College and Research Libraries By R O S E Z . S E L L E R S Special Services in Liberal Arts College Libraries Mrs. Sellers is chief special services li- brarian, Brooklyn College Library. TH A N K S to a growing awareness on the part of library administrators and the publicity given such activities by awards like the J o h n Cotton D a n a Publicity A w a r d and the Library Public Relations Council A w a r d , special services are beginning to come into their own. M a n y college and university libraries have tried to provide these strategic services, but they have too frequently assigned them to traditional de- partments. T h e r e they have been relegated to a secondary place. Special services are not as firmly en- trenched as are other types of library activity, but they are no less important. A collection may be assembled with great care and foresight but it is serving no useful purpose if its resources are incompletely tapped, either because of a lack of publicity on the part of the library, or a lack of working knowledge on the part of the prospective borrower. T h i s was the con- viction that prompted H . G . Bousfield, chief librarian at Brooklyn College to es- tablish in 1948 the Special Services Divi- sion1 as a separate library unit. T h e primary purpose of the division is to act as liaison between the library and the public it serves. I t operates in the follow- ing areas: public relations and publicity, exhibits, library publications and orienta- 1 The Library of Brooklyn College is an academic department. The individual units in it are therefore called "divisions" to prevent confusion. [Editor's Note: Brooklyn College Library was the recipi- ent of two awards in June, 1 9 5 2 ; the annual award of the Library Public Relations Council and an Honorable Mention in the John Cotton Dana Publicity Contest.] tion (tours and lectures). Since there are many libraries which do not engage in these activities at all, perhaps a brief explanation and some indication of their scope at Brook- lyn College will be helpful. Public Relations and Publicity Publicity releases, leaflets, signs and posters keep students and faculty informed of the library's activities, of new services, and of changes in its policies and hours. A t Brooklyn College, library news is sub- mitted for each issue of all the campus publications—the day and evening session student papers, the sober faculty bulletin, and the less formal faculty newsletter. These releases, which herald the library's hopes and plans, as well as accomplishments, have paid dividends in campus interest and in the sympathetic treatment the library receives in print. Student journalists are encouraged to come for interviews and are provided with material for feature articles. T h e department participates actively in planning for the reception of visitors, whether they are foreign librarians, library school students, or children from neighbor- ing schools who have come to see the ex- hibits. Professional visitors are provided with copies of the library's publications in which they have a particular interest. A special effort is made to engage the library in cooperative enterprises with other academic departments on the campus. Such activities as, for example, a vocational panel in librarianship, with the Department of Personnel Service, and the library lecture program with the English Department. JULY, 1953 249 Desirable library-faculty relations are also fostered through library-sponsored symposia, which bring off-campus experts to the college. O n e such occasion was a pro- gram on the selection and use of audio- visual materials, which was launched by the library to meet an urgent need for in- formation in this important field. Copy on all items likely to be of interest to the library world is sent to the profes- sional periodicals. T h i s may range from short items about personnel, symposia, pub- lications, and new, time-saving devices, to complete articles. A publicity scrapbook is maintained, which contains programs, arti- cles, publications, pictures and clippings. Exhibits2 T h e Chief Special Services librarian or- ganizes, schedules, and supervises all ex- hibits displayed in the library entrance hall, whether library-assembled or arranged by student groups and college departments. T h e response to the invitation to use these facilities is generally such that space usu- ally has to be arranged for several months in advance of exhibit time. Even special and fixed occasions are pro- vided for (i.e. the Romance Language De- partment usually wants the two weeks in- cluding P a n American D a y ; the Shake- speare Club, the two weeks including the dramatist's birthday, etc.). T h e library assembles exhibits whenever there is un- assigned time (usually this means the sum- mer m o n t h s ) , when an occasion is not in- cluded within any one department or club's province (i.e. Honors D a y ) or when a scheduled group discovers at the eleventh hour that it is not quite ready to exhibit. T h e r e are very few such defaults, thanks to a combined code-and-application form evolved by the Chief Special Services li- brarian, one copy of which remains on file, 2 C f . Sellers, Rose Z . , " E x h i b i t s Can B e E a s y , " Wilson Library Bulletin, 23:526-7, March, 1949. while the carbon is turned over to the stu- dent exhibit chairman to remind him of the date and of the restrictions connected with the privilege of using the cases. A news release on each exhibit is sent to all four of the college's publications. If it appears in print, a copy of the issue con- taining the account is sent to each exhibit chairman, earning good will for the library. W h e r e v e r the exhibit w a r r a n t s it, pictures are taken and submitted, with appropriate te&t, to interested library journals. Library Publications T h e Special Services Division edits, de- signs the format of, and arranges for the distribution of two handbooks—one de- signed for the students and the other for the faculty. T h e student publication is dis- tributed to each freshman as part of the library lecture. W h e n e v e r a revision of the faculty handbook appears, copies are sent through the college mail to each member of the staff. T h e r e a f t e r it is distributed only to newcomers. T h e chief of the divi- sion also edits the Staff Bibliography, an annual compilation of books, articles, ab- stracts, reviews, etc. published by the col- lege staff during the last calendar year. In addition to these recurrent items, the de- partment also explores the need for addi- tional publications to serve a special purpose. It published, for example, Facts About Brooklyn College Library, a pamphlet de- signed to be sent to other libraries and agencies when they wrote asking about our plant, organization, source of funds, book stock, special collections, etc. It thus ob- viated the need for an individual reply to each questioner. Another such item was the Open Letter, which was created to show the students that the library was aware of their difficulty in obtaining some types of material, and to indicate to them how we planned to solve these problems, or why we could not. 250 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES Library Instruction3 T h e student's first introduction to this li- brary takes the form of a half-hour orienta- tion tour, with the scheduling and briefing of the tour guides done by the Special Serv- ices Division. T h e tour generally takes place during registration week. Beginning with the fourth week of the semester, after the term reports have been assigned, and help is welcome, the division arranges for each student in English I to receive a lecture on the use of bibliographi- cal tools, with special emphasis on the tech- niques of research in the preparation of term papers. T h e lectures are given by li- brarians. T h e subjects covered a r e : the catalog (types of author entry, title card as main entry, title card as secondary entry, periodical card, subject card) ; bibliogra- phies and indexes ( f o r whole books, parts of books, periodicals, government docu- ments) ; steps in looking up material on a subject; how to assemble a bibliography; special reference services. T h e lecture is illustrated with the library's own slides. Each student receives a copy of the student library handbook, (which can be used for review), and is required to fill out a prob- lem sheet on the material covered in the lecture. T h e problem sheet serves not only as a follow-up, but also to indicate to the lecturer whether there are still any special areas of difficulty. T h e scheme of assigning the foregoing as primary functions to a separate division, with its attendant saving of time through the dovetailing of duties, having worked out so well here, it occurred to the Chief Special Services librarian that it would be of in- terest and value to the profession, if a study were made of how these activities are con- trolled in other college libraries. A ques- tionnaire was therefore submitted to the 3 Cf. Sellers, Rose Z., " L i b r a r y Instruction at Brook lyn College," Wilson Library Bulletin, 22:618-20, April. 1948. chief librarian in 200 selected liberal arts colleges. Of those, 155 responses or 77.5 per cent were received. Exhibits T o the question, "Does your library hold exhibits?" 129 answered Y E S , 22 answered N O . T h e 129 answered as follows to the question, "Are they the responsibility of the professional s t a f f ? " : Y E S — 1 1 7 , N O — 2 , P A R T I A L L Y — 1 0 . ( I n the case of the last-mentioned, responsibility is shared either between professional and non-profes- sional members of the staff, or between the professional staff and other departments). Among the 117 who responded Y E S , in no case is responsibility for exhibits the f u l l time job of any one librarian. T h e super- visor of exhibits also discharges one of the following functions: reference librarian 32 circulation librarian 16 chief librarian or director of libraries 15 special collections or rare book librarian . . . 7 catalog librarian 4 associate librarian or adminstrative assistant 3 miscellaneous (film librarian, social science librarian, library science instructor, arts division librarian, subcommittee of f a c - ulty library committee, etc.) 10 I n 9 libraries, a staff committee assumes the function and in 21 libraries, the respon- sibility is rotated at given periods among the members of the staff. Of the 2 libraries which indicated that non-librarians assume f u l l responsibility for exhibits, in one case it is assigned to a clerk and in the other, to the A r t Department. " D o you permit the exhibit cases to be used by non-library groups (i.e. student organizations, academic departments, com- munity) ?" was answered Y E S , 99, N O , 30. Among the 99 who permit non-library personnel to make use of their exhibit facili- ties, permission is granted as follows: JULY, 1953 251 academic departments and students organizations 43 student organizations only 27 academic departments only 16 any college-connected group (above, plus ad- ministration, learned societies, Red Cross, etc. T h r e e of this group also g a v e ex- hibit privileges to townspeople) 13 T h e same 99 answered as follows to the question, " D o you have a set of standards or a code that exhibitors must abide b y ? " : Y E S — 4 1 , N O — 5 8 . Among the 41 respondents who answered in the affirmative, only 2 use a code that is in written form. T h e others rely on a trial lay-out, constant supervision, or a re- view by the supervisor, to insure good taste, use of library materials, etc. Library Publications "Does your library issue any publica- tions (i.e. faculty and student library hand- books, recent accessions lists, bibliogra- phies) ?" was answered in the affirmative by 131 libraries; 20 indicated no activity. W i t h regard to the editorship, 124 li- braries t u r n this work over to the profes- sional staff exclusively. I n 6 libraries the work is done co-operatively by or distributed among librarians and members of other de- partments, or librarians and clerks. I n a seventh the editing is done by the Division of Special Services of the college, not the library. These 7 libraries are therefore omitted f r o m the tally of the next question: " I s editing publications one individual's full- time j o b ? " . T o this question only one library answered Y E S . In the remaining 123, the situation is as follows: in 2 li- braries, publications are assigned to com- mittees made up from the professional s t a f f ; in 32 libraries, the head librarian or director of libraries adds them to his administrative w o r k ; in the remaining 89, the publications are added to the regular duties of librarians in appropriate departments, i.e. the hand- book to Reference or to the Reader's Ad- 252 visor, the accessions list to Circulation (or Catalog) etc. " W h a t publications does your library issue regularly?" was answered as follows: 103 libraries issue lists of recent accessions; 14 issue a combined recent accessions and library news sheet; 51 publish a student handbook, while 7 provide one for the fac- ulty. Nineteen libraries publish a newslet- ter designed for staff or faculty or b o t h ; 17 issue bibliographies and booklists; 12 issue occasional papers; 4 distribute classified lists of periodicals; one compiles a bibliography of faculty publications and 2 publish a bul- letin for their " F r i e n d s . " (Organizational charts and annual reports were not tallied.) Library Instruction O n l y 3 of the 151 respondents answered N O to the question, "Does your college offer instruction to students on library usage a n d / o r bibliographical techniques?" O n the next question, whether the in- struction was formal, the surveyor had fre- quently to interpret the answer in the light of subsequent information, since many of the respondents answered both Y E S and N O . Those libraries which offered only a library tour, with the latter merely an in- troduction to the physical plant, were in- cluded with the N O E S . So also were those libraries where there was no instruction other than individual guidance f r o m li- brarians at public desks, scattered lectures given on invitation of instructors, or where the procedure varied too much f r o m time to time to be classified. T h e s e criteria brought the total of the N O E S to 31. I n the 117 libraries where the instruc- tion was judged to be " f o r m a l " 98 re- sponded that instruction is given by librari- ans exclusively. ( I n s t r u c t o r s in library science were considered librarians.) I n 8 libraries, instruction is given cooperatively by librarians and teachers, and in 11, it is offered by teachers only. Of the 19 li- COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES braries where teaching departments are in- volved in library instruction, in every case where the teaching department was identi- fied ( 1 6 ) , it was the English Department. Among the 98 who responded that library instruction is done entirely by professional librarians, 4 indicated that this function constitutes a full-time job for the person or persons involved. Among the 94 who answered that this is added to other regular duties, the distribution among the library departments is as follows: entire professional staff 34 reference 19 chief librarian or his assistant 14 chief librarian or assistant and reference . . 7 reference and circulation 3 reference and acquisition . . 3 reference and catalog 3 circulation 3 catalog 2 catalog and chief librarian 1 bibliographer 1 education librarian x not indicated 3 Public Relations Here again, the responses were not only a definite Y E S or N O , but a yes-and-no, which the surveyor attempted to interpret. T h e last group's indecision usually stemmed from the fact that the public relations pro- gram was not formalized. Wherever the subsequent explanation of the activities warranted it, the yes-and-no responses were classified as Y E S . In any case where the respondent checked either Y E S or yes-and- no but gave no further details, or insuffi- cient details on which to base a judgment, the return was classified as N O . Also classified with the N O group, were those libraries which indicated that they had no program separate from that of the College Public Relations Office or N e w s Bureau. T h i s held true regardless of whether the respondent had checked Y E S or N O , for the surveyor was interested in the public relations program only if it was carried out by the members of the library staff, whether professional or nonprofes- sional. If the library used the Public Relations Office for press releases only and engaged in other public relations activities on its own, its return was classified as Y E S . T o t a l s : Y E S , 6 1 ; N O , 90. T h e wide interpretation given this item ( " a l l our activities have a public relations a n g l e " ) was reflected in the answers to the next question, which asked for a listing of the activities engaged in. M a n y libraries understandably listed exhibits, handbooks and lectures as integral parts of their pro- gram, but since these were tallied before, no separate account was kept in this section. A number of respondents, after listing spe- cific activities, used the occasion to empha- size the admitted fact that genuine service- mindedness on the part of the staff was the most immediate avenue f o r good public re- lations. One (questionnaire-weary?) re- spondent listed "filling out questionnaires" as part of his public relations job. Among the activities most frequently mentioned w e r e : releases to student n e w s publications and in- t e r v i e w s with reporters 44 to community newspapers 32 tours for visitors 31 book talks to students, faculty or community 7 participation in radio programs 6 host to library organizations 5 lectures and teas for "Friends" groups 5 suggestion box 3 A l l of the 6 1 libraries who were judged to have a public relations program answered Y E S to the question of whether the pro- gram in the library is carried on by librari- ans. In no case is public relations one librarian's full-time job. T h a t service is distributed among the staffs as a whole or added to duties of individuals as f o l l o w s : chief librarian (One wrote plaintively "The librarian is a busy guy") 25 whole staff or committee from whole staff 24 associate librarian 5 chief librarian and associate librarian 4 chief librarian and reference assistant 2 reference librarian 1 JULY, 1953 253 The Desirability of a Special Services De- partment T h e respondents were asked to indicate whether, if it were possible for them to do so, they would relegate all the special ac- tivities (exhibits, publications, library in- struction, public relations) to a separate Special Services Department. T h e answers were Y E S , 4 5 ; N O , 8 3 ; Undecided, 1 1 ; N o answer, 1 2 . Those who answered N O were asked to give their reasons. It soon became appar- ent that many had said N O under the mis- taken impression that the proposed new de- partment would be composed of non-librari- ans, whose interest would be synthetic be- cause they are not in close touch with the substance of library procedures. ( H o w - ever, they are included with the other N O E S ) . T h e reasons for not wanting a Special Services Department fell mainly into three categories. T h e largest number ( 2 7 ) felt that their library was too small, or that there was not enough activity of this nature to warrant such a department. T h e next group ( 2 2 ) indicated that they preferred to have the entire staff participating in all these activities so as to broaden their back- ground and add variety to their assignments. T h e third group ( 7 ) were a special joy to the surveyor (who, together with a part- time assistant constitutes " a Special Serv- ices D e p a r t m e n t " ) . T h e i r reason was that no one person could possibly have all the qualifications needed for such varied t ac- tivities. T h e most appealing N O was pro- vided by one chief librarian who announced " H a v e too much fun doing it myself." N o reason was given by the remaining N O E S . A laddins Lamp " I f a Foundation were to provide the funds for equipment, staffing, etc., what library project or activity would be your first choice?" T h i r t y - f o u r librarians did not answer this question. In the case of the 1 1 7 who did, the answers were as varied as they were interesting. ( M a n y asked for several things so the total will be more than the 1 1 7 responding). T h e need that appeared most frequently ( 2 1 times) was for library instruction: to establish it, expand it, or have the library take it away from the English Department. T i e d for second place (with 1 7 requests) was the desire for an Audio-Visual Bureau or department and for a new library build- ing or extension; 1 1 respondents asked for more money for staff and books generally, while IO wanted it specifically so as to bring their cataloging up-to-date or to. change from one classification scheme to another; 9 indicated the need of someone to take care of public relations and publicity; 8 wanted to inaugurate or expand a microfilm or microcard project; 6 asked for a music collection with listening facilities. T h e same number wanted a Special Services Department to provide for all the activi- ties mentioned in the questionnaires. T h e r e were 5 requests for each of two publications — a student handbook and a library publica- tion (house o r g a n ) . Studies suggested were the f o l l o w i n g : the cost of processing library materials, the cost of storing them, the desirability of the open stack system. T h r e e wanted exhibit facilities and person- nel. T w o wanted a lecture series under- written. T h e same number also asked for funds to develop special regional collec- tions. T h e singles ranged from air condi- tioning through bibliographic control of current scientific and technical publications. Perhaps the w i s t f u l tone of many of the answers can best be expressed by the two words which appeared below one request: " A n y chance?" 254 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES