College and Research Libraries E. J. JOSEY The College Library in New York's 3R System In an effort to determine the attitudes of academic librarians in New York State vis-a-vis the 3R' s program, a questionnaire was distributed to forty such persons now involved in it. Replies indicate that: 1) the role of the college library in such a program differs from tlwt of the public library; 2) they have benefited from the program in a variety of ways; and 3) they envision a range of cooperative efforts remaining to be attempted as funding becomes available. BIRTH OF THE 3R' s THE REFERENCE and Research Library Resources Program, or the 3R' s as the program is widely known, developed as a result of the critical need to supply ad- vanced scholars in New York State im- mediate access to research library ma- terials. Although the state's twenty-two public library systems were serving, gen- erally, the reading and reference needs of 98 per cent of the population through more than seven hundred public librar- ies, nevertheless college students and college faculty, graduate students, scien- tists, industrial researchers , and writers were not assured ready access to the rich resources of the special and private research libraries where use was re- stricted only to a small segment of the research community. Higher education in New York State began to grow at a rapid rate. Because of the rapid expansion and development of both the public universities and pub- lic community colleges and of the pri- Mr. Josey is Associate in Academic and Research Libraries in the N ew Y ark State Education Department. 32/ vate universities, colleges, and profes- sional schools, it was virtually impossible to provide for the research library needs of the growing numbers of students and faculty. There were 685,000 (full-time and part-time) students enrolled in col- leges and universities in New York State . during the 1967-68 academic year. It has been estimated that during the 197 4- 75 academic year, there will be 948,570 students enrolled in institutions of high- er education in the Empire State. Es- sential to creative scholarship by under- graduates, graduate students, professors, and other researchers is quick and easy access to a growing mass of books, peri- odicals, monographs , and technical re- port literature. Thus , the avalanche of published scholarship from the publish- ers of the world is another great factor in the creation of the 3R's Systems. Since New York is the country's lead- ing manufacturing state, a vast amount of research and development is initiated there, which requires excellent library resources among its indispensable tools. With the ever-increasing demands for improved and expanded research librar~ service, therefore, the Commissioner of Education appointed a select committee The College Library in New York's 3R System I 33 of twenty leading citizens in 1960 to study the library needs of the state's re- search community. REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER's COMMITTEE After carefully studying the research needs of the state, the committee pre- sented its findings and recommenda- tions in 1961 in the Report of the Com- missioner's Committee on Reference and Research Library Resources. The report underscored the fact that «public library systems ... cannot fully meet the special needs of research work- ers and professional people." It was emphasized also that public library sys- tems cannot meet the library demands of college students. Supporting the con- tention that reference and research li- brary resources systems would strength- en the public library systems were the following two goals as indicated in the report: "Providing reader access to libraries over a larger area than that served by a single public library system. "Providing reader access to other types of library collections-college, universi- ty, industrial research, and private spe- ciallibraries."1 NINE REGIONAL SYSTEMS Following the Governor's Conference on Libraries in 1965 and the first fund- ing of the program in 1966, interest in the 3R's developed rapidly so that by May 31, 1967, the entire state had been or~anized into nine regional Reference and Research Library Resources Sys- tems. Each of the nine regional systems is composed of a voluntary association of college and university, special, pub- lic and research libraries. There are 133 ac~demic institutions that are members of these systems. 1 Report of the Commissioner's Committee on Re f- e-rence and Research Library Resources. Albany: The University of the State of New York, The State Educa- tion Department, The New York State Library, 1961, p. 16. 3R' s FUNDING AND PROJECfS As of this date the 3R's program is not funded by permanent legislation. Funds to support the program are ap- propriated to the State Education De- partment from the Governor's Executive Budget. The 1966 program was support- ed by a $700,000 appropriation; the 1967 program received $850,000; and the cur- rent fiscal year which commenced April 1, $1,250,000. Statewide 3R's projects that have been developed to extend advanced reference and research library service have included the following: 1. an experiment in Facsimile Trans- mission designed to provide rapid ac- cess to research materials. This proj- ect commenced in January 1967 and terminated March 31, 1968. The pro- gram was abandoned because: (a) the performance of the facsimile transmission equipment employ- ed did not justify continuation, (b) the poor quality of the copy limited the service, and ( c) there was not a high enough volume of demand to justify the cost; 2. an experiment in a statewide inter- library loan project, known as NYSILL, which was inaugurated in March of 1967. The State Library has contracted with three large pub- lic libraries and nine private research libraries to provide access to their collections via interlibrary loan. These libraries are reimbursed by the state for lending their materials. Because of this innovative program, serious researchers are assured access to the rich private research collections in the state wherever they may be lo- cated in the state and whatever may be their affiliation; 2 2 For a more detailed discussion of the Facsimile Transmission Project and the New York State Interli- brary Loan Project see E. J. Josey, "Two 3R's Pilot Programs: NYSILL and FACTS," talk given at School/Public Library Relatibns Conference, Sheraton Motor Inn, New York City, February 8, 1968. 34 I College & Research Libraries • January 1969 3. several library electronic data proc- essing projects. These include: (a) the automation of the Serials Section of the State Library, and (b) a system design for a general purpose computer-based catalog maintenance system for research libraries which has been com- pleted by Theodore Stein Asso- ciates. This automated catalog- ing system may be used in the Mid-Manhattan Library of the New York Public Libra1y. This library will serve undergraduate college students in the metropol- itan New York City area. This design will be available to other research and college libraries in the state that wish to employ it; 4. plans currently underway for the publication of a statewide union list of serials. This list will contain the holdings of all of the major libraries in the state, and it will enable serious library users to identify, locate, and gain access to the enormous output of serial literature. OPINIONs OF CoLLEGE LIBRARIANs CoNcERNING THE 3R PROGRAM In an effort to determine academic librarians' attitudes toward the 3R pro- gram, a questionnaire was sent to forty such persons who were actively involved in the 3R' s as trustees of the systems or on committees and whose libraries were members of the 3R's regional systems. The questionnaire contained three questions. These forty college li- brarians are fairly representative in that they are affiliated with public and pri- vate institutions and represent a good cross section from all nine of the regional 3R's systems. The questionnaire was mailed on March 20 and the librar- ians were requested to return the docu- ment by April 15. By May 14, thirty, of 75 per cent, o,f those canvassed had responded. In view of the high percent- age of returns, the findings may be con- sidered significant. The first question consisted of two parts, and its overall objective was stat- ed as follows: As a college librarian, how do you view the role of the college library in the 3R's Program? If you do not view the college library's responsibility or role as being different from other libraries that are members of 3R' s systems, is there a special contribution that the col- lege library can make? The response to question one is quite revealing. Five of the thirty respondents viewed the college library's role as be- ing the same as other types of libraries; one of these five respondents, however, the librarian of the Albany College of Pharmacy, stated, . . . I don't view the college library's re- sponsibility as being different from other libraries, but as librarian of a special col- lege library (Pharmacy), I know that w e can make a special contribution, since we do have materials in our subject specialty that other libraries would not have, and we are therefore a resource for anyone who needs these subjects. A second member of this group, Bar- bara LaMont, Librarian of Vassar, said, I do not see that the role of the college library is different in kind from that of other libraries. The extent of its contribu- tion to the resources of the state or region will depend upon its strengths and weak- nesses relative to other institutions . Of course that measure applies to other kinds of libraries as well. An overwhelming number of respond- ents, 22, or 73 per cent, believe that the college library's role or responsibility is different from other types of libraries that are members of the 3R's systems. Only three of the respondents did not answer the question. On the philosophical side, since we are attempting to determine whether The College Library in New York's 3R System I 35 the role of the college library is different, and since the largest number of New York state college librarians who pre- sented answers to the question declared their college libraries' roles to be differ- ent from those of other libraries, let us now listen to some of their comments. Robert B. Palmer, Librarian, Barnard College, writes, The role of a college library differs from that of a public library. Its main and pri- mary responsibility is still service to the higher educqtion institution of which it is a part, and not to the general public . As to the special contribution that a college library can make, a lot depends on the geographical location of the college library. If the college library is not located in or near a metropolitan area-it should offer liberal use of shared library facilities to other serious library users and research- ers .... Mrs. Ottilie H. Rollins, Librarian of Clarkson College of Technology, indi- cates that " ... Clarkson has definitely a different role to play than other librar- ies in the 3R' s system. It should con- centrate on the needs of the academic and research communities in the science and technology fields to facilitate the work of the researcher .... " Brother Thomas, Librarian of Iona College, writes that "in this program the college library is sort of a 'middleman.' " Mary Campfield, Librarian of Ithaca College, views the college library's spe- cial contribution as providing "library service, whenever possible, to eligible patrons of public library systems both local and regional.'' Two librarians who view their college libraries' role as being different under- score the fact that college libraries need help from other libraries . This view- point comes firstly from Niother O'Con- nor, Librarian of Manhattanville College who declares " . . . yes, college libraries have a special need: access to more seri- ous works of scholarship, long nms of periodicals ... access to obscure univer- sity publications, etc., . . . " A second viewpoint in this same vein comes from Henry James, Librarian of Briarcliff Col- lege, who says, . . . our role is essentially parasitic, and we look to the 3R's program to give our students access through Metro affiliates or neighboring libraries in the county to spe- cial monographs and journals. The big question for us is: what can we give in re- turn? True we are providing increasing numbers of scholarly books ... but is this enough? And how can we benefit our larger academic colleagues? Two respondents clearly state that the college library's role is one of leadership in the 3R's systems. Edward A. Chap- man, Librarian of Rensselaer Polytech- nic Institute, suggests it should be . . . almost one of leadership if funded to take on the extramural tasks entailed in network service, and to develop subjects to the depth required by the various re- gional interests to be served . The special contribution that the academic library can make lies in the nature of the requirements it is set up to serve-Reference and Re- search. Supporting the leadership thesis is Don- ald Yelton, Librarian of the State Uni- versity of New York College at Potsdam, who states, It seems to me that the appropriate role of any library in the program is 'condi- tioned by its strength as a reference and research resource. In this perspective I would say that "pound for pound" (or vol- ume for volume), the college library . . . represents a stronger resource than the public library of equivalent size, since it contains a smaller proportion of ephemeral or merely "entertaining" works. In most situations a role of leadership seems in- dicated. Time will not permit the reading of the comments of eight librarians who felt that while the college library's role is different, it possesses unique collec- tions that could be made available to 36 I College & Research Libraries • January 1969 other academic libraries and to public libraries through interlibrary loan. An appropriate conclusion to the cat- alog of responses to question one are the remarks of Egon Weiss, the Librar- ian of the United States Military Acad- emy. The academic library is destined to be- come the special resource center of spe- cialized materials, e .g., Foreign Area Study, Technical Information, etc. Its ma- jor contribution to other libraries and sys- tems, therefore, lies in its capability to render bibliographic services and access through electronic tie-ins with regional, state, and national networks and other pertinent data banks. Question two was designed to ascer- tain from the college librarians the ex- tent to which their libraries have profit- ed by the ongoing 3R's program. The question was posed as follows: Although the 3R's systems since 1966 have been financed out of an appro- priation from the Executive Budget and unlike the public library systems are not financed as of this date with permanent legislation and permanent funding, cer- tain stateUYide and regional projects have been undertaken. During this short span of time, what residual benefits have college libraries received from the 3R' s program? With regard to question two, eight of the thirty respondents listed three or more residual benefits from the 3R' s programs. These benefits were listed as being the facsimile transmission ex- periment, and New York State interli- brary loan program, daily delivery serv- ice in the 3R' s region, regional union list of serials, directory of resources, and a union catalog. Sixteen listed one tan- gible benefit; most frequently cited was the statewide interlibrary loan program. Three failed to respond, and only three indicated no tangible benefits had come to their libraries. Basic to the benefits from the 3R' s that the college librarians are citing as being serviceable to their libraries, and of equal importance, is their faith in the potential usefulness of the program for the future. This faith in the future is re- flected in the following comments. Emerson Jacob, Librarian of the State University of New York College at Fre- donia, says " ... we feel that the plan- ning already undertaken will bring sub- stantial gains in the future. If there is permanent funding, much greater re- gional library cooperation will be pos- sible as certain plans and techniques al- ready formulated become operational." The librarian of Finch College states "It is more of a promise of things to come and a faith in group effort that gives value to our participation in the pro- gram." The net meaning of the replies to question two would appear to be that a large number of college librarians con- sider the one great intangible reward from the 3R' s program to be the growth of cooperation among college librarians. They have demonstrated the feasibility and efficiency of concerted regional ef- forts in the councils. Evidence of this fact can be supported in these observa- tions. Richard Shepherd, Librarian of the State University of New York Col- lege at New Paltz, writes, "The biggest accomplishment to date is the stimula- tion of interest and thinking about co- operation. The councils provide a ve- hicle for keeping the interest alive and putting projects to the test. Any activ- ities that will relieve massive independ- ent acquisitions programs and their lo- cal processing should be welcomed by libraries." Taisto J. Niemi, Librarian of LeMoyne College, states, "I think the best result has been that it has forced us to take a close, hard look at interli- brary cooperation ... the consensus now is not the fears of cooperation .... " Peter J. Laux, Librarian, Canisius Col- lege, concurs with this opinion in stat- ing, The College Library in New York's 3R System I 37 Setting up regional centers has, I think, forced all of us to examine our mutual problems and think in terms of how we can best grow together rather than each of us going his separate way. I think that the greatest benefits lie ahead, but we have finally established a framework with- in which healthy cooperative development can take place. However, we do need bet- ter financial support. If the program were terminated tomor- row there would, I think, be a legacy of interlibrary cooperation among regional li- braries which should continue to be ad- vantageous to colleges as well as to other libraries. Even without the machinery evolved by the Councils, the personal and professional relations should continue to bear fruit. All of us have increased our acquaintance with resources available in the region and in the State, declared Donald Yelton of State Univer- sity of New York at Potsdam. The final question was, "What pro- grams do you suggest that will benefit college libraries in the 3R' s program?" This was answered by twenty-five, or 83 per cent of the respondents. Five failed to answer this question. The twenty-five respondents answering the question each suggested from one to four proj- ects for the future. Thirteen suggested funds for cooperative acquisitions and shared use facilities; five indicated cen- tralized processing; three called for stor- age facilities for lesser used materials· two pointed to the need for translatio~ services; four desired a union catalog; four indicated need for an improved de- livery service; one a repository for du- plicate periodicals; nine desired a re- gional union list of serials; three sug- gested a more rapid efficient means of communications; four desired more con- tinuing education workshops for staff of member libraries of the 3R's systems; four desired the installation of another facsimile transmission program; two sug- gested a regional reference center; three suggested the strengthening of the State Library in the areas of bibliography and foreign materials in order to strengthen its backstopping role; two listed com- puter support; and six indicated an im- proved interlibrary loan program. The programs that were suggested by the college librarians were merely a reflec- tion of their 3R' s regional goals, for most of the nine regional systems included most of these ideas as part of their budg- et proposals for the future. 3 The listing of many of the same plans is evidence of the fact that college librarians are influencing the 3R' s systems in planning for the future. CoLLEGE LIBRARIES THE 3R' s ' ' AND THE FuTURE Data from this small sampling of col- lege librarians reveal that they firmly be- lieve that the role of the college library is different from other types of libraries. There is compelling evidence that they think that the college library has special roles to perform which include the uniqueness of its collections and its spe- cial resources that may be lent to serious research patrons of public libraries as well as providing leadership in the 3R' s. By and large, these college librarians represent a group that is strongly com- mitted to interinstitutional library serv- ice in a network consisting of various types of libraries. Although most of them assume that college library collec- tions are unique, they are willing to fit the college library into a viable plan for pooling and sharing of resources. More- over, the large number that cited the compensated interlibrary loan program as helpful is proof that there is a keen awareness of the realities of the time that college libraries are no longer self- sufficient and must exploit the resources of other libraries. The librarians in the group were grateful for the opportunity to plug into regional and statewide re- sources, but they also are aware of the 3 E. J. Josey, "Systems Development for R eference and R esearch Library Service in New York State: The 3R's" British Columbia Library Quarterly XXXI (April 1968). ' 38 I College & Research Libraries • January 1969 importance of centralized indices which would identify and locate periodical and book holdings in order to expedite the transfer of materials between librar- ies. While the data show that twenty-five of the thirty respondents indicated that their college libraries were aided by sev- eral ongoing 3R' s projects as named above, it can reasonably be assumed that the involvement of the college li- brarians in their 3R' s regional systems has, beyond a doubt, demonstrated con- clusively the positive effects of regional and statewide planning. College librarians in New York State may differ in the centrality of their con- cern for new 3R's programs for the fu- ture, as is recognized by the wide varie- ty of programs envisioned or suggested. But, one fact is clear, i.e., a call has been sounded for regional development of li- brary resources through cooperative ac- quisitions programs and for the pooling and use of shared resources and facili- ties. Several of the librarians expressed the opinion that permanent funding con- tinues to hold the solution to strengthen- ing reference and research library serv- ice in the state. Most of this group of college librarians are pleased with the projects that have been inaugurated with 3R's funds; they nevertheless share the view of E. B. Nyquist, New York State Education Department's Deputy Commissioner, who contends that "the need for state legislation providing statu- tory state support for our state and re- gional programs, based on a formula re- flecting need and use"4 must be imple- mented, if the 3R' s systems are to face the challenge of meeting the advance refer- ence and research library needs of the state. A conclusion which is immediately apparent is that the college librarians involved in the 3R' s program are en- dowed with the wisdom to predict that the interinstitutional system approach will not succeed unless the patrons of their libraries have the widest possible bibliographic and physical access to re- search library materials. Another hope- ful conclusion, moreover, is that the ex- perience and knowledge that college li- brarians have gained by working with a larger number of librarians from other types of libraries also have given them a deeper sense of participation in li- brary affairs affecting a much larger area -the region-than their local commu- nity. This kind of cooperation bridges the gap between their own problems in college libraries and those in other types of libraries. Only through creative inter- institutional involvement can there be found creative solutions to pressing li- brary problems. Finally, the eloquent testimony of this sampling of New York State college librarians can be interpret- ed as a total rejection of institutional competition in favor of interinstitutional cooperation. • • 4 E. B. Nyquist, "The Three R's in New York ," ALA Bulletin, LX (December 1966) , 1138.