College and Research Libraries


B y P E R C Y E . C L A P P 

A Technical Research Laboratory 
for the Library 
Percy E. Clapp is on the staff of the 
Reference Department of the New York 
Public Library. 

THE SIXTH edition of Industrial Re-search Laboratories of the United 
States, published by the National Research 
Council, lists 1 7 6 9 laboratories. These 
range from those of the great corporations, 
D u Pont, Eastman Kodak, and the Bell 
Telephone Laboratories with a staff of 
over 2000, to those of small firms with a 
staff of one or two. T h e y include also 
the laboratories maintained collectively by 
industrial associations like the Institute of 
Paper Chemistry at Lawrence College. 
T h e Bureau of Standards, in its latest di-
rectory, lists 244 commercial testing labo-
ratories. 

T h e several states maintain 59 agricul-
tural experiment stations and the United 
States, 8 regional agricultural laboratories, 
with recent provision for 4 additional re-
gional research laboratories. In the forest 
service alone there are 1 2 forest and range 
experiment stations in addition to the For-
est Products laboratory at the University of 
Wisconsin. T h e Department of Agricul-
ture estimates that the allotment for indus-
trial research in the United States for 1 9 3 7 
was $250,000,000. T h e appropriation for 
agricultural research for the year ending 
J u n e 30, 1 9 3 7 was over $35,000,000. 
T h i s was slightly over one cent per 
dollar of income from these sources. 

JUNE, 1940 

T h e same directory of the Bureau of 
Standards lists 200 university research 
laboratories. In them, in the laboratories 
of the great foundations, in the Bureau 
of Standards and other governmental 
laboratories, in the industrial, commercial 
and private laboratories is conducted the 
great body of American research. 

Research Done in Field of Fine Arts 

Research has also extended to cultural 
organizations. A t the Fogg A r t Museum, 
Harvard, and at several other art mu-
seums, technical research has in recent 
years been undertaken in the field of fine 
arts. In 1 9 3 0 Charles C . Williamson 
both asked and answered the question: 

What about research in the library field? 
A little sporadic work here and there by 
individuals that may possibly be classified as 
research. No organized or co-operative 
plans, or only the beginnings of such in two 
or three university library schools. No 
money appropriated anywhere, so f a r as I 
know, specifically for research in library 
service. Not a single person employed any-
where by a library or a library system to 
study problems of library service. No re-
search fellowships. No research professor-
ships. 

A n even decade has elapsed since the 
date of this sweeping indictment, and per-
haps D r . Williamson has understated the 
case for the library. Without entering 
the more strictly professional side of li-
brary service, there have been in recent 

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years most creditable studies along tech-
nical lines. Among them are the study 
of deterioration of paper initiated by 
H a r r y M i l l e r Lydenberg, and the studies 
of microfilm in which Keyes D . Metcalf 
has long been active. T h e study of fox-
ing of paper made by Thomas M . Iiams 
is notable. T h e measurement of 350,000 
books by Henry B . V a n Hoesen is basic. 
T h e work of the J o i n t Committee of the 
American Library Association and Library 
Binding Institute, and of the A . L . A . Com-
mittee on L i b r a r y Equipment and Ap-
pliances is of genuine service. A survey 
like that made by Robert C . Binkley and 
outlined in his manual on Methods of 
Reproducing Research Materials is of 
great value in integrating and making 
available the practical results of research. 
M a n y libraries have conducted studies 
with valuable results which are unpub-
lished, and therefore of limited usefulness. 
However, there is much in D r . William-
son's statement that will still hold today. 

Some Library Problems 

T h a t these studies have not solved all 
immediate problems is indicated by such 
recent articles as "Inventions and Books" 
by Ethel M . F a i r in the Library Journal, 
" T o m o r r o w " by D r . Lydenberg in the 
Library Quarterly, and the "Possibility of 
Discarding the C a r d C a t a l o g " by Fremont 
Rider in the same publication. Paper is 
the basic stuff of books, and libraries use 
it in quantity. H o w much is made in 
accordance with specifications as thorough 
as the minimum specifications for class 
" A " library binding, and how often is it 
tested for compliance with them? Like 
questions may be asked about other com-
ponents of books, the ink and adhesives. 
T h e r e are the conditions vitally affecting 
library buildings and their occupants, the 

lighting, the sound, the ventilation. 
Printing processes begin to shift from 
graphic to photographic. Photographic 
records displace descriptive records. Color 
becomes frequent, and the motion picture 
records action as well. Records of music 
and of speech itself begin to supplement 
the score and printed symbols of language. 

A l l of these changes bring new prob-
lems with increasing need of modern 
laboratory facilities and of present day 
methods of technical research to solve 
them. 

In any approach to the consideration 
and introduction of organized technical 
research in the library, there are a num-
ber of points which have important bear-
ings: 

M a n y problems are continuing prob-
lems. N e w problems arise as rapidly as 
older ones are solved. 

W h i l e the results of much completed 
research may be used by libraries, there 
are plenty of problems peculiar to the li-
brary. 

T h e Bureau of Standards can do much, 
but it cannot conduct the whole research 
of the nation. T h e library, like industry, 
needs to conduct its own research. 

T h e library building is usually not 
equipped for research, and the library staff 
is not organized to devote enough time to 
it. A research laboratory and informa-
tion service or clearing house might best 
be maintained at a university with access 
to its physical, chemical and psychological 
laboratories. 

Regional Laboratory Might Be Practical 

Each library has problems of its own, 
but most problems affect large groups of 
libraries and can best be solved collec-
tively. A regional type of laboratory 
would be easily accessible to a compact 

291 
COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



group of large libraries. Such a regional 
laboratory, serving a compact group of 
libraries, could well initiate organized li-
brary technical research, and later pro-
vide a basis for a comprehensive national 
organization. 

T o bring this important subject under 
consideration, it is proposed that a com-
pact group of about thirty university and 
public libraries on the eastern seaboard 
establish a library technical research 
service and laboratory. T h i s would pref-
erably be situated at some centrally 
located university where scientific depart-
ments would be available without dupli-
cation. T h i s service would conduct for 
its contributing libraries the established 
tests for paper and other library materials. 
It would make studies of and conduct 
experiments with paper, inks, adhesives, 
binding materials, library conditions, light, 
sound, air and ventilation, wall coloring 
and surfaces, floors, various forms of 
equipment, the physical form of the cata-
log as well as other technical problems of 
libraries. 

T h e research and information service 
might begin with a staff of one person in 
charge and one technician. T h e y would 
require an office, and a laboratory for 
testing equipment. W i t h little delay a 
chemist should be added to the staff. 

Proposed Support 

It is proposed that the laboratory be 
supported cooperatively so f a r as possible 
by the group of participating libraries, and 
that the cost be distributed equitably 
among them, perhaps in proportion to their 

total library expenditures. Service to 
other nearby libraries might be given for 
a small annual fee. It is believed that 
operation could begin on a budget of 
about $ 7 5 0 0 . A t the beginning, however, 
it would be advisable to encourage the 
frequent use of the laboratory as an edu-
cational policy rather than to restrict its 
use in the interest of small economies. 
While the laboratory should fit into the 
framework of the institution at which it is 
located, the selection of subjects of re-
search might be made by a representative 
committee of the supporting organizations. 

T h i s research and information service 
might make a survey of the results of li-
brary research both unpublished and pub-
lished. It might become a clearing house 
for unsolved library technical problems. 
It might integrate and coordinate the li-
brary technical research conducted inde-
pendently with that conducted in the 
laboratory itself. It should make the re-
sults of its study available by publication 
or otherwise to its contributors and others. 
It should cooperate with the J o i n t Com-
mittee of the A . L . A . and Library Binding 
Institute, and with the A . L . A . Commit-
tee on Library Equipment and Appliances. 

Such a laboratory and information serv-
ice should, in due course of time, develop 
a body of knowledge as useful as that 
produced by industrial and other research 
laboratories. It should become a training 
class for library research workers. It 
should pay, or more than pay for its cost, 
tend to place technical matters generally 
upon the sound basis of fact, and result 
in a better library service. 

JUNE, 1940 
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