College and Research Libraries


By H E R B E R T A . K E L L A R 

American Reference Libraries 
in the Postwar Era 

Mr. Kellar, director of the McCormick 
Historical Association, read this paper at 
the meeting of the Association of College 
and Reference Libraries, June 2J, 1942. 

T N T H E M I D S T of a world upheaval which 

affects the life of every individual in 

the nation it may seem to certain persons 

a futile procedure to attempt to discern 

the shape of things to come, but I do not 

think that this is really so. If the long-

range objective of the librarian is to pro-

mote availability of knowledge for the 

good of a continuing civilization, we must 

keep our feet on the ground, look into the 

future, and endeavor to ascertain how we 

may play our part in the days when peace 

will again descend upon the world. 

T h e American reference library has long 

constituted one of the chief pillars of cul-

ture in our civilization. For the most part 

the content of these institutions represents 

the accumulations of time. O f t e n start-

ing with a small nucleus of material, hold-

ings have steadily grown over a period of 

years to reach their present status. In a 

few instances, such as Huntington and 

Duke and Clements, they have sprung 

like Aphrodite out of the sea, full-grown 

or almost full-grown, within a compara-

tively brief space of time. Nearly all of 

them have come into adequate being with-

in the past half century. Since 1900 

housing has consistently limped behind ex-

pansion and although many new and some-

times splendid library buildings have been 

constructed in this country, particularly 

in recent years, acquisitions of material 

have increased so rapidly that a number 

of the newer structures have little room 

left for future requirements. 

A n interesting aspect of the American 

reference library has been the point of 

view directing its development. Prior to 

1929, with few exceptions, the prevailing 

laissez-faire philosophy of the general pub-

lic, confirmed in part by the results of the 

First W o r l d W a r , animated the activities 

of librarians and sponsors. Each institu-

tion was prone to select the fields in which 

it was interested without regard to the 

total picture of library acquisitions and 

joyously to compete with every other li-

brary for anything that it wanted. T h e 

possible wisdom of such procedure or the 

results over a period of time were largely 

unquestioned. Under these conditions, in 

the usual American fashion, the race was 

won by the most active institutions and 

those with the largest funds available for 

acquiring additional material. 

T h e economic depression, which began 

in 1929 and continued well into the nine-

teen-thirties, caused a rude awakening in 

society, which was reflected in the library 

world. Privately endowed institutions 

soon found the value of their securities 

lessened and interest rates beginning to 

SEPTEMBER, 1942 
2 77 



decline. T h e net result was less income. 

Public institutions suffered in similar fash-

ion through difficulties in tax collections 

in municipalities and both inability and 

unwillingness of state and national legis-

latures to provide adequate funds for li-

brary activities. T h e situation was made 

more serious by a large increase of con-

sumer demand upon institutions. T h e un-

employed had leisure for more reading. 

Federal Assistance 

However, the cloud was not without 

its silver lining. Federal assistance grad-

ually, came to the aid of a harassed society, 

including its institutions. A number of 

new libraries were built with government 

funds, and the National Youth Adminis-

tration, the Federal Writers Project, and 

the Historical Records Survey offered cler-

ical and sometimes skilled assistance to 

librarians. T h e latter were frequently 

skeptical of such aid at the outset and 

embraced the opportunity presented with 

reluctance but the majority of the profes-

sion learned in time to make wise use of 

white-collar relief labor. A s a result many 

needed activities in individual libraries 

were carried on that otherwise would have 

had to cease and others were undertaken 

on a scale which hitherto had not been 

contemplated. In addition larger projects 

such as the American Imprints Inven-

tory, surveys of Federal, state, municipal, 

and county archives, church records, 

manuscript collections, and like activities, 

inaugurated by the Historical Records 

Survey, proved of direct interest to librar-

ians. Equally important was the further 

development of union catalogs and biblio-

graphical enterprises, the preparation of 

guides and indexes to newspaper holdings, 

and the filming of newspaper files for pur-

poses of preservation and to provide needed 

space. T h e discovery that it was possible 

to make widespread use of white-collar 

relief labor was a fact of tremendous sig-

nificance and nowhere was this more im-

portant than in the library world. T o the 

vision of the late Robert C . Binkley, who 

foresaw these things and worked out prac-

tical methods of applying them, librarians 

are everywhere greatly indebted. 

Most important in the nineteen-thirties 

and directly connected with the activities 

mentioned above, was the gradual shift in 

point of view from the individualistic atti-

tude of the previous decade to a more 

social approach with respect to library 

activities. Public approval and financial 

support of institutions began to be con-

tingent more and more upon the service 

they rendered to society. Individualistic 

interest or ambition as expressed in an in-

stitution was not enough to any longer 

justify reason of being. T h e trend has 

been definitely established and is likely to 

go further. 

Effect of War 

T h e outbreak of the Second W o r l d 

W a r in September 1939 and our own 

entrance in December 1941 have further 

affected reference libraries in various ways. 

Privately endowed institutions, instead of 

being able to look forward under happier 

economic conditions to a rise in the present 

low interest rates upon their securities and 

to an increased income, are faced with 

what is apparently a continuing period of 

prevailing and even lower rates of in-

terest. T h e present heavy taxation, and 

there seems no prospect of relief in this 

direction, is drastically reducing the 

amount of funds normally available for 

gifts. Public institutions in submitting 

284 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



budgets for legislative enactment recently 

have almost always found them curtailed 

before they were given final approval. 

Also staffs are reduced because of entrance 

of members into the armed forces or under-

taking other defense activities, making it 

difficult to continue current services. 

One important phase has been an in-

creasing demand upon libraries in many 

parts of the country to supply technical in-

formation required for research, as well as 

other types of reading matter, to individ-

uals living in areas where defense projects 

are being rapidly developed. In a num-

ber of institutions so voluminous have been 

the requests that it has been found im-

possible to meet current needs in a satis-

factory manner. Present facilities are 

insufficient and funds are not available to 

expand them. T h i s has led to a renewal 

of attempts to obtain Federal legislation 

authorizing the creation of regional de-

positories. It is quite possible that one 

result of the emergency will be the estab-

lishment of such libraries, furnished with 

free copies of copyright publications. It 

is to be hoped, however, that instead of 

making these regional libraries branches 

of the Library of Congress, as many of 

the bills propose, that Congress, if it does 

act, will select some existing institution in 

each region, best suited for the purpose, 

and make it the regional depository. 

Technical vs. Humanities Libraries 

Also to be noted is the possible danger 

that the present emphasis upon the prac-

tical importance of libraries supplying tech-

nical data may lead to legislative support 

of these institutions at the expense of ref-

erence libraries devoted to the humanities. 

O u r culture to be lasting requires balance 

between the various phases of intellectual 

interest and activity. W e need to encour-

age things of the spirit as well as to fur-

nish information about chemical elements. 

Signs have not been wanting in the past 

few years that many librarians have be-

come dissatisfied with our hitherto indi-

vidualistic methods of developing reference 

libraries. It grows obvious with time that 

no one library, no matter how large its 

resources, can hope to acquire all of the 

material it should have in a number of 

fields. T o achieve subject completeness, 

even in a single field, with one possible 

exception, that of the Surgeon General's 

Library, has so far proved beyond our 

capacity. T h e increased cost of compe-

tition, which recently has often had to be 

met with lowered income, has finally 

driven the lesson home. One answer is 

adoption through library cooperation of a 

planned system of allocation in acquisi-

tions, but before this can be worked out 

and applied, we must know what mate-

rials for research have been assembled in 

this country and where they are located. 

As an aid in throwing light upon this last 

subject various undertakings have been 

projected and carried out. T h e compila-

tion, Resources of Southern Libraries/ 

afforded valuable information concerning 

institutions in the South. T h e Guide to 

Library Facilities for National Defense? 

the annual reports on Notable Materials 

Added to American Libraries? the publi-

cation of the first volume of Special Li-

brary Resources,4 the manuscript, imprint, 

1 D o w n s , R o b e r t B . , ed. Resources of Southern 
Libraries; A Survey of Facilities for Research. C h i -
c a g o , 1938. 

2 C a n n o n , C a r l L . , ed. Guide to Library Facilities 
for National Defense. C h i c a g o , 1940. 

3 D o w n s , R o b e r t B v ed. Notable Materials Added 
to American Libraries, 1938-41. R e p r i n t e d f r o m 
Library Quarterly, 1 0 : 1 5 7 - 9 1 , A p r i l 1 9 4 0 ; 1 1 : 2 5 7 -
301, J u l y 1 9 4 1 ; 1 2 : 1 7 5 - 2 2 0 , A p r i l 1942. 

4 V o r m e l k e r , R o s e L . , e d . Special Library Re-
sources. V o l . I . N e w Y o r k , 1 9 4 1 . 

SEPTEMBER, 1942 
2 77 



church records, and other surveys of the 

Historical Records Survey, and the de-

velopment of union catalogs, to mention 

only a few, offer information of pertinence. 

T h e Conference on Library Specialization, 

sponsored by the American Library Asso-

ciation Board on Resources of American 

Libraries,5 held at Columbia University 

in M a y 1941 and the activities of the 

Experimental Division of Library Coop-

eration indicate a clear interest in planned 

allocation. 

Future of Reference Libraries 

W h a t is the future of American refer-

ence libraries in the postwar period? If 

the Axis powers should win the answer is 

relatively simple, elimination of certain 

libraries, consolidation of others, and pos-

sible creation of a few new institutions. 

Throughout there will be thorough regi-

mentation and subordination of collections 

and activities in the interests of propaganda 

for the so-called national state or the 

Japanese Empire, as the case may be. 

N o w turn to a more pleasant prospect, 

an era in which a lasting peace will follow 

a final victory achieved by the United 

Nations. 

Leadership 

Leadership among American reference 

libraries will then be achieved by those 

institutions presided over by far-seeing li-

brarians and governing boards who will 

concentrate holdings in a few selected 

fields or subfields of knowledge and en-

deavor to render adequate service for re-

search or general information in their 

specialties. 

5 D o w n s , R o b e r t B . , e d . Library Specialisation, 
Proceedings of an Informal Conference Called by 
the A.L.A. Board on Resources of American Li-
braries, May 13-14, 1941. C h i c a g o , 1 9 4 1 . 

Financial Support 

A t present the future for privately en-

dowed institutions seems uncertain because 

their securities will continue to bear low 

interest rates and they will have possible 

difficulty in acquiring additional funds. 

Such libraries doubtless will continue to 

exist and to render valuable service but 

they may be curtailed in activities and 

expansion by considerations of this kind. 

Procuring public funds in some manner 

or consolidation with public institutions 

may provide a more practical future for 

certain of these libraries. Reference li-

braries connected with universities will 

possibly be aided by increase of student 

fees, but advance in this direction is 

probably limited. In general, if public in-

stitutions undertake responsibility for ade-

quate servicing in their field or the area 

of their activity, whether this be a com-

munity, a state, a region, or the nation, 

they will be aided by governmental funds 

and should enlarge and expand their fa-

cilities to their logical limits. 

Library Cooperation 

Inasmuch as it is now generally con-

ceded that no reference library can hope 

to reach its fullest development unaided 

and alone in the library world, participa-

tion in practical library cooperation, 

wherever possible, would seem to be a 

fundamental procedure for such institu-

tions in the postwar period. T h e comple-

tion of various library cooperation projects 

will not only aid the operation of individual 

institutions but strengthen the library sys-

tem of the country as a whole so that it 

will function in a national sense. 

White-Collar Relief Labor 

Economic conditions in the postwar era 

286 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



undoubtedly will make relief labor, sup-

ported by government funds, again avail-

able in large measure. Reference libraries 

should make definite plans to carry out 

numerous activities with assistance of this 

type. 

Acquisition, Control, and Mobility of Ma-

terials 

T h e completion of the National Union 

Catalog in the Library of Congress, which 

at present is about half done, will prove 

of great service to all reference libraries 

and now and in the future they should 

help the expansion of this compilation de-

signed to give the location of all important 

books held in depositories in this country. 

Assistance to this project can be rendered 

in several ways. Copies or duplicates of 

catalog cards for books processed by each 

reference library should be forwarded 

regularly to the National Union Catalog. 

Duplicates of order lists for Library of 

Congress catalog cards should be sent to 

the Union Catalog in order to allow the 

latter to show locations in various deposi-

tories. One or more reference libraries in 

each state should assume the responsibility 

for editing and publishing checklists of 

American imprints for the state based 

upon the original field notes of the Ameri-

can Imprints Inventory. T h e original 

files are how in the custody of the Library 

of Congress, deposited at the State His-

torical Society of Wisconsin at Madison. 

F i f t y state checklists will have been pub-

lished by July 1942 but more than two 

hundred others are required to exhaust 

the titles in the national file. In general 

the entries in the inventory cover all pub-

lications up to and including 1876 but in 

a few instances they go forward to and 

including 1890. 

T h e proposed reproduction by offset 

printing of the Depository Catalog of the 

Library of Congress is an excellent project 

and these sets will be widely purchased 

and used. Similarly when the National 

Union Catalog is completed, it should also 

be copied and made available in individual 

institutions throughout the country. Be-

cause of the bulk of this compilation it is 

probable that microfilm or microprint 

would be better copying mediums than 

offset printing. 

State and Regional Union Catalogs 

Reference libraries should also cooperate 

in the development of existing community, 

state, and regional union catalogs. In 

certain instances this will involve abandon-

ment of existing jealousies between insti-

tutions and arrival by joint decision among 

the libraries of an area as to which union 

catalog to sponsor and by what means. 

Continued financial support of union cata-

logs, other than that at the Library of 

Congress, may require a division of the 

cost of maintenance among a number of 

institutions in an area, such as has been 

recently worked out for the Philadelphia 

Bibliographical Center and Union Library 

Catalogue. Where necessary this should 

be done. If local or other union catalogs 

are needed but do not exist, by common 

agreement among institutions they should 

be created. Reference libraries should as-

sist custodians of local, state, and regional 

catalogs in sending copies of their holdings 

to the National Union Catalog for the 

purpose of adding titles to that compila-

tion. 

T o create want lists of materials which 

should be acquired, these libraries should 

cooperate in setting up projects to examine 

the records of the American Imprints In-

SEPTEMBER, 1942 2 77 



ventory, American and foreign dealers' 

and publishers' lists, American and foreign 

copyright records, the United States Cata-

log, films of foreign catalogs and bibliog-

raphies, and subsequently check all of 

these against union catalogs. Learned so-

cieties should appoint committees to obtain 

from scholars and other research workers 

lists of printed and manuscript materials 

in their fields located in foreign countries, 

which should be secured and placed in 

depositories in the United States. A n ex-

ample of a list of this type would be the 

one compiled from data submitted by 

members of the American Historical Asso-

ciation, subsequently used as the basis of 

preparing lists of materials to be micro-

filmed in England, by the Committee on 

Microcopying Materials for Research of 

the American Council of Learned Societies. 

Undertakings of this nature would result 

in the production of local, state, and re-

gional want lists, which in aggregate 

would make possible a national program 

of acquisition of materials needed for re-

search. 

Union Lists 

Libraries should also make use of the 

new edition of the Union List of Serials 

for the purpose of compiling want lists of 

periodicals. O n the basis of holdings 

given in the Union List, agreement might 

be reached with respect to assembling com-

plete runs of important publications in 

designated localities. T h e value of the 

Union List of Serials would be increased 

if the scope of coverage were enlarged in 

future editions. Special libraries might 

interest themselves in the preparation of a 

union list of special periodicals which could 

serve as a foundation upon which to build 

want lists of such publications. A union 

list of foreign periodicals in this country 

should be prepared and this in turn could 

be used to provide want lists of publica-

tions desired by institutions. In similar 

fashion the Union List of Newspapers 

might be employed to produce want lists 

of newspapers. Libraries in various states 

should undertake the responsibility of com-

piling and publishing state lists of news-

papers such as Texas Newspapers 1813-
i939J recently prepared by the San 
Jacinto Museum of History Association. 

T h e document field is a fruitful one for 

the assembly of union lists of material in 

the United States relating to this and to 

foreign countries. These lists should sup-

plement the partial compilations that are 

already in existence. 

Reference libraries in the postwar period 

should give attention to the prepara-

tion and publication of subject bibliogra-

phies. Institutions which possess especially 

good holdings in certain subfields should 

undertake such enterprises with a view to 

the eventual completion of subject cover-

age. Reproduction of a number of the 

divisions of the subject catalog of the N e w 

Y o r k Public Library by some low-cost 

method of copying, such as microprint, and 

wide distribution of these records, would 

prove stimulating to the production of sub-

ject bibliographies by American libraries 

and would provide additional material for 

want lists. A n outstanding example of 

the possibilities of subject bibliography is 

the Bibliography of the History of the In-

vention of Printing, showing world loca-

tions, compiled by the Illinois Division of 

the W o r k Projects Administration under 

the direction of Douglas C . M c M u r t r i e . 

O n l y about 10 per cent of the titles listed 

can be found in any one library in the 

United States. 

288 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



Coordinated Purchasing 

Some plan of coordinated purchasing 

upon a national scale, particularly with 

relation to the acquiring of foreign books, 

should be adopted and carried out by 

reference libraries. T h e object would be 

to make certain that at least one copy of 

infrequently-used books could be found 

somewhere in this country; those more 

frequently used would be placed in a num-

ber of strategically located centers; and 

copies of those constantly used would be 

obtained by all important reference li-

braries. Plans for the coordinated pur-

chasing of books in regional areas, such as 

those now under way in the Denver Bib-

liographical Center and the Union Cata-

log of the Northwest, should be adopted in 

other regions when proved of continuing 

value. Systems of coordinated purchasing 

in states, such as that of the Oregon state 

system of higher education, merit study. 

Important sources of acquisition are the 

historical and cultural source materials, 

both manuscript and printed, located in 

English depositories now being copied on 

microfilm and transferred to the Library 

of Congress, where they will be made 

available on payment of cost plus a rea-

sonable service charge. T h i s program, 

which is jointly sponsored by the American 

Council of Learned Societies and the Li-

brary of Congress and financed by the 

Rockefeller Foundation has been under 

way since January 1941. Millions of 

pages of material have been selected for 

copying and if the program is confined to 

England only, much new and valuable 

data will be made available to American 

institutions and scholars. If and when 

this program should be extended to cover 

other countries, the results will be even 

more worth while. 

Duplicate Volumes 

T h e task of redistributing and placing 

in circulation the large number of dupli-

cate volumes now housed in individual in-

stitutions should be considered seriously. 

T h i s material, which at present is not 

available in many places where it would 

be wanted if its existence were known, is 

frequently a burden to the holding insti-

tution. Creation of central agencies in 

localities, states, regions, and for the coun-

try as a whole, which would permit of an 

approach to this question in a national 

sense, would prove of great service. A n 

essential first step would be the prepara-

tion of duplicate lists by members of the 

staff of individual libraries or by trained 

professionals assigned by an agency for 

the purpose. Subsequently, lists should be 

circulated in localities, states, and regions 

until national coverage of institutions had 

been achieved. Record of disposal of ma-

terial in a library should be sent by the 

institution to the appropriate central 

agency of its area. T h e possibilities of 

widespread redistribution by gift, sale, ex-

change, or loan is suggested in the list of 

duplicates in the St. Louis Public Library 

recently compiled by Leonard Balz, of that 

institution, at the request of the Experi-

mental Division of Library Cooperation. 

T h i s impressive compilation, comprising 

approximately eighty thousand volumes 

and fifteen thousand scores of music, is 

only one example among many in other 

institutions. 

Reference libraries should adopt a more 

liberal practice regarding exchange or 

long-term loan of original records held by 

them but which do not relate to their par-

ticular fields of interest. Included under 

this head would be rare single pieces, such 

as the Benjamin Franklin items which 

SEPTEMBER, 1942 
2 77 



were formerly in the possession of the 

Minnesota Historical Society, or an ex-

tensive collection of material assembled in 

an institution, which through interrup-

tion of sponsorship for one reason or an-

other has become in every sense a "dead 

collection." Unused in present deposi-

tories, data of this kind would be of value 

if placed in other institutions. 

Restriction on Gifts 

T h e r e is a noticeable trend among ref-

erence libraries to exercise definite re-

striction upon gifts in the interest of the 

receiving institution. Fully carried out, 

this would mean that libraries would 

generally adopt policies of refusing to 

accept material not in their particular 

sphere of interest and similarly that they 

would achieve complete authority with 

respect to the disposal of duplicates. 

In the postwar period interlibrary lend-

ing, in all probability, will be carried on to 

a much greater extent than at the present 

time as reference libraries more and more 

accept the principle of servicing certain 

areas for the particular fields in which they 

specialize. T h e practice of charging mod-

erate fees to cover costs of wrapping, ex-

press, postage, and insurance is likely to 

be widely recognized and adopted. Long-

term loans will be more frequently made, 

both for definite and indefinite periods. It 

is probable that rental fees will be charged 

for the loan of large bodies of material. 

Protection against wear and tear upon 

original items will be assured through 

widespread use of microfilm and other 

types of copies for loan purposes. 

Acquisition of new materials and mo-

bility of all types of records will be greatly 

enhanced by use of various copying meth-

ods, such as microfilm and microprint. 

Libraries in various parts of the country 

will be better serviced than at present by 

the extension of the use of existing film 

laboratories and the creation of others 

to take care of certain local requirements. 

A national agency will probably be estab-

lished to furnish information to libraries 

concerning the latest copying methods, 

their application, value, and cost, and to 

promote standards of copying work. 

W are houses 

T h e importance of warehouses for indi-

vidual libraries and also for a number of 

institutions in an area will be more widely 

appreciated and the idea generally applied. 

Certain of these warehouses will undoubt-

edly become centers for bibliographical 

activities, coordinated purchasing, infor-

mation, etc., taking over functions that in 

other areas very possibly will be carried on 

by union catalog centers. 

In the postwar period reference libraries 

should make definite progress towards 

planned specialization. Fields of knowl-

edge should be divided and subdivided so 

that individual institutions will be able to 

accept responsibility for attempting sub-

ject coverage in certain fields which by 

common agreement are allotted to them. 

Special collections should be built up, 

where needed, in areas of the country 

which do not have them at the present 

time. Duplication of specialization in cer-

tain areas should be lessened through ex-

change, long-term loans, sales, gifts, or 

consolidation of records. T h e distinction 

between working collections required for 

research up to the P h . D . level and those 

necessary for research above that level 

should be recognized. W o r k i n g collec-

tions in many institutions of necessity 

would duplicate each other, while those of 

290 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



a more special type should be located in 

appropriate depositories without the neces-

sity of much duplication. T h e difference 

between data of primary interest because 

of rarity of items and records of impor-

tance due to content should be made clear. 

Through planned specialization, utilizing 

the adoption and carrying out of fair codes 

of collection and availability of material, 

institutions should be able to eliminate, 

to a considerable degree, competition for 

the same records. In this connection there 

should be widespread recognition that any 

institution possessing material for research 

should make it available for research 

purposes upon request, under proper 

restriction. T h i s would involve special 

attention to the problem of procedure with 

respect to rare items. Microfilm, micro-

print, and other methods of copying will 

be of increasing importance both as a 

means of making materials available and 

at the same time protecting the rights of 

owners and custodians. 

Processing 

Reference libraries should find their 
situation improved by the end of the war 
because of advances in processing, particu-
larly under the new leadership in the 
Library of Congress. It is suggested that a 
possible answer to the cataloging problem 
may be found by increasing the facilities of 
this division of the Library of Congress so 
that it will take care of most of the process-
ing needs of American libraries, perhaps 
allocating on a cooperative basis a moderate 
amount of specialized work to institutions 
who would assume the responsibility for 
preparing information for catalog cards in 
their fields. A l l cards, however, should 
be printed and sold by the Library of 
Congress. It is further possible, in view 

of the varying needs of different types of 

libraries for detailed information, that 

several classes of cards might be issued, 

making it practicable for each library to 

order in accordance with its requirements. 

Because of the very considerable saving to 

processing divisions of individual institu-

tions which might result from the adop-

tion and carrying out of such a plan, it is 

probable that the price of catalog cards 

could be raised and also that certain insti-

tutions might be able to contribute, out of 

their savings, to the financial support of 

such a national, centralized cataloging di-

vision. Release of staff in libraries from 

concern with current materials would per-

mit assignment to processing of older un-

cataloged items. T o meet most of the 

cataloging needs of American libraries, the 

processing division would have to produce 

catalog cards quickly and accurately. T h i s 

could be facilitated by improving the 

means whereby the books, or information 

about them and their authors, could be 

made available to the processing division 

in advance of publication release. There 

should be general agreement among ref-

erence libraries as to the types of material 

which require catalog cards and in how 

much detail the latter should be made for 

different purposes. It should be further 

understood what types of items could be 

controlled by simple number systems, 

checklists, guides, and indexes. 

Documentary Reproduction 

Availability of materials for research in 

reference libraries would be stimulated by 

planned programs of reproduction of im-

portant bodies of source material. Among 

requisite needs are a good quality of copy-

ing, careful editing, and reasonable cheap-

ness of cost. Examples of large-scale 

SEPTEMBER, 1942 
2 77 



enterprises are the reproduction of the 

British Sessional Papers from 1801-1900 

now under way in microprint and the 

English copying program which is trans-

ferring to the Library of Congress, by 

means of microfilm, thousands of pages of 

source material in English depositories. 

In order to insure high technical standards 

and proper quality of product some cen-

tral agency should be set up, such as the 

Council on Documentary Reproduction, 

suggested in the Memoranda on Library 

Cooperation, to serve as an advisory body 

with regard to copying programs. A l s o an 

agency of this kind could act as a clearing 

house with respect to new devices coming 

on the market and could institute labora-

tory experiments to improve techniques. 

Bibliography 

Reference libraries could render real 

service by aiding in a better coordination 

of bibliographical activities. Some central 

agency, such as a national institute of 

bibliography, should be created which 

would act as a clearing house of informa-

tion and an advisory body. T h i s institute 

might promote a few national projects 

such as the compilation of Lincoln and 

Washington bibliographies and also prep-

aration of subject bibliographies based on 

the entries in the American Imprints In-

ventory. Individual institutions should as-

sume the responsibility for assembling lists 

of existing materials about certain notable 

Americans. T h e example set by the Uni-

versity of Virginia Library with regard 

to Thomas Jefferson should be emulated 

by other institutions. 

Union Catalogs 

Planned specialization in the postwar 

period would be greatly stimulated by the 

revision and completion of the union cata-

log or guide to special collections which 

now exists in partial form in the Union 

Catalog Division of the Library of Con-

gress. A necessary preliminary would in-

volve more accurate definitions of the 

words "collection" and "specialization" 

than we have at the present time. Refer-

ence libraries could assist here by cooperat-

ing in assembling the desired information. 

These libraries should sponsor a union cata-

log of manuscripts based in the beginning 

on the more than one hundred guides to 

collections which have been issued by the 

Historical Records Survey. Such a cata-

log might be located in the Manuscript 

Division of the Library of Congress. U n -

ion catalogs of maps, illustrations, and 

museum objects w i l l eventually be com-

piled and when completed will be found 

most useful. Preliminaries of these might 

be started as soon as a sufficient number of 

individual libraries have brought their own 

collections under catalog control. 

T h e above prediction for American ref-

erence libraries in the postwar period al-

ludes briefly to certain of the activities in 

which institutions of that era will un-

doubtedly engage and, likewise, by indirec-

tion offers indication as to what sort of 

reference libraries they will be. It is ob-

vious that library cooperation enters very 

largely into this picture. Institutions in 

this era, in order to acquire and make 

available materials for research to the 

greatest degree, must not only be able to 

operate independently but also more com-

pletely in conjunction with each other. In 

conclusion it is suggested that establish-

ment of a permanent division of library 

cooperation would be of valuable aid in 

assisting reference libraries to render the 

fullest service to society. 

292 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES