College and Research Libraries


Degrees Held by Head Librarians 
Of Colleges and Universities 

By J O H N C A L D W E L L 

IN " S T A N D A R D S F O R C O L L E G E L I B R A R I E S " adopted by A C R L in 1959, it is rec-
ommended that a college library ". . . 
be operated by a broadly educated and 
highly qualified staff of professional li-
brarians, under the direction of a chief 
librarian. T h e professional librarian is 
defined as one holding a professional de-
gree."1 T h i s paper is an investigation of 
the educational backgrounds of the head 
librarians in American colleges and uni-
versities to find in what degree they meet 
this minimum standard. 

A list of all college and university li-
brarians who direct libraries with book 
collections greater than fifty thousand 
volumes was compiled from the American 
Library Directory (21st ed., I960). T h i s 
produced a list of 545 names. These 
names were checked through Who's Who 
in Library Service (3d ed., 1955) to col-
lect data on their formal education. If 
this produced no information, the re-
maining names were checked in Who's 
Who in America (Vol. 31, 1960); Direc-
tory of American Scholars (3d ed., 1957); 
and Who's Who of American Women 
(Vol. 1, 1958). For some names, entries 
in the catalogs of the institutions where 
they are librarians provided enough edu-
cational information. Finally seventy-
four names had to be eliminated because 
sufficient information could not be found 
about them. T h e final list, made up of 
the names of 471 librarians, was divided 
into five sections according to the size of 
the book collection: over 1,000,000 vol-
umes; 500,000 to 1,000,000; 250,000 to 

1 "Standards for College L i b r a r i e s , " CRL, X X ( 1 9 S 9 ) , 
275. 

Mr. Caldwell is Librarian, California Lu-
theran College, Thousand Oaks, Calif. 

500,000; 100,000 to 250,000; and 50,000 
to 100,000. 

T h e bachelor's degree is generally con-
sidered to be the minimum formal indi-
cation of the "broadly educated"; this 
degree is held by 468 of the librarians 
investigated. T h e majority of these li-
brarians, 380, hold the B.A. degree, the 
others hold the basic degree in a variety 
of forms: B.S. 52, undergraduate B.L.S. 
17, Ph.D. 11, Ed.D. 7, Litt.D. 1. Thirteen 
of these librarians have no other formal 
education and ninety-one others have in 
addition only a B.L.S.2 or a certificate 
from a library school. Master's degrees, in 
something other than library studies, 
have been earned by 211 of the librari-
ans: M.A. 194, M.S. 10, Ed.M. 4, Litt.M. 
2, M.B.A. 1. For 150 the master's degree 
is the terminal degree, although 124 of 
those with this degree have also some li-
brary degree. T h e M.L.S.3 is the terminal 
degree for 127 other librarians. Eighty-
eight of the librarians have a doctorate 
of some kind: 55 have the Ph.D. in some 
subject area, 2 the Ed.D., and 31 a Ph.D. 
in library studies. In all, 410 librarians 
hold a library degree of some kind; 61 
(13 per cent) do not have library degrees, 
though 11 attended library school. 

T h e r e are 22 universities with collec-
tions of more than one million volumes. 

2 B . L . S . and M . L . S . are used throughout for all bach-
elor's and master's degrees in library studies. 

3 Ibid. 

M A Y 1 9 6 2 227 



50,000 to
 

100,000 

100,000 to
 2

5
0

,0
0

0 

2
5

0
,0

0
0 to

 
500,000 

5
0

0
,0

0
0 to

 o
n

e m
illion 

\ 
O

v
er o

n
e m

illion
 

T
o

ta
ls 

N u m b e r of l i b r a r i a n s s u r v e y e d 21 37 6 3 135 2 1 5 4 7 1 

B a c h e l o r ' s degree 
B a c h e l o r ' s only degree 
B a c h e l o r ' s plus l i b r a r y degree or degrees 

21 37 6 3 133 2 1 4 
1 1 2 3 6 
0 4 10 2 1 5 6 

4 6 8 
13 
9 1 

S u b j e c t m a s t e r ' s d e g r e e 
S u b j e c t m a s t e r ' s t e r m i n a l 
S u b j e c t m a s t e r ' s plus l i b r a r y degree or degrees 
M . L . S . t e r m i n a l degree 

9 16 32 72 82 
0 3 6 10 7 
2 4 18 3 8 62 
3 9 14 3 5 6 6 

2 1 1 
2 6 

1 2 4 
127 

D o c t o r ' s degree in s u b j e c t 
D o c t o r ' s degree in l i b r a r y studies 
D o c t o r ' s degree plus l i b r a r y degree or degrees 

7 8 7 21 1 4 * 
8 8 6 7 2 
3 4 3 13 10 

5 7 * 
31 
3 3 

N o l i b r a r y degree 5 8 11 19 18 6 1 

T o t a l holding l i b r a r y degrees 
C e r t i f i c a t e , no l i b r a r y degree 
B . L . S . only l i b r a r y degree 
M . L . S . only l i b r a r y d e g r e e 
P h . D . only l i b r a r y degree 
C e r t i f i c a t e or B . L . S . plus M . L . S . 
C e r t i f i c a t e or B . L . S . plus M . L . S . a n d P h . D . 
C e r t i f i c a t e or B . L . S . plus P h . D . 

16 2 9 52 116 197 
1 1 2 8 8 
4 11 2 6 5 9 1 0 0 
1 2 4 13 3 6 
1 0 0 0 0 
2 7 14 2 9 51 
2 2 2 3 0 
5 6 4 4 2 

4 1 0 
2 0 

2 0 0 
5 6 

1 
103 

9 
2 1 

* I n c l u d e s 2 E d . D . 

One of these was without a librarian 
when the list was compiled; educational 
information was obtained on the librar-
ians of the others. All of these have a 
bachelor's degree; 9 of them have a sub-
ject master's degree; and 15 of them have 
a doctorate: 7 in a subject field and 8 in 
library studies. One of these university 
librarians holds no degree beyond the 
B.A.; for 2 others the M.A. is the termi-
nal degree, although these also have a 
B.L.S.; 3 more hold the M.L.S. but have 
no subject master's degree. In this group 
of 21 librarians, 5 (23.8 per cent) have no 
library degree. Of the 7 who have doc-
torates in a subject field, 3 also have a 
library degree. 

Of the 37 librarians of libraries of be-
tween 500,000 and 1,000,000 volumes, 
all have a bachelor's degree. For one li-

brarian this is the only degree, 3 have 
only the B.L.S. in addition, and 1 other 
both the B.L.S. and the L . L . B . Sixteen 
of these librarians have a master's degree 
in a subject field and for 7 of them it is 
the terminal degree, although 2 of the 7 
have the B.L.S., one both the B.L.S. and 
the L.L.B., and 1 a library school certifi-
cate; 9 other librarians hold the M.L.S. 
as their highest degree. Sixteen of the li-
brarians in this group have doctorates, 
half in subject fields and half in library 
studies. Eight (21.6 per cent) of the 37 
librarians do not have library degrees, 
although two of these have attended li-
brary schools without taking degrees. Of 
the 8 holding subject Ph.D.'s, 4 also have 
library degrees. 

(Continued on page 260) 

228 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 



Degrees Held . . . 
(Continued from page 228) 

T h e r e are 65 libraries with collections 
of between 250,000 and 500,000 volumes: 
for the librarians of 2 of these, no educa-
tional information was found; of the re-
maining 63, all have the bachelor's de-
gree, 2 of these librarians have no other 
degrees, 9 others have a B.L.S. in addi-
tion to the undergraduate degree, and 1 
has a library school certificate. Thirty-
two librarians in this group have an 
M.A. and for 24 of them it is the highest 
degree held, although 14 have in addition 
the B.L.S., 1 has the M.L.S., 1 a certifi-
cate, and 2 have both the B.L.S. and 
M.L.S. For 14 additional librarians, the 
M.L.S. is the only master's degree. T h e r e 
are 13 librarians in this group with doc-
torates—7 in subject fields and 6 in li-
brary studies. Eleven (17.4 per cent) of 
these 63 librarians do not have a library 
degree, the other 52 have certificates, 
B.L.S., M.L.S., and library studies doc-
torates in various combinations, although 
2 have only the certificate and 26 only the 
B.L.S. T h r e e librarians do not have li-
brary degrees although they have at-
tended library school. Of those holding 
a doctorate in a subject field, 3 have li-
brary degrees. 

Of the next group of libraries, those 
having between1100,000 and 250,000 vol-
umes, educational information was found 
on 135 librarians of a possible 154. All 
but 2 of these librarians have a bach-
elor's degree; 1 of them has only a certi-
ficate from a library school, the other 
received a diploma from a seminary and 
later acquired both a library degree and 
an M.A. For 24 librarians, the bachelor's 
degree is terminal, although 21 of them 
have in addition the B.L.S. and 1 of these 
has also the L . L . B . Seventy-two librarians 
in this group have a subject master's de-
gree; for 48 of them, it is the highest de-
gree, although 38 also have a library de-
gree or degrees. For 35 librarians, the 
M.L.S. is the only master's degree. T h e r e 
are 28 librarians in this group who hold 

the doctor's degree—21 in a subject area 
and 7 in library studies. Library degrees 
are held by a total of 116 librarians in 
this group; of the 19 (14 per cent) who 
do not have library degrees, 3 have at-
tended a library school for some period. 
Thirteen of those who have subject doc-
torates also have a library degree. 

T h e final group of librarians to be 
surveyed supervise libraries with fewer 
than 100,000 volumes but with more than 
50,000. T h e American Library Directory 
lists 268 libraries of this size, but educa-
tional information could be found for the 
librarians of only 215 of them. All but 1 
of these librarians has the bachelor's de-
gree; this librarian attended college, but 
did not take a degree. For 64 the bach-
elor's degree is terminal, although all but 
6 have had further professional educa-
tion, and 56 of them have graduated 
from library school, and 2 from theologi-
cal seminaries. Subject master's degrees 
are held by 82 of these librarians; this is 
the terminal degree for 69 of them, but 
63 of these have library degrees. For 66 
others the M.L.S. is the only master's 
degree held. Twelve librarians in this 
group have a subject Ph.D., 2 have doc-
torates in library studies, and 2 the Ed.D. 
A library degree is held by 197 of the 215 
librarians; of the 18 (8.4 per cent) who 
do not have library degrees, 6 have at-
tended library schools. Eight of the sub-
ject doctorates and both of the doctorates 
of education also hold a library degree. 

T h i s brief survey of the educational 
backgrounds of our head college and uni-
versity librarians has shown that as a 
group they meet the standards set by the 
profession and move beyond them. They 
are broadly educated: only 13 of 468 who 
hold the bachelor's degree have termi-
nated their formal education at that 
point, 338 have at least one master's de-
gree, and 88 have doctorates. Although 
61 do not have degrees in library studies, 
11 of them have attended library school, 
leaving only 50 who do not have formal 
library education of some kind. 

2 6 0 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