ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


120

A COURSE ON LIBRARY 
BUILDINGS, SUMMER 1967

In the regular summer session (June 22 
through August 10), the graduate library 
school of Indiana University will give a course 
on the planning of buildings for colleges and 
small public libraries. The course will include 
the preliminary survey of needs, the selection 
of a site, the preparation of a written program, 
space relationships within the building, and 
problems of lighting, heating, and air-condi­
tioning.

The course will be taught by Donald Thomp­
son, librarian of Wabash College. Mr. Thomp­
son has acted as a consultant in the planning 
of more than twenty college and public li­
brary buildings and is the author of several 
journal articles about library buildings.

Pre-registration is required; students who are 
not already enrolled in the graduate library 
school may obtain application blanks by writ­
ing to Miss Catherine Cole, Administrative As­
sistant, Graduate Library School, Education 
Building, Indiana University 47401, before May 
15, 1967. Enrollment will be limited. ■■

MANUSCRIPTS LIBRARIANS
A group of librarians interested in the ad­

ministration of manuscript collections will hold 
an organizational meeting on Tuesday, June 27,

UNIVERSITY OF LETHBRIDGE 
Lethbridge, A lberta, Canada

The newly-established University of 
Lethbridge requires qualified librarians 
in ACQUISITIONS, CATALOGUING, 
SERIALS and REFERENCE Divisions of 
the University of Lethbridge.

Salary commensurate with experience 
and qualifications. Numerous fringe 
benefits available.

Send applications, curriculum vitae, 
confidential letters from three referees, 
and copies of academic records to

Dr. R. J. Leskiw
Acting President
The University of Lethbridge 
Lethbridge, Alberta, C A N A D A

at 8:30 p.m. in San Francisco during the annual 
conference of ALA. They will discuss the de­
sirability of petitioning ACRL for subsection 
status within its Subject Specialists Section. 
Persons with interest in this subject may learn 
more by corresponding with Mrs. Arline Custer, 
Head, Manuscripts Section, Library of Con­
gress, or Richard C. Berner, Curator of Manu­
scripts, Library, University of Washington, 
Seattle.

In his correspondence, Mr. Berner stated 
that “administrators of manuscript collections 
stand professionally in two fields, as librarians 
and/or archivists. Yet they are of little influ­
ence in either.

“Perhaps you share a view with me and 
others that administrators of manuscript col­
lections need an organizational medium that 
will do at least two things:
1.  Establish a forum through which we can 

exchange ideas, develop a consensus on 
theory and practice, and address other com­
mon problems;

2.  Establish a dialogue between us and library 
administrators, since it is within the admin­
istrative context of librarians that most of 
us work.”
The following are some problems regarding 

manuscript collections that need attention now.
1.  Discussion and agreement on methods of 

arranging and describing manuscripts. Both the 
L.C. code for “cataloging” manuscripts and 
the new Anglo-American code would seem pre­
mature. If we had existed as a group, we might 
have affected their promulgation. We should, 
now, at least direct attention to them.

2.  The National Historical Publications Com­
mission microfilming project has posed problems 
concerning manuscripts on microfilm that no 
one group is addressing. No group is more 
keenly aware of these special problems than 
are manuscript administrators.

3.  Cooperative collecting programs for im­
portant historical materials that few repositories 
can either store or process, e.g., business records, 
particularly of large firms or of an industry. 
This will entail cooperation of both librarians 
and archivists; manuscript administrators are 
a suitable liaison because they stand with a 
foot in each profession.

4.  Formal training needs to be included in
library school curricula to acquaint librarians, 
in general, with manuscript work, and to 
impart theory and techniques to aspirant 
curators.  ■ ■

ACADEMIC STATUS
The Academic Council of Texas A&M Uni­

versity recently approved full faculty status and 
academic rank for the professional members 
of the university library staff. Rank designa­
tions will be accorded effective with the be­
ginning of the 1967/68 fiscal year.  ■■