College and Research Libraries


S I D N E Y F O R M A N 

Innovative Practices in 
College Libraries 

In an effort to determine the extent to which college libraries were 
engaged in innovational practices, a questionnaire was sent to 1,193 
institutions having liberal arts programs. The document sought the 
identities of libraries currently engaged in any of a number of se-
lected activities thought by the compiler to be relatively recent in 
their introduction to library practice. Replies are tabulated and com-
mented upon. 

T T HIS R E P O R T of an inquiry, spon-
sored by the Institute of Higher Educa-
tion at Teachers College, Columbia Uni-
versity, was undertaken as part of a 
study of innovation in liberal arts col-
leges. Its purpose was to identify inno-
vative developments in liberal arts col-
lege libraries. Innovation was defined to 
embrace a range from change to complete 
novelty. The information was assembled 
from responses to a checklist of inno-
vative library practices. The list was as-
sembled from recent indexes to College 
& Research Libraries1 and Library Lit-
erature.2 The questionnaire was not test-
ed. The thirty-three items on the list 
were grouped in several categories: ad-
ministrative practices, automation, com-
puter use, materials, physical facilities, 
and special library services and re-
sources. The 1,193 institutions selected 
for mailing were those identified in the 
most recent issue of the Education Di-
rectory as having liberal arts programs.3 

1 Association of College and Research Libraries of the 
American Library Association, "Index to College ir 
Research Libraries," X X V I I ( 1 9 6 6 ) . 

2 Library Literature, 1933-35. Various issues for 
the year 1 9 6 7 . 

3 U . S . Office of Education, Education Directory, Part 
3, Higher Education (Washington, D . C . : Government 
Printing Office, 1 9 6 7 ) . 

Dr. Forman is Librarian of Teachers Col-
lege, Columbia University. 

The questionnaire, with a return enve-
lope, was addressed to the librarian of 
each institution and mailed on Decem-
ber 20, 1967. Seven hundred and eighty-
one libraries, 65 per cent of those 
queried, had responded by March 15, 
1968. A copy of the questionnaire with 
a collation of the responses is attached. 

In the category of administrative prac-
tices the thrust of innovative change re-
ported was toward the adoption of Li-
brary of Congress classification—pre-
sumably a change from the Dewey Dec-
imal Classification or other systems. Ap-
proximately 43 per cent (336) of the re-
porting institutions have adopted the 
LC classification, and 31 per cent (243) 
of the total have done so since 1961. 
Ten per cent (79) of the institutions are 
now planning to do so. Whether this 
change has any significance at all 
for the process of teaching and learning 
in the liberal arts college is questionable. 
Its greatest potential lies in the econom-
ics of cataloging the books and placing 
them on the shelves. The problem of 
centralized cataloging and classification 
has long engaged the interest of librar-
ians. The current trend appears to be 
directly linked to Part C of Title II of 
the Higher Education Act of 1965, by 
which the Federal Government accept-
ed responsibility for the centralized cat-

4 8 6 / 



Innovative Practices in College Libraries / 487 

aloging of scholarly books as part of its 
support for higher education.4 

Thirty-nine per cent of the libraries 
( 3 0 8 ) report multi-media materials in 
their catalogs, 25 per cent ( 1 9 3 ) report 
special catalogs of multi-media materials, 
and 22 per cent ( 1 7 0 ) are using various 
media in their programs of instruction in 
library use. These include films, slides, 
and video-tape. Academic libraries ob-
viously are responding to the fact that 
modern technology is producing the rec-
ord of mankind and communications ma-
terials in new forms, and responding to 
faculties that are recognizing the range 
of individual differences in young peo-
ple. But little is empirically known about 
the extent to which these audiovisual 
materials help in the teaching/learning 
process.5 

One of the more ubiquitous innova-
tions in the college library could proba-
bly be categorized as a tribute to the 
copying machine industry. Seventy-four 
per cent (578) of the respondent li-
braries were equipped with copying ma-
chines, 61 per cent ( 4 7 6 ) introduced 
them since 1961, and 4 per cent ( 3 2 ) 
are planning to make such equipment 
available. Similarly innovative is the use 
of the reader-printer, reported in use by 
some 42 per cent ( 3 3 0 ) libraries and 
considered in the plans of 17 per cent 
( 1 3 4 ) of the others. Such equipment is 
having a profound influence on the role 
of the library as a distributor of infor-
mation, but it is introducing new prob-
lems of concern with copyright law. The 
use of other kinds of machinery has 
grown less rapidly. One hundred (13 
per cent) mechanized circulation sys-
tems are now installed, 11 per cent of 
these since 1961; but 134 (16 per cent) 

4 John W . Cronin, et al., "Centralized Cataloging a t 
the National and International L e v e l , " Library Re-
sources and Technical Services, X I ( W i n t e r 1 9 6 7 ) , 2 7 . 

B Richard E . Chapin, " U s e of Printed and Audio-
visual Materials for E d u c a t i o n a l Purposes by College 
a n d University Students," in Columbia University, 
School of Library Service, Conference on the Use of 
Printed and Audiovisual Materials for Instructional 
Purposes, ed. by Maurice F . T a u b e r and Irlene R. 
Stephens ( N e w York: Columbia University, 1 9 6 6 ) , 
5 7 - 7 1 . 

institutions are planning to introduce 
them. The Brooklyn College library pio-
neered in the use of an I B M punched 
card circulation system as early as Feb-
ruary 1950. This kind of mechanization 
promises to expand the capabilities of 
loan desks to handle larger numbers of 
borrowers, and to improve record keep-
ing procedures. As for other methods of 
technology, it is apparent that the tele-
typewriter and facsimile transmission are 
piquing the interest of librarians. An ex-
perimental network using these technol-
ogies is already in operation in New 
York State. Five academic libraries in 
Connecticut are linked in a teletype net-
work with the Connecticut State Library. 
Academic institutions and the State Li-
brary in Oklahoma are involved in a 
similar hookup. The major use of this 
system is to effect interloans and pro-
vide book location service. 

The computer made no significant ap-
pearance on the library scene before 
1961. Computers are rarely integral to 
the library itself; their high cost limits 
their use by libraries except when they 
are installed for other institutional uses 
and therefore also are available to the li-
brary. The number of institutions which 
are considering the introduction of com-
puter technology, compared to the num-
bers using it, suggests that this is the 
innovation of the future. Institutions 
such as Florida Atlantic have attempted 
to produce book catalogs; Wayne State, 
Michigan, Michigan State, and Florida 
State are producing computerized me-
dia catalogs.6 Computer use in the li-
brary is supported by the growing num-
ber of courses on computer technology 
in library schools, as well as the number 
of institutes and summer courses for pro-
fessional librarians. Computer technol-
ogy holds forth considerable promise 
for the mechanization of conventional 
procedures such as circulation con-
trol and serial records, and for bibli-
ographical control and text access. Small 

6 William J . Quinly, "Computerized Cataloging,'* 
Audiovisual Instruction, X I I (April 1 9 6 7 ) , 3 2 1 . 



488 / College <Lr Research Libraries • November 1968 

beginnings have been made to harness 
the computer potential to self-instruc-
tional tasks. 

What is of interest in regard to the 
paperback book, non-book materials, and 
microforms is not the proportion of in-
stitutions which are using them, but the 
number which are not. For example, 9 
per cent ( 7 1 ) reported that they did 
not use paperbound books. The most re-
cent issue of Paperbound Books in Print 
lists 48,200 titles.7 Libraries which re-
ported that they did not use paper-
bound books apparently also reject those 
titles which appear in that form only. 
The use of miniaturized print materials 
on film will probably become universal 
as soon as the reading machines are im-
proved. Haverford College is now ac-
quiring more than three thousand pages 
of microprint on 6 by 9 inch microcards 
representing the writings of more than 
three hundred outstanding scientists, all 
in their original languages. It is reported 
that officials of the Readex Microprint 
Corporation claim that it would cost 
about $20 million to form a collection of 
the editions which are to be repro-
duced.8 

Responses dealing with physical facil-
ities, carrels and listening facilities, 
as well as dial access systems reflect 
a focus on the individual and individ-
ualized study facilities. An exciting 
development in regard to individual seat-
ing spaces in the library are the 172 
(22 per cent) institutions—the largest 
number planning any innovation—re-
porting that they are planning to in-
troduce electronically equipped carrels. 
This development has implications for 
change in pedagogical method as well 
as for the redeployment of teaching 
staff and suggests a closer linkage be-
tween the classroom and the library. 
Many of the librarians reported that they 
are waiting only for new buildings be-
fore they introduce "hot" carrels as well 

7 Paperbound Books in Print, X I I I , No. 2 ( N e w 
York: Bowker, February 1 9 6 8 ) . 

8 Educational Technology, VII ( M a r c h 1 5 , 1 9 6 7 ) , 
18. 

as other innovations. Sophisticated sys-
tems of this character have been estab-
lished at Oklahoma Christian College 
(Oklahoma City) and Oral Roberts Uni-
versity (Tulsa), and are scheduled for 
installation in the Texas Junior College 
library in Tyler, Texas. At the last-
named institution prerecorded television 
and audiotape lessons are being installed 
at two hundred individual study lo-
cations (forty equipped for television). 
These carrels, designed to serve three 
thousand students, will be available fif-
teen hours a day. At Oklahoma Christian 
College the major innovative use of the 
carrel is in listening to a tape made 
by a course instructor and keyed for use 
with a workbook. This procedure evolved 
from an experiment with classes in pub-
lic speaking begun in 1963 by R. Staf-
ford North, the dean of instruction. He 
reported that ( 1 ) students learned as 
effectively through the tape-workbook 
method as by the traditional lecture 
method, ( 2 ) the materials were relative-
ly inexpensive to produce, ( 3 ) most stu-
dents preferred the tape-workbook 
method, and ( 4 ) its use effected a sav-
ing in faculty time. The new three-story 
learning center at Oklahoma Christian 
College can accommodate 1,008 study 
carrels each equipped with a telephone 
dial and headset connected to the con-
trol center. 

Librarians were not as responsive to 
the list of special library services as they 
were to the other categories. Special li-
braries usually function in a commercial 
or industrial setting. Its proponents claim 
that special library services are more 
closely supportive of the purposes of the 
parent institution than the academic li-
brary is of the college. College libraries 
have long been producing accessions lists 
and selective bibliographies, at least for 
faculty use; some have abandoned these 
services because of their cost. Other spe-
cial library services have had little im-
pact on the academic library. A number 
of the responding librarians noted that 
such services would require increased 



Innovative Practices in College Libraries / 489 

professional staffs with greater subject 
specialization and larger resources. 
Those institutions which report existing 
table of contents services (41—6 per 
cent) and selective dissemination of in-
formation (91—12 per cent) may be re-
flecting a capability made possible by 
the widespread distribution of photo-
copy equipment. A few librarians noted 
that they did not understand the mean-
ing of the checklist references to spe-
cial library services. 

Some of the responses were not as pre-
cise or meaningful as they might have 
been had the checklist items been 
phrased differently. Nomenclature, such 
as the reference to mechanized circula-
tion which is subject to more than one 
interpretation, represents one kind of 
problem. The fact that the list is in-
complete probably resulted in failure to 
elicit precise figures as to institutions us-
ing the range of technical equipment for 
operations in acquisitions, cataloging, 
serials control, binding, or book catalog 
production, or those institutions entering 
on cooperative programs. 

If any generalization can be drawn 
from the data, it is that the library is in 
a state of flux. The increasing momentum 
of change is particularly apparent if one 
examines some of the literature bearing 
on the college library associated with a 
liberal arts program. Guy R. Lyle, au-
thority on the American college library, 
recorded the changes that have taken 
place in the first part of this century. 
He concluded: "Not until the twentieth 
century, and for many colleges not until 
the twenties and thirties of this century, 
was there any pronounced change in 
the traditional role of the library as a 
storehouse of books and the librarian as 
guardian of these books."9 

There have been a number of record-
ed observations which cast further light 
on the library, from which both the stu-
dent and professor draw their suste-
nance. As recently as 1955, Wyman W . 

9 Guy R. L y l e , The Administration of the College Li-
brary, 3d ed. ( N e w York: H . W . Wilson, 1 9 6 1 ) , p. 1. 

Parker described the liberal arts college 
library entirely in terms of its traditional 
book stock.10 Joseph N. Whitten in a 
1958 New York University doctoral dis-
sertation focused on instructional service 
as an essential component of the liberal 
arts college library. He said that li-
brarians had not fully realized the ex-
tent to which they may become engaged 
in instructional procedures. He conclud-
ed that they ought to do so, and that 
their doing so could be "a major and 
necessary support to the teaching proc-
ess."11 Weh Chao Chen, professor of po-
litical science and librarian at Kala-
mazoo College (Michigan) urged in 
1960 that the college library abandon 
its storehouse role and: ( 1 ) relate its 
collections more closely to the academic 
program; ( 2 ) teach students learning 
skills; ( 3 ) reduce student demand for 
faculty time; and ( 4 ) assist faculty mem-
bers in their research activities. Pre-
sumably steps taken to accomplish these 
goals would be innovational.12 Further, 
Benjamin F. Smith in a 1964 article in 
Improvement of College and University 
Teaching said that the college library 
was handicapped in fulfilling its educa-
tional mission by the burden of a sys-
tem of reserve books which, in his opin-
ion, represented an extension of the text-
book. He looked to a resolution of the 
reserve book problem for improvement 
of the library.13 The problem remains to 
be resolved. 

Most recent developments appear to 
be determined by the library's reflection 
of the impact of both technology and 
independent study programs accompa-
nied by the demand for a wider range 
of instructional support services. The co-

1 0 W . W . Parker, " L i b r a r y in the Liberal Arts Col-
l e g e , " CRL, X V I (April 1 9 5 5 ) , 1 7 7 - 8 2 . 

1 1 Joseph N. Whitten, Relationship of College In-
struction to Libraries in 72 Liberal Arts Colleges 
pAbstract-, ( N e w York: 1 9 5 8 ) . Dissertation Abstracts, 
X I X ( J a n u a r y 1 9 5 9 ) , 1 7 6 6 . 

1 2 W e n Chao Chen, " A Sound Library Service for 
the Small College," Liberal Education, X L V I ( M a v 
1 9 6 0 ) , 2 3 3 - 4 0 . 

13 Renjamin F . Smith, "Rook Reserve S y s t e m , " Im-
proving College and University Teaching, X I I (Spring 
1 9 6 4 ) , 83ff. 



490 / College <Lr Research Libraries • November 1968 

herence of these factors is evidenced in 
the new learning centers and learning 
resource centers, and in the Library-
College movement. 

Learning resource centers exemplify 
the thesis that films, slides, tapes, and 
television can and must be used for in-
structional purposes. These centers are 
also bringing to the campus "stored 
knowledge" in all forms, printed, photo-
graphic, and electronic. The conceptua-
lization and administrative structure of 
the learning center varies; some are in-
tegrated with the library, others are man-
aged separately in the same building 
with the book and periodical collections 
or in close proximity to them.14 Learning 
resource centers have been growing vig-
orously in the secondary schools since 
the American Association of School Li-
brarians has encouraged the school li-
brarian to assume responsibility for such 
comprehensive materials centers; their 
development at the college level appears 
to be much slower. Central Washington 
State College includes within its in-
structional materials center, in addition 
to the general book and periodical col-
lection, a curriculum materials library, 
a music listening area, a film library, a 
closed-circuit television department, a 
tape drill laboratory, and an instructional 
materials production department.15 

The "Library-College" has been var-
iously described. It is concerned with 
changing the mode of instruction from 
the classroom lecture arrangement with 
the library as a supporting agency, to 
the electronic carrel in the library with 
the teaching/learning process dependent 
upon the individual and independent ef-
forts of the student. One of its purposes 
is to develop a more vital relationship 
between the librarian and college teach-

1 4 California State College, Hay ward, Learning Re-
sources for Colleges and Universities. Produced by 
F r e d Harcleroad, Principal Investigator of Project No. 
O E - 3 - 1 6 - 0 2 5 , Educational Media Branch, Office of 
Education, U.S. Dept. of Health, Education and W e l -
fare, September 1 9 6 4 . 

15 William D. Schmidt, " I M S Production Facilities: 
Central Washington State College," Audiovisual In-
struction, X I I ( O c t o b e r 1 9 6 7 ) , 8 0 5 - 7 . 

ing.16 Recent impetus to this "movement" 
is derived from the Library-College 
Newsletter which began publication in 
May 1965, and in the supporting con-
ferences sponsored by the graduate 
school of library science of the Drexel 
Institute of Technology. Jamestown Col-
lege (North Dakota) defined the Li-
brary-College in its charter: "The pur-
pose of the Library-College is to increase 
the effectiveness of student learning par-
ticularly through the use of library-cen-
tered independent study with a bibli-
ographically expert faculty."17 Louis 
Shores, an enthusiastic proponent of the 
Library-College movement, claims that 
one hundred institutions now have li-
braries "in which the carrel has replaced 
the classroom as the center of learn-
ing."18 Antioch, Stephens, Elmira, and 
Florida Presbyterian are among the in-
stitutions in the vanguard of this de-
velopment. 

It appears that the library is moving 
from a passive role and becoming an 
active instrument in the process of teach-
ing and learning. The librarian is re-
sponding to the inadequacy of tradition-
al techniques of administration and rec-
ord keeping. Perhaps the major constant 
on the library scene is change itself. Yet 
one senses that library patrons are es-
tablishing new requirements and are 
bringing to the college library new 
levels of expectation. Programs of uni-
versal education—the development of 
each individual to the maximum of his 
capabilities—require that the librarian 
provide all the information that any in-
dividual may need, from any part of the 
world, and at the time and place that 
he needs it. To accomplish these goals 
more dramatic changes may be expect-
ed in the library of the future than have 
been evident in the past. •• 

16 Patricia B . Knapp, The Monteith College Library 
Experiment ( N e w York: t h e Scarecrow Press, I n c . , 
1 9 6 6 ) . 

17 Louis Shores, Robert Jordan, and John Harvey, 
The Library-College (Philadelphia: Drexel Press, 
1 9 6 6 ) , p. ix. 

18 Louis Shores, "The Medium W a y , " Library-Col-
lege Journal, I ( W i n t e r 1 9 6 8 ) , 16. 



Circulation Data from a Research Library / 491 

A P P E N D I X 

There follows a list of innovational practices. in the near future. For the purpose of this 
study innovation is defined as a new practice 

In Column A indicate by check ( / ) whether o r p r o c e d u r e f o r y o u r institution. 
in your estimation you are doing anything in- i n Column B indicate by check ( / ) the 
novative or unusual in this area, or if you are time of the introduction of the innovative 
planning to do anything innovative or unusual practice. 

C O L U M N A C O L U M N B 

Yes No 

Introduced 
Prior to 

1 9 6 1 

Introduced 
in 1 9 6 1 
or after 

Planning 
to 

Introduce 

Administrative Practices: 

Change to L C Classification 
System 

3 3 6 
43% 

361 
46% 

9 0 
12% 

2 4 3 
31% 

7 9 
10% 

Dormitory-Type Libraries 
7 5 
10% 

5 7 6 
74% 

3 2 
4% 

34 
4% 

2 2 
3% 

Multi-Media Materials in 
General Catalog 

363 
46% 

311 
40% 

156 
20% 

152 
20% 

77 
10% 

Special Catalog of Multi-
Media Materials 

231 
30% 

4 0 6 
52% 

9 6 
12% 

97 
12% 

41 
5% 

Participate in Storage Depos-
itory Program . . . . 

8 1 
10% 

5 7 3 
74% 

2 9 
4% 

22 
3% 

52 
7% 

Library-College . . . . 
84 
10% 

4 1 5 
53% 

27 
3% 

11 
1% 

37 
5% 

Multi-Media Instruction in Li-
brary Use 

2 4 0 
31% 

4 0 2 
51% 

5 6 
7% 

114 
15% 

93 
12% 

Commercial Cataloging/Proc-
essing 

71 
9% 

5 9 0 
76% 

1 8 
2% 

38 
5% 

29 
4% 

Cooperative Cataloging/Proc-
essing 

77 
10% 

5 5 6 
71% 

15 
2% 

2 3 
3% 

67 
9% 

Automation: 

Teletypewriter . . . . 
91 
12% 

551 
71% 

9 
1% 

60 
8% 

67 
8% 

Mechanized Circulation Sys-
tem 

155 
17% 

4 9 8 
64% 

15 
2% 

8 5 
11% 

125 
16% 

Facsimile Transmission 
36 

5% 
5 8 9 

75% 
1 1 8 

2% 
4 3 

6% 

Reader Printer . . . . 
4 0 8 

52% 
2 6 0 

33% 
54 

7% 
2 7 6 

36% 
134 

17% 

Photocopying 
630 

8 1 % 
7 4 

9% 
102 

13% 
4 7 6 

61% 
3 2 

4% 

Edge Notched Cards . 
1 0 1 

13% 
5 4 8 

70% 
4 2 

5% 
49 

6% 
10 

1% 

Dial-Access 
50 

6% 
5 8 3 

75% 
0 1 0 

1% 
5 8 

7% 



492 / College <Lr Research Libraries • November 1968 

C O L U M N A C O L U M N B 

Yes No 

Introduced 
Prior to 

1 9 6 1 

Introduced 
in 1 9 6 1 
or after 

Planning 
to 

Introduce 

Computer Use: 

Acquisition 
99 
13% 

5 1 5 
66% 

1 33 
4% 

112 
14% 

Purchasing 
83 
11% 

5 7 5 
74% 

3 24 
3% 

92 
12% 

Inventory Control ( Shelf List) 
60 

8% 
552 

71% 
0 15 

2% 
86 
11% 

Circulation 
88 
11% 

536 
69% 

1 3 6 
5% 

105 
13% 

KWIC (Key-Word-In-Con-
text) Indexing . . . . 

16 
2% 

5 9 8 
77% 

0 11 
1% 

13 
2% 

KWOC (Key-Word-Out-Of-
Context) Indexing . 

5 
1% 

601 
77% 

0 1 5 
1% 

Materials: 

Paperbacks 
6 2 2 

80% 
71 

9% 
4 2 4 

54% 
151 

19% 
1 

Non-Book Materials (Discs, 
Tapes) 

571 
73% 

117 
15% 

354, 
45% 

176 
23% 

48 
6% 

Microforms 
646 

83% 
6 5 

8% 
2 1 8 

28% 
2 1 4 

28% 
21 

3% 

Physical Facilities: 

Carrels 617 79% 
91 
12% 

2 9 3 
38% 

2 7 6 
35% 

110 
14% 

Electronically Equipped Car-
rels 

113 
14% 

517 
66% 

8 
1% 

3 8 
5% 

172 
22% 

Listening Facilities 
511 

65% 
160 

20% 
2 2 8 

29% 
2 3 0 

29% 
131 

17% 

Special Library Services and 
Techniques: 

Table of Contents Service 
67 

9% 
540 

69% 
8 
1% 

4 1 
5% 

30 
4% 

Selective Dissemination of 
Information 

113 
14% 

484 
62% 

54 
7% 

37 
5% 

24 
3 % 

Selective Bibliography 
279 

36% 
342 

44% 
1 4 8 

19% 
7 9 
10% 

45 
6% 

Accession List Publication . 
4 9 2 

63% 
190 
24% 

3 3 4 
43% 

129 
29% 

23 
3 % 

Technical Report Coverage 
(e.g. E R I C ) . . . . 

126 
16% 

474 
61% 

15 
2% 

7 9 
10% 

28 
4%