College and Research Libraries


Review Articles 
A Correction 

As reviewer of The Core of Education for 
Librarianship, M r . Shera has been privileged 
to express w i t h o u t editorial i n t e r f e r e n c e his 
doubts about the v a l u e of the W o r k s h o p , the 
quality of the reporting, and the intelligence 
of the participants. O n the other hand, a 
serious misinterpretation of fact, w h i c h o c c u r s 
in that p a r t of his article which departs f r o m 
the s u b j e c t of his assigned r e v i e w , should be 
c o r r e c t e d . 

M r . Shera is i n c o r r e c t w h e n he suggests 
that the r e l o c a t i o n of the U n i v e r s i t y of C h i -
c a g o B . A . s o m e h o w results in a deterioration 
of the degree p r o g r a m in the G r a d u a t e L i -
b r a r y S c h o o l . N e i t h e r the quality n o r the 
level of the p r e p a r a t i o n required by the G L S 
f o r the M . A . d e g r e e has in any w a y been 
l o w e r e d f r o m that w h i c h w a s required f o r 
at least the last f o u r years w h i l e M r . Shera 
w a s on the G L S f a c u l t y . A t that time, 
qualified students in the C o l l e g e of the U n i -
versity w e r e eligible f o r a three-year p r o -
g r a m in the G L S f o l l o w i n g the a w a r d of the 
B . A . degree then in effect. T h i s p r o g r a m 
w a s divided essentially as f o l l o w s : one year 
w a s devoted t o courses outside the G L S , 
one to basic " c o r e " c o u r s e s in librarianship, 
and one t o advanced c o u r s e s in librarianship. 
I n o t h e r w o r d s , the M . A . d e g r e e might be 
earned five years a f t e r g r a d u a t i o n f r o m high 
school. 

N o w that the C o l l e g e degree has been r e -
l o c a t e d at the end of f o u r years f o l l o w i n g 
high school g r a d u a t i o n , the student w i l l c o n -
tinue to f o l l o w a five year r o a d to the M . A . , 
the last three of w h i c h w i l l remain d e v o t e d 
essentially to a year of c o u r s e s outside the 
G L S , a year of " c o r e " c o u r s e s in librarianship, 
and a year of advanced c o u r s e s in librarianship. 
Students w h o q u a l i f y f o r admission to the 
p r o g r a m leading to a higher d e g r e e in the 
G r a d u a t e L i b r a r y School m a y thus elect to 
begin their p r o f e s s i o n a l training in the f o u r t h 
year of their C o l l e g e w o r k . T h e B . A . d e g r e e 
they receive is given by the C o l l e g e in G e n e r a l 
Studies, not in L i b r a r i a n s h i p . T h e first p r o -
fessional d e g r e e a w a r d e d by the G r a d u a t e 
L i b r a r y School is still the M . A . , and represents 
the total p r o g r a m of the c o r e plus advanced 

courses. T h e D i v i s i o n of the Social Sciences, 
the School of Business, and the L a w School 
of the U n i v e r s i t y of C h i c a g o have also en-
d o r s e d similar p r o g r a m s f o r qualified students. 

T h e G L S c o r e c o u r s e s are taken at the 
same point in the student's a c a d e m i c c a r e e r as 
b e f o r e , and are still based on a b a c k g r o u n d 
of g e n e r a l education w h i c h , if anything, is n o w 
better o r g a n i z e d and integrated. T h e g e n e r a l 
education r e q u i r e m e n t continues to be a m a t t e r 
of d e m o n s t r a t e d k n o w l e d g e of content rather 
than an a r b i t r a r y n u m b e r of q u a r t e r s of e x -
p o s u r e t o it. W h a t e v e r the s o u r c e of his in-
f o r m a t i o n , M r . Shera has been misled, I 
suspect, by the m e r e l y f o r m a l change t h r o u g h 
which the C o l l e g e w i l l c o n f e r a n e w B . A . at 
the end of f o u r years rather than at the end 
of two.—Lester Asheim, dean, Graduate Li-
brary School, University of Chicago. 

Arctic Bibliography 
A r c t i c Institute of N o r t h A m e r i c a . Arctic 

Bibliography, p r e p a r e d f o r and in c o o p e r a -
tion w i t h the D e p a r t m e n t of D e f e n s e . 
[ P r o j e c t d i r e c t o r and editor, M a r i e 
T r e m a i n e ] W a s h . , G o v t . P r . O f f . , 1953-
3v. $12.75. 
P r e v i o u s to the publication of the t h r e e -

volume Arctic Bibliography a variety of 
guides had t o be examined f o r w r i t i n g s a b o u t 
the n o r t h - p o l a r regions. O n e might scan, f o r 
example, Chavanne's Die Literatur iiber 
die Polar-Regionen der Erde, the first com-
prehensive p o l a r bibliography, the Katalog 
of the C o p e n h a g e n M a r i n e n s Bibliotek o r the 
bibliographies w h i c h have appeared in the 
Polar Record. It was on the basis not only 
of e x a m i n i n g these and o t h e r existing bibli-
ographies but also of searching the j o u r n a l s 
c o v e r i n g the A r c t i c region and by checking 
collections in some sixty libraries that the 
Arctic Bibliography was compiled. 

T h e s e v o l u m e s w e r e published not only 
t o p r o v i d e a needed c o m p r e h e n s i v e b i b l i o g r a -
phy but also to satisfy the u r g e n t demand f o r 
a g u i d e t o present A r c t i c k n o w l e d g e — a d e -
m a n d w h i c h has increased w i t h both the o p e n -
ing up of the n o r t h e r n f r o n t i e r s and the 
g r o w i n g i m p o r t a n c e of the p o l a r regions in 
w o r l d politics. T h e evident intention of the 

OCTOBER, 1954 467.