ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 231 LIBRARIANSHIP TRAINING The Institute Program for Librarianship Training is authorized by the Higher Educa­ tion Act of 1965, Title II-B. The purpose of the Institute Program is to provide opportunity throughout the nation for upgrading and up­ dating the competencies of persons serving all types of libraries, information centers or in­ structional materials centers offering library type services and those serving as library edu­ cators. An institution of higher education which has an established library education program or is planning to begin such a program in the aca­ demic year 1969-70 is eligible to apply for funds to conduct an institute during the sum­ mer of 1969 or during the academic year 1969- 70. Institutes must supplement rather than be a substitute for an existing librarianship train­ ing program. Although funds have not been appropriated for fiscal year 1969, institutions have been in­ vited to express interest and intent to submit proposals for library institutes. The Policies and Procedures Manual to be used in the prep­ aration of proposals will be sent to the des­ ignated authorized official as soon as possible after the expression of interest has been re­ turned. It is anticipated that the deadline date for submitting proposals will be October 15, 1968. ■ ■ NATIONAL LIBRARY SERVICE A new British National Library Service should be a direct responsibility of the govern­ ment and administered as part of the Depart­ ment of Education and Science, says the Li­ brary Association in evidence it has submitted to the Dainton Committee, set up by the government to study the problem of a national service. The association says that the library depart­ ments of the British Museum should be di­ vorced from the antiquities departments. These library departments, the national central li­ brary, the national lending library for science and technology—together with the British na­ tional bibliography, the copyright offices and a new national bibliographical and information service—should together form the new Nation­ al Library Service. It would have two principal divisions, one as a national reference library and the other as a national lending library. It should be di­ rected by a professionally-experienced director- general, with a status not less than that of a deputy secretary in the Civil Service. To advise the Secretary of State, the state­ ment goes on, there should be a library services council and within the Department of Edu­ cation and Science there should be a libraries branch. The service should recruit staff with appropriate academic and professional training and should make some contribution to pro­ fessional training at an advanced level. The association argues for a site in central London for the National Reference Library and the bibliographical headquarters of the Na­ tional Lending Library, adding that the site area of seven and one-half acres envisaged by the British Museum trustees would not be ex­ cessive. Among the many other detailed recommen­ dations are that the national libraries of Scot­ land and Wales and the university libraries at Oxford and Cambridge should be brought into relationship with the National Library Serv­ ice, but that it should not include the Science Museum library; and that the reference library and the Public Record office should be housed close together and a national policy on archive collection formulated. ■ ■ LIBRARIANS OF PUBLIC HIGHER EDUCATION At a meeting of the Council of Massachu­ setts State College Librarians at Provincetown on May 10, attended by representatives from the libraries of the state colleges, community colleges, Southeastern Massachusetts Techno­ logical Institute, the University of Massachu­ setts in Boston, and addressed by Richard M. Millard, chancellor of higher education for the Commonwealth, it was decided by unanimous action of the librarians present to form a group to be known as the Massachusetts Conference of Chief Librarians of Public Higher Educa­ tional Institutions. The group was formed in response to Chancellor Millard’s presentation of the problems facing the libraries in those institutions, and the discussion which followed. The conference will meet at least three times a year, and its mission will be to identify prob­ lems common to all the libraries and to per­ form appropriate research in order to bring forth recommendations for their solution. The recommendations will be presented to the councils of the state college and the community college libraries, and to the tech­ nological institute and university library staffs for their approval and adoption. It is hoped that out of this action will come a handbook of recommended standard library practices which will help the individual libraries solve some of the problems outlined by Chancellor Millard and the discussants. Some of the most pressing problems concern the building of ad­ equate basic book collections in the public ed- 232 ucational institutions of the Commonwealth. Examples of these problems are temporary storage space for the growing selections while waiting for new library facilities; standardiza­ tion of library cataloging in order to take ad­ vantage of centralized acquisition and process­ ing; definition of staffing needs in terms of work to be done; and standardization of ad­ ministrative practices in such areas as mate­ rials acquisition. The meeting was chaired by William T. Casey, head librarian, State College at Fitch­ burg, and chairman of the Council of Massa­ chusetts State College Librarians. He set June 3 as the time for the first meeting of the newly- formed group.—William D. Joyce, State Col­ lege at Wooster. W HO’S WHO V Shoe String Press is currently preparing for publication in January, 1970 the fifth edition of W ho’s Who in Library Service. The new edition is again under the sponsorship of the Council of National Library Associations and the editors and publishers will be assisted by an advisory committee; Gertrude L. Annan, Lee Ash, Pauline A. Atherton, Joseph Becker, Harry Bitner, Robert H. Blackburn, David H. Clift, Jack Dalton, Luther Evans, Elizabeth Ferguson, John A. Humphry, and Bill M. Woods. Plans involve the use of a computer, which will enable the publishers to update this and subsequent editions to within four months be­ fore each edition appears; it will also make possible the use of more legible typefaces and better book paper. Those members of the li­ brary community who were included in W ho’s Who IV will receive a computer print-out of their biographical entry in January or Febru­ ary. They will be asked to update and/or cor­ rect this print-out and return it as soon as pos­ sible. Additional information may be supplied before the final closing date of September 1, 1969. Those eligible members who were not included in W ho’s Who IV will receive a blank questionnaire, rather than a computer print­ out. They will be asked to complete this ques­ tionnaire and return it as soon as possible. Again, subsequent information must be sub­ mitted before September 1, 1969. ■ ■ UPPER MISSISSIPPI ACADEMIC LIBRARY ASSOCIATION Meeting for the first time in October 1967, to explore and discuss common library prob­ lems, the Upper Mississippi Academic Library Association held its spring meeting on April 29 at Wisconsin State University-La Crosse. The group comprises some dozen academic libraries, public and private, from Iowa, Min­ nesota, and Wisconsin. From the very begin­ ning, the organization has been united in a desire to limit the number of participants to a small informal group. UMALA, which has no officers, follows a planned agendum for each meeting. During the morning session Ronald E. Wyllys, chief systems analyst of memorial li­ brary at the University of Wisconsin, delivered some cogent remarks on “Automation and the Smaller Academic Library” in which he pre­ sented a realistic analysis of present and future trends in data processing. In the afternoon the group visited the university computer center for a bravura demonstration of information retrieval. Plans are being made for the fall meeting which will probably be devoted to archival problems.—Roy Nelson Van Note, Wisconsin State University-La Crosse. 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