College and Research Libraries B y W I L L I A M H . C A R L S O N The Trend Toward Academic Recognition of College Librarians Mr. Carlson is director of libraries, Oregon State System of Higher Education. LIBRARIAN SHIP has, within the past half j century, made a definite and on the whole heartening advance toward the status of a true educational profession. T h i s is a conviction I have long held, and one which, it seems to me, cannot be escaped by anyone w h o has followed the events and the literature of librarianship f o r the past quarter century. F o r me it is a conviction that has been strengthened, as a result of my preparation, within the past year, of a defense of the present and long held academic status of the librarians of the O r e g o n State System of H i g h e r Education. In gathering background, facts, and opinions to refute the proposal of the O r e g o n State C i v i l Service Commission that our system librarians should b e . r e m o v e d from the aca- demic staffs of our several institutions and as- signed civil service status I found it necessary to review the literature bearing on the con- tributions which college and university librar- ians have made to the instructional and re- search programs of their institutions and the w a y in which these contributions have been and are recognized. I found, as I had ex- pected, that the roots of the college librarian as an important and recognized member of the academic team go deep, and that the academic contributions of college librarians are increas- ing in depth and stature. T h a t this is being recognized, more and more, by higher educa- tional institutions and by educational societies, associations, and accrediting agencies is shown by college library standards and writings of the past three decades, including more recently the articles of Lundy, Thompson, and D o w n s . W e have now, I believe, reached a point w h e r e a summary of the trend t o w a r d recognition of the academic contributions of college librar- ians, and the attendant assignment of faculty status and rank, may be useful. E V O L U T I O N OF C O L L E G E A N D U N I V E R S I T Y L I B R A R I E S A N D L I B R A R I A N S H I P It has only been in the last one hundred years that the college and university library has emerged as a fundamental teaching and research instrument. C o r o l l a r y w i t h this de- velopment college and university librarianship has necessarily evolved to a corresponding extent, w i t h an increasingly sharply defined distinction between the clerical processes of library w o r k and its professional aspects. A s a result the modern college and university librarian must be possessed of scholarly in- stincts and aptitudes, have a wide range of competence in foreign languages, an extensive knowledge of the literature and subject matter of highly technical fields, a complete under- standing of the research processes, including organizational mastery over a vast literature, an extensive knowledge of foreign book markets and dealers and of international de- velopments in cultural affairs, familiarity with higher educational problems and trends and an ability to transmit research and subject k n o w l - edge to students, undergraduate and graduate, and to faculty members. A l l this of course re- quires advanced academic degrees to an extent which w a s not found, nor generally required, in the early college or university. In earlier days college and university librar- ians, even those of scholarly backgrounds and with advanced degrees, personally performed many of the numerous clerical details inci- dental to operation of their libraries. T h i s perhaps accounts for the somewhat prevalent but disappearing concept of college librarian- ship as a non-scholarly and largely routine activity. C o n t r a r y to this concept the college or university librarian w h o is solely a biblio- 24 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES graphical housekeeper has definitely disap- peared f r o m all well-administered colleges and universities to be replaced by librarians of high scholarly qualifications w h o are required to make fundamental and integral contributions to the teaching and research programs of their institutions. T h i s statement is completely sub- stantiated by the history of higher education and the literature of librarianship. A s early as 1876 P r o f e s s o r O t i s Robinson of the University of Rochester, w r i t i n g in the first volume of the Library Journal, said this: A l i b r a r i a n should be much more t h a n a keeper of books; he should be an educator . . . relation . . . ought especially to be estab- lished between a college l i b r a r i a n and the student r e a d e r s . No such l i b r a r i a n is fit f o r his place unless he holds himself in some degree responsible f o r l i b r a r y education of the students . . . it is his province to direct v e r y much of their g e n e r a l r e a d i n g ; and especially in their investigation of subjects he should be their guide and their f r i e n d . 1 In 1898 when the first professional school of librarianship w a s just beginning to establish a firm hold on life, President Daniel G o i t G i l m a n of Johns Hopkins University, certainly one of the most influential of American edu- cators, recognized the importance of the col- lege librarian in these w o r d s : T h e l i b r a r i a n ' s office should r a n k with that of p r o f e s s o r . . . T h e profession of l i b r a r i a n should be distinctly recognized. Men and women should be encouraged to enter it, should be t r a i n e d to discharge its duties and should be r e w a r d e d , promoted and honored in proportion to the services they r e n d e r . 2 M r . W . E . H e n r y , one of the pioneer leaders of the library profession in the N o r t h - w e s t and founder of the University of W a s h - ington L i b r a r y School, w a s also among the educators w h o early recognized both the teach- ing functions of college librarians and that they earn and deserve faculty status. T h i s is w h a t he said in 1 9 1 1 : T h e l i b r a r y assistant is not usually a teacher in the sense of a h e a r e r of recitations or a f o r m a l lecturer, yet anyone who knows his real w o r k must admit t h a t it is f r e q u e n t l y as personal and quite as scholastically h e l p f u l 1 A s quoted by S a m u e l Rothstein, Library Quarterly, 23:7, J a n u a r y , i9S3- 2 L y l e , G u y R. The Administration of the College Library, 26 ed., N e w Y o r k , W i l s o n , 1949. p. 277. as that done by the teacher. If this equality does not exist then the staff should be revised. W i t h such p r e p a r a t i o n and such relationship to the educational processes I shall claim that the l i b r a r y staff must rank with the faculty or teaching staff of any d e p a r t m e n t . . .3 In introducing the landmark study by G e o r g e A l a n W o r k s , College and University Library Problems, published in 1927, and based on personal visits to and detailed study of a large number of college and university libraries, Samuel P. Capen, then Chancellor of B u f f a l o University, begins thus: Since the beginning of the twentieth century A m e r i c a n colleges and universities h a v e undergone an essential t r a n s f o r m a t i o n . . . . T h e body of knowledge with which h i g h e r institutions a r e called upon to deal has been vastly augmented. T h e n a t u r a l sciences h a v e h a d an especially r a p i d development. New methods both f o r c r e a t i n g and i m p a r t - ing knowledge in these fields h a v e been de- vised. . . . T o meet these new d e m a n d s in p u r e and applied sciences, universities h a v e spent immense sums f o r laboratories and a p p a r a t u s . . . . U n d e r g r a d u a t e instruction in the humanities h a s likewise been radically modified. T h e single textbook h a s given w a y to a wide r a n g e of reference m a t e r i a l and the increasing output of scholars tends to make existing m a t e r i a l s quickly obsolete. Most i m p o r t a n t of all, g r a d u a t e instruction and research are no longer mere by-products. T h e y h a v e become a m a j o r activity of uni- versities, involving n e a r l y all the members of the teaching staffs and a r a p i d l y g r o w i n g body of m a t u r e students. I t is obvious t h a t these changes h a v e completely altered the position of the university or college library. D e m a n d s a r e now m a d e upon it t h a t twenty- five y e a r s ago w e r e unknown. 4 H o w extensive the implications of the changing nature of higher education have been f o r college libraries W o r k s ' study revealed. H e found that while the head librarian w a s usually given faculty rank and status that "too many" faculty members and administrative officers w e r e prone to think of the remainder of the staff as discharging responsibilities es- sentially clerical in nature. H e noted that while there is much such w o r k in libraries, the 3 H e n r y , W . E . " A c a d e m i c S t a n d i n g of College L i b r a r y A s s i s t a n t s and their Relation to the C a r n e g i e F o u n d a t i o n , " ALA Bulletin, 5:261-63, J u l y , 1 9 1 1 . 4 W o r k s , George A l a n . College and, University Li- brary Problems. Chicago, A m e r i c a n L i b r a r y A s s o c i a - tion, 1927. p. v . JANUARY, 1955 25 activities of the librarians called for a greater breadth of scholarship and a much longer period of professional preparation than is re- quired f o r clerical positions. In this connec- tion he said: T h e recognition of the t i t u l a r l i b r a r i a n as a member of the f a c u l t y m a y h a v e been an adequate method of d e a l i n g with the situa- tion a g e n e r a t i o n ago w h e n the staff in m a n y institutions consisted of a l i b r a r i a n and a relatively u n t r a i n e d staff. I t is entirely in- a d e q u a t e when a body of professional work- ers is developed such as w a s found to consti- tute a considerable proportion of the staffs of the l i b r a r i e s included in this study. In a substantial proportion of l i b r a r y positions this procedure will not b r i n g to the l i b r a r y the type of personnel that can give the serv- ice expected by students and faculty. T h i s condition should h a v e more consideration t h a n it has been given by university execu- tives. 5 T h a t college and university administrators have, as recommended by W o r k s , been giving serious and constructive attention to the duties of their librarians, as w e l l as their qualifica- tions, is shown by the fact that the doctor's degree in librarianship, which w a s unknown when W o r k s made his study, is flow increas- ingly found on the library staffs of colleges and universities, along w i t h other advanced de- grees. It is no accident that of the relatively f e w persons w h o have acquired the doctor's degree in librarianship since 1930, nearly all are to be found in the colleges or universities. N e i t h e r is it an accident that before the avail- ability of doctoral graduates from library schools, and since then to some extent, colleges and universities have sometimes gone outside the library field to find, as their librarians, persons with advanced academic degrees. " T h e time has definitely passed," say Randall and Goodrich in their Principles of College Library Administration, " w h e n the same course of study w i l l fit a man f o r librar- ianship in any sort of a library. T h e librarian- ship of a college library requires certain special training, particularly along lines which w i l l enable the student to fit his library into the educational process."6 T h e truth of this state- ment is emphasized by the fact that w e now 8 Ibid p. 82-83. 6 R a n d a l l , W i l l i a m M . a n d G o o d r i c h , F r a n c i s L . Principles of College Library Administration. 2d ed., C h i c a g o , U n i v e r s i t y of C h i c a g o P r e s s a n d A m e r i c a n L i b r a r y A s s o c i a t i o n , 1 9 4 1 . p. 121-22. have in colleges and universities, science li- brarians, chemistry librarians, engineering librarians, art librarians, pharmacy librar- ians, social science librarians, humanities librarians, custodians of map collections, custodians of special collections, and librar- ians w i t h numerous other specialties. T h e s e librarians must not only know and understand library methods and procedures. T h e y must, in addition, be at home in their subject fields, meet faculty members in these subject areas on an equal footing and be completely familiar w i t h and understand the terminology and the bibliographical practices of a highly specialized literature. L i b r a r i a n s of this kind are in- creasingly sought by colleges and universities and, fortunately, are being increasingly found. A n o t h e r landmark in the literature of li- brarianship, H a r v i e Branscomb's Teaching with Books, which is devoted entirely to the teaching functions of college and university libraries, leaves no room for doubt that college libraries are primarily a teaching instrument and that those w h o w o r k in them, at the pro- fessional level, play a direct and vital part in the teaching process. Branscomb, who is now chancellor of Vanderbilt University, strongly emphasizes the necessity of improving the status of the librarian to equal, w h e r e this situation is not found, that of his faculty col- leagues. O t h e r s w h o have w r i t t e n f o r c e f u l l y and authoritatively on the teaching function of the college library are D r . H e n r y W r i s t o n , president of B r o w n University and D r . W i l - liam W a r n e r Bishop, for many years the emi- nent librarian of the University of M i c h i g a n . G u y R. L y l e , in The Administration of the College Library, shows that in 1939, twelve years a f t e r the W o r k s study, academic status was, in more than 5 0 % of a group of institu- tions queried by M r s . M i r i a m M a l o y , ac- corded to library staff members holding the more important positions. Even the lesser positions, M r s . M a l o y found, w e r e given aca- demic rank in 4 0 % of the institutions. By 1948 a study of southern institutions, as re- ported by L y l e showed that in 6 5 % of the uni- versities studied all professional staff members had faculty s t a t u s ; in a group of college libraries 5 6 % of all the professional staff had faculty status while in the teachers colleges 9 0 % w a s found to have such status.7 F u r t h e r evidence of the trend t o w a r d academic rank 7 L y l e , G u y R . op. cit., p. 276-80. 26 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES and professional status is the study by L a w - rence S. T h o m p s o n published in Library Trends, July 1952. T h e T h o m p s o n article confirms an extension of academic status for librarians at an increasing number of institu- tions.8 Concrete evidence of the assignment of faculty status to librarians in a wide range of institutions is found in the U . S. Office of E d - ucation Circular, no. 370, M a r c h 1953, which, among other things shows the academic status of librarians at the institutions included. T w e n t y - s e v e n of the institutions listed assign academic status to all their librarians and many others do so on a partial basis. T h i s list is by no means complete and many institutions, such as O r e g o n State College and O k l a h o m a A . & M . , which give academic status to their librarians are not included in it. W h e n W o r k s made his study in 1927 it is highly probable that not a single institution listed in Circular no. 370 w a s assigning faculty status to any member of the library staff other than the head librarian. W h i l e it is still possible to find a good many colleges and universities which do not assign faculty status to their librarians, such institu- tions are, as the literature and current trends conclusively demonstrate, becoming progres- sively f e w e r . O f one thing w e can be absolutely certain. N o reputable and w e l l - administered higher educational institution can be found which would maintain that its librar- ians, regardless of the status it assigns to them, do not make significant contributions to the teaching and research program. O n c e this is granted then there seems no valid or j u s t reason f o r assigning a semi-clerical status to them. Certainly librarians qualify f o r aca- demic status as readily as numerous other non- teaching staff members such as editors, deans of students, athletic coaches, student coun- selors, state extension w o r k e r s and f u l l time research workers, all of whom are quite gen- erally accorded f u l l academic status and rank by educational institutions. L I B R A R Y S T A N D A R D S OF E D U C A T I O N A L A S S O C I A T I O N S A N D F O U N D A T I O N S T h e increasing importance of libraries in higher education is reflected by the high stand- ards, f a r above anything required in the early 8 Thompson, L a w r e n c e S . " P r e p a r a t i o n and S t a t u s of P e r s o n n e l , " Library Trends, 1:95-103, J u l y 1952. part of this century, which are being set for them. In 1928, when the Carnegie C o r p o r a - tion embarked on an extensive and ambitious program to strengthen the college libraries of this nation it was, of course, concerned that the large sums of money it planned to devote to college library purposes would be effectively used. I t therefore constituted an Advisory G r o u p on College Libraries, charging it with the responsibility of a careful study of college libraries and formulation of advisory recom- mendations covering all phases of the develop- ment and operation of them. T h e w o r k of this Advisory G r o u p constitutes still another land- mark in college librarianship. Included in its College Library Standards, published in 1932 and which formed the basis f o r grants to 81 colleges totaling $961,000, are these pertinent recommendations relative to the library staff: In v i e w of the importance of the services rendered by the l i b r a r y staff, its members should receive adequate recognition in the academic community with respect to salary scales, s t a n d a r d s f o r advancement, security of tenure, etc. . . . T h e college l i b r a r i a n should h a v e a d m i n i s t r a t i v e power covering the entire l i b r a r y organization, and should be responsible directly to the a d m i n i s t r a t i v e head of the college. He should be considered as a member of the educational staff of the college. T h e N o r t h w e s t Association of Secondary and H i g h e r Schools, makes this statement in its Revised Manual of Accrediting Higher Schools, 1946: Staff: T h e l i b r a r i a n shall be a full-time staff member with a degree f r o m a l i b r a r y school and shall h a v e faculty r a n k and s a l a r y status. T h e r e shall be such other members of the staff as a r e necessary f o r the efficient a d m i n i s t r a t i o n of the l i b r a r y . T h e Division of N u r s i n g Education of the N a t i o n a l L e a g u e of N u r s i n g in its Guide to the Development of Libraries in Schools of Nursing, 1952, has the f o l l o w i n g statement: T h e l i b r a r i a n has faculty rating, with corre- sponding salary, obligations and privileges, which ensures attendance at n u r s i n g con- ferences, classes, and demonstrations of n u r s - ing care, and participation in discussions b e a r i n g on the development of teaching pro- g r a m s in the school. T h e Southern Association of Colleges and JANUARY, 1955 27 Secondary Schools, in a report published in 1947, makes the f o l l o w i n g detailed recom- mendations relative to the functions of the college and university library and its s t a f f : Relation of the L i b r a r y to I n s t r u c t i o n : D u r - ing the past two decades, the m a j o r interest in college l i b r a r i e s h a s been in their growth, in suitable buildings, and in l i b r a r i a n s tech- nically t r a i n e d . At present, the prime con- cern of college teachers, l i b r a r i a n s , and ad- m i n i s t r a t o r s is in the effective integration of the l i b r a r y with the teaching processes. T h e achievement of such integration calls f o r a clarification of the functions of the college l i b r a r y and for continuous p l a n n i n g and co- operation on the p a r t of the administration, faculty, and a qualified l i b r a r y staff. T h e L i b r a r y Staff: T h e L i b r a r y Staff should be adequately t r a i n e d , not only technically, but academi- cally. T h i s is essential to effective coopera- tion on a basis of m u t u a l u n d e r s t a n d i n g and respect with faculty in instruction and in the promotion of the cultural development of students. A. T h e l i b r a r y staff should be encour- aged 1. T o take courses while employed in o r d e r to round out their aca- demic and professional e d u c a t i o n ; 2. T o take leaves f o r a d v a n c e d s t u d y ; 3. T o p a r t i c i p a t e in professional li- b r a r y o r g a n i z a t i o n s ; 4. T o contribute to l i b r a r y a n d edu- cational l i t e r a t u r e ; 5. T o r e a d widely in general and pro- fessional fields. B. T h e l i b r a r i a n and his professional as- sistants should enjoy such academic status and a d m i n i s t r a t i v e relations as will make them most useful to the institution. T o w a r d this end, the li- b r a r i a n should be invited to serve on committees concerned with instruction. T h e Classification and Pay Plans for Li- braries in Institutions of Higher Education, published by the American L i b r a r y Association in 1947, makes the f o l l o w i n g statement rela- tive to the educational responsibilities and academic status of college and university li- brarians : As all professional staff members contribute to the educational p r o g r a m of the institution they a r e deemed to be of an academic r a n k c o r r e s p o n d i n g to deans, teaching staff, and d e p a r t m e n t a l assistants. T h e y should also enjoy the academic privileges including p a r - ticipation in retirement plans. T H E A C A D E M I C C O N T R I B U T I O N S OF A C Q U I S I T I O N A N D C A T A L O G I N G L I B R A R I A N S W e found, in the defense of the academic status of our O r e g o n system librarians that even prejudiced laymen did not find it too difficult to appreciate the educational and re- search contributions and functions of public service librarians. I t w a s difficult for such persons, however, to understand how an order librarian, a serials librarian or a cataloger, w o r k i n g entirely behind the scenes, could be an integral and significant part of the teaching and research process. T h e s e are some of the arguments w e advanced in support of our con- tention that all the professional librarians of a modern college or university contribute to the teaching and research their institutions do. T h e first and basic step in building a higher educational library is to decide w h a t books, journals, maps, pictures, films, and recordings should be in the libr iry. T h e s e decisions, in a college or university, are arrived at jointly by the acquisition librarians and faculty mem- bers, w o r k i n g cooperatively to gather those materials which w i l l f u l l y support the educa- tional and research programs of their institu- tions. T h i s is f a r more than a passive accept- ance by the librarians of faculty recommenda- tions. Extensive materials are added on the independent and scholarly judgement of the li- brarians. Obviously these processes require, on the part of acquisition librarians, a compre- hensive knowledge of the entire range of scholarly literature in practically every field of intellectual endeavor. T h e y also require harmonious w o r k i n g and a close acquaintance- ship with members of the faculty, as w e l l as an understanding of the teaching and research objectives of our institutions. T h e all-inclusive nature of modern higher education is such that the materials needed in libraries must be d r a w n f r o m all over the w o r l d and in a great variety of languages. T h i s , of course, requires a w o r k i n g knowledge, on the part of acquisition librarians, of many languages, and familiarity with widely rang- ing trade and national bibliographies of the leading countries of the w o r l