regularly contain information on foreign countries, even though they often print out- standing articles on international affairs. Here are the twenty-five indispensable titles: American Review on the Soviet Union Asia and the Americas Books Abroad Christian Century Commonweal Contemporary Review, London Current History Economic Geography Economist, London Foreign Affairs Foreign Policy Reports and Bulletin Free World Geographical Review Hispanic American Historical Review International Affairs, London International Labour Review Journal of Central European Affairs Journal of Modern History National Geographic Magazine New Statesman and Nation, London Nouvelles Litteraires, P a r i s Pacific Affairs 140 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES Pan American Union Bulletin Social Research Soviet Russia Today T h e n e w International Journal, w h o s e first issue ( W i n t e r 1946) has just been an- nounced by the Canadian Institute of Inter- national Affairs, and any worthy successor to t h e Revue des Deux Mondes t h a t w i l l be established in Paris, may have to be included eventually. T o the twenty-five titles should be added France Illustration, Paris, and The Illustrated London News w h i c h p r o - vide often needed pictorial information in exemplary fashion; Norte, N e w York, though less distinguished than these two magazines, is also highly desirable. A check in the revised edition of the Union List of Serials and its first supplement shows that many of these titles are missing in hundreds of respectable academic libraries. In addition, college librarians should turn to an inexpensive and most rewarding tool of international understanding: the foreign language newspapers. If they want to let students know what is going on in van- quished G e r m a n y , A ufbau a n d Neue Volks- zeitung in N e w York will be gold mines. A subscription to the lively Swiss weekly paper Die W eltwoche, Zurich, will also be profitable, since it approaches the whole complex of Central European problems with fairness. French questions are ably dis- cussed in France-Amerique a n d La Victoire, N e w York. T h e Saturday editions of Le Jour a n d La Presse, M o n t r e a l , a d d t h e French-Canadian flavor. T h e crisis of the British Empire is mirrored in London Times Weekly a n d Manchester Guardian Weekly. T h e daily paper La Prensa, N e w York, and the Sunday editions of La Nacion and La Prensa, Buenos Aires, will help toward understanding Spanish and Latin American troubles. I t goes without saying that every college library should subscribe to New York Times ( w i t h i n d e x ) , Christian Science Monitor, and- either New York Herald Tribune or Chicago Daily News, because their coverage of world events is superior to that of all other American papers. Improve Geography Collections For no good reason, geography is treated in many colleges as a minor subject which is taught occasionally only. Therefore, the book collections in this field tend to be very uneven. O f t e n outmoded travelogs of merely historical relevance predominate. But it is important that the library make available to the students timely books of scholarly merit on literally every c o u n t r y T h e good college librarian will not wait with his acquisitions till trouble may again be brewing in Yugoslavia, Poland, Iran, Korea, Palestine, or the Dutch East Indies, but will have up-to-the-minute information of superior quality on the shelves ready for the next emergency. In addition, there ought to be built up by the librarian (if no professor claims the privilege) a geographic- historical collection for every major area of the world sufficient to present the basic aspects of its civilization. T o give but one example: a student who becomes interested in the problems of South Africa should find in his college library not only such recent manuals of African geography as those by W a l t e r Fitzgerald and Carveth Wells, some of the more appealing modern travel books, and the two or three best biographies of Cecil John Rhodes and J a n Christian Smuts, but also Lord Malcolm Hailey's monumental African Survey, volume eight (South A f r i c a ) of t h e Cambridge History of the British Empire, a n d C . W . D e K i e w i e t , History of South Africa, Social and Eco- nomic, to mention only three outstanding titles. First-rate pictorial material as con- tained in Richard Upjohn Light's Focus on Africa will also help considerably. W h e r - ever possible, sociological interpretations of APRIL, 1946 141 f o r e i g n countries should be on h a n d : M o u - c h ' u n Y a n g ' s recent f a s c i n a t i n g study of A Chinese Village a n d J o h n F . E m b r e e ' s Suye Mura, A Japanese Village, w o u l d be repre- sentative of this i m p o r t a n t g r o u p of inter- p r e t a t i o n s . College s t u d e n t s w h o n e i t h e r traveled a b r o a d n o r served in t h e a r m e d forces over- seas, do n o t always readily u n d e r s t a n d the v a l u e of becoming proficient in f o r e i g n languages. T h e y are bored by t h e only too harmless tidbits of F r e n c h , Spanish, or G e r m a n l i t e r a t u r e w h i c h they find inevi- tably in their e l e m e n t a r y textbooks. T h e y will appreciate the greatness of o t h e r civil- izations m o r e easily if they see masterpieces of f o r e i g n t h i n k e r s a n d scientists i n t e r - spersed in the s u b j e c t collections of their college l i b r a r y . T h e s t u d e n t w h o comes across the original w o r k s of Croce, M a r i - tain, O r t e g a y Gasset, M a d a r i a g a , A l b e r t Schweitzer, or Einstein, a n d finds o u t t h a t he can s t r u g g l e t h r o u g h p a r t of the text, w i l l be overjoyed by such real accomplish- m e n t . T h e r e should be surprises of this kind ready f o r him in various c o r n e r s of the building, even t h o u g h the l i b r a r y c a n n o t a t t e m p t to buy original editions of all im- p o r t a n t foreign scholars. A n o t h e r field in w h i c h t h e college li- b r a r i a n can show his initiative is the develop- m e n t of skeleton collections in those languages w h i c h do n o t yet appear in the college c a t a l o g . / T h e s l o w - m o v i n g c u r r i c u - l u m m a k e r s on m a n y a campus have not yet u n d e r s t o o d t h a t Russian is a c o m i n g m a j o r l a n g u a g e . B u t t h e r e a r e s t u d e n t s a r o u n d w h o have m o r e vision t h a n t h e i r elders and w h o w o u l d like t o get s t a r t e d as soon as possible. T h e l i b r a r i a n certainly should provide f o r these pioneers, a n d t h r e e or five years hence t h e f a c u l t y w i l l be g r a t e f u l to him f o r n o t h a v i n g w a i t e d u n t i l the n e w Russian d e p a r t m e n t has seen t h e l i g h t of day at last. T h e e n t e r p r i s i n g college li- b r a r i a n , w h o is w i l l i n g to sacrifice fifty or sixty dollars f o r the purpose, w i l l be able to acquire a dozen e l e m e n t a r y a n d inter- m e d i a t e l a n g u a g e r e a d e r s of v a r y i n g ap- p r o a c h — T h e Oxford Book of Russian Verse, P u s h k i n ' s The Captain s Daughter, the n e w bilingual series of i m p o r t a n t texts published by H a r r a p a n d T r a n s a t l a n t i c A r t s , a n d some o t h e r basic items w h i c h w i l l satisfy t h e curiosity of t h e beginner. E f f o r t s should be m a d e to a t t r a c t s t u d e n t s w h o are lacking in linguistic talents, by s p r e a d i n g o u t b e f o r e them a galaxy of the w r i t i n g s of significant f o r e i g n a u t h o r s in t r a n s l a t i o n . T h e r e w i l l be less feeling of superficiality r e g a r d i n g t h e G o o d N e i g h b o r policy, if s t u d e n t s a p p r o a c h history a n d present-day problems of L a t i n A m e r i c a t h r o u g h such l i t e r a r y m e d i a as C i r o A l e g r i a ' s Broad and Alien Is the World, M a r i a n o A z u e l a ' s The Under Dogr, Euclydes da C u n h a ' s Rebellion in the Back- lands, J . J . F e r n a n d e z de L i z a r d i ' s The Itching Parrot, R o m u l o G a l l e g o s ' Doha Barbara, R i c a r d o G i i i r a l d e s ' Don Segundo Sombra, a n d the collected stories Fiesta in November ( e d i t e d by F l o r e s and P o o r e ) . A good cross section of l i t e r a t u r e in t r a n s l a - tion is p a r t i c u l a r l y desirable w h e n f e w people, if any, on campus can read the original (say in N o r w e g i a n or C z e c h ) . Also it should n o t be beneath t h e dignity of a college l i b r a r y to possess collections of f o r e i g n f a i r y tales. F e w books reveal m o r e a b o u t certain f e a t u r e s in * the respective n a t i o n a l c h a r a c t e r s t h a n do the recent mag- nificent P a n t h e o n editions of G r i m m ' s Fairy Tales a n d the Russian Fairy Tales. Audio-Visual Aids T h e i n t e r p r e t a t i o n of f o r e i g n civilizations can be g r e a t l y enlivened by the proper use of audio-visual m a t e r i a l s . I t is w i t h i n the province of the l i b r a r i a n to coordinate a n d develop t h e m a p collections on the campus, 142 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES unless the geography department shows the necessary leadership. T h e r e should be a diversified and up-to-date collection of first- rate wall maps on all major regions of the world readily available in every American college. Good pictures can also aid in the appreciation of other countries. T h e library should aim at providing fine reproductions of the landmarks of architecture and other characteristic masterpieces of the arts. Edu- cational and documentary films and out- standing slide material on foreign topics are also well worth having, if there is a pro- jector in the library or elsewhere on campus. Lastly, the librarian and his staff ought to build up a collection of choice records which will bring the widest range of great foreign music and literature to interested students at leisurely gatherings. Pamphlets of foreign origin form a tool of information which is not yet sufficiently evaluated in many college libraries. T h e reference department should see to it that there is a constant influx of this inexpensive material. T h e intelligent reader will im- mediately sense the bias, if a publication represents merely foreign propaganda tend- encies, and will, nevertheless, be glad to have a chance to examine it because he can then weigh the evidence for himself. Among agencies giving free pamphlet material in quantities to libraries, the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, N e w York City, which has done pioneering work for international co- operation, is prominent. Also, such perti- nent official documents as the reports of U . N . R . R . A . and the hearings of the Senate committee on atomic energy (which are now at the printer's) should be displayed in the library. Wider Knowledge of Languages T u r n i n g from the collections to the per- sonal side of the problem, it must be admit- ted that many college librarians and their reference assistants are not yet fully pre- pared for the job ahead. If librarians are to be informal agents of international un- derstanding, they should first see to it that the newcomers to the profession have an adequate foundation on which to build. T h a t includes, above all, a much more thorough familiarity with foreign languages. T h e traditional "reading knowledge," usual- ly a very shaky affair, will not do any longer. T h e r e is need for more staff members who can peruse and interpret with ease complex texts in French, German, Italian, Portu- guese, Russian, and Spanish, for the benefit of the whole college community/' Among the candidates f o r ' t h e profession there ought to be a much larger percentage of those who majored in college in one of the social sciences, be it geography, history, economics, or government. As library as- sistants they should be able to open up effectively the materials relating to world affairs. Study and Travel Abroad N o w that travel abroad will soon be possible again, enthusiastic young members of the profession who are looking forward to college library work as a career should receive every encouragement in their efforts to see parts of the world. Funds ought to be solicited at once from government agen- cies and private foundations which would enable qualified prospective librarians to undertake carefully planned journeys to specific areas (no Cook's tours!) or to study at leading foreign universities for a semester or a year. Also, effective methods should be devised for making possible an exchange of assistants with comparable scholarly libraries abroad. While it seems fairly easy to offer pre- scriptions to the neophyte, it is much harder to put into a few words what the college librarian himself ought to do for his self- APRIL, 1946 143 improvement. His foremost obligation is to read much more widely and more deeply on world affairs. H e can offer real guidance to young people and undertake expert book selection only if he knows far more than yesterday's headlines about the outside world. Of course, no librarian could be an authority on everything, but it seems to be the noblesse oblige of his profession that, if necessary, its members are capable of taking leadership on campus in this most crucial field. As a matter of course, every librarian ought to cooperate closely with all faculty members interested in international affairs, ask for their advice, and assist them in every way possible. H e should help in coordinating their efforts, as was suggested at the beginning. Also, he should keep in constant contact with any student group endeavoring to explore the world situation. O n many a campus such organizations will give the most active support in building up and advertising this part of the library collection. Usefulness of Exhibits T h e r e is nothing as constructive as this informal day-by-day effort of the librarian and his staff. However, there are also a few additional avenues of approach. T h e li- brarian can promote international under- standing, e.g., by preparing highly selective bibliographies on timely topics and especially on the major countries of the world. H e will be the more successful with distributing such lists, the more he concentrates on books that live and the more he masters the fine art of annotation. A bibliography which is just repeating what may be easily be found in the card catalog under one heading or two, is not worth the paper it is printed or mimeographed on. T h e r e is also some virtue in having simple displays in various strategic corners of the campus; they may focus attention on the wealth of information that the library has on some current inter- national problem. In wartime it was often hard to arrange for larger exhibitions on foreign subjects, since the risks of transporting rare items were prohibitive. Nevertheless, many col- lege libraries succeeded in having instructive showings of their own treasures from time to time. But with the return to normalcy librarians may try to put the huge display cases again to fuller use, hoping (though not always being certain) that the heavy invest- ment of time and energy in preparing elaborate exhibitions may pay some dividend in form of enthusiasm aroused and knowl- edge promoted. T h e r e are some inter- national agencies that may be expected to be helpful to college libraries in this respect. T h e British Library of Information, Books Across the Sea, the former Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, rep- resentatives of various foreign governments, and certain travel agencies which cannot be enumerated here, were approached with good success on many occasions. However, in spite of all outside assistance, any large exhibit will remain a challenge to the librarian. H e should rely more on his own ingenuity and industry than on the kindness of others. But he may be well-advised to have the exhibition opened by a talk of a forceful and attractive speaker, perhaps a widely-known foreign expert. All these activities may contribute toward creating the right spirit, which should be the librarian's main concern. At the begin- ning, the judicious remarks of Harnack and Bishop were quoted in order to describe this general attitude. In summing up, may the wish be expressed that the words which stand over the entrance of International House, N e w York City, could be placed in invisible letters also above the doors of all American college libraries: " T h a t brother- hood may prevail." 144 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES