College and Research Libraries


By C H A R L E S H . B R O W N 

Librarians and the W a r 
President Brown s opening remarks at the 

meeting of the A.L.A. Council, December 

29, 1941-

FOR ALL AMERICANS, b u t f o r l i b r a r i a n s particularly, the events of the last f e w 
weeks as w e l l as the history of the past 

twenty years have special significance. 

W e librarians, together w i t h other groups 

of educators, have a vital interest in the 

outcome of this w a r . A victory for the 

aggressors w o u l d mean the end of the 

American public library as w e know it. 

In the British Empire and in the United 

States the public library has developed as 

a result of basic principles of freedom of 

speech and respect for individual rights. 

T h e triumph of the N a z i doctrine w o u l d 

destroy our freedom of thought, our right 

to study both sides of the question, and 

our privilege to read and think for our-

selves. T h e s e are the fundamental prin-

ciples to which w e librarians have dedi-

cated our lives. T h e y are fundamental 

to librarianship. 

T h e s e principles date back to the Ameri-

can Bill of Rights, adopted 150 years 

ago, and in part admirably summarized 

seventy-five years ago. T h e words of 

A b r a h a m Lincoln apply far more strongly 

today than they did in 1865, if by civil w a r 

w e understand a w a r for civilization. 

" N o w w e are engaged in a great civil w a r , 

testing whether that nation, or any nation 

so conceived and so dedicated, can long 

endure. . . . " 

Failure of Librarians 

A consideration of past mistakes is 

valuable as a means of avoidance of 

mistakes in the future. A l t h o u g h the 

fundamental principles of American li-

brarianship have been seriously threatened 

by the ideologies which developed during 

the last ten years, w e librarians have 

failed to understand, and to aid our com-

munities to understand, the significance of 

nationalistic movements. Since w e our-

selves have not understood, w e could not 

lead others. M r . M a c L e i s h warned us 

eighteen months ago at Cincinnati and 

urged us to exert leadership in our com-

munities.1 W e could not, even as late as 

1940, unitedly listen to his appeal. A t the 

same meeting one group of librarians, 

fortunately a small one, issued a request 

to the President that no military aid be 

sent to G r e a t Britain. If it had not been 

for the courage of the British, if it had not 

been that the people of the United States 

in general favored a policy of assistance, 

then the future of this country and of our 

democracy w o u l d be dark indeed. 

T h e indifference and lack of under-

standing by our own people are partly 

responsible for the tragedy at Pearl H a r -

bor. T h e material for the bombs which 

killed our soldiers and sailors at Pearl 

Harbor and the gasoline which brought 

the bombers there, may w e l l have come 

from the United States. W e sold the 

1 M a c L e i s h , A r c h i b a l d . " T h e L i b r a r i a n a n d t h e 
D e m o c r a t i c P r o c e s s . " A.L.A. Bulletin 34:385-88, 
421-22, J u n e 1940; also 3 4 : 4 1 9 , J u n e 1940. 

99 



Japanese material to use for killing our 
people. Even while we were criticizing 
the policy of the British appeasers, the 
futility of our own policy of appeasement 
was not understood by the American 
people. 

Pearl Harbor clearly indicates that the 
Atlantic and Pacific oceans are no protec-
tion. Pearl Harbor is farther from Ja-
pan than Boston from the European con-
tinent. If the recent disaster has shown 
the American people the dangers of isola-
tionism, then the sacrifice at Pearl Harbor 
may not have been in vain. 

T h e officers, boards, and committees of 
the American Library Association are 
counting on your undivided loyalty. W e 
have taken the liberty of pledging the 
support of every member of the A . L . A . 
in the United States to the government for 
whatever aid we can give in the prosecu-
tion of this war. T h e r e is much we can 
accomplish if we work together whole-
heartedly and harmoniously to win the 
war, leaving less pressing tasks for the 
postwar period. 

Librarians Can Aid 

W h a t can the sixteen thousand mem-
bers of the American Library Association 
do to assist in bringing about victory? 
W e certainly cannot continue all our 
customary professional routines. M u c h of 
the work we usually do will have to be 
abandoned for the duration, to be replaced 
by education for victory and for a world 
order which will make future wars im-
possible. 

According to a recent estimate, in 1918 
five men were required to manufacture 
war materials to every soldier in the serv-
ice. N o w the proportion is eighteen to 
one. W e must help in making these war 
workers efficient. If books are needed in 

defense areas, if research publications are 
needed by government technicians or in 
research departments of manufacturing 
firms, they must be supplied even if the 
purchase of fiction and recreational read-
ing is curtailed. N o reader must leave 
a public library without the specific ma-
terial he needs if he is concerned in any 
way, directly or indirectly, with war ac-
tivities. N o research department must 
do without material that can be found 
anywhere in the United States. 

T h e r e is an even more important field 

for librarians—the promotion of civilian 

morale. O u r people must understand the 

significance of events, the dangers from in-

flation, the necessity that we support the 

program of the Treasury in advertising 

defense bonds, that we cooperate in the 

understanding and administration of 

priorities, that we pay careful attention to 

the maintenance of the health of our citi-

zens. O u r libraries must be actual centers 

of information. 

Broad Field 

Civilian morale is one division of a 

broad field. W e librarians must take an 

active part in the educational work of our 

communities. W e must stimulate thought 

on international problems. W e must en-

courage study and forum discussions in 

order that all the American people may 

understand the danger of isolationism and 

the need for international cooperation and 

understanding. If a world order is to be 

built which will prevent future wars, then 

it must be done by voters who understand. 

Furthermore, our people must realize that 

future world peace cannot be assured by 

hatred, by enmity, by ignoring the cultures 

and accomplishments even of our enemies. 

W e librarians can assist in this w a r by 

(Continued on page 116) 

100 C O L L E G E , AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



they choose to teach with library materials 
rather than student-bought textbooks will 
progress be made in teaching with books. 
Moreover, only insofar as they use the 
collections for research and public service 
can those collections become useful in the 
solution of baffling educational, social, 
economic, and political problems. 

In conclusion, may I personally and on 
behalf of the board of library trustees 

Librarians and the War 
(Continued from page 100) 

enabling the decisions of the American 
people to be based on the intellect rather 
than on the emotions. W e don't want to 
repeat the mistakes of the last world war 
and the peace which followed it. 

Let us then as a united group devote our 
attention for the duration to the education 
and enlightenment of the American people, 
first for victory and then for world-wide 
understanding with no thought of destruc-
tion, or revenge. 

Let us all work for victory and perma-

Libraries and the Long Haul 
(Continued from page 101) 

edge is not to flicker and burn dim for 
decades, institutions of higher learning and 
their libraries must be prepared to carry 
on activities of basic research by continu-
ing to an appropriate degree their normal 
functions. 

Problems of both kinds must be met by 
libraries under conditions of peculiar diffi-
culty. Library personnel is diminishing by 
induction into the armed services, by at-
traction to defense work, and through the 
current reduction and future extinction of 
N . Y . A . and W . P . A . , and, more seriously, 
by the lowering of income. T h e avail-

and the staff of the Joint University Li-
braries express our deep appreciation to 
those who have helped with their moral 
and financial support to make the Joint 
University Library a reality. Y o u have 
enabled us to take the first important step 
to provide an adequate library and with 
your further assistance and encouragement 
we hope we may take the other essential 
steps. 

nent security for all nations. T h i s is 
something more than a fight for you first, 
or me first, or America first. It must be 
for the well-being of all peoples of the 
world. T h i s is indeed the basic doctrine 
of democracy and of the Christian religion 
as opposed to the philosophy that one 
nation or one race must dominate. In 
the world of tomorrow no nation can 
secure the well-being of its own people 
without regard for the needs of other 
peoples. 

ability of essential library supplies is be-
coming increasingly less. Humble ex-
amples are the increasing costs and ulti-
mate shortage of catalog card stock and 
shortages in the essential materials for 
binding. Important publications for re-
search published in foreign countries are 
generally unavailable in this country for 
many reasons. Only by hard work and 
ingenuity can we meet the current and 
pressing demands and at the same time 
keep our houses in order for the future. 
It will be a long haul but we are going 
to make it! 

116 COLLEGE, AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES