College and Research Libraries


By H E N R Y B I R N B A U M 

The Research Library and the Scholar 

WH A T DO SCHOLARS T H I N K o f t h e r e -search library and research librar-
ians? Librarians have written extensively 
of how useful libraries are to scholarship 
and research. Do scholars agree with 
them? Are libraries essential for national 
survival, for supporting the economic 
life of the nation, and for providing the 
sources of data necessary for a trained 
youth and informed public?1 Howard 
Mumford Jones, professor of English, 
Harvard University, states that the pri-
mary aim of the research library is to 
collect, enrich, and preserve records of 
intellectual achievement from every cul-
ture and all time.2 Richard D. Altick, 
professor of English, Ohio State Univer-
sity, asserts that the whole edifice of 
modern scholarship rests upon the foun-
dation of research libraries.3 

Other scholars have commented on re-
search libraries. It is the purpose of this 
review to examine a selected group of 
such views published since 1945. This 
date has been chosen because since 
World War II the demands upon re-
search libraries have increased substan-
tially. What do these views tell us of the 
wants and needs of scholars? How does 
the problem of library growth appear to 
them? What do they think of current 
practices in cataloging and classification? 
What do they expect in terms of research 
assistance from librarians? What do they 
consider to be the attributes of the ideal 

1 K u r t Peiser, " T h e Research L i b r a r y in Contem-
porary S o c i e t y , " in Pennsylvania. U n i v e r s i t y . L i b r a r y . 
Changing Patterns of Scholarship and the Future of 
Research Libraries ( P h i l a d e l p h i a : 1 9 5 1 ) , p.54. 

2 " O p p o r t u n i t i e s and Support f o r College and U n i -
versity L i b r a r i e s , " CRL, X I V ( 1 9 5 3 ) , 9-21. 

3 " T h e S c h o l a r ' s P a r a d i s e , " CRL X V ( 1 9 5 4 ) , 382. 

Mr. Birnbaum is Chief Circulation 
Librarian, Brooklyn College Library. 

librarian? What are their ideas in respect 
to the future of research libraries? These 
questions provide a framework for the 
discussions by faculty members, research-
ers, and directors of research. 

Before entering directly into these dis-
cussions, however, it may be useful to 
describe briefly "the research library," 
"scholar," and "scholarship." 

Three types of scholarly or research 
libraries may be identified: (1) special 
libraries serving a small area of learning; 
(2) university libraries which undertake 
to cover the whole field of scholarship;4 
and (3) libraries which fall somewhere 
in between, such as "special collections*)' 
made up largely of rare and out-of-print 
books dealing with the same or related 
subjects.5 Variations in aims and pur-
poses of each type of research library 
occur and influence the collections. 

Conyers Read, professor of history, 
University of Pennsylvania, defines re-
search libraries as institutions designed 
to assist those engaged in extending the 
boundaries of knowledge,6 and E. H. 
Wilkins, Harvard University, sees the 
research library in a university as the 
custodian of the world's actual knowl-
edge and the reservoir of its potential 
knowledge.7 

Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary 
defines a scholar as one who has engaged 
in advanced study and has acquired 
knowledge in some special field.8 A schol-
ar also may be defined as an individual 

4 Conyers Read, " L i b r a r i e s and S c h o l a r s h i p , " in 
Pennsylvania. U n i v e r s i t y . L i b r a r y . Op. cit., p.98. 

5 Louis Gottschalk, " P o s s i b l e R e a d j u s t m e n t s by the 
S c h o l a r , " in Chicago. U n i v e r s i t y . Graduate L i b r a r y 
School. Librarians, Scholars and Booksellers at Mid-
century ( C h i c a g o : 1 9 5 3 ) , p.49. 

8 Loc. cit. 
7 " T h e U n i v e r s i t y L i b r a r y and S c h o l a r s h i p , " Harvard 

Library Bulletin, I V ( 1 9 5 0 ) , 16. 
8 Webster"s New Collegiate Dictionary, 5th ed., 1948, 

p.889. 

SEPTEMBER 1959 355 



who is engaged in extending the bound-
aries of knowledge, who develops new 
or syntheses of knowledge, and who 
needs and uses research libraries to at-
tain his goal. 

A narrower definition of a scholar, by 
Louis Gottschalk, professor of modern 
history, University of Chicago, is that he 
is an investigator whose research material 
is to be found in printed sources that 
are relatively rare or out-of-print; hence 
the investigator who, for the most part, 
is engaged in either historical or human-
istic research. This definition is not 
meant to exclude the natural scientist 
concerned with the study of the history 
of his science from rare and out-of-print 
books, or the social scientist concerned 
with the more remote historical develop-
ment of either the thought or the institu-
tions that fall within his field.9 

Scholarship is defined by Merle E. 
Curti, professor of history, University of 
Wisconsin, as high competence in a de-
limited field of conscious and sustained 
inquiry for related facts, valid generaliza-
tions, and workable truths.10 

The Scholar's Wants and Needs. T h e 
literature reveals that the wants and 
needs of scholars in libraries are related 
to subject interests. T h e statements 
selected, therefore, have been separated 
into two groups, those from humanists 
and social scientists, and those from nat-
ural scientists. 

Albert C. Baugh, professor of English, 
University of Pennsylvania, points out 
that for the humanists and social scien-
tists, the research library has to be the 
laboratory as well as the research tool, 
providing a key to the results of previous 
scholarship. Not only are current ma-
terials needed, but also original texts 
and documents of all kinds. He recog-
nizes, however, that the ideal of com-
pleteness is impossible in all fields, and 

9 Loc. cit. 
10 American Scholarship in the Twentieth Century 

( C a m b r i d g e , M a s s . : H a r v a r d U n i v e r s i t y P r e s s , 1 9 5 3 ) , 
pp. 1-2. 

that some selectivity is inevitable. Baugh 
suggests that the available funds be dis-
tributed among four categories: (1) basic 
tools such as bibliographies, works of 
reference, and the important serials 
which should be purchased no matter 
what else the library does; (2) the most 
important books in most fields; (3) spe-
cial collections in those fields where spe-
cial work is being done by the faculty; 
and, (4) a luxury sum for modest ad-
ditions to collectors' items, rarities, and 
manuscripts.11 

James D. Hart, professor of English, 
University of California at Berkeley, con-
curring, notes that if a university is to 
be maintained as a scholarly institution, 
its library must not only possess a vast 
basic collection of research materials, but 
it must each year buy the many pub-
lished books and journals which repre-
sent its appropriate coverage of the 
world's knowledge put into print. He 
and John D. Millett, president, Miami 
University, Oxford, Ohio, agree how-
ever, that a ceiling can be placed on an 
undergraduate book collection, because 
a library with more than a quarter mil-
lion volumes seems to present college 
students with almost as many problems 
as solutions. On the other hand, Hart 
believes that no simple limits can be 
put on the library of an educational in-
stitution offering strong graduate pro-
grams in a large number of subjects.12 

According to Crane Brinton, professor 
of ancient and modern history, Harvard 
University, and John F. McDermott, as-
sociate professor of English, Washington 
University, the humanist and social 
scientist also will demand obscure ma-
terials and materials that in the past did 
not attain the dignity of "literature," 
such as old Sears, Roebuck catalogs, out-

1 1 " T h e B a l a n c e of Conflicting I n t e r e s t s in the Build-
ing of Collections. D i s c u s s i o n , " in P e n n s y l v a n i a . Uni-
versity. L i b r a r y . Op. cit., pp.80, 8 2 . 

1 2 H a r t , " W h a t a Scholar E x p e c t s of A c q u i s i t i o n s , " 
in Edwin E . W i l l i a m s , ed. Problems and Prospects of 
the Research Library ( N e w B r u n s w i c k , N . J . : S c a r e -
crow P r e s s , 1 9 5 5 ) , p . 5 9 ; Millett, Financing Higher 
Education in the United States ( N e w Y o r k : Columbia 
U n i v e r s i t y P r e s s , 1 9 5 2 ) , p.123. 

356 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



of-date textbooks, dime novels, and other 
fugitive writings. These materials, Brin-
ton believes, are needed to satisfy the de-
mand for what is called "the new history 
and the new criticism," and are an at-
tempt to get as great a range of concrete 
facts as possible on which to test con-
cepts, hypotheses, and ideas about hu-
man behavior.13 

Meeting the demands of the natural 
scientists is no easier task for a research 
library than meeting the needs of the 
humanists and social scientists. While 
natural scientists will want materials 
that cover the historical aspects of their 
particular field, Philip M. Morse, pro-
fessor of physics, Massachusetts Institute 
of Technology, finds that the main em-
phasis is on current literature. Contrary 
to the humanists and social scientists, he 
feels that the research physicist's library, 
for instance, is much better if it does not 
contain books that are very rarely used.14 
According to Fred L. Pundsack, senior 
research chemist, Johns-Manville Cor-
poration, the user of a scientific library 
expects to find a comprehensive file of 
periodicals relating to his field of in-
terest, as well as a relatively extensive 
holding of reference books and texts.15 

A final comment equally applicable 
to all groups is made by Altick. He pro-
tests the practice of withholding such 
materials as manuscripts from the use of 
all but some privileged person who has 
successfully asserted his right to a mo-
nopoly. Altick agrees that a faculty mem-
ber who has materially aided in the 
acquisition of a certain collection is en-
titled to first use, provided that he does 
so within a reasonable time. After the 
expiration of that time, the collection 
should be thrown open with as few re-
strictions as possible to all scholars.16 

1 3 B r i n t o n , " P a t t e r n s of Research and Changing L i -
brary N e e d s , " in Pennsylvania. U n i v e r s i t y . L i b r a r y . 
Op. cit., p . 1 0 ; M c D e r m o t t , " A U n i v e r s i t y P r o f e s s o r 
Appraises the U n i v e r s i t y L i b r a r y , " Missouri Library 
Association Quarterly, X I I ( 1 9 5 1 ) , 231. 

1 4 " W h a t S c h o l a r s E x p e c t of L i b r a r y S e r v i c e to 
R e a d e r s , " in W i l l i a m s , ed. Op. cit., p.78. 

1 3 " W h a t the U s e r E x p e c t s from the L i b r a r y , " 
Special Libraries, X L ( 1 9 5 5 ) , 163. 

M Op. cit., p.381. 

Library Growth. It is perhaps natural 
for the scholar to desire and demand all 
that he thinks he needs for his research. 
However, Hart recognizes that there 
must be limitations, despite the necessity 
for growth of the library if his university 
is not to stagnate. But, Hart also realizes 
that while the making of books for li-
braries is endless, the balancing of books 
in the comptroller's office has a definite 
end. His suggestions for controlling 
growth are an increased move towards 
cooperative storage libraries and the use 
of more microreproductions.17 

Altick recognizes that the modern uni-
versity library fulfills a highly complex 
purpose and he views it as inescapable 
that the book-stock must be distributed 
in a number of places in addition to the 
main stack. His hope is that decentrali-
zation be minimized. On the other hand, 
if the books do have to be decentralized 
and in some instances stored, he pleads 
that their current whereabouts be clearly 
noted in the public catalog.18 

Millett blames the librarians for the 
growth of research libraries in universi-
ties. He states that librarians hesitate to 
throw anything away because they always 
fear that the book they discard will be 
the one someone wants next month, and, • 
he says, they are always chagrined when 
they cannot at once produce what is 
wanted.19 Later comments by Millett in-
dicate that he was more concerned with 
college, rather than university, libraries. 

A primary problem of the researcher 
in science is keeping up with the litera-
ture. T o find a solution to this problem 
is the central concern of suggestions. 

Ralph E. Cleland, department of 
botany, Indiana University, and Mil-
dred C. Rebstock, research department, 
Parke, Davis 8c Company, Detroit, sug-
gest that scientific journals, instead of 
publishing full-length papers, as is cur-
rent practice, should present concise yet 

17 Op. cit., pp.61-62. 
18 O f . cit., p.379. 
19 Loc. cit. 

SEPTEMBER 1959 357 



comprehensive abstracts of the author's 
work, written by the author, and then 
make the entire paper available on mic-
rocard or microfilm. This practice, they 
believe, would make for publishing 
economy. Rebstock adds that another 
course which many scientific researchers 
believe would help control the volume 
of the scientific literature involves the 
use of more restraint on the part of 
authors and editors alike in deciding 
what is really worth publishing. There 
has been a tendency, she says, particu-
larly in some academic circles, to eval-
uate a person by the number of papers 
he publishes rather than by the quality 
of his work.20 

Another suggestion for coping with 
the vast amount of scientific literature is 
advanced by Watson Davis, director of 
Science Service. Instead of traditional 
publication, he recommends auxiliary 
publication through the deposit of the 
manuscript in a central place, to be 
numbered and abstracted without cost 
by the central agency. T h e central agency 
could then send out film copies of any 
deposited manuscript, as requested, 
through the abstracting service. This 
idea, he points out, is already in oper-
ation in the Bibliography of Scientific 
and Industrial Reports, prepared by the 
Office of the Publication Board, Depart-
ment of Commerce.21 

The Scholar's Viewpoint on the Tech-
nical Services. T h e area of technical 
services is one with which scholars are 
generally not too familiar. They should 
not be expected to be, although some 
understanding on their part of technical 
procedures would lead to increased un-
derstanding of what services a research 
library can provide. 

One of the questions raised by schol-
ars is who shoidd choose the books to 
be acquired, the scholar or the librarian. 

2 0 Cleland, " T h e U s e of M a t e r i a l , " Science C X X I 
( 1 9 5 5 ) , 5 1 9 ; Rebstock, " C h e m i s t , the L i b r a r y and the 
L a b o r a t o r y , " Special Libraries, X L V I I ( 1 9 5 6 ) , 19, 2 0 . 

2 1 W i l l i a m H . Carlson, " R e s e a r c h W o r k e r and the 
L i b r a r y , " CRL, V I I ( 1 9 4 6 ) , 296. 

R. M. Hartwell, head of the School of 
Humanities and Social Sciences, New 
South Wales University of Technology, 
believes that in universities the choice 
is usually the prerogative of the scholar, 
even though the librarian argues that 
he is the more impartial buyer and that 
too often when the scholar directs the 
buying, he buys only to suit his indi-
vidual research.22 Hart suggests increased 
specialization in acquisitions and in-
creased attention to interlibrary loans. 
He reasons that these two activities 
might help keep down the need for du-
plication of books in one research library 
after another.23 

Comments by scholars on catalogs, 
cataloging, and classification point up 
the difficulty librarians have in coping 
with these problems to everyone's sat-
isfaction, especially since there is a di-
vergence of opinion between the human-
ists and social scientists on the one hand 
and the natural scientists on the other. 

Hartwell, speaking for the humanists 
and social scientists, recognizes that the 
important link between the reader and 
the books of a library is the catalog, and 
that the catalog is of great use both to 
the scholar and to the general reader. 
For the general reader, however, he be-
lieves the catalog need be little more 
than a finding list. For the scholar, on 
the other hand, it should be a reference 
tool in its own right. T o avoid delay and 
duplication in cataloging, he supports 
centralized cataloging programs.24 Mc-
Dermott admits that books must be cat-
aloged for convenience of storing and 
finding, but he complains that some-
times rules are neither reasonable nor 
applicable. T h e fact is, he says, that 
cataloging appears to be one of the great 
mysteries to the non-librarian.25 

Read claims that there is a lack of 
good comprehensive subject catalogs.26 

2 2 " T h e L i b r a r i a n and the S c h o l a r , " Australian Li-
brary Journal, I I ( 1 9 5 3 ) , 93. 

23 Op. cit., p.63. 
24 Op. cit., p.94. 
25 Op. cit., p . 2 3 2 . 
mOp. cit., p.101. 

358 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



William B. Hamilton, professor of his-
tory, Duke University, in agreement with 
Read, states that the tremendous range 
of the social scientist and the humanist 
is sufficient justification for plenty of 
subject cards in the catalog. This seems 
to him to be the only answer to refute 
the view held by some extremists that 
a scholar is a specialist who already 
knows the literature of his field or can 
readily explore it through bibliographies 
and indexes. In his opinion, the scholar 
must place heavy dependence on the 
subject catalog in research libraries. For 
this reason, Hamilton expects and hopes 
that a catalog constitutes an exhaustive 
bibliography on a subject; that it opens 
u p most subjects to the uninitiated; that 
it pinpoints for the scholar the works 
and keys that will lead to a thorough 
exploration of his subjects; and that the 
catalog lists the holdings of the library 
under headings currently in use with 
both a little ingenuity and a little knowl-
edge of the conventions of subject head-
ings. Finally, documents ought to take 
their place in the subject catalog.27 
Allen T . Hazen, professor of English, 
School of Library Service, Columbia 
University, comments that it is his belief 
that the researcher approaches the sub-
ject catalog by cutting across the lines 
necessarily laid down by the subject 
cataloger. He suggests that the cataloger 
is unable to foresee all possible paths 
that may be taken by a scholar.28 

Joseph S. Fruton, professor of bio-
chemistry, Yale University, representing 
the point of view of natural scientists, 
makes some remarks concerning, catalogs 
and cataloging that seem to be contrary 
to those of humanists and social scien-
tists. He states that it is often said that 
library subject headings may be helpful 
to a person working in a field other than 
his own. He asks us to suppose that he 

2 7 " W h a t S c h o l a r s E x p e c t of L i b r a r y Cataloguing," 
in Williams, ed. Op. cit., pp.66, 67. 

2 8 " R e f l e c t i o n s and Observations on S u b j e c t Anal-
y s i s , " in Maurice F . T a u b e r , ed. The Subject Anal-
ysis of Library Materials ( N e w Y o r k : Columbia Uni-
versity, School of L i b r a r y S e r v i c e , 1 9 S 3 ) , p.195. 

requires material in the field of geology. 
In his judgment the wisest course for 
him to follow would be to ask his col-
leagues in the geology department for 
help rather than tackle the subject cards 
for geology in the library catalog. For 
this reason he does not think an elab 
orate system of subject cards can be jus-
tified on the ground that occasional ma-
terial outside his area of specialization 
may be required. He believes that pre-
paring and circulating classified lists of 
new accessions would help more than 
making subject entries for card catalogs. 

Fruton also comments on descriptive 
cataloging. T o him, the card catalog is 
of secondary importance, and is consult-
ed only as a finding list to help locate 
items which cannot readily be found on 
the shelves. Fruton believes that scien-
tists generally would like all data on 
catalog cards to be accurate and reli-
able, but he would be content with mere 
identification. He finds that catalogers 
often set u p technical headings which 
are difficult for library users to locate. 
His experience has been that entries 
under personal names are not hard to 
find, but he has trouble with items list-
ed under the names of institutions, espe-
cially government agencies. And, finally, 
Fruton suggests that the filing rules 
should be as non-technical as possible 
so that entries can be easily found.2 9 

In the area of the technical services 
the scientists are the most vocal about 
classification. Fruton states flatly that the 
fact there are so many classification sys-
tems suggests that there is something 
wrong with all of them. He feels that one 
of the major difficulties in the organizing 
of current scientific works is the impossi-
bility of accommodating a necessarily rig-
id classification scheme to major changes 
in the trend of scientific research and 
emergence of new scientific disciplines.30 
Morse expresses his doubts concerning 
classification systems by stating that any 

28 " W h a t S c h o l a r s E x p e c t of L i b r a r y C a t a l o g u i n g , " 
in W i l l i a m s , ed. Op. cit., pp.73-75. 

30 Ibid., pp.61, 72. 

SEPTEMBER 1959 
486 



system attempting to classify things on a 
linear basis—one-dimensionally—cannot 
succeed much better than the present 
classifications do.31 

T h e scientist Vannevar Bush recog-
nizes that the investigator constantly is 
seeking to isolate the findings and con-
clusions of thousands of other research 
workers, but finds it impossible to keep 
abreast of current thought, even in re-
stricted fields. He feels, however, that the 
difficulty is not so much that there is an 
undue amount of publishing in view of 
the extent and variety of present day in-
terests, but rather that publication has 
been extended far beyond present ability 
to make real use of the record. He finds 
that professionally the methods of trans-
mitting and reviewing the results of re-
search are old and inadequate. T h e real 
heart of the matter of selection, he feels, 
goes deeper than a lag in the adoption of 
mechanisms by libraries, or a lack of de-
velopment of devices for their use. T h e 
ineptitude in getting at the record is 
largely caused by the artificiality of sys-
tems of indexing. He points out that 
when data of any sort are placed, in stor-
age, they are filed alphabetically or nu-
merically and the information is found 
by tracing down from subclass to sub-
class. It can be in only one place unless 
duplicates are vised. Having found an 
item, he says, one has to emerge from 
the system and re-enter on a new path. 
He contends that the human mind does 
not work that way. It operates by associ-
ation and man cannot hope to duplicate 
fully this mental process artificially, but 
he certainly ought to be able to learn 
from it. T h e first idea, therefore, to be 
drawn from the analogy concerns selec-
tion. He predicts that selection by asso-
ciation rather than indexing may yet be 
mechanized. In the future, Bush be-
lieves, the problem of classification will 
be met by arranging for the classifica-
tion of every article and report prior to 

• .:.. ..'.) . . : " . ' • ' it! ' : 
31 Op. cit., p.79. 

publication according to some prear-
ranged system.32 

Research Assistance and the Scholar. 
It is important to know what special 
services the scholars would like to have 
in addition to the materials they want 
available. Some libraries have provided 
research assistance to the scholars; how-
ever, the success or failure of such as-
sistance has depended on the local situ-
ation. Altick believes that on the staff 
of every large research library there 
should be at least a few persons whose 
major training has been not in library 
science, but in the various fields of the 
humanities and the social sciences. These 
people should have had not only exten-
sive personal experience in research, but 
what is even more important they should 
be expected to keep up with all the lat-
est developments in their fields, such as 
the appearance of new reference works 
and bibliographies.33 

Testimony has been presented earlier 
to the effect that the literature in any 
one subject is getting to be so vast that 
the researcher can keep up with it only 
with the greatest difficulty. Henry Gil-
man, professor of organic chemistry, 
Iowa State College, feels that the scien-
tist wants to be liberated from the in-
creasing drudgery of literature search-
es.34 Pundsack, on the other hand, be-
lieves that a research man should make 
his own literature surveys,35 and Ed-
ward G. Lewis, associate professor of 
political science, University of Illinois, 
feels that the political scientist of some 
experience does not expect help on the 
body of his material, but on the all-
important and often elusive peripheral 
details. He thinks that the reference li-
brarian should be the one to be called 
on for this type of assistance, as well as 

32 Science, the Endless Frontier ( W a s h i n g t o n : Govt. 
P r i n t . Off., 1 9 4 5 ) , pp.112-15. 

33 Op. cit., p.377. 
3 4 " W h a t the S c i e n t i s t E x p e c t s of the L i b r a r i a n , " 

CRL. V I I I ( 1 9 4 7 ) , 331. 
35 Op. cit., p.165. 

360 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



to keep the scholar informed about new 
bibliographies.36 

Among the services that Pundsack and 
others would like to have are abstract 
bulletins published by the library. These 
bulletins should contain abstracts from 
current periodicals, patent abstracts, and 
information about current acquisitions. 
He would also have the research library 
furnish some type of translation service 
by either sending the articles to an out-
side translator or by maintaining a staff 
which can translate. Finally, he would 
like to have research libraries circulate 
reference books, or put them on perma-
nent loan to frequent users.37 

Research libraries are admittedly com-
plex. It is to be expected, therefore, that 
the user may need some guidance and 
training in their use. However, Fruton 
states that it is the responsibility of the 
scientist to know the library, and the 
responsibility of the library to make 
books easily available and to send regu-
larly to the research user lists of new 
accessions in his general field of inter-
est.38 Morse agrees with this position 
and states that the research man must 
know his way around the working li-
brary. Normally, he should not have to 
go to the card catalog, except to find a 
book in some branch of his subject that 
is relatively unfamiliar to him.39 Con-
way Zirkle, professor of botany, Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania, on the other hand, 
feels that the research man will have to 
be taught how to use the library. Few 
scientists realize, he believes, that library 
research is actually a form of scientific 
research, and therefore must be learned.40 
W . F. Waldeck, director of Research and 
Development Division, Wyandotte Chem-
icals Corporation, notes that research 
projects almost invariably start with a 
survey of the available information, and 

3 8 " T h e Political Scientist in the R e f e r e n c e L i b r a r y , " 
CRL, X I I I ( 1 9 5 2 ) , 162. 

37 Op. cit., p. 164. 
38 Op. cit., p.75. 
39 Op. cit., p. 79. 
4 0 " P a t t e r n s of Research and Changing L i b r a r y 

N e e d s , " in Pennsylvania. U n i v e r s i t y . L i b r a r y . Op. 
cit., p. 17. 

that as much as one-third of the entire 
cost of research projects may lie in gath-
ering and interpreting literature per-
taining to the subject.41 As a corollary to 
being taught how to use the research 
library, Pundsack urges that the librar-
ian of a research library prepare a writ-
ten introduction to the library to give 
the user a background.42 

The Scholar's Version of the Ideal Li-
brarian. One of the most important in-
gredients of a successful library of any 
type is the librarian, and scholars have 
become very familiar with this profes-
sional collaborator in research. Altick 
finds, however, that as the library pro-
fession has grown more specialized and 
complicated, its members have lost 
touch, to some extent, with the people 
they serve. He urges that the best way 
of closing the gap is to encourage more 
librarians to have a broad training and 
a continuing interest in subject areas. 
He finds it especially regrettable that so 
many people in the top echelons of li-
braries have not had personal experi-
ence in humanistic research and he feels 
that with the best will in the world they 
cannot possibly see things as the scholar 
sees them. At the same time, he finds 
that too often the manner of library 
people, in dealing with their patrons, is 
exasperating. He points out that he is 
not speaking of department heads or 
other dignitaries, but of the people un-
der them, the clerks, attendants, and as-
sistants, with whom the scholar has the 
most frequent dealings. He feels that 
the habitual discourtesy or indifference 
of certain library people when dealing 
with patrons, be they freshmen or world-
famed scholars, gives substance to the 
impression held by some that libraries 
are operated not to be of all possible 
service to readers, but for the private 
convenience of the management.43 Mil-
let states that librarians rate the impor-

4 1 " R e s e a r c h Management Looks at the L i b r a r y , " 
Special Libraries, X L ( 1 9 5 6 ) , 2 2 . 

42 Op. cit., p.166. 
43 Op cit., pp.376, 377. 

SEPTEMBER 1959 361 



tance of their jobs and examine their 
salary scale in the light of the size of 
book collections, number of employees, 
and total expenditures; they put little 
emphasis on economy.44 

Jacques Barzun, Columbia Univer-
sity, observes that the first virtue of the 
librarian should be that of attentiveness, 
and, his second virtue, general knowl-
edge. Regarding the second virtue—gen-
eral knowledge—Barzun believes that 
the ideal would be to have no distinc-
tions whatever between librarians and 
scholars: scholars should be librarians 
and librarians should be scholars. T o -
gether, they should emphasize the using 
of books.45 Hartwell maintains that the 
bond that should hold scholars and li-
brarians together is their love of books. 
T h e librarian, like the scholar, should 
be a bibliophile. As a custodian of books, 
he believes, the librarian is custodian of 
civilization, of the cultural heritage 
which is the basis of civilized living. In 
consideration of these principles, Hart-
well expects from the librarian a full 
knowledge of the resources of the li-
brary and of its catalogs and indexes. A 
librarian, he states, should have knowl-
edge of books as well as of library or-
ganization, and the research librarian 
should be a scholar-librarian, for only 
such a person has a complete under-
standing of the needs of scholars. Alter-
natively, Hartwell believes, each research 
library should have, in addition to the 
librarian, a director of research and a 
research staff who would play vital roles 
in the library and its organization. 

Hartwell makes these statements with 
firmness and conviction. However, when 
discussing the ordering of books he re-
verses his original opinions by proclaim-
ing that it is far better for the scholar 
to have good books than good librarians. 
In fact, he contends, if the books are 
available and there is some means of get-

44 Loc. cit. 
4 5 " T h e S c h o l a r Looks at the L i b r a r y , " CRL, V I I 

( 1 9 4 6 ) , 115-16. 

ting at them, then the librarian need be 
little more than an attendant. He also 
criticizes librarians by pointing out that 
the feeling of proprietorship is the most 
common failing of librarians. T h e dan-
ger sign is the term "my library."46 

Speaking for scientists, Gilman first 
suggests the expectation of adequate, ef-
ficient, and courteous service. In addi-
tion, the librarian should have thorough 
familiarity with indexing systems, clas-
sification, interlibrary loans, photostat-
ing and microfilm problems, the pub-
lishing habits of domestic and foreign 
periodicals, sources of manuscripts, re-
prints, and patents. T h e librarian should 
also be capable of reading German, 
French, and Russian. He should have 
sufficient scientific background to know 
technical language and nomenclature, 
and above all, he should know at all 
times where his books are and should 
know how to supplement catalog infor-
mation with suggestions of likely places 
and people capable of supplying infor-
mation not conventionally accessible. 
Gilman continues that in addition to 
knowing where his books are the librar-
ian should help his patrons by guiding 
and instructing them in one manner or 
another to locate material quickly and 
confidently without too much trial and 
error. A librarian who is capable of all 
of this should have compensation not 
only in terms of money, but in rank and 
prestige commensurate with the great 
importance and dignity of his work.47 

Librarians should find encouragement 
in the observations of Hart.48 Not only 
is the library essential for the great uni-
versity, he notes, but qualified reference 
librarians are indispensable in guiding 
users to the contents of the collections. 
Hart shows by example how librarians 
and scholars working together assist the 
researcher in the completion of projects. 

The Scholar Predicts the Future of 
46 Op. cit., pp.91-93. 
47 Op. cit., pp.329, 332. 
4 8 " S e a r c h and R e s e a r c h : T h e L i b r a r i a n and the 

S c h o l a r , " CRL, X I X ( 1 9 5 8 ) , 365-74. 

362 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



Research Libraries. N o one can predict 
with certainty what the future holds for 
research libraries. However, there are 
certain tendencies that are evident, and 
one scholar has availed himself of the 
opportunity to comment. 

Gottschalk feels that the foremost in-
fluence upon the university research li-
brary is likely to be the international ten-
sion to which it will have to adjust itself. 
He feels that one of the important effects 
on scholarship of prolonged animosities 
will be an intensification of the national 
spirit. Therefore, the university library 
of the future will be able to devote less 
and less space to the fewer and fewer 
scholars who will be interested in rare 
books and other out-of-print materials. 
Most research libraries will become more 
definitely than they are now, collections 
of reference, teaching, serial, and recent 
titles, and will become less concerned 
than now with special collections made 
up largely of rare and out-of-print books. 

Gottschalk offers a plan to cope with 
these predicted developments. He sug-
gests that the scholar in American uni-
versities become less dependent upon 
the university library and more willing 
to make his own special collection for 
each of his scholarly projects in turn. 
In order to facilitate this, the funds 
now made available to librarians by 
universities and foundations for special 
collections should go directly to the 
working scholar. Furthermore, the li-
braries should break up the special col-
lections that are not in active use and 
make the rare and out-of-print materials 
in them available for long periods, either 
by loan or purchase, to the scholars who 
actually need them. T h e advantages to 
the scholar of this proposal would be 
that he would not have to use micro-
films or photostats, but would have the 
use of the original. T h e advantages to 
the library would be the release of space 
that is now occupied by seldom-used 
works. It would reduce the number of 
visitors, of microfilm requests, and of 

interlibrary loans. Finally, according to 
Gottschalk, this plan would diminish 
the cost and difficulty of policing rare 
and costly items.49 

Jones adds the admonition that as 
government pours its millions into sci-
ence and the social sciences, neglecting 
the humanities, we must, if we are not 
to throw our whole cultural life into 
the discard, pour more money rather 
than less into university research librar-
ies, for they are the laboratories and the 
refuge of the scholar, the humanist, the 
writer, and the philosopher.50 

Conclusions. T h e preceding state-
ments have revealed no startling new 
suggestions concerning scholars' relations 
to the research library. However, the 
one truth that seems abundantly clear 
is that what may be true of one type of 
research library may not be true of an-
other, and what may serve one scholar 
does not necessarily serve another. 
Therefore, it is the librarian's first duty 
to define the policies of his library based 
on the general aims that have evolved. 

Special libraries and special collec-
tions present many problems. However, 
since the purposes and aims of special 
libraries and special collections are usu-
ally narrower and more clearly defined, 
their problems are relatively simple com-
pared to those of a university library. 
T h e university research library must, 
on the other hand, serve the entire range 
of scholarship. There are conflicting de-
mands and needs to be met. T h e human-
ists and social scientists would like to 
have everything that is in print; the 
natural scientists want less of the older 
historical materials and would rather 
have current periodicals and books. In 
fact, they would rather have librarians 
spend more time abstracting articles and 
making accession lists than caring for 
old and rarely used materials. 

In respect to the rapid growth of hold-
ings, the humanists and social scientists 

4S0p. cit., pp.49, SO, 51, 54, 57. 
50 Op. cit., p.21. 

SEPTEMBER 1959 363 



suggest curbs by assigning priorities to 
purchases. There was no suggestion from 
them to reduce the amount of publishing 
such as proposed by the natural scien-
tists. T h e suggestion that publishers is-
sue only what is worth publishing is 
courageous, but not realistic. W h o is to 
decide what is not worth publishing? 
T h e answer for libraries lies in selection 
after publication. A positive approach 
to coverage urges that authors abstract 
or summarize their contribution to the 
literature. This would enable the user 
to get an overview of the literature in 
his field and would conserve space in the 
library. 

T h e catalog represents an area of dif-
ference of opinion between humanists 
and social scientists as opposed to natu-
ral scientists. T h e former want as de-
tailed a catalog as is possible with com-
plete descriptions of the items cataloged 
and with extensive subject headings. 
T h e latter claim that many subject head-
ings are unnecessary, and that a mere 
finding list would be satisfactory. 

T h e problem of research assistance is 
rather confused. There is disagreement 
among all groups of scholars, probably 
based on the work methods of the indi-
viduals involved. Some scholars appear 

to be independent workers, others would 
like to be relieved of some of the tedious 
chores that are part of scholarly re-
search. There is no doubt, however, that 
assistance of some kind should be avail-
able. T h e form and nature of the serv-
ices supplied are, of course, circum-
scribed by the budgets as well as the abil-
ities and limitations of the librarians in 
question. So far as the future is con-
cerned, research libraries will probably 
continue to collect everything they deem 
necessary to preserve the record and to 
enhance scholarship in the fields in 
which their institutions have a stake. On 
the other hand, improved techniques 
will take the path toward speedier han-
dling, toward improved methods of re-
duction of space needs through reduc-
tion in bulk, and toward improved meth-
ods of reproduction of materials for 
wider dissemination and use. 

Scholars will be able to depend on the 
librarians for their future needs because 
in the past it has been the librarians 
who, through diligent and conscientious 
effort, and often in the face of deter-
mined opposition by scholars and ad-
ministrators, have achieved whatever 
improvements have been made. 

Standards Reprints Available 

Reprints of the "Standards for College Libraries" which appeared in the July 

1959 issue of CRL are now available from the A C R L office, 50 East Huron Street, 

Chicago 11. Single copies will be mailed free on request. For orders of five or 

more reprints the price per copy is twenty cents. Prepayment will expedite de-

livery of orders and it is requested that cash or check accompany orders if possible. 

364 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES