ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


244

RBS MANUSCRIPTS 
COLLECTIONS SUBSECTION
At the annual conference of ALA, in

Kansas City, the ACRL Board of Directors ap­
proved the petition to establish a Manuscripts 
Collections Subsection of the Rare Books Sec­
tion. However, because of the moratorium, re­
quested by the Program Evaluation and Budg­
et Committee of ALA, on new units of ALA, 
an ad hoc committee will continue to function 
during the year 1968/69.

The Statement of Purpose of the Manu­
scripts Collections Subsection, Rare Books Sec­
tion, as approved by the latter, is as follows:

The Manuscript Collection Subsection
1. Will explore the applicability of both ar­

chival method and theory on the one hand, 
and those of librarianship on the other, with 
the objective of developing a body of theory 
and practices for the management of manu­
script collections.

2. Will develop a set of ethical principles and 
practices to guide librarians, book and manu­
script dealers, and historical societies, aimed 
at:
a. encouragement of cooperative collecting 

programs in appropriate subject areas;
b. creation of standards affecting accessibil­

ity of manuscript materials;
c. creation of standards affecting the photo­

copying of manuscript materials;
d. recognition of social responsibilities that 

come with collecting;
e. encouraging dealers to respect prove­

nance and integrity of manuscript groups 
at their disposal;

f. collaboration with the Society of Ameri­
can Archivists in matters of common in­
terest, e.g., possible creation of regional 
storage centers for selected business rec­
ords;

g. collaboration with The National Archives 
and Records Service in evaluation of 
those records of NARS that are subject 
to destruction/disposal but which might 
have archival value in the view of other 
manuscript repositories;

3. Will develop, on the basis of 1 above, a 
body of criteria affecting the distribution 
within the library or historical society of the 
full range of nonmanuscript material that 
usually is accompanying manuscript acqui­
sitions; e.g., ephemera, photographs, maps, 
tape recordings, scrapbooks, drawings, movie 
films, annotated publications, etc.

4. Will encourage the spread of archival man­
agement/manuscript collection management 
courses in library schools, and consider sup­
port of short term internships in this field, 
in which the internee or group of internees 
will process manuscript groups that need

processing at those institutions without funds 
or expertise to do so; for the purpose of 
making those manuscript groups accessible, 
and information about them a matter of rec­
ord (National Union Catalog of Manuscript 
Collections). ■ ■

RESEARCH ROUND TABLE
A business meeting will be scheduled for 

the newly established Research Round Table 
at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Washington 
next January and a general membership meet­
ing and probably a joint program meeting of 
the round table will be scheduled for the ALA 
annual conference in Atlantic City next June. 
The organizational meeting of the Research 
Round Table was held during the 1968 annual 
conference in Kansas City. About 120 persons 
attended. The statement of purpose for the 
Research Round Table, approved by the ALA 
Council last January 11, is as follows—

To contribute toward the extension and im­
provement of library research;

To provide public program opportunities for 
describing and criticizing library research proj­
ects and for disseminating their findings;

To orient and educate ALA members con­
cerning research techniques and their useful­
ness in obtaining information with which to 
reach administrative decisions and solve prob­
lems.

At the organizational meeting in Kansas City, 
five provisional officers were elected and given 
the responsibility of appointing committee 
chairmen for bylaws, program, and nomina­
tions. This entire group of eight is then to op­
erate as a provisional executive committee until 
permanent officers are elected during 1968-69. 
The provisional officers are James Krikelas, as­
sistant professor, University of Wisconsin li­
brary school, chairman; Mrs. Barbara Slanker, 
research association, Library Research Center, 
University of Illinois, secretary-treasurer; and 
the three members-at-large: Herbert Goldhor, 
director, graduate school of library science, 
University of Illinois; Ben-Ami Lipetz, research 
department, Yale University library; and Mrs. 
Elizabeth L. Tate, chief librarian, National Bu­
reau of Standards. ■ ■

LIBRARY SCHOOLS
Two graduate library schools have been offi­

cially accredited by the ALA. The two schools 
are the School of Library Science, College of 
Geneseo, State University of New York (Boh
dan S. Wynar, dean) and the School of Librar
ianship, University of Oregon (LeRoy C. Mer­
ritt, dean). This brings the number of library 
schools accredited by the ALA to forty-four, 
the highest number yet recorded under the Re­
vised Standards of 1951. ■■