d , as w e l l as of indexes and bibliographies in highly specialized subject literatures. O n c e having made the essential research contribution of finding and identifying needed literature, acquisition li- brarians must then administer the necessary purchasing processes. T o do this efficiently 28 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES they must have an extensive knowledge of the book markets of the w o r l d , familiarity w i t h foreign dealers, knowledge of foreign ex- changes. T h e y must also f o l l o w c a r e f u l ordering procedures, with a correct use of the various languages. W i t h o u t the fundamental and necessary w o r k of this kind by acquisi- tion librarians, in close collaboration w i t h faculty members, the modern research univer- sity library could not exist. T h e r e can be no doubt then that acquisition librarians are im- portant keystone contributors to the teaching and research of the modern university. T h e catalogers of a college or university stand between the acquisition and serials librarians busily operating their dragnets to d r a w material f r o m all parts of the w o r l d into the library and the service librarians whose functions it is to interpret and make easily available the totality of the library's hold- ings. I t is the duty of catalogers to reduce to order and system a vast miscellany of mate- rials flowing into the library, on almost every conceivable subject and f r o m all over the w o r l d . T h e s e materials, arriving in complete subject confusion, the carefully w r o u g h t minis- trations of the catalogers organize into easy findability. T o do this satisfactorily, in a college or university, requires familiarity w i t h the teaching and research program of the insti- tution, an awareness of scholarly research trends and developments and a continuing in- troduction into the catalog of new scholarly terminology, as w e l l as the elimination or revision of obsolete or outmoded terms. A l l this requires knowledge of scholarly and sci- entific subjects. C a t a l o g e r s sit at the fount, as it were, of the productivity of the human mind, reducing all to order and system. W o r k i n g at the frontiers of knowledge they see and help to order its unfolding. W h i l e materials come to them in quantity they cannot be handled in quantity. Each book and pamphlet must be considered and handled as a separate entity and its content, regardless of language, sufficiently mastered to classify it satisfactorily both by numbers, and verbally by subject headings, and to describe it so accurately that it becomes a unique bibliographical item which cannot be confused with the millions of other books in the w o r l d . Fundamentally this is an intel- lectual process, sometimes, in matters of prin- ciples and policies, profoundly so, and it is for this reason that persons of scholarly bent make the best catalogers. By w h a t the catalogers do in their daily w o r k of absorbing new titles, and of eliminat- ing outmoded subject terminology in f a v o r of current usage, the research program of the college and university is squarely buttressed. Anyone who maintains otherwise fails to understand and appreciate the extensive and complex bibliographic machinery upon which the modern scholarly w o r l d rests. C a t a l o g e r s w h o fashion and maintain the intricate bibli- ographical machinery necessary for operation of our libraries are indeed, in the most basic sense, important contributors to the teaching and research processes. W i t h o u t their serv- ices higher educational institutions could not function at all either as teaching or as research agencies. S U M M A R Y T h e literature and the standards of ac- crediting agencies, as here briefly summarized, the inescapable and important function of the library in present day instruction and research, the increasing recognition of the library and librarians by educational associations and soci- eties, and by individual educators, all these indicate that librarians are surely, although some of us may think too slowly, moving f r o m their semi-clerical status of thirty years ago t o w a r d f u l l acceptance as members of the academic family. Certainly w e have reached a point, as R . B. D o w n s has so pungently noted,9 where a chief librarian can no longer with easy conscience accept faculty rank and academic status for himself, leaving his staff in a vague kind of academic no-man's-land between the faculty and the clerical staff. 9 D o w n s , R . B . " A r e College and U n i v e r s i t y L i - b r a r i a n s A c a d e m i c ? " COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES, 15:12, J a n u a r y , 1954. Five Y e a r Index A F i v e - Y e a r Index covering volumes 1 1 - 1 5 (1950-1954) w i l l appear in the A p r i l issue of C O L L E G E A N D R E S E A R C H L I B R A R I E S . J A N U A R Y , 1955 29