College and Research Libraries By H E R M A N H . H E N K L E The Liberal Arts Function of the University Library Herman H. Henkle is director of the Sim- mons College School of Library Science, Boston, Massachusetts. WHAT is the responsibility of the uni-versity library for the undergradu- ate students in the arts and sciences? Are not the problems faced by the uni- versity library in its relation to the li- brary needs of undergraduates similar to those faced by the library in the liberal arts college? O r , is the reverse true? Comparisons of the responsibilities of college and university librarians usually de- vote attention to librarians as chief execu- tives. Such comparisons can easily be misleading as they consider the activities of but one member of the staff of the college or the university library and ob- scure the fact that in the college and uni- versity alike there are liberal arts students and their teachers whose library needs must be met. It is only by careful study of these needs that the differences and similarities of the college library and uni- versity library can be clearly understood. Comparisons of the College and the Uni- versity Satisfactory comparison of the functions of college and university libraries calls for a clear distinction between the liberal arts college and university, but as yet no thoroughly adequate analysis has appeared. Thirty-five years ago the Association of DECEMBER, 1940 American Universities devoted a session of its annual conference to a discussion of the topic, " T h e Actual and Proper Lines of Distinction between College and University W o r k . " At this conference, A r t h u r T . Hadley, David Starr Jordan, and several other university representatives presented opinions on the subject.1 T h e r e was no evident agreement among the sev- eral speakers as to exact distinctions. However, as presented by D r . Hadley, there are four categories within the college and university together: academic, profes- sional, technological, and graduate. T h e first was presented as comparable to the liberal arts college. Another early discussion of this problem was presented in 1907 by H e n r y Smith Pritchett.2 H e clearly distinguished be- tween the college and university on the basis of ideals. T h e former "exists for the purpose of training men . . . in those studies which lead, not to a particular calling, but to a general view of the world and a comprehension of our duty to it." T h e latter exists to give "professional training based upon high educational 1 H a d l e y , A r t h u r T . " T h e Actual a n d P r o p e r L i n e s of Distinction ^ b e t w e e n College and U n i v e r s i t y W o r k . " Journal of Proceedings and Addresses, Asso- ciation of A m e r i c a n U n i v e r s i t i e s , 1904, pp. 21-2S; J o r d a n , David S t a r r . " T h e A c t u a l a n d P r o p e r L i n e s of Distinction between College a n d U n i v e r s i t y W o r k . " Ibid., pp. 25-33; followed by discussion by M u n r o e Smith, P r e s i d e n t Eliot, and others, pp. 33-42. 2 P r i t c h e t t , H e n r y Smith. " T h e D i s t i n c t i o n between College and U n i v e r s i t y in t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s a n d C a n a d a . " Second Annual Report of the President and Treasurer, Carnegie F o u n d a t i o n f o r the Ad- v a n c e m e n t of Teaching, Oct. 1907, pp. 93-99. 5 standards" and to conduct "scholarly re- search." Pritchett believed it desirable for "some universities to develop without un- dergraduate affiliation," but he recognized that there had developed in the United States a "distinctive type of university embracing under a single administration the undergraduate college, the graduate school and the professional schools." H e believed that the graduate school and the professional school should be based upon the college. Confusion as to Functions of the Univer- sity Concerning the functions of the univer- sity a confusion exists in the literature which is difficult to clarify. Some uni- versity men believe that the undergradu- ate school, at least the lower division or junior college, should be completely sepa- rated from the university. Boucher, in his The Chicago College Plans discusses the possibilities of a four-year junior col- lege, which would unite the first two years of the present college with the last two years of high school, leaving the third and fourth years of the college to become more closely coordinated with the graduate and professional schools. Flexner states the ideal functions of the university to be: " T h e conservation of knowledge and ideas; the interpretation of knowledge and ideas; the search for t r u t h ; the training of students w h o will practice and 'carry on.' " 4 T h i s last obli- gation he believes is "not a psychological or parental responsibility"; in other words, he believes that the university should concern itself solely with advanced or graduate students. T h u s he would sepa- rate the liberal arts college from the 3 B o u c h e r , C. S. The Chicago College Plan. U n i - v e r s i t y of Chicago P r e s s , 1935. 4 F l e x n e r , A b r a h a m . Universities, American, Eng- lish, German. O x f o r d U n i v e r s i t y P r e s s , 1930, pp. 6-8. 6 COLL university. H e would also absolve the university from any immediate practical responsibility for the problems of society, excluding at the same time responsibility for the maintenance of vocational schools, excepting the professions of law and medi- cine from this separation.5 Important as it is for the librarian to be aware of the various points of view regarding the functions of the university as it might be ideally, he will, after all, be forced to adapt his library program to universities as they are. Perhaps no more pithy summary of the latter can be found than that given by Flexner, himself: The great American universities . . . are composed of three parts: they are secondary schools and colleges for boys and girls; graduate and professional schools for ad- vanced students; "service" stations for the general public. The three parts are not distinct; the college is confused with the "service" station and overlaps the graduate school; the graduate school is partly a col- lege, partly a vocational school, and partly an institution of university grade.6 Stated more prosaically, the activities (as opposed to an ideal definition of func- tions) of American universities, as they are now constituted, a r e : ( I ) instruction: at the undergraduate, graduate, voca- tional, and extension levels; ( 2 ) research: by a few undergraduate students, some of the students in professional and technologi- cal schools, graduate students, and faculty and research staffs; ( 3 ) publication: usu- ally involving chiefly the publication of the results of research in the local insti- t u t i o n ; ( 4 ) extension: non-curricular ex- tension service, such as agricultural exten- sion, radio talks, and other devices by which the university attempts to extend its services beyond the boundaries of the campus. 5 F l e x n e r . Op. cit., pp. 29-30. c F l e x n e r . Op. cit., p. 45. / EGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES Liberal Arts College within the University Although much has been written about the liberal arts college, there has been no adequate treatment of the liberal arts college within the university. M a x M a - son, former president of the University of Chicago, has considered the matter, but his statement deals primarily with the stimulating influences which the research activities of the university can be made to have on the undergraduate student.7 None of the other university administra- tors, in the writings referred to, gave any special attention to the college within the university, nor have university librarians presented a more satisfactory discussion of the problem, although most recognize its existence. W h e r e the problem is dis- cussed, it is interesting to find some uni- versity librarians joining those university presidents who advocate separation. W . W . Bishop of the University of Michi- gan proposes t h a t : Much of the library service in our uni- versities would be rendered far more ef- fective if only the universities would create and maintain separate libraries for aid in the teaching of undergraduates aside from the central university library whose chief function is—or should be—the development of materials and services for higher studies.8 T h e librarian of the University of Cali- fornia Library is even more strongly sepa- ratist : T o try to care for the differing and often conflicting needs of hordes of undergraduate students on the one hand, and of graduate students, faculty, and research men on the other, in the same building or buildings, with the same collection of books, and very largely with the same staff, is to attempt the 7 M a s o n , M a x . " T h e College within the U n i v e r - s i t y . " I n Kelly, R o b e r t L., ed. The Effective College. Association of A m e r i c a n Colleges, [ c l 9 2 8 ] , pp. 26-34. 8 Bishop, William W . " T h e College L i b r a r y a n d College T e a c h i n g . " Bulletin, Association of A m e r i c a n Colleges 23:190-200. Cf. p. 193. impossible. The answer seems to be sep- arate housing, separate book collections, and separate staffs. (Italics added.)9 Far from looking upon service to under- graduates within the university library as outside the realm of possibility, Peyton H u r t makes a proposal which contributes directly to the primary consideration of this paper: The establishment and maintenance of a separate undergraduate library is an obvious means of defining the library service to be rendered to undergraduate students. The same result might be accomplished, however, at much less expense by a clear definition of the functions of the University Library in relation to undergraduate instruction and limitation of the use of library materials by undergraduafe classes. "'Some compromise might be desirable. One worth considering would be the designation of a "librarian for undergraduates" and the development of an "undergraduate division" of the University Library. . . .10 Comparative Study of Library Functions Desirable I t has already been stated that only by careful study of the library needs of stu- dents and faculty in the college and the university can the differences and simi- larities of the functions of the college library and the university library be clearly understood. It is purposed here to set these needs side by side in order to come to this understanding. T o make the most effective use of allotted space, and to make comparison easy, the functions of the col- lege library and the university library, respectively, are set forth in diagrammatic form, arranged to interpret functional re- lationships. Cf. Figures i and 2. 9 L e u p p , H a r o l d L . " P r o b a b l e T r e n d s in U n i v e r s i t y L i b r a r i e s . " College and Research Libraries 1:57-61, Dec. 1939. Cf. p. 57. 10 H u r t , P e y t o n . The University Library and Un- dergraduate Instruction: an Analysis of Their Rela- tionship. U n i v e r s i t y of C a l i f o r n i a P r e s s , 1936, p. 41. DECEMBER, 1940 7 T H E C O L L E G E L I B R A R Y (Diagrammatic Representation: Arranged to Interpret Functional Relationships) G E N E R A L A D M I N I S T R A T I V E S U P E R V I S I O N Determination of Policies Planning and Maintaining Building and Equipment Development of Organization Technical Processes Acquisition Binding Cataloging Classification Shelving Statistical and business records Service to Students Curricular reading: Assigned; collateral Individual study: Assistance to honors students Instruction in use of library Reference service Background reading: Open shelf collection Vocational reading Stimulation of recreational reading: "Browsing" room Exhibits Alumni service: Reading lists Service records Service to Faculty Supply of books and journals to repre- sent current progress in the subjects taught Coordination of curricular needs with facilities of the library Cooperation in book selection Assistance in research: Bibliographical tools Source materials when possible Union catalogs Interlibrary loans Photographic reproductions General reference service General reading Service records F I G U R E I T H E U N I V E R S I T Y L I B R A R Y (Diagrammatic Representation: Arranged to Interpret Functional Relationships) G E N E R A L A D M I N I S T R A T I V E S U P E R V I S I O N Technical Processes Acquisition *Binding ^Cataloging ^Classification *Shelving ^Statistical and business records *Determination of Policies *Planning and Maintaining Building and Equipment Development of Organization Service to Students Service to Faculty Undergraduates Graduates Curricular Needs *Curricular reading: Assigned; collateral ^Individual study: Assistance to honors stu- dents Instruction in use of li- brary Reference service *Background reading: Open shelf collection Vocational reading *Stimulation of recreational reading: "Browsing" room Exhibits * Alumni service: Reading lists *Service records Research General assistance in re- search : ^Bibliographical tools Union catalogs *Interlibrary loans ^Photographic reproductions *General reference service Guide to the resources of the library Specialized assistance in re- search : Adequate supply of source materials Specially qualified research assistants in the major fields of knowledge *Service records Teaching *Supply of books and jour- nals to represent the cur- rent progress in the sub- jects taught ^Coordination of curricular needs with facilities of the library *Cooperation in book selec- tion *General reading ^Service records * F u n c t i o n s which ar« n e a r l y identical, in kind, w i t h f u n c t i o n s in liberal a r t s college libraries. F I G U R E 2 A considerable portion of the literature on college and university libraries has been read to prepare composite pictures of pro- fessional opinion in respect to the two in- stitutions. Some of the writers on college libraries to whom reference has been made are Branscomb, Brown and Bousfield, Evans, Randall and Goodrich, and W i l - son,11 and for opinions about the liberal arts college, Wilkins and Wriston. 1 2 For summarizing opinion about the functions of university libraries, use was made especially of writings by Kaiser, Keogh, Sproul, and Works. 1 3 Involved in the resulting diagrams (Figs. I and 2) are my own interpretations, in some instances representing expansion of services now offered by college and university libraries. The College Library T h e r e is no fixed method by which the liberal arts college is carrying out its program. T h i s means that the college librarian must approach the problems of a specific library through the application of general principles of administration, a broad understanding of educational trends at the college level, and a thorough knowl- edge of the curriculum in the institution concerned, in order to build a library pro- 11 B r a n s c o m b , H a r v i e . Teaching with Books. Asso- ciation of A m e r i c a n Colleges a n d A . L . A . , 1940; B r o w n , C h a r l e s H . , a n d Bousfield, H . G. Circulation Work in College and University Libraries. A . L . A . , 1933; E v a n s , Silas. " T h e C o n t r i b u t i o n of the L i b r a r y to Effective T e a c h i n g . " I n Kelly, Robert L., ed. The Effective College. Association of A m e r i c a n Colleges, [ c l 9 2 8 ] , pp. 135-45; R a n d a l l , W i l l i a m M., a n d Good- rich, F . L . D. Principles of College Library Admin- istration. A . L . A . a n d the U n i v e r s i t y of Chicago P r e s s , f c l 9 3 6 ] ; W i l s o n , L o u i s R. " T h e E m e r g e n c e of the College L i b r a r y . " A.L.A. Bulletin 25:439-46, Sept. 1931. 12 W i l k i n s , E r n e s t H . College and Society. Cen- t u r y , 1932; W r i s t o n , H . M. " G e n e r a l E d u c a t i o n in L i b e r a l - A r t s Colleges." Harvard Educational Review 9:279-86, M a y 1939. 13 K a i s e r , J o h n B. " N e w e r F u n c t i o n s of U n i v e r s i t y L i b r a r i e s . " Library Journal 51:217-21, M a r . 1, 1926; Keogh, A n d r e w . " T h e F u n c t i o n of the U n i v e r s i t y L i b r a r y . " I n The Dedication of the ( U n i v e r s i t y of N o r t h C a r o l i n a ) Library Building. T h e U n i v e r s i t y L i b r a r y , 1930; S p r o u l , R o b e r t G. " T h e Place of t h e L i b r a r y in H i g h e r E d u c a t i o n . " A.L.A. Bulletin 24:332-38, Sept. 1930; W o r k s , George A. College and University Library Problems. A . L . A . , 1927. 10 gram that will fully meet the local needs. T h e primary function of the college library is to make books available to stu- dents and faculty, and many of the proce- dures for fulfilling this function have at- tained the status of established practice. T h e points at which the service program is strong or weak vary from one library to another. Some of the services have seen little development even where need exists, and others are developed only in those colleges whose teaching programs are pro- gressive enough to make them necessary. The University Library As in the college library, functions in the university library conform to the func- tions of the institution of which it is a part. It has already been pointed out that the American university normally consists of an undergraduate school or college, a graduate school, professional schools, and a department of university extension. T h e size and complexity of the university or- ganization have served to confuse the pic- ture of the university library in its relation to the various functions of the university. T h e justifiable emphasis on the importance of research has tended to obscure the fact that most universities have incorporated within themselves the functions of a liberal arts college. T h r o u g h examination in detail of the functions of college and uni- versity libraries as summarized in Figures I and 2, it is possible to view with much greater clarity the comparative character- istics of the two types of libraries in this respect. Functions of the university library which are nearly identical, in kind with functions in the liberal arts college librar- ies are marked with an asterisk in Figure 2. Brown and Bousfield14 are of the opin- 14 Op. cit., pp. 9-10. / i COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES ion that the differences between the college library and the university library, though extensive, are "differences in quantity rather than in kind." T h i s is borne out by the analysis of functions presented here. In other words, it is clearly demonstrated that in the tra- ditional American university the liberal arts function of the college library is an integral part of the university library's responsibility. One service to be rendered the under- graduate student calls for special com- ment, viz., instruction in the use of books and libraries. T h i s commonly receives more lip-service than formal attention. W h e t h e r or not it is a function of the library of the college or university to offer such instruction has been debated. M o r e than twenty-five years ago, W . W . Bishop urged the desirability of giving instruction of this sort in the elementary and second- ary schools.15 But the well-known deficiences of col- lege students in this regard, even today, evidence the lack of any widespread adop- tion of such instruction in schools below the college level. Until students enter college adequately prepared to make effec- tive use of books and libraries, the college, to insure the effectiveness of its educational program, must instruct them how to do so. T h i s obligation must be assumed by both the faculty and the library, not working separately but in cooperation. Directly bearing on the library's re- sponsibility to alumni is this matter of in- struction in the use of books and libraries. William Rainey H a r p e r once said : No more important, no more useful, train- ing can be given men in college than that 15 Bishop, W i l l i a m W . " T r a i n i n g in t h e U s e of B o o k s . " The Backs of Books. W i l l i a m s a n d W i l k i n s , 1926, pp. 99-124. A p p e a r e d originally in the Sewanee Review, J u l y 1912. DECEMBER, 1940 which relates to the use of books. Why do so many college men give up reading when they leave college ? Because in college they have never learned the use of books. The equipment of the library will never be finished until it has upon its staff men and women whose sole work shall be, not the care of books, not the cataloging of books, but the giving of instruction concerning their use.16 One of the primary responsibilities of the university library toward the alumnus is to meet this need while he is still an under- graduate. If this is done, public libraries may be expected to have a more wide- spread support, and the feeble efforts of the college and university libraries will not be needed to supply the demand for good books, except to supplement the resources of the public libraries through a program of library cooperation. Of interest to the university library in relation to library service to undergradu- ates is the fact that there has been a marked shift in training for the medical, legal, teaching, library and other profes- sions from the undergraduate to the gradu- ate level. In the opinion of the President of the Carnegie Foundation for the Ad- vancement of Teaching this trend will re- lieve the liberal arts college of its "voca- tional pressure."17 T h i s influence will be felt in the university as well. Sydney B. Mitchell urges that the "swamps of voca- tional work" 1 8 should be avoided in the undergraduate training of college librar- ians ; and this same point of view is taken by some members of the medical school faculties toward pre-medical training for the undergraduate. 16 H a r p e r , William R a i n e y . The Trend in Higher Education. U n i v e r s i t y of Chicago P r e s s , 1905, p. 124. 11 J e s s u p , W a l t e r A l b e r t . " T h e I n t e g r i t y of t h e A m e r i c a n College f r o m the S t a n d p o i n t of Adminis- t r a t i o n . " School and Society 43:177-83, Feb. 8, 1936. C f . p. 181. Mitchell, S y d n e y B. " T h e Academic a n d P r o f e s - sional E d u c a t i o n of College L i b r a r i a n s . " A.L.A. Bulletin 30:69-74, Feb. 1936. Cf. p. 70. 11 Certain unstarred functions in Figure 2 are present in name in the college library as well as in the university library, but in the latter, due to so much more complex- ity, a considerable degree of comparable- ness is lost. T h o u g h the kinds of library service to be provided in the college and university are the same, it is obvious that the organization in the latter must be much more complex. W i t h i n some uni- versities the number of faculty and gradu- ate students is so large that the research function of the library assumes an impor- tance which tends to overshadow the need for service to undergraduates. Research needs are probably only incompletely satis- fied in most institutions, and they deserve the most serious attention; but the library should be vigilant to develop and maintain a service which will fulfill the liberal arts function of the university as well. Implications for Administrative Organi- zation T h e r e are essential conflicts between the library needs of the students at the college level and the research needs of the faculty and graduate students. T h e undergradu- ate needs access to a relatively small, carefully selected open-shelf library, sup- plemented by abundantly duplicated titles for course work. T h e research worker needs access to a book collection indefi- nitely large, where selection is not wel- come unless the materials excluded have no bearing on his field of research, and duplication is non-essential. T h e under- graduate is rarely ever called upon to exhaust the bibliographical sources of any subject, and the assistance he needs con- sists primarily in instruction in how to use the library in order to find the material he needs. T h e research worker must exhaust bibliographical sources for every problem on which he works, and the service he needs may require intensive and sometimes extended technical assistance from the librarian. In spite of the differences, as M r . Leupp points out,19 the university library con-' tinues to attempt satisfactory service to both groups with the same corps of librar- ians, and, it may be added, through an organization of personnel which is not de- signed to serve satisfactorily the needs of either the liberal arts student or the re- search worker. T h e traditional organization of univer- sity libraries has been based very largely on two types of differences: ( i ) differ- ences in technical and service procedures, resulting in departments for acquisition, cataloging, circulation, and reference; and ( 2 ) differences in types of library mate- rials, such as periodicals, public documents, maps, or manuscripts and rare books. From the standpoint of conflicting service-needs of the library's clientele this form of li- brary organization is an illogical one, resulting in much confusion and ineffec- tiveness in library service. An alternative form of administrative organization is proposed, to include three primary divisions: ( 1 ) the Division of Technical Processes, to have supervision of the acquisition, organization, and care of the book collection; ( 2 ) the Division of Instructional Service, to have supervision of all services required by students in con- nection with classroom assignments or in- dividual study programs, and by faculty members in their teaching programs; and ( 3 ) the Division of Research Service, to have supervision of the resources and serv- ices needed by research workers.20 T h i s 19 Loc. cit. 20 Cf. H e n k l e , H e r m a n H . " A n I n t e r p r e t a t i o n of R e s e a r c h L i b r a r i a n s h i p . " School and Society 47:494- 99, A p r . 16, 1938. 12 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES would be a truly functional form of organ- ization for the university library. T h e second division would serve the purposes discussed by Peyton H u r t 2 1 in his proposed "undergraduate division." It would fulfill what we have chosen to call the "liberal arts function of the university library." T h e choice of the term, "instructional service" in the title of the division, rather than "service to undergraduates," lies in the existence of course work at the graduate level which is essentially like that in the undergraduate college in so far as the kind of library service needed is concerned. Reeves and Russell22 point out the tendency toward the expansion of the college curriculum to include work for the master's degree, forced very largely by the increasing edu- cational demands upon teachers in the public schools. It is their opinion that "the program of work leading to the mas- ter's degree is already more akin to the work of the senior college than it is to that of the upper two years of graduate work leading to the doctor's degree." In Conclusion In conclusion it should be emphasized 21 Loc cit. 22 Reeves, F l o y d W . , and Russell, J o h n Dale. " T h e Relation of the College L i b r a r y to R e c e n t M o v e m e n t s in H i g h e r E d u c a t i o n . " Library Quarterly 1:57-66, J a n . 1931. that one or more persons on the university library staff should be specially qualified for and delegated to give particular atten- tion to the needs of the students in the arts-and-sciences division of the university. And one or more others should be qualified to give instruction in bibliography and in the use of the library. In short, while the research function looms large in the uni- versity library, the teaching function is as real and as important as in the liberal arts college library. It may be considered more so, if numbers are significant, for some of our large state universities have many more undergraduate students in the arts and sciences than are served by the largest liberal arts colleges. T h e adminis- trators of some large universities have pleaded that "size" does not necessarily detract from "quality" in educational in- stitutions. It may be urged that the state- ments just presented are a necessary quali- fication of that assumption. O t h e r uni- versity administrators may insist that the function of the university is to do research and gainsay their responsibility to serve also the functions of a liberal arts college. Those who hold to this opinion should exercise their institutional integrity and cease to mislead the thousands of students who flock to their halls in the belief that they are to receive a "college education." DECEMBER, 1940 13