College and Research Libraries


New or Old Dimensions in Librarianship 
liv L E O R . R I F T 

AT THE Montreal Conference of ALA, 
Dr. Samuel Rothstein delivered a 

speech1 in which he advocated both ex-
tensive and intensive bibliographic in-
formation service by reference librarians 
almost to the exclusion of the present 
form of service (i.e., reader's advisory 
service and instruction in the use of the 
library and bibliographic tools). For ef-
fective bibliographic information serv-
ice, however, the user must be able to 
understand what the library can do for 
him and to formulate his problems ac-
cordingly. Therefore, there still will be 
need for instruction in the techniques of 
using some of the basic bibliographic 
tools and their contents. T o the best of 
my knowledge this instruction, though 
advocated for a considerable time (an 
old dimension of reference service) is 
yet in the frontier stage. 

Toward the end of his talk Dr. Roth-
stein made four specific suggestions. His 
first item stated that libraries could af-
ford the cost of the proposed broad scale 
reference service, and his fourth item 
expressed the hope that a foundation 
would underwrite a pilot project to test 
it. We disagree in part, however, with 
items two and three which read:2 

2. T h e r e f e r e n c e s e r v i c e s — a n d especially 
t h e i n f o r m a t i o n s e r v i c e — c a n g e t a large 
share o f the e x i s t i n g l i b r a r y b u d g e t . I h a v e 
n o wish to start o n e m o r e civil w a r i n t h e 
A L A , b u t i t may well b e t h a t we s p e n d 
too m u c h m o n e y o n o u r t e c h n i c a l processes 
a n d n o t e n o u g h on o u r p u b l i c services. (By 
t h e way, I h a p p e n to be i n c h a r g e o f tech-
n i c a l processes at my l i b r a r y ) . 

3. T h e r e seems to be s o u n d reason f o r 
1 S a m u e l R o t h s t e i n , " " R e f e r e n c e S e r v i c e : T h e N e w 

D i m e n s i o n in L i b r a r i a n s h i p , " CRL, X X I I I ( 1 9 6 1 ) , 
11-18. 

*Ibid., 17. 

M r . Rift is Serial Librarian, Southern Illi-
nois University Library. 

h o p e t h a t advances in l i b r a r y t e c h n o l o g y 
c a n p r o d u c e savings w h i c h c o u l d b e ap-
p l i e d to t h e e x p a n s i o n o f i n f o r m a t i o n 
services. M u c h o f o u r c a t a l o g i n g , circula-
t i o n , a n d a c q u i s i t i o n s w o r k c a n be mech-
anized, a n d , f o r t h a t m a t t e r , we are prom-
ised m a c h i n e s f o r " i n f o r m a t i o n r e t r i e v a l " 
too. I n any case, t h e p o i n t is t h e same; 
t h e l i b r a r y is f r e e d to c o n c e n t r a t e o n the 
r e a l l y i n t e l l e c t u a l tasks i n l i b r a r i a n s h i p , 
a n d p r o m i n e n t a m o n g t h e m t h e i n f o r m a -
t i o n service. 

Item two emphasizes division and 
budgetary competition between technical 
and public services, favoring the latter. 
Item three cuts across the lines, explain-
ing economies in both services through 
mechanization. But, though this mech-
anization covers practically all areas of 
the technical services field, it covers only 
certain aspects of the public services, ac-
cording to Dr. Rothstein. T h i s mechani-
zation, then, frees the library and a larger 
slice of the budget for the intellectual 
tasks and especially the information serv-
ice. 

We find it difficult to accept this in-
terpretation of the technical services, and 
it is our aim to demonstrate that there 
are as many "really intellectual tasks" in 
the technical services as in the public 
services which are closely interrelated. 
For this purpose, we shall divide the 
functions of both services into three gen-
eral categories: 

First, there are the managerial and 
policy functions which deal with the in-
terpretation and application of the over-

4 2 2 C O L L E G E A N D R E S E A R C H L I B R A R I E S 



all policies established by the library 
administration. These functions are per-
formed by all employees in proportion to 
their position on the administrative lad-
der. 

Second, there are the bibliographic-
centered functions which revolve around 
the identification and location of biblio-
graphic items and their organization in 
the library. Through the use of biblio-
graphic tools, we must identify and lo-
cate items so that we can select and use 
or acquire them and so that we can or-
ganize them into a systematic collection. 
These are the essential functions of li-
brarianship, including reference, cata-
loging, and acquisition. 

T h i r d , there are the non-bibliographic 
functions which are auxiliary to the 
other two. T h e non-bibliographic func-
tions are not necessarily inferior from 
an intellectual point of view, but they 
are of a more general nature and only 
the details of their application are pe-
culiar to librarianship. T h e y can be per-
formed by people trained primarily in 
other fields who have acquired some 
knowledge of library techniques, and 
many of these tasks can be mechanized. 

W i t h reference to the bibliographic-
centered functions, we wonder who is 
supposed to do the organizing and ana-
lyzing work. T h e reference librarian must 
look at the material from the particular 
point of view of the individual patron he 
serves. In order to do so, he must use 
tools provided by those who organize 
and analyze library materials from a 
more general or more objective point of 
view, because the tools must be valid 
for many reference situations. W h o shall 
produce these tools but the librarians 
involved in technical processes? Not only 
do catalogs, bibliographies, and indexes 
form these basic reference tools, but the 
system of organization of his library also 
helps the reference librarian in his bibli-
ographic search. In order to expand the 
reference service in the direction out-
lined by Dr. Rothstein, we must simul-

taneously expand our activities of ana-
lyzing library materials. These activities 
belong as much in the field of librarain-
ship as does the expanded reference serv-
ice. 

Machines have helped and will help 
increasingly in information storage and 
retrieval. But much of this work will 
continue to be carried out on a more 
pedestrian level in the future, especially 
when helping those who seek more gen-
eral and less exhaustive information. 
One field which needs considerable im-
provement is the subject analysis of parts 
of books on a level more in line with 
that of periodicals. Regardless of the ex-
tent of mechanization, we need as much 
expansion of bibliographic work at the 
input end (cataloging and indexing) as 
we need at the output end (reference 
service). Further investigation will then 
demonstrate that the librarians working 
on the frontiers at either end will be 
performing similar tasks: at the one, ana-
lyzing the specific materials and integrat-
ing them into usable tools, and, at the 
other, retrieving from these tools the 
information for a specific purpose. If we 
still look at these tasks as belonging to 
separate technical and reference services, 
then we must concede that an increase 
in budgetary expenditure on the refer-
ence end must be met by an increase on 
the technical services end. 

We may, however, resolve this dilemma 
by looking back to 1948, when Raynard 
Swank wrote, " I t takes little imagination 
to see that the cataloger and the bibliog-
rapher perform an almost identical func-
tion, that of organizing books for use. 
. . . T h e wonder is how, in our library 
organization, the two ever got separated 
in the first place." 3 

In the now prevalent organizational 
pattern, the cataloger "well understands 
the need for correlating his work with 
that of bibliographers, but appears help-
less to do much about i t . " 4 These 

8 R a y n a r d G. S w a n k , " T h e Cataloging Department 
in the L i b r a r y O r g a n i z a t i o n , " Library Quarterly, 
X V I T I ( 1 9 4 8 ) , 28. 

*Ibid., 29. 

S E P T E M B E R 1 9 6 2 423 



thoughts were seconded by Louise Pre-
vost: " A man or woman to be fit for a 
directorship of bibliographic control 
must be an out-and-out cataloger of first 
water with a touch of creative fire. More-
over, such men and women may turn 
out to be the salvation of essential li-
brarianship.3 . . . Alex Ladenson's ob-
jection that public reference librarians 
are not bibliographers, however this may 
or may not apply in individual cases, 
begs Dr. Swank's conception entirely. 
Where that objection holds, there is all 

5 M a r i e Louise P r e v o s t , " A Head Cataloger Looks 
at P r o c e s s i n g , " Journal of Cataloging and Classifica-
tion, V ( 1 9 4 9 ) , 34. 

the more reason to call catalogers to the 
rescue."6 

T h e answer to Dr. Rothstein's search 
for the new dimension may well be in a 
bibliographic information and research 
service sired, if you wish, by the present 
reference service, but conceived, nur-
tured, and weaned by catalogers. Such 
service deserves our wholehearted sup-
port. It symbolizes librarianship as a pro-
fession rather than as a technology. 

9 Ibid., 38. S w a n k advocated an organization of 
four departments: 1.) Acquisitions (Selection and or-
dering of m a t e r i a l s ) ; 2 . ) Bibliography (Organization 
including bibliographic s e r v i c e ) ; 3 . ) Circulation (Con-
trol of physical o r i e n t a t i o n ) ; 4 . ) R e f e r e n c e ( P r e s u m -
ably reader's advice and o r i e n t a t i o n ) . Ladenson advo-
cated the public-technical services organization in his 
article, " T h e Acquisition and Preparations Depart-
m e n t , " Library Quarterly, X V I I I ( 1 9 4 8 ) , 2 0 0 - 2 0 5 . 

Representatives of ALA 

A L A representatives at r e c e n t academic ceremonies were: J a c k D a l t o n , d e a n 
of C o l u m b i a University School of L i b r a r y Service, at the i n s t a l l a t i o n of R i c h a r d 
F r a n k l i n H u m p h r e y s as president of the C o o p e r U n i o n , New Y o r k , o n F e b r u a r y 
12; R o b e r t A. T a l m a d g e , d i r e c t o r o f T u l a n e University L i b r a r y , New O r l e a n s , 
at the i n a u g u r a t i o n of J o h n A n d e r s o n H u n t e r as president of L o u i s i a n a State 
University, B a t o n R o u g e , o n A p r i l 7; H a r o l d L a n c o u r , associate d i r e c t o r of the 
G r a d u a t e School of L i b r a r y Science, University of P i t t s b u r g h , at the i n a u g u r a t i o n 
of P a u l A u s b o r n M i l l e r as president of W e s t V i r g i n i a University, M o r g a n t o w n , 
o n A p r i l 11; Miss H o w a r d H u b b a r d of the A L A W a s h i n g t o n Office a t the open-
i n g of t h e L a u b a c h L i t e r a c y F u n d ' s new headquarters, W a s h i n g t o n , D . C., o n 
A p r i l 12; R o g e r Bristol, A l d e r m a n L i b r a r y , U n i v e r s i t y of V i r g i n i a , Charlottes-
ville, at the i n a u g u r a t i o n of J o h n A. L o g a n , J r . , as president of H o l l i n s College, 
V i r g i n i a , o n A p r i l 14; H e l m e r L . W e b b , l i b r a r i a n of U n i o n College, Schnectady, 
N. Y., at the i n a u g u r a t i o n of Edward J o h n S a b o l as president of the S t a t e U n i -
versity of N e w Y o r k , C o b b l e s k i l l , on April 19; P e t e r Spyers-Duran, A L A head-
quarters staff, Chicago, at the dedication of the Charles B . Phillips L i b r a r y , 
A u r o r a College, A u r o r a , 111., o n M a y 19; V i c t o r A. Schaefer, d i r e c t o r of libraries, 
N o t r e D a m e University, at the d e d i c a t i o n of M c M i l l e n L i b r a r y , I n d i a n a T e c h n i -
cal College, F o r t W a y n e , on M a y 19. 

J o h n F . Harvey, d e a n of the School of L i b r a r y Science, D r e x e l I n s t i t u t e o f 
T e c h n o l o g y , P h i l a d e l p h i a , r e p r e s e n t e d A C R L at the sixty-sixth a n n u a l m e e t i n g 
o f the A m e r i c a n Academy of P o l i t i c a l a n d Social Science in P h i l a d e l p h i a o n 
A p r i l 13 a n d 14. 

4 2 4 C O L L E G E A N D R E S E A R C H L I B R A R I E S