College and Research Libraries By DONALD E. THOMPSON A Self, Survey of the University of Alabama Libraries A SELF-SURVEY sometimes takes . the form of investigating one or more processes of a department or it may consist of a study and analysis of the library's com- plete operations, including an analysis of the book collection, administration, finance, departmentalization, work proced..ures, and other matters and activities. In September 1940, when the University of Alabama began a self-survey of its li- braries, a special fund was established for the expense of the project and for th~ pur- chase of recommended books and periodicals. The survey was conducted by the director of libraries and two specially appointed assist- ants, 'with the cooperation of the faculty. There were .two major aims: the first was to describe in detail the titles, types of material, and subjects represented in the university's book collections; the second was to plan a book-buying program for the fu- ture, including subject areas of desired emphasis, types of material to be acquired, and specific titles . recommended for pur- chase. Closely related to the general aims were several other projects. A survey of book markets was to be made to determine the best sources of purchase. A consultation service was to be made available to the faculty to assist in selecting library ma- terials. A new book-ordering procedure and a more adequate system of library records were to be inaugurated. In order to proceed effectively it was considered necessary to obtain a clear state- ment of the university's aims and future APRIL, 1947 program, together with those of the various schools, college~, and subject departments. These statements would show where em- phasis should be placed 'in the buying pro- gram. They would indicate the addition, omission, or strengthening of any major fields of study within schools or departments and would also show at what level any change was likely to occur: undergraduate, graduate, or research. Contact was made with each department head and dean to obtain, if possible, such a statement. Al- though some of the deans indicated new subject fields that might possibly ' be added to certain schools and colleges, department heads were more easily able to suggest new courses which would probably be added to their curricula. The questionnaire sent to deans, depart- ment heads, and other policy-determining officials was as follows : 1. What are the aims or objectives which your school or department ·is trying to achieve in the categories mentioned below: (a) In undergraduate teaching? (b) In graduate instruction? (c) In individual research? (d) In exte~sion work. or other under- takings? • 2. What is the x;nethod by which new book orders and periodical subscriptions are deter- mined in your school or department? Are you satisfied with this type of selection? If not, please state criticisms or suggestio5ls. Broad principles of future university policy were sought from the president and other administrative officials. Since these 147 .I principles would necessarily be different and more general than those of the- deans and department heads, they could not be formu- lated as easily. The best information that could be obtained was that the university was embarking on an expanded program of instruction which would probably, in the future, include the doctoral degree. The first thing to be accomplished, however, was to improve facilities for undergraduate instruction and work for the master's de- gree. The most important . part of the survey was to evaluate the resources of the uni- versity libraries and to build up the collec- tion. When the survey was inaugurated, notices were sent to all faculty members inviting them to discuss their needs in the various subject fields with the director of libraries and the survey assistants. Many individual faculty members, department heads, a~d deans came to the library in response to this invitation. Some depart- ments and schools held faculty meetings to which they asked members of the survey staff to come and discuss their library prob- lems in detail. A questi·onnaire was sent to the faculty asking the following: I. What is your teaching load per week (credit hours) ? 2. What research projects are you carry- ing on? 3· Can you supply us with a list of books cited in all the courses you teach? Do you use a syllabus for each course? 4· What professional literature· do you con- sult regularly? 5· What professional materials do you need which the library does not have? 6. What can the library do to make itself more useful to you individually? 7· What' can the library do to make itself more useful to you as a teacher? 8. Do you know of any bibliographies which the library should check for possible pur- ·chases? g. Are you willing to check book catalogs, etc., which the library will supply? 10. Important library holdings (please in- dicate): Undergraduate-Graduate-Research Some faculty members recommended bibliographies to be checked. For example, one English professor suggested that the library should have every book reviewed in the periodical, American LiteratureJ not in- cluding books that were listed without being reviewed. The first eleven volumes con- tained 6o8 titles, of which the library had 332. The remaining 2 76 titles have been purchased or are on order and those in sub- sequent v..olumes have been obtained. Another group of bibliographies suggested by the faculty was that on various fields of engineering ·published by the Engineering Council for Professional Development. The fj.ve bibliographie~ in this series were checked and, of 1335 titles listed, the uni- versity owned 575. Many of these titles have been purchased since, so that now the university libraries have more than 50 per cent as compared with 43 per cent when the lists were checked. From many other bibliographies suggested by the faculty, purchases have been made for titles that were not in the libraries. In one subject field a more thorough check was made at the request of the de- partment head. The pertinent parts of the shelflist of a large university library, which has one of the largest and best collections on that subject, were microfilmed and slips were typed from the film. It was realized that the University of Alabama w,ould prob- ably never need to duplicate this collection, but the film was obtained so that selections could be made by the department for li- brary acquisition. In addition to suggesting bibliographies, some of the faculty made intensive studies of their subject fields in a manner similar to those studies made for the Pennsylvania 148 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES survey. 1 From these studies they submitted requests. In addition to the evaluation of the li- braries' resources made by the faculty, a few library staff members checked the li- braries' holdings in fields of their subject knowledge. Their findings were coordi- nated with those of the faculty members in the same s~bject fields. Checked Bibliographies To supplement the faculty study, the sur- vey staff checked approximately seventy-five standard and authoritative bibliographies. Some of these were general, such as Shaw's List of Books for College Libraries and Supplement and Mobrhardt's List of Books for Junior College Libraries. Some were subject bibliographies, such as Crane's Guide to the Literature of Chemistry, Scholes' List of Books about Music in the English Language, Altsheler's National History Index-Guide, Bentley's Bibliogra- phy of Works on Accounting by American Authors, Burchfield's Student's GuiJ.e to Materials in Political Science, etc. Still others were bibliograph{es in standard text- books. Reference lists issued by the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools and the Southern As- sociation of Colleges and Seco]ldary Schools were checked. Lyle's . Classified List of Periodicals for the College Library was used, in addition to the perioaical lists com- piled by Shaw, Mohrhardt, the North Central AssoCiation, and the Southern As- sociation. It was tho"4ght that eventually all of the books and periodicals listed in Shaw, Lyle, the North Central Association, the South- ern Association, and perhaps Mohrhardt, should · probably be in the university li- 1 Bibliographical Pianning Committee of Philadelphia. A Fa culty Survey of the University of Pennsylvania Libraries. Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1940. APRIL, 1947 braries. On the other hand, the libraries could not hope to buy, and would probably have no use for, all of the titles listed in Crane, Scholes, and certain other inclusive bibliogr·aphies. From all of the lists checked a composite table of broad subjects, such as ancient lan- guages, art, business and economics, chemis- try, etc., was made. If a more specialized subject bibliography, e.g., theatre, was checked, it was put into .the most closely related larger subject, e.g., speech. The subjects were listed, together with the num- ber of titles in the publications and the per cent of titles in the university libraries. Checking Interlibrary Loans Another method of determining possible needs was the checking of interlibrary loan correspondence for several years. Records were made of the requests and a majority of the books requested frequently was pur- chased. Periodical requests were examined more critically. If a definite need was indicated, a current subscription was placed and an attempt made to complete the set. Certain outstanding titles were pur- chased when found, even before the survey was completed. A complete bound file of the Times (London) and its index from 1839 to date were obtained. Bound volumes of the New York 'Times were completed back to 1920 and earlier volumes will prob- ably be obtained on microfilm. The final result of the survey of library resources was the compilation of a file of needed materials that would probably · cost several hundred thousand dollars to pur- chase. Some of the items were to be pur- chased from the regular book budget. As each subject was completed a report was compiled. This report included: 1. An evaluation of book holdings by a"4- thoritative bibliographies 149 2. An evaluation of periodical holdings by authoritative bibliographies 3. An evaluation of all titles requested by faculty members 4· Tables showing needs with their approxi- mate cost 5. An attempt to compare present holdings with' data in Downs's Resources of Southern Libraries 6. Conclusions and recommendations. From time to time. mimeographed memo- randa were sent to the faculty to keep the}ll informed of the progress of the survey and to request their continued participation. From the questionnaire sent to the faculty the survey staff was able to obtain a general idea of fa~ulty . needs, many of which re- sulted in new services a~d procedures. New Order Procedure A new order procedure was definitely needed. A new order card was designed in duplicate so that the requestor . could keep his own record of all titles ordered. A system was developed whereby book and periodical orders, previously placed through the purchasing agent of the university, could be placed directly from the library, thus facilitating receipt of the orders. A quad- ruplicate manifold process was adopted consisting of the official order, dealer's record, Library of Congress card order, and faculty notice. The whole new order pro- cedure was.- more economical and efficient. The physical arrangement of the library was changed so that service could be in- creased. Some staff members were changed to different positions and the number of staff members was almost doubled. Depart- m~ntal organization was changed to increase efficiency. The initial work of the survey was com- pleted in a year , and a half. Purchases of recommended materials have continued over the past five years but have been hindered by the unavailability of foreign materials. Special funds, are now available for foreign and domestic purchases. Accomplishments The fundamental accomplishments of the survey have been a compilation of needed books and periodicals from which to make purchases and a reorganization of library procedures and personnel so as to give the best possible service to the library's patrons. In addition, the staff and budget have been increased by the university administration. In 1.939-40, total library expenditures were $69,987; in 1940-41, $uo,587. During the early war years the budget had to be decreased. During the past two years the budget has been increased again so that for 1946-47 it is $135,000. The value ·of the library program at the University of Ala- bama is recognized by the administration and is generously supported. 150 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES