College and Research Libraries By R O B E R T B. D O W N S Are College and University Librarians Academic? Dr. Downs is director, University of Illi- nois Library and Library School. ON E OF T H E M O S T time-honored cliches tossed off by college and university presidents and other professional educators is this one: " T h e library is the heart of the institution." In that phrase, there is ex- pressed an ideal situation, almost universally recognized as a desirable goal, but all too in- frequently realized in practice. It is a com- mon occurrence for the presidents whom I quoted to turn around, immediately after making their library speech, and place a new gymnasium or enlarged stadium ahead of an adequate library in their building programs. It may well be, of course, that both are needed, but in establishing priorities, it is a question of whether to emphasize the heart and brain or the muscles of an institution. Anyway, college and university presidents are in a tough spot when confronted by athletic-minded alumni who have never read a book, and they have my full sympathy, as they are caught upon the horns of a dilem- ma, and called upon to make such difficult choices. But let us examine a little further this old saw, " T h e library is the heart of the insti- tution." W e have been hearing this expres- sion since we first entered library schools. It flatters our vanity, makes us feel im- portant, gives us a sense of being indispensa- ble, and is altogether gratifying to our ears. Perhaps we should do a little self-analysis, however, to determine how much actual ground there is for a statement, the truth of which most of us have simply taken for granted. Are libraries really essential to the college or university's educational program ? W e could gather impressive statistics and expert testimony from many quarters sup- porting the point of view that much teach- ing and research activity would be crippled, if not brought to a complete halt, by the lack of libraries. Under modern conditions, it is inconceivable that scholars could be de- veloped and trained, and carry on their work, without libraries. Even those subject fields which depend primarily on labora- tories must support expensive libraries and elaborate abstracting and indexing services to help them avoid repetition of effort and to serve as points of departure for new sci- entific advances. It can be fairly stated that an adequate library is not only the basis of all teaching and study, but is an essential condition for research, without which addi- tions are unlikely to be made to the sum of human knowledge. One somewhat subjective measure we can use in evaluating the place of the library is to look at the quality of the institution as a whole. It has been my observation that, almost invariably, a strong college or univer- sity is characterized by a strong, well-sup- ported library, while, to reverse the coin, weak libraries typify mediocre educational institutions. N o w , assuming that we accept as proven and true the presidential cliche designating the library as a fundamental organ, i.e., the heart, how can we judge the health of this important member, without which the rest of the body stops functioning? There are, of course, standard criteria, such as the size and nature of the book collection, adequacy of building and other physical facilities, the library budget in relation to total educa- tional expenditures, and the number of staff members. A l l of these are indicative and useful. T o my mind, however, no criterion is more reliable than the quality and status of the library staff, and here, at last, I come to the main point of this paper.. Just as we can judge the college or uni- versity in terms of its library, so we can judge the library in terms of its staff. If the librarians are recognized as an integral part of the academic ranks, if they are a vital group in the educational process, with high qualifications for appointment, and all the rights and privileges of other academic em- ployees, we can feel confident that the li- brary will rank high in all-round effective- ness. O n the other hand, if the professional library personnel are in some nondescript category, without clearly defined status, with no institutional understanding of the contributions which they can make to the educational program, and placed outside, or made ineligible for, the usual academic per- quisites and prerogatives, we can be equally certain that the library is inferior, falling far below its potentialities. T h e r e is the differ- ence. T h e institution can pay its money and take its choice. Before attempting to answer the question in the title of my paper, " A r e College and University Librarians Academic?", let's ex- amine the nature of an academic staff in a present-day university, and because I am best acquainted with the University of Illi- nois organization, I will take that institu- tion as an example. As revised by the Board of Trustees about ten years ago, the University statutes define the word "aca- demic" as f o l l o w s : T h e a c a d e m i c staff w h i c h c o n d u c t s the e d u - c a t i o n a l p r o g r a m shall c o n s i s t o f the t e a c h - ing s t a f f , the r e s e a r c h staff, the e x t e n s i o n staff, d e a n s , d i r e c t o r s o f e d u c a t i o n a l d e - p a r t m e n t s , high s c h o o l v i s i t o r s , l i b r a r i a n s , and such o t h e r m e m b e r s o f the staff as a r e d e s i g n a t e d by the p r e s i d e n t . Please take particular note of the breadth of this definition. Vanished is the old tra- dition that only the person who stands up in front of a class room full of students be- longs in the academic or faculty classifica- tion. Instead, we find included, for ex- ample, farm and home demonstration agents; research workers whose entire time is spent in laboratories and libraries, and who practically never come into direct con- tact with students; editors and other uni- versity press staff; radio and television per- sonnel ; the numerous deans and assistant deans of students; audio-visual specialists; student health service doctors; athletic coaches; the university legal representative and his staff; student counselors; and, finally, professional librarians. W h e r e does this leave the hackneyed, oft-repeated argu- ment of those who oppose academic status for librarians, i.e., the argument that li- brarians are not properly classifiable as aca- demic, because most of them engage in no formal classroom instruction? As a matter of fact, so diverse and so complex have the activities of the modern university become that a definition of aca- demic staff limited to the classroom teachers would be ridiculously narrow. Instead, the trend is to consider as academic everyone contributing directly and substantially to the educational and research activities of the institution. T h e question might then logi- cally be asked: Is the participation of li- brarians in the educational program suffi- ciently direct and substantial to justify their inclusion in the academic classification ? A complete answer would require a minute analysis of the educational preparation, duties, functions, and responsibilities of li- brarians, and these are fully as varied in nature as any other large segment of a uni- versity staff. Let's examine first the kind of 10 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES educational background expected and re- quired of librarians. There are now four library schools offer- ing the doctor's degree in librarianship: Chicago, Columbia, Illinois, and Michigan, and the number of librarians holding the doctorate is steadily increasing. California is considering a doctoral program. Prac- tically all other accredited library schools are likewise set up at the graduate level, and offering master's degrees. In ad- dition, for many departmental, divisional, and other specialized subject positions in li- braries, not only library school preparation is essential but also knowledge of such fields as chemistry, biological sciences, agriculture, engineering, mathematics, medicine, law, fine arts, music, history, education, business, and journalism. It is quite common, there- fore, to find in these positions persons with advanced training both in library science and in subject areas. In these instances, more is expected of the librarian in the way of educational background than of the typi- cal classroom instructor, who is called upon to be an expert in one sphere only. O n the University of Illinois library staff, for ex- ample, are persons with graduate degrees in bacteriology, bio-chemistry, chemistry, zo- ology, anthropology, physics, and mathe- matics, among the sciences; classical lan- guages, philology, French, Spanish, English, speech, fine arts, and music, in the humani- ties; and history, political science, education, law and physical education, among the social sciences. A l l these individuals hold, in addition, of course, degrees in library sci- ence. So much for preparation. H o w about the work itself? Look, there, at the tech- nical processes, perhaps the least understood by laymen of all library operations. A top-notch acquisitions librarian, or a first- class subject cataloger and classifier must know far more than the outside covers of books to perform competently. In the catalog and other technical divisions of the Library of Congress, the N e w Y o r k Pub- lic Library, and large university libraries, for instance, one would find gathered lin- guists and subject experts whose erudition would stand comparison with most other university faculty members. Furthermore, everything they know will be needed, sooner or later—so demanding is the mod- ern research library and its collections. One could go on to other groups of li- brarians and find similar situations. T h e case of departmental librarians in subject fields has been mentioned. These librarians require a comprehensive familiarity with books, journals, pamphlets, and unpub- lished data in their specialties. W i t h o u t their thorough acquaintance with the avail- able literature and tools, much promising research would die on the vine. Faculty members and graduate students find their aid and advice indispensable. Another group performing a similar, but more gen- eralized, service are the reference librarians, who are to libraries what the family doctor or general practitioner is to medicine, in that, they need to know something about everything. O f all people in our time, they come closest to the Renaissance ideal of the universal man, who took all knowledge to be his province and tried to absorb the whole. T h e fact that success is never quite reached is immaterial. W h a t an able ref- erence librarian can accomplish is impres- sive enough, and he, or more frequently she, is heavily relied upon by everyone engaged in serious study or research. T h e whole matter boils down, it seems to me, to the question of whether librarians are entitled to hold up their heads in a community of scholars. I believe the an- swer is yes, because librarians are contribut- ing in fundamental fashion, through developing and making available resources for study and research, to the primary pur- poses for which colleges and universities were founded. T h e classroom instructor, the research scholar, the librarian, and other J A N U A R Y , 1954 11 members of the academic staff together form a great team, and each person on the team has a vital part to play. None of them is more important or less important than the others, for the omission of any one would alter the very character of an educational institution. A s we survey the country to note the present attitude toward, and prevailing practices regarding academic rank for librar- ians, we find quite a mixed picture. T h e situation has not changed materially since the excellent study made by Frank Lundy and published in C & RL in 1951. N o uniform practice has evolved, though as M r . Lundy reported, "the educational func- tion of the library and the academic respon- sibilities of its professional staff appear to be clearly recognized in most of the 35 institutions studied." It was noted that, "in 14 institutions . . . the identification of the library professional staff with the teach- ing and research staff, rather than with the administrative and clerical staff, has been firmly established," usually with the assign- ment of appropriate academic ranks. O f the remainder, eight institutions had ac- cepted librarians into the faculty with vari- ous reservations and limitations; seven were concerned with the problem, but had reached no solution; and seven others had come to the conclusion that the assignment of academic rank was not the best method for recognizing the work of professional librarians.1 It is the attitude of this last group, those w h o are skeptical of the applicability of academic rank to librarians, which I think should be viewed with concern. W h e n some of the leading university li- brarians of the country have so little con- fidence in the contributions which they and their colleagues are making to higher edu- cation that they doubt whether library staffs should be ranked with the faculty, 1 L u n d y , F r a n k A . , " F a c u l t y R a n k of P r o f e s s i o n a l LI- b r a r i a n s , " College and Research Libraries, 1 2 : 1 1 - 1 9 , 109-22, J a n u a r y - A p r i l , 1 9 5 1 . it is not only discouraging but downright appalling. It is an ironic fact, however, that these same chief librarians are will- ing to accept and usually insist upon aca- demic rank for themselves. Whether con- sistency is a jewel or the bane of small minds, strict logic would lead them to reject the professorships which they proudly list in " W h o ' s W h o " sketches. But, say these individuals, there are al- ternatives to faculty rank. T r u e , and let's see what they are. A few universities at- tempt to meet the problem by setting up the library staff in a separate professional category, on the theory, apparently, that librarians are so unlike any other group in the institution, they do not fit any estab- lished classification. In other instances, librarians are considered administrative em- ployees, and listed with the business office, registrar's office, physical plant office, and similar nonacademic staff members. Several large universities with which I am ac- quainted assign librarians to so-called "equivalent ranks," but not actually iden- tical ranks with those of faculty members — a scheme which gives the librarians in- volved a very hazy status indeed. A l l of these plans, it should be noted, are com- promises, and therefore fully satisfactory to no one. Even a compromise is preferable, however, to the confused situation which is found in the numerous colleges and universities that fail to define any place for librarians in their organizations, letting them fall, for the most part, in the nebulous region between clerical and teaching staffs. For institutions supported by federal, state, and municipal funds, there is still another substitute—civil service. In re- gard to this, I am of the same state of mind as a writer some time ago on the federal civil service system, who, after ex- amining the multiple defects of civil service, entitled his article, "Let's G o Back to the Spoils System!" I imagine the Eisenhower administration is feeling the same way about 12 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES it these days as it goes about trying to make places for deserving Republicans by unfreezing the thousands of loyal Demo- crats frozen into civil service protection by the previous administration. Seriously, however, I am convinced that civil service is an almost unmitigated curse when applied to university library staffs. A l l too frequently, it is used for the protec- tion of the mediocre and inefficient, and reduces ambition and initiative. T h e li- brary is handicapped in finding the best qualified persons for positions, because of restrictive residence and other special re- quirements, and examinations. T h e acute shortage of professional librarians which has prevailed for the past decade or more, and is likely to continue for some years into the future, means that innumerable job op- portunities are open to good people who do not have to submit to civil service ex- aminations. This fact handicaps the library operating under civil service in attracting the strongest candidates. Another fault in- herent in a civil service organization is the transfer of many vital elements of control of the library staff from the library admin- istration to civil service officers. Such as- pects as salary scales, vacations, holidays, sick leaves, leaves of absence, hours of work, retirement, and working conditions in gen- eral, are likely to be dictated by civil serv- ice regulations, and the librarian has little or no voice in these matters. Perhaps the most important consideration of all is that, in the academic atmosphere, professional librarians feel stigmatized by being classified as civil service workers, for ordinarily they alone among all university employees pri- marily engaged in academic activities are so designated. M y conclusion is that civil service and all the other suggested alternatives to clear- cut academic status for librarians in col- leges and universities are snares and de- lusions, containing fundamental weaknesses which prevent any one of them from being anything except an ambiguous and unsat- isfactory expedient. O n the assumption that the work which librarians do justifies grouping them with the teaching faculty, what specific advan- tages does academic status carry for them? In other words, is it chiefly a matter of prestige, to help librarians avoid inferiority complexes and to make them eligible to at- tend faculty meetings, or is it worth striv- ing for for other reasons? T h e situation varies from one institution to another, but in almost all cases the librarians stand to gain materially by merging with the rest of the academic staff. In such matters as salary standards, vacations and holidays, sick leaves, sabbaticals, and retirement, the provisions for the faculty are likely to be more liberal than for non-faculty members. This condition may change eventually through the efforts of labor unions, but as far ahead as can be seen now, I would be willing to throw in my lot and sink or swim with the faculty. There should, of course, be no privileges without some corresponding responsibilities for librarians. If we are going to fight for and get academic recognition, we must do our part to merit it. There are various ways in which this can be done. One of our first tasks, I think, is to achieve a clear distinction and separation between clerical and professional duties in libraries. T h e most telling objection to the acceptance of librarians into academic circles is that in perhaps a majority of our libraries there are too many routine, non-professional jobs being carried on by so-called profes- sional staff members. It is difficult for professional librarians to defend such as- signments as checking in current periodicals, charging out books across a loan desk, filing catalog cards, typing orders, reading book shelves, keeping financial records, binding pamphlets, and all the other necessary, but strictly sub-professional, activities that go on in libraries. One reliable yardstick for J A N U A R Y , 1954 13 determining whether an undue proportion of non-professional work is being done by li- brarians is to compare the ratio of clerical workers to the total staff. If more than 50 per cent, indeed some experts in admin- istration say if more than one-third, of the entire staff is composed of professionals, the probabilities are that they are performing a substantial amount of clerical routines, and at the same time neglecting opportunities to make important and useful contributions of a professional character. T h e ideal exact ratio may be open to question, and can per- haps best be determined by detailed analyses of positions. A s a corollary to the point I have just made, librarians can further establish their claim to academic standing by positive con- tributions to the institution's educational program. T h e library ought to be made a genuine teaching agency through such de- vices as general courses on the use of books and libraries, through bibliographical in- struction to students at all levels, through courses on the literature of special subject fields, through appropriate participation in courses in other departments, through pub- lications instructing students in the utili- zation of the library's resources, by book- reviewing programs, by well arranged and pertinent exhibitions of library materials, and by constant aid to individual research and study projects. A library which con- ducts these types of activities need have no concern about proper recognition of its pro- fessional staff. There are other directions, also, in which librarians need to exert themselves in order fully to establish their place in the academic world. One is through better educational preparation. W e ought to have more gradu- ate degrees, both at the doctoral and master's level, represented on our staff, in subject fields, as well as in library science. Like the teaching profession, librarianship is becoming increasingly a career for specialists, and our requirements are exceedingly diverse. In the future, college and uni- versity librarians will undoubtedly be called upon to have academic preparation as thorough and as advanced as their colleagues in other fields. Other ways to achieve academic respect- ability are to write for the professional journals, to carry on needed research in library science, and to help strengthen li- brary associations by active participation in them. These things are expected of faculty members in all disciplines. If librarianship is a true profession, and I am persuaded that it is, then librarians can do no less. In recent years, the quality and quantity of library professional literature have shown a vast improvement. Librarians know more about scientific research methods, and this is reflected in their writings. T h e same factors are observable in the work of our professional associations. A l l the evidence, I submit, points toward the fact that li- brarianship as a profession is rapidly coming of age. Perhaps no summary or conclusion is necessary for these remarks. I am frank to admit that my approach to the subject is somewhat partisan. Nevertheless, I have been aware of the problem of the librarian's status for thirty years, and during much of that period I have been directly concerned with it as a university library administrator. It is on the basis of that experience, observa- tion, and study that I have become convinced that compromises, expedients, and substitutes are undesirable, and a direct, straightfor- ward solution is ultimately the best. 14 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES