College and Research Libraries B y R A L P H T . E S T E R Q U E S T Midwest Inter-Library Center: Acquisition Policy and Program, 1950-1953* Mr. Esterquest is director, Midwest Inter-Library Center. T H E P R O B L E M SCHOLARSHIP r e q u i r e s a c c e s s to t h e r e -c o r d e d k n o w l e d g e of m a n k i n d . T h e b u l k of r e c o r d e d k n o w l e d g e a n d i n f o r m a t i o n is e x p a n d i n g w i t h n o e n d in s i g h t . T h e L i b r a r y of C o n g r e s s h a s t e n m i l l i o n v o l u m e s a n d a c q u i r e s a q u a r t e r m i l l i o n n e w o n e s e v e r y y e a r . H a r v a r d a n d Y a l e e a c h s p e n d c l o s e t o h a l f a m i l l i o n d o l l a r s a y e a r f o r b o o k s a n d p e r i o d i c a l s . Y e t t h e s e t h r e e in- s t i t u t i o n s a r e a m o n g t h e A m e r i c a n l i b r a r i e s w h i c h , in r e c e n t y e a r s , h a v e a c c e p t e d t h e f a c t t h a t t h e y c a n n o t i n d i v i d u a l l y p r o v i d e a l l t h e m a t e r i a l s r e q u i r e d b y t h e i r o w n c l i e n t e l e . N o i n s t i t u t i o n h a s o r w i l l h a v e t h e r e - s o u r c e s i n m o n e y , s p a c e , o r s t a f f t o a c q u i r e a n d h o u s e t h e m a t e r i a l t o w h i c h its s c h o l a r s a r e l i k e l y t o r e q u i r e a c c e s s . C O O P E R A T I O N I n t h e l i g h t of t h i s s i t u a t i o n o n e of t h e i n e v i t a b l e s t e p s is t o e x p l o r e c o o p e r a t i v e a c c e s s t o l i b r a r y m a t e r i a l s . C o o p e r a t i v e u s e c a n n o t w o r k in t h e c a s e of a b o o k t h a t is f r e q u e n t l y c o n s u l t e d , b u t it is a f a c t t h a t m a n y of t h e b o o k s in a l a r g e l i b r a r y a r e s e l d o m u s e d . I n t h e S t a n f o r d U n i v e r s i t y * T h e Midwest I n t e r - L i b r a r y Center in Chicago has recently reviewed its direct acquisitions program and has issued the following brief statement describing it. T h e Editors of C&RL feel that the acquisitions program of M I L C is the Center's history-making feature, and f o r this reason, believe the statement should have a wide audience among librarians. b o o k s t a c k s , 5 2 p e r c e n t of t h e b o o k s a r e n o t c o n s u l t e d o n c e i n t e n y e a r s . Y e t l i t t l e - u s e d b o o k s a r e n o t u n i m p o r t a n t b o o k s ; w h e n n e e d e d , a d u s t - c o v e r e d , m i m e o g r a p h e d r e - p o r t c a n be v e r y i m p o r t a n t i n d e e d . T h e " l i t t l e u s e " c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of t h e b u l k of r e s e a r c h l i b r a r y m a t e r i a l s m a k e s it pos- s i b l e f o r i n s t i t u t i o n s t o h a v e a c c e s s t o m a n y i t e m s w i t h o u t o w n i n g t h e m i n d i v i d u a l l y . T h i s c a n be a c c o m p l i s h e d t h r o u g h s h a r i n g u s e u n d e r a c o o p e r a t i v e a r r a n g e m e n t . T H E M I D W E S T I N T E R - L I B R A R Y C E N T E R F o r c o o p e r a t i v e a c c e s s to be s u c c e s s f u l t h e r e a r e c e r t a i n e s s e n t i a l c o n d i t i o n s w h i c h m u s t be m e t : a c c e s s m u s t be a s s u r e d , c o n - v e n i e n t , a n d f a s t . T h e s e c o n d i t i o n s t h e M i d w e s t I n t e r - L i b r a r y C e n t e r is u n i q u e l y a b l e t o m e e t w i t h r e s p e c t t o c e r t a i n i n - f r e q u e n t l y u s e d m a t e r i a l s . T h e u n i v e r s i t i e s in t h e a r e a h a v e n o b e t t e r p r o s p e c t of a d d i n g t h i s k i n d of e s s e n t i a l l i b r a r y r e s o u r c e a t so l i t t l e c o s t . T w o f a c t s s h o u l d be k e p t in m i n d : 1. Cost. I n p r o v i d i n g l i b r a r y s e r v i c e , t h e f i r s t c o s t s of a c q u i s i t i o n a r e t h e l e a s t . T h e s u b s e q u e n t c o s t s of p r o c e s s i n g , b i n d i n g , a n d s t o r i n g i n d e f i n i t e l y a r e i m p r e s s i v e , a n d if these c o s t s c a n be r e d u c e d t h r o u g h c o o p e r a - t i v e a c c e s s , t h e b e n e f i t s a r e s u b s t a n t i a l ; a n d 2 . Types of material. I t is n o t a p p r o - p r i a t e f o r m i d d l e w e s t e r n u n i v e r s i t i e s t o s h a r e a c c e s s t o s u c h i t e m s a s t h e Congres- sional Record, t h e i m p o r t a n t s c h o l a r l y j o u r - n a l s , o r b o o k s w h i c h a r e " r a r e " in t h e b o o k - JANUARY, 1954 47 t r a d e s e n s e . T h e s e a r e c o r e m a t e r i a l s w h i c h m u s t be in e a c h i n s t i t u t i o n ' s o w n l i b r a r y . C o o p e r a t i v e a c c e s s is c o n c e r n e d w i t h s u c h i t e m s a s t h e s e : Mimeographed press releases of the British Ministry of Information (20 to 45 vol- umes per year) Italian, Portuguese, Pakistan (etc.) parlia- mentary proceedings (i. e., debates) Newspapers of Burma, Spain, Alaska, Chile, etc. College catalogs German university dissertations Fraternity periodicals Official journals of minor missionary so- cieties Journals of local (county) history societies of Sweden, Ireland, etc. T H E A C Q U I S I T I O N P O L I C Y T h e a c q u i s i t i o n s p r o g r a m of t h e M i d w e s t I n t e r - L i b r a r y C e n t e r is b a s e d u p o n a c o n - c e p t of s h a r i n g in t h e u s e of t h o s e l i b r a r y i t e m s w h i c h t h e i n d i v i d u a l m e m b e r l i b r a r i e s d o n o t w i s h t o a c q u i r e b e c a u s e t h e t o t a l c o s t of i n d i v i d u a l o w n e r s h i p c a n n o t be j u s - t i f i e d . T h e C e n t e r is t r y i n g t o d e v e l o p a s e r v i c e o p e r a t i o n , n o t a b o o k c o l l e c t i o n as s u c h . T h e b o o k c o l l e c t i o n w i l l a l w a y s be c o n s p i c u o u s l y u s e l e s s b y i t s e l f ; it is a s e r v i c e a d j u n c t t o t h e b a s i c r e s e a r c h c o l l e c - t i o n s w h i c h a l w a y s w i l l be l o c a t e d a t t h e m e m b e r i n s t i t u t i o n s . T o i n s u r e a d h e r e n c e t o t h e s e b a s i c p r i n - c i p l e s , a n d t o m a i n t a i n t h e p r o g r a m a s a s e r v i c e o p e r a t i o n , e x t r a o r d i n a r y s a f e g u a r d s h a v e b e e n e s t a b l i s h e d t o g u i d e t h e C e n t e r . I t e m s w h i c h t h e C e n t e r a c q u i r e s a r e s e l e c t e d in a c c o r d a n c e w i t h c l e a r l y - s t a t e d c r i t e r i a , a n d a l l m e m b e r l i b r a r i a n s p a r t i c i p a t e in t h e s e l e c t i o n p r o c e s s . T h e f o l l o w i n g r u l e s w e r e e s t a b l i s h e d a t a 1 9 5 0 m e e t i n g of t h e l i b r a r i - a n s : Guiding Principles: Purchases I. The Center purchases an item or a col- lection, provided: a. It does not exist or is not readily available in one of its participating li- braries. b. It has value in terms of the research purposes of the region. c. It is little used. 2. In acquiring material by purchase, the Center will avoid duplicating fields of specialization that may exist anywhere in the country, but especially those within the region. 3. In the case of expensive items and large collections, the Center will normally avoid duplicating material readily avail- able (by inter-library loan or on micro- film) outside the region, unless there is an indication that the material will be used relatively frequently by the partici- pating libraries or their patrons. 4. The Center enters subscriptions upon the authority of the Advisory Committee, except in cases where an immediate sub- scription is necessary to prevent gaps. Such emergency subscriptions are tenta- tive and subject to review by the Ad- visory Committee. 5. ff an item.seems clearly to belong to a recognized special collection, the Center defers purchase in favor of the library having that special field. T h e s e l e c t i o n of m a t e r i a l f o r t h e C e n t e r t o a c q u i r e is in t h e h a n d s of t h e p a r t i c i p a t i n g l i b r a r i a n s . T h e u s u a l m e t h o d of s e l e c t i n g i t e m s is as f o l l o w s : 1. A member librarian recommends an item. 2. The Center sends a Recommended Ac- quisition card to all member librarians. 3. Member librarians return the card, in- dicating: a. If they own a copy b. If they approve of Center acquisition c. If they disapprove of Center acquisi- tion 4. If no library already owns a copy and if no one objects to Center acquisition, the Center proceeds to acquire. S o m e i t e m s r e q u i r e v a r i a t i o n s in t h e se- l e c t i n g p r o c e d u r e , b u t t h e p r i n c i p l e of n o n - d u p l i c a t i o n , n o c o m p e t i t i o n , a n d n e a r - u n a n i - m o u s c o n s e n t g o v e r n s a l l a c q u i s i t i o n s . W h e n e v e r m a i l - v o t i n g is i n c o n c l u s i v e , t h e SO CO. LEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES i t e m i n q u e s t i o n is r e f e r r e d t o t h e n e x t m e e t - i n g o f a l l t h e l i b r a r i a n s , w h e r e f u l l d i s c u s - s i o n h a s a l w a y s l e d t o u n a n i m o u s d e c i s i o n s . I t i s i n c o n c e i v a b l e t h a t t h e C e n t e r w o u l d a c q u i r e a n i t e m t o w h i c h a n y o n e m e m b e r l i b r a r y w a s v i g o r o u s l y o p p o s e d . T h e g e n - e r a l o u t l i n e s of t h e d e v e l o p i n g a c q u i s i t i o n s p r o g r a m a r e r e p o r t e d t o t h e B o a r d of D i - r e c t o r s a t e a c h m e e t i n g , a n d d e t a i l s a r e r e - p o r t e d e a c h m o n t h i n t h e C e n t e r ' s News- letter. A s u m m a r y of m a t e r i a l w h i c h t h e C e n t e r h a s a c q u i r e d o r is a c q u i r i n g a p p e a r s b e - l o w . A t a m e e t i n g o n F e b r u a r y 3 , 1 9 5 3 , w h i c h w a s a t t e n d e d b y 1 4 of t h e m e m b e r l i b r a r i a n s , a d e c i s i o n w a s r e a c h e d , w i t h o u t a d i s s e n t i n g v o t e , t h a t t h e C e n t e r s h o u l d i n a u g u r a t e a s s o o n a s p o s s i b l e a p r o g r a m f o r " t r a n s f e r - r i n g s u b s c r i p t i o n s . " S u c h a p r o g r a m h o l d s p r o m i s e of i m p o r t a n t s a v i n g s f o r e a c h m e m - b e r i n s t i t u t i o n , s i n c e m o s t of t h e l i b r a r i e s s u b s c r i b e t o t h o u s a n d s of p e r i o d i c a l s , m a n y of w h i c h a r e r a r e l y c o n s u l t e d . ( P e r i o d i c a l t i t l e s c u r r e n t l y r e c e i v e d , 1 9 5 1 - 5 2 : I l l i n o i s 1 7 , 2 0 0 ; I n d i a n a 1 0 , 3 0 0 ; I o w a 8 , 2 0 0 . ) S u b - s c r i p t i o n p r i c e s h a v e , o n t h e a v e r a g e , d o u b l e d d u r i n g t h e l a s t f i v e y e a r s , a n d m a n y n e w t i t l e s a r e b e i n g r e q u e s t e d b y t h e f a c u l - t i e s . W h e n a p r o g r a m f o r t r a n s f e r r i n g s u b - s c r i p t i o n s is i n a u g u r a t e d , e a c h l i b r a r y w i l l b e a b l e t o r e v i e w i t s p e r i o d i c a l s u b s c r i p t i o n l i s t f o r t h e p u r p o s e of d r o p p i n g t h o s e r a r e l y - c o n s u l t e d i t e m s w h i c h t h e C e n t e r w o u l d a g r e e t o a c q u i r e . A t y p i c a l m e m b e r l i b r a r y c o u l d t r i m i t s l i s t b y 1 0 t o 2 0 p e r c e n t w i t h o u t i m p a i r i n g i t s s e r v i c e i n a n y s e r i o u s w a y . T h e d i r e c t a n d i m m e d i a t e s a v i n g s a r e o b v i o u s a n d s h o u l d b e r e c o g n i z e d a s r e - c u r r i n g a n n u a l l y . W h i l e n o t a l l of t h e l i b r a r i e s m a y b e a b l e t o d r o p all of t h e s u b - s c r i p t i o n s t o b e p i c k e d u p b y t h e C e n t e r , w h e r e t h e y d o n o t h a v e a c c e s s n o w t o s u c h s u b s c r i p t i o n s t h e p r o g r a m w i l l r e p r e s e n t a n e t i n c r e a s e i n t h e i r r e s o u r c e s . M I D W E S T INTER-LIBRARY CENTER S u m m a r y of A c q u i s i t i o n s ( a s of M a y , 1 9 5 3 ) SERIALS Current subscriptions to 53 less-used foreign newspapers (e.g., Sydney Herald, Iraq Times, T o r o n t o Globe and Mail, Vienna Arbeiter Zeitung, Cairo Gazette). Being maintained on microfilm. Annual cost, $4,284. Current subscriptions to 20 less-used United States newspapers (e.g., Birmingham Neivs, Juneau Empire, Los Angeles Times, Balti- more Sun, Dallas Neivs, Atlanta Constitu- tion, Pacific Stars and Stripes). Being maintained on microfilm. Annual cost, $2,564. Current g i f t subscriptions to 70 foreign language newspapers published in the United States; 26 languages represented include: Arabic, Armenian, Chinese, Dutch, Polish, Russian, Slovenian, Yiddish. Gift. Current output of official and semi-official pub- lications of the forty-eight states (e.g., house and senate journals, departmental an- nual reports, governor's messages, conserva- tion bulletins, mines regulations, agricultural bulletins). ( T o t a l annual output is un- k n o w n ; about 10,000 get listed.) W i t h minor exceptions, gift. Current gift subscriptions to about 40 foreign government English language information bulletins (e.g., Nevus from Turkey, This Week in Free China, Latvian Information Bulletin, Report on Indonesia). G i f t . Current gift subscriptions to a selected list of foreign government gazettes (e.g., Israel Official Gazette, individual governments in the M a l a y a n Federation). Gift. Current output of United States federal docu- ments that are not distributed to libraries under the federal depository program (usually mimeographed, etc.). Includes mimeographed daily releases of State D e - partment monitored foreign broadcasts, E n g - lish language scripts of Voice of America, broadcasts, Department of Agriculture branch office commodity-price reports, etc. T o t a l annual output estimated at 20,000 items. Obtained through membership in the national Documents Expediting Project and, f o r certain microprint copies, through sub- scription. Annual cost, $1,100. Current subscriptions to the briefs and records of five federal Courts of Appeal and of one state supreme court. Fills 25 shelves per year. Annual cost about $60. Current gift subscriptions to some 750 house (Continued on page 89) JANUARY, 1954 49 T A B L E I I I Catalog Reorganization: Expenditures for Activities Involved Activi ty Hours Percentage of Time Cost Percentage o f Cost 1. Planning and supervision 2. Measuring size of catalog 3. Determining tray divisions 4. Shifting cards to new trays 5. Labeling trays 6. Renumbering trays Totals 18 20 80 90.5 44-75 68.5 5.6 6 . 2 24.9 2 8 . 2 13.8 21.3 $ 39-36 21.32 118.98 140.97 4 4 . 8 0 60.30 9 - 2 5 . 0 28.1 3 3 - 1 10.5 14.1 1. Planning and supervision 2. Measuring size of catalog 3. Determining tray divisions 4. Shifting cards to new trays 5. Labeling trays 6. Renumbering trays Totals 321.75 1 0 0 . 0 % $425-73 1 0 0 . 0 % of c o s t s b y t y p e s of a c t i v i t y . C o s t s w e r e d e t e r m i n e d b y m u l t i p l y i n g t h e a m o u n t o f t i m e s p e n t b y e a c h p e r s o n e n g a g e d i n t h e o p e r a t i o n b y h i s d e t e r m i n e d h o u r l y r a t e of p a y . I t is e v i d e n t f r o m t h e s e f i g u r e s t h a t if t y p e d l a b e l s c o u l d h a v e b e e n u s e d t o n u m b e r t h e t r a y s o f t h e n e w c a t a l o g , c o s t s m i g h t h a v e b e e n r e d u c e d b y 1 2 t o 1 5 p e r c e n t , a s s u m i n g t h a t t h e p r e p a r a t i o n of t h e n u m b e r l a b e l s w o u l d r e q u i r e a b o u t a s m u c h t i m e a s t h e p r e p a r a t i o n o f t h e c o n t e n t s l a b e l s . SUMMARY I n t h i s a r t i c l e a n a t t e m p t h a s b e e n m a d e t o s u g g e s t t h e n a t u r e of c o s t s i n v o l v e d i n t h e r e o r g a n i z a t i o n a n d s h i f t i n g of a l a r g e l i b r a r y c a t a l o g t h r o u g h a n a c c o u n t i n g of t h e c o s t s of t h e r e c e n t e x p a n s i o n o f t h e D u k e U n i v e r s i t y L i b r a r y C a t a l o g . W h i l e v a r i a b l e l o c a l f a c t o r s w i l l a f f e c t a c t u a l c o s t s of a p a r t i c u l a r o p e r a t i o n , t h e s e f i g u r e s m a y b e h e l p f u l t o t h e a d m i n i s t r a t o r p l a n n i n g a c a t a l o g r e o r g a n i z a t i o n i n s u g g e s t i n g s u i t a b l e b a s e s f o r p r e p a r i n g c o s t e s t i m a t e s . Midwest Inter-Library Center (Continued from page 49) organs, published by commercial and finan- cial firms. G i f t . Current output of theses of all universities in France. 256 received in 1952. Annual cost, $306. Current output of college catalogs issued by American universities. G i f t . Current subscriptions to 11 Latin-American medical journals. Received on exchange f o r subscriptions to its medical journal sup- plied by a member university. Current subscriptions to a f e w miscellaneous periodicals, e.g.: Economic Reports of the Bank of T a i w a n . G i f t . Mathematisc he-Physic alls che Semesterbe- richte. $2.50. Kyoto University Engineering Research In- stitute Bulletin. Gift. Prometheus (in modern G r e e k ) . $10. Acta Biologica Venczuelica. NON-SERIAL ITEMS During its first year and a half, the Center has purchased about ten nonserial or noncontinu- ing items which member librarians have asked for. Examples are: Institut ( P a r i s ) . Sciences Section. 44 volumes. $226. Italy. T w o Sicilies. Annali chili del regno delle Due Sicilie. Volumes 1-42. $68. T h r e e Nineteenth Century German immigrant newspapers on microfilm. Complete files. $158. Opyt Sovetskoi Meditziny (Medical encyclopedia of experiences during the war, 1941-45). 35 volumes. $350. Pravda, M a r c h 18, 1917 through June 1938, on microfilm. $500. Yank (U.S. A r m y w e e k l y ) . N e w Y o r k and overseas editions, 1942-45, on microfilm. $250. JANUARY, 1954 89