College and Research Libraries By H U M P H R E Y G . B O U S F I E L D College Libraries with Dual Roles T N THE fall of 1938 the American Asso- ciation of University Professors com- pleted an inquiry concerning governmental organization of higher education.1 It found that "the typical college and university does not have a definite plan in operation f o r facilitating exchange of opinion between the faculty and the trustees or regents"2 but that there is a "trend toward self- government by faculties."3 • In 1937 the University of N e w H a m p - shire adopted a new constitution which organized the faculty as a legislative body.4 Soon thereafter, the College of Education of O h i o State University reorganized its administration to give the faculty a share in the management of the college.5 N e w Y o r k City's municipal colleges adopted the democratic f o r m of government in 1938. These three examples are typical of the trend. T h e war apparently interrupted further reorganization in American colleges and universities for there have been no out- standing instances of college government reorganization since Pearl Harbor. H o w - ever, as postwar problems become less com- plex, thought will no doubt turn once again toward shared faculty responsibility and fac- ulty representation, for "faculty participa- tion has become . . . a part of good college administration."6 1 " P l a c e and F u n c t i o n of F a c u l t i e s in College and U n i v e r s i t y G o v e r n m e n t : Committee Report and S y m - p o s i u m . " A m e r i c a n A s s o c i a t i o n of U n i v e r s i t y P r o - fessors. Bulletin 26:171-216, A p r i l 1940. 2 Ibid., p. 175. 3 Ibid., p. 181. 4 B l e w e t t , E. Y . " N e w T y p e of F a c u l t y Organiza- t i o n . " Journal of Higher Education 9:201-06, A p r i l 19.38. 5 E i k e n b e r r y , D . H . " D e v e l o p m e n t and Operation of Democratic A d m i n i s t r a t i o n . " Educational Research Bulletin 19:449-56, N o v e m b e r 1940. T h e adoption of a democratic form of college and university administration may have a profound affect upon the libraries of the institutions concerned. U n d e r re- organization the library may be constituted as a full department of the college on the same basis as a department engaged in formal classroom teaching. O r reorgani- zation may provide direct representation on executive committees, faculty council, etc., not only by the chief librarian, but by other members of the library staff, perhaps representing their respective ranks; the li- brarian and his staff may share responsi- bility equally with other departments in the administration of the college. If reorgani- zation provides these rights and privileges, the library should have an unparalleled op- portunity to develop, for this would mean that the library has been given full recog- nition. H o w libraries have fared under reorganized college administration is diffi- cult to determine as almost nothing appears on the subject in professional literature. T h i s fact suggests that libraries may not have fared too well. If the latter be the case, if college reorganization has by-passed the library, the lot of those libraries may indeed be hard. A conventional college or university library in a progressive institu- tion which has adopted faculty management would be an anachronism. In such cases, immediate remedial measures should be in- itiated. A prospective administrative re- organization should take full cognizance of the potentialities of the library as an 6 Grinnell, J o h n E . " A D e a n L o o k s at Democracy in College G o v e r n m e n t . " A m e r i c a n Association of U n i v e r s i t y P r o f e s s o r s . Bulletin 26:358-60, J u n e 1940. JANUARY, 1948 25 instructional department. T h e reason f o r this may be clarified below. Reference has just been made to the public colleges of N e w Y o r k City. In 1938 the Board of Higher Education of the City of N e w Y o r k , with the approval of the faculties, established a democratic organi- zation for faculty management and repre- sentation. Because of the advanced nature of the plan, the adoption of the new by-laws was a most important event, hailed at the time as a significant contribution to higher education.7 T h e very size of the institu- tions made the adoption of the n e w plan a notable achievement. A p a r t f r o m the validity of democratic college government, which is not here eval- uated, the trend is a fact and one which college and university librarians cannot ig- nore f o r reasons given below. T h e reor- ganization of the colleges of N e w Y o r k City and its affect upon the libraries may be taken as a case in point. T h e s e college libraries were not by-passed; they were ac- corded a status enjoyed by f e w libraries. T h e whole library-faculty-college adminis- tration relationship was completely changed, and the libraries were given the opportunity to develop. T o tell the story of the li- braries in N e w Y o r k ' s colleges, it will be necessary to describe briefly the organiza- tion of higher education in N e w Y o r k City. Higher Education in New York City Education in N e w Y o r k State is a f u n c - tion of the state, and the state education l a w stipulates that in cities of over one mil- lion population there shall be a board of higher education. T h e Board of Higher Education of N e w Y o r k City consists of twenty-one citizens appointed by the mayor f o r a term of nine years.8 T h e board is 7 S h u k o t o f f , A . " D e m o c r a c y in N e w Y o r k C i t y Col- l e g e s . " American Teacher v.23, pt. i , F e b r u a r y 1939, p . 1 2 - 1 5 . 8 N e w Y o r k ( C i t y ) B o a r d of H i g h e r E d u c a t i o n . Laws and By-Laws Governing the Board of Higher Education, S e p t e m b e r 1938, S e c t . 1142. "subject to the visitation of the Regents of the University of the State of N e w Y o r k . " 9 N e w Y o r k City's Board of Higher Education administers four colleges with a total enrolment of 63,723 full- and part-time students, an aggregate faculty of nearly 3400 and an annual budget of $13,000,000. T h e four colleges in the system are Brooklyn C o l l e g e ; City College, this year celebrating its one hundredth an- niversary ; Hunter College, f o r women only, until the G . I . ' s invasion; and Queens C o l - lege, the youngest and the smallest of the four. W i t h the libraries of the colleges legally designated as instructional departments of the respective colleges,10 it logically f o l l o w s that all ranks of librarians are members of the faculty. T h e librarian, associate and assistant librarians have had faculty status since the adoption of the by-laws but this was not true of the lowest ranking and largest group, that of library assistant.11 A t last, the question of faculty status—of long concern to many other librarians—has been satisfactorily adjusted in N e w Y o r k ' s municipal colleges. T h e board of higher education has settled the question in no half- way manner. A l l librarians with tenure, including library assistants, are n o w full members of the faculty enjoying all rights and benefits thereof without restrictions or qualifications.12 In these public colleges there was possibly greater justification than elsewhere f o r including within the faculty all library ranks, f o r the college democratic system is based on faculty representation and any rank outside the faculty is deprived of the right of representation in the faculty or on executive committees. T h e recent ac- 9 Ibid., S e c t . 1 1 4 3 . 10 Ibid., S e c t . i o 7 f . 1 1 Estes, R i c e . " F a c u l t y S t a t u s in the C i t y College L i b r a r i e s . " College and Research Libraries 3:43-45. D e c e m b e r 1941. O f v a l u e h i s t o r i c a l l y ; the conditions described have s u b s e q u e n t l y been rectified. 1 2 N e w Y o r k ( C i t y ) B o a r d of H i g h e r E d u c a t i o n . Proceedings, J u n e 24, 1946, p. 196. I t e m 3. A m e n d - ment to the by-laws of the board of h i g h e r education to b e s t o w f a c u l t y status on the rank of l i b r a r y assistant. 26 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES tion of the board with respect to the largest professional group within the library adds a major note of progress to the subject of academic rank f o r librarians, on which a number of librarians have written.1 3 Representation Affects Library T h e system of representation, one of the principal features of democratic college gov- ernment, involves the library because the library is one of the departments of the college. (Consequently, any reference be- l o w to "college departments" includes the library department.) Departments in the city colleges have representation at the highest level through departmental chair- men. T h e highest executive body is the committee on faculty personnel and budget, which, f o r the sake of brevity, will hereafter be referred to as the personnel and budget committee. T h i s committee corresponds to the senate in other institutions. T h e librarian, as chairman of the library de- partment, represents the library on this committee.14 T h e composition and func- tions of the personnel and budget committee are pertinent because of the relation of this committee to the library. T h e committee is composed of the president, as chairman, the dean of the faculty and other deans, and the department chairmen.15 T h e person- nel and budget committee has important duties. It considers the annual budget of the college and acts upon all recommenda- 13 Bishop, W i l l i a m W a r n e r . " T h e College L i b r a r y and College T e a c h i n g . " Association of A m e r i c a n Col- leges. Bulletin 23:190-200, M a y 1 9 3 7 . D o w n s , R o b e r t B . " A c a d e m i c Status f o r U n i v e r s i t y L i b r a r i a n s — a N e w A p p r o a c h . " College and Research Libraries 7 : 6 - 9 , 26, J a n u a r y 1946. Estes, R i c e , op. cit. M c M i l l e n , James A . " A c a d e m i c Status o f L i b r a r y Staff M e m b e r s o f L a r g e U n i v e r s i t i e s . " College and Research Libraries 1 : 1 3 8 - 4 0 , M a r c h 1940. M a l o y , M i r i a m C. F a c u l t y Status o f College L i - b r a r i a n s . " A.L.A. Bulletin 3 3 : 2 3 2 - 3 3 , 302^ A p r i l 1939. M a r c u s , R . Z . " T h e M e e k D o N o t Inherit the E a r t h . " [letter to the e d i t o r ] Wilson Library Bulletin 2 0 : 1 9 0 - 9 1 , N o v e m b e r 1945. W r i s t o n , H e n r y M . T h e College Librarian and the T e a c h i n g S t a f f . " A.L.A. Bulletin 2 9 : 1 7 7 - 8 2 , A p r i l I93S. 14 N e w Y o r k ( C i t y ) B o a r d o f H i g h e r E d u c a t i o n . Laws and By-Laws . . Sect. 1 0 5 a . 18 Ibid., Sect. 1 0 5 b . JANUARY, 1948 tions for appointments as submitted by the departments; it is concerned with reap- pointments, leaves of absence, and promo- tions. T h e committee recommends action to the president w h o must consider such recommendations in submitting his recom- mendations to the board of higher educa- tion.16 It is also concerned with the college budget. T h i s is prepared by the president and submitted by him to the personnel and budget committee f o r its recommendations.17 T h e committee also receives and considers petitions and appeals f r o m the instructional staff on matters relating to status and com- pensation and presents its recommendations to the president. Further provision is made f o r the protection of the staff member by means of appeals f r o m a decision of the president which may be made by a member of the staff or any faculty committee through the president to the board of higher education.18 T h e committee meets at least once a month through the school year. T h u s , the library, through its chairman, has an equal representation with all the other departments in the committee on fac- ulty personnel and the budget. Every rank within each department has representation on the faculty council by secret ballot by members of each rank. For example, in the library all those of the rank of assistant librarian vote f o r their representative to faculty council, and, simi- larly, with each other rank. T h e term of office is three years.19 Faculty council as- sumes all responsibilities of the faculty although the full faculty, by two-thirds vote at a special meeting, may reverse any specific vote of the faculty council.2 0 Fac- ulty council elects a six-member committee on committees which appoints standing com- mittees for the year. ™ Ibid., Sect. 105b. 17 Ibid., Sect. 105c. 18 Ibid., Sect. i o s d . 19 Ibid., Sect. 104a. 20 Ibid., S e c t . 104b. 27 Organization of the Faculty T h e faculty of each college consists of the president, deans, directors, professors, the registrar, the librarian, associate profes- sors, assistant professors, associate librarians, assistant librarians, library assistants, and instructors w h o are members of the per- manent staff.2 1 T h e executive officer of the department is the department chair- man. 2 2 H e carries out its policies as w e l l as those of the faculty. T h e librarian is the chairman of the library department. E v e r y chairman has authority to initiate policy and action concerning departmental affairs, subject to the powers delegated by the by-laws to the staff of the department in regard to educational policy and to the appropriate departmental committees in the matter of promotions and appointments. T h e chairman represents the department before the faculty council, the faculty, and the board. H e presides at meetings of his department and prepares the tentative de- partment budget w h i c h is subject to ap- proval by the department's committee on appointments. A f t e r approval, he trans- mits it to the president together w i t h his o w n recommendations. 2 3 College Departments Have Authority P r o b a b l y each department of the m u - nicipal college has more authority than departments in many other colleges and universities. T h e department has control of educational policies of the department through the vote of all its members of the' faculty (those w i t h t e n u r e ) or, if it so de- sires, of all other members (those w i t h o u t t e n u r e ) . T h e department cooperates with related departments and w i t h college agen- cies in general in the development of divi- sional or college-wide interests.24 A n un- 21 IBID., SECT. 1 0 2 A . 22 IBID., SECT. 1 0 7 B . 23 IBID., SECT. 1 0 7 E . 24 IBID., SECT. I 0 7 E . 28 usual feature of the system is that chairmen may be elected by a department. T h e election must be approved by the president w h o may also appoint chairmen at his discretion. Election is by secret ballot by m a j o r i t y vote of all permanent members of the depart- ment f o r a term of three years. T h e chief librarian is an appointed officer. H e is appointed by the president w i t h the ap- proval of the board. 2 5 Library Ranks and Qualifications In N e w Y o r k ' s public colleges the pro- fessional library staff consists of the librarian, associate librarians, assistant librarians, and library assistants. A l l members of the li- brary staff w i t h tenure are members of the faculty w i t h representation as previously described. Qualifications of library personnel, other than library assistants, are not specifically indicated in the by-laws. T h e qualifications of library assistants are not unusual: gradu- ation f r o m a recognized college and the completion of a one-year course of pro- fessional library training in a satisfactory library school. 2 6 A further clause: " o r , in lieu of such professional training, three years' experience in library w o r k satisfactory to the librarian concerned and the president of the c o l l e g e , " was deleted by action of the board in June 1946, at the request of the library association and w i t h the approval of the chief librarians of the f o u r city colleges. Qualifications f o r librarians in other ranks are left to the determination of the librarian and the committee on appointments w i t h the approval of the personnel and budget c o m - mittee and the president. Promotions and Tenure A highly significant feature of the d e m o - cratic organization in N e w Y o r k ' s colleges 25 Ibid., Sect. i o i e . 28 Ibid., Sect. 1 3 1 , S c h e d u l e C 1 4 B , No. C4. COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES \ is the machinery for promotions. Recom- mendations f o r promotion are made in the department by the department's elected com- mittee on appointments and promotions. Recommendations are submitted together with any minority report to the committee on personnel and budget through the presi- dent. Provision for a minority report is a wise feature of the by-laws. T h e by-laws provide that the committee chairman ( w h o is also the department chairman) should exercise executive authority where and when circumstances require such authority; for example, if the chairman disagrees with the other members of the department committee on appointments in the matter of an ap- pointment or a promotion, the chairman may submit a minority report. T h i s together with the majority report will be presented by the president to the personnel and budget committee f o r consideration and final action by majority vote. A l l members of the permanent instruc- tional staff have tenure.27 T h i s includes all ranks of librarians w h o , as members of the faculty, have served at least three full years and have been appointed to a fourth full year. Persons appointed initially to the rank of professor, associate professor, or assistant professor may be placed on the permanent instructional staff {i.e., given tenure) by the board at its discretion after one year of satisfactory service.28 Dual Roles Require Competent Staff It must be understood that the fact of having unusual rights and privileges does not in itself make a city college library, ipso facto, a good library. T h e democratic organization, within the framework of which the library's position is legally ele- vated, bestows upon the library potential opportunities for becoming unusually effec- tive. Unless these potentialities be de- 27 Ibid,., Sect. 1 1 4 3 , c.3 ( b ) . 28 Ibid., Sect. 1143, c . 3 ( b ) . veloped, the library in the progressive democratic college will have poorer relations with the faculty than in the nondemocratic institution. T h e library will be an "instruc- tional department" in name only and may be relegated to a position of minor im- portance. T h e dual nature of the city college li- braries requires a particularly competent staff if the libraries are to be good libraries and, at the same time, effective in college administration. Librarians must be well- qualified and positions must be attractive to retain the staff. T h e effectiveness of the library in fulfill- ing its dual roles is assured in several w a y s : 1. By making careful initial appointments and reducing turnover. Extreme care must be exercised in making new appointments. The fixed salary schedule, regular annual increments, tenure, membership in and repre- sentation on the faculty, good working con- ditions, reasonable working hours, generous vacation allowance, sick leave and "special purpose" leave with pay, are humane, decent, and attractive features of New York's munic- ipal college libraries. Personnel turnover is very small. 2. By making carefully considered recom- mendations for tenure. Judgment must be exercised in recommending tenure. Once a member of the library staff has tenure, he is, for all practical purposes, on the staff to stay. As the committee on personnel and budget is likely to follow the recommendation handed up by the departmental appointments committee, the latter must make sound recom- mendations. 3. By organization and administration. Efficient organization and good administration is essential. The library administration must examine and re-examine its organization with a view to increasing its opportunities for serv- ice and toward improving its administrative machinery. 4. By the cooperation of an informed staff. If the cooperation of the library staff is es- sential, it is axiomatic that it be well-informed. Minutes of the committee on personnel and budget and faculty council are available to all members of the library and other depart- JANUARY, 1948 29 ment staffs. T h e librarian informs the li- brary department's division heads, at the next scheduled meeting, of important action taken by the personnel and budget committee. Division meetings follow at which all staff members are informed of important action. Faculty council action is reported to the li- brary staff at large by the library representa- tives in council. 5. By establishing definite policies and positive aims. Policies must be established and adhered to. Aims must be specific. A d - ministrative decisions must be wise and posi- tive. All must be in sympathy with the fact that the library is an instructional department with executive responsibilities. Library—Faculty Relations T h e library-faculty relationship is recog- nized as important in all college and uni- versity libraries. So fundamental is this relationship that it is not an overstatement to say that the effectiveness of the library is contingent upon it. If this is true in the conventional library in the institution with- out a democratic f o r m of government, it is n o w probably obvious that good relations with the faculty in the reorganized insti- tution is completely essential. H o w e v e r , this relationship is one that can only be developed gradually over a period of years. Every activity of the library must contribute to building the library's reputation. T h e conventional library need consider this only in terms of good library service. T h e li- brary in the reorganized college must be mindful of its dual roles and think, too, in terms of the library staff's contribution to executive and special committees on which the members serve. It should also be re- membered that the relationship is a two-way affair: not only library-faculty but faculty- library. T h e librarian may have to stimu- late the latter, but there must be active cooperation of the faculty with the library. F o l l o w i n g are a number of illustrations by which the t w o - w a y relationship between library and faculty may be established, de- veloped, and maintained. T h e s e suggestions are given as recommended practice although it is fully realized that many librarians and faculties f o l l o w such a program. O n e link of the chain of library-faculty relations is the conventional faculty library committee. In the city colleges it is cus- tomary f o r the faculty council's committee on committees to appoint a faculty library committee. ( T h e librarians, through their representatives in faculty council, partici- pated in the election of the committee on committees which appointed the library committee.) T h e fact that the librarian is a member ex officio of the library com- mittee is the only unusual feature of an otherwise common practice. T h e library committee acts in an advisory capacity. A t the beginning of each term it reviews the allotments of the book fund made by the librarian to each department and may then recommend changes in the allotment on the basis of special knowledge of curricula re- quirements. In the matter of book selection, it is good practice to encourage the faculty to recom- mend titles f o r purchase. It is extremely helpful f o r the library to have a large group of experts aiding in this important activity- Each department of the city college elects ( o r the chairman appoints) a departmental committee on library affairs, one member of which is designated as the department's representative to the library.29 T h e depart- ment library committee receives book recom- mendations f r o m its faculty and screens the titles before they are forwarded to the library. T h e department representative to the library provides liaison between the de- partment and the librarian. T h e existence of the department library committee and the department representative does not dis- courage close contact between the library 29 T h e program f o r library-faculty cooperation is not consistently uniform practice in all the city colleges. T h e practices described are in operation at Brooklyn College. 30 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES and individual members of each department. T h e r e is no legal requirement f o r the existence of a library committee, f o r the de- partment library committees, or f o r the department representative to the library. T h i s is college policy, established for practi- cal purposes—as a matter of good sense. T h i s is true of all statements regarding faculty-library relationships hereafter des- cribed. T h e library is related to other college departments in other ways. In the matter of departmental book ordering, departments needing books of their own, initiate the orders but route all such orders to the library for checking. T h i s prevents un- necessary duplication among the depart- ments and provides an opportunity for factual verification of the orders. A l l book deliveries are made to the library, where the books are recorded, entered in the card catalog, and forwarded to the department which ordered them. T h e library main- tains a central union catalog of all books and periodicals elsewhere on the campus. It has supervisory jurisdiction over films and recordings, in fact, over all audio-visual material. A plan to centralize all audio- visual material in the library is n o w under consideration. Library publications also foster desirable library-faculty relations. T h e faculty is informed of recent acquisitions in a monthly list which includes the titles of all books received and cataloged during the previous m o n t h ; new periodicals added, with a de- scriptive note regarding the scope of the periodical; n e w pamphlets and documents of significance.30 A recently added feature is a section of short book reviews of important titles appearing in the list. T h e reviews are written by members of the library staff and by subject specialists among the faculty at 30 B r o o k l y n College. L i b r a r y . T e c h n i c a l S e r v i c e s Division. " R e c e n t A c c e s s i o n s and L i b r a r y N e w s . " ( M i m e o . ) large. Because of a growing interest in audio-visual teaching aids and because audio-visual film and equipment will be centered in the library, the publication will include a bibliography of pertinent articles on teaching aids, a list of new films, etc., available and of those received. Another section, entitled " L i b r a r y N e w s , " contains library information of general interest to the faculty. N e w members of the faculty are invited to come to the library to meet the librarian and to discuss library matters. T h e y are also sent a handbook3 1 as a "guide to the services available and an explanation of practices and procedures" in the library. Summary From the foregoing, it is clear that the library has a place in the college, designated by law. T h e individual library staff mem- ber as well as the department is part of the college. T h e unusual rights and privileges enjoyed impose administrative responsibili- ties on the library staff; on the chief li- brarian, representing the department in the top executive committee and elsewhere; on the library representatives in faculty coun- cil ; on the elected departmental committee on appointments. T h e ultimate effective- ness of the college very largely depends on h o w authority is executed and on h o w the responsibility is shouldered in the depart- ments. But the library in the municipal college cannot rest upon its legal rights and privileges. It must take an active profes- sional part in college affairs. Apart from its activity and interest in college manage- ment, it must maintain a high level of professional library service. T h i s is dis- tinctly a dual role. A n d the library32 has a substantial professional obligation in a college with 16,000 students and a faculty 31 B r o o k l y n College. L i b r a r y . Library Handbook for the Faculty. 32 B r o o k l y n College. JANUARY, 1948 31 of 839 exclusive of extension and adult edu- cation divisions. M o s t college and university libraries are called on to render traditional library serv- ice and nothing more. F e w are concerned with appointments and promotions through- out the college, f e w are interested in edu- cational policy, curriculum changes, or in the college budget, except as it affects the library. T h e value of the library's partici- pation in college management might be de- bated, but it is believed that librarians w h o actively participate in administrative affairs inevitably develop perspective, acquire an understanding of college problems, and have an appreciation of its educational aims that make them better able to help and work with students and faculty. T h e dual role of the N e w Y o r k munici- pal college library rather obviously requires a staff of unusual ability to succeed as a traditional library and be effective in its college-wide administrative role. T h u s , the college library has ceased to be just a service organization, for it is an in- structional department of the college, shar- ing with all other departments responsibilty for college administration, the librarians being represented on all governing bodies. W h i l e qualifications for librarians are not unusual, appointments and promotions are because they are made in democratic fashion. T h e staff is encouraged by regular incre- ments in salary and protected by tenure under the educational laws of the state. T h e status of the library is also established by law, but the professional standing and effectiveness of the library is a matter the librarian and his staff must determine, for the library cannot rest on its legal rights and still be a good library. Its excellence as a library depends on the individual staff mem- bers and on the internal organization that is developed in the library.33 T o be fully effective, the library must maintain close relations with the faculty. A library that is so much a part of the college should be the very center around which the whole college revolves. T h e li- brary must be the dominant department. Library literature has frequently voiced this sentiment but too often, it is feared, in the vein of wishful thinking. It is believed that the board of higher education with its en- lightened by-laws gives the college library opportunities which many librarians have long dreamed of but seldom realized. Here, in N e w Y o r k ' s municipal colleges, is the opportunity to fulfil those dreams. T h e library is ready for unparalleled professional growth. 33 Smith, M . H . , and K e n n y , M . I. " T h e T e c h n i c a l S e r v i c e s D e p a r t m e n t at B r o o k l y n College L i b r a r y . " ( T o appear in a f o r t h c o m i n g issue of College and Re- search Libraries as an illustration of staff r e o r g a n i z a - tion.) 32 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES