ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries In this issue: Organizing a Women’s Studies Lib rary ............................... ..65 A C R L 1978 National C onference .... 68 News from the Field ......................... ..69 People ..................................................... ..77 Publications ........................................... ..79 Classified Advertising ..........................81 ISSN 0099-0086 COLLEGE & RESEARCH LIBR n AR e I w ES s NO. 3 • MARCH 1978 Organizing a Women’s Studies Library By Beth McNeer, H ead, Sullivant Hall, Undergraduate Library, The Ohio State University, Columbus Since the first women’s studies courses were taught in 1969, 152 programs have been estab­ lished at colleges and universities throughout the country. Ninety of these programs grant degrees, including 3 that grant a doctorate.1 A National Women’s Studies Association was formed in Janu­ ary 1977 to promote the development of “non­ sexist, non-racist, feminist education in both tra­ ditional and non-traditional areas of education.”2 “The central idea of women’s studies is sex bias and the status of women.”3 Women’s studies pro­ vides a multidisciplinary framework for exploring the lives and accomplishments of women while examining the assumptions of our society about the roles of men and women.4 Multidisciplinary means “the use of methods and information from the research of multiple disciplines. It might also mean designing curriculum from a new pattern rather than blending one or more traditional dis­ ciplines … Women’s Studies is not an objec­ tive science, but one of the objectives it may bring to the university is the rediscovery that nothing is. ”5 The feminist perspective provided by many of the women’s studies programs ame­ liorates the male orientation of scholarship so long considered objective in our society. Definitions of feminism abound. The Office of Women’s Studies at The Ohio State University developed a definition of feminist perspective, which is used in this discussion: “This [feminist] approach to academic study challenges all thinking and action which have encouraged the differ­ ential allocation of material resources, occupa­ tions, power, other opportunities for advance­ ment and affection solely on the basis of sex.”6 Ap p r o a c h e s E m p l o y e d The demands for support of the curricular and research needs of women’s studies programs have been met in various ways by academic libraries. At the University of Kansas Libraries a staff member provides bibliographic assistance and serves a liaison function; the University of California, Santa Barbara, Library publishes a bibliography; the women’s studies program at In­ diana University has funded a resource guide prepared by a librarian in the Undergraduate Li­ brary; a system-wide women’s studies bibliogra­ pher/coordinator for the University of Minnesota has now been advertised; and Northwestern Uni­ versity Library created a separate women’s collec­ tion in the Special Collections Department.7 In addition to the well-known Sophia Smith Collection and the A rthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, collections to support curricular and re­ search needs have been provided by smaller ar­ chival collections, such as the Ida Rust McPher­ son Collection at Scripps College, Claremont, California; by private libraries, such as the Wo­ men’s History Research C enter in Berkeley, California; and even by publishing houses like the Feminist Press.8 T h e E x p e r i e n c e a t O h i o S t a t e The Ohio State University is in the process of establishing a women’s studies library that has responsibility New s issue (A) o f C ollege & Research Libraries, vol. 39, no. 2 66 for the development of adequate li­ brary resources to support the women’s studies curriculum, consultation on the development of programs for women students, and reference as­ sistance and bibliographic instruction for women’s studies students. G e t t i n g S t a r t e d : P u b l i c a t i o n o f Women Are Human In 1972 women on campus first asked for a separate library. At that time three feminist li­ brarians began preparation of a bibliography of the libraries’ holdings as an alternative. As the boxes of bibliography cards grew, we began to question the usefulness of one published list, out of date before it was available. What would be most useful, it seemed to the group, was an an­ notated list issued more frequently, with news of upcoming events, since no local women’s news­ paper existed at that time. With the assistance of a computer program for formatting the copy, Women Are Human, a weekly mimeographed an­ notated list of publications in the OSU Libraries by, for, and about women, with information about groups and meetings of local interest, was begun in May 1972.9 Most of the reviewers who write for Women Are Human are feminists, and the materials are reviewed from that perspective. As a resource guide, W omen A re Human is oriented toward the OSU community. It provides access to materials in a complex system of de­ partmental libraries throughout the campus. A multidisciplinary program scatters courses in the university’s many colleges. Each departmental li­ brary selects those women’s studies titles that serve its own curricular needs. B u i l d i n g a C o l l e c t i o n After publication of Women Are Human had begun, it became obvious that there was a need for sources of funding to expand the scope of the collection being reviewed. Several small dona­ tions from sororities and women’s honorary societies were used by the Undergraduate Li­ brary to begin a women’s studies collection. To provide adequate support for building a compre­ hensive collection, both a cohesive academic pro­ gram and a separate budget for library support were required. That same year marked the be­ ginning of a three-year effort to create a feminist program at Ohio State that would include a wo­ men’s studies library. C r e a t i n g a F e m i n i s t Pr o g r a m On October 31, 1972, the author attended a workshop on women’s studies at OSU, sponsored by the Division of Comparative Literature. Wo­ men’s studies courses had been taught at Ohio State since the fall of 1970. These courses were developed and taught by graduate teaching asso­ ciates and women faculty in many different de­ partments; most of these women had never met with each other before. During an afternoon ses­ sion a call was issued to form a committee that would develop a proposal for a women’s studies program to be funded by the university. After two years of deliberations, a proposal for a center for women’s studies was presented to the Council of Academic Affairs.10 Among the pro­ posal’s provisions were a multidisciplinary major, a library, various service components, and joint appointment of faculty. The Council of Academic Affairs felt the office and the librarian should work toward the development of the major before a cen ter was established or faculty were ap­ pointed. The following spring a women’s services unit as part of Student Services was established to provide the programs and counseling for women students included in the original propos­ al. T h e L i b r a r i a n ’s R o l e While serving as co-convener of this ad hoc committee on women’s studies at OSU, the au­ thor developed a file of materials on women’s studies courses and women’s issues for the use of the committee and also served as an ad hoc wo­ men’s studies reference librarian: during 1974-75 and 1975-76 coordinating the acquisitions of li­ brary material purchased with funds from the Office of Women’s Studies’ budget and also writ­ ing a selection policy based upon the direction in which curriculum development was proceeding. Service on the original committee and on the interim governing board for the Office of Wo­ men’s Studies facilitated an understanding of what materials were needed for collection de­ velopment. Selection of appropriate materials was assisted by the increase in the number of re- News item s for inclusion in C& R L News should be sent to John V. Crowley, Assistant Director o f Libraries, Milne Library, State University College, Oneonta, NY 13820. Advertising (in­ c luding classified ads) should be sent to Leona Swiech, Adver­ tising Office, American Library Association, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 6 0611. P roduction and c ircu lation matters are handled by ALA Central Production Unit, at the above a d ­ dress. News editor: John V. Crowley, Assistant Director of Libraries, Milne Library, State University College, Oneonta, NY 13820. Associate news editor, William B. Weiss, Assistant Librarian, Cataloging Department, Milne Library, State University College, Oneonta, NY 13820. Editor: Richard D. Johnson, M ilne Li­ brary, State University College, Oneonta, NY 13820. President, A CRL Eidred R. Smith. Executive Secretary, ACRL: Julie A. Carroll Virgo. College & Research Libraries is published by the Association o f College and Research Libraries, a division o f the American Ubrary Association, 17 tim es yearly— 6 bim onthly journal is­ sues and 11 m onthly (com bining July-August) News issues— at 1201-05 B luff St., Fulton, MO 65251. Subscription, $ 25 .00 a year, or to m em bers o f the division, $ 1 2 .50 , included in dues. Second-class postage paid at Fulton, Missouri 65251. © A m e rican Library Association 1978. A ll m aterial in this journal subject to copyright by the American Library Associa­ tion may be photocopied fo r the noncom m ercial purpose of scientific or educational advancement. 67 viewers who assess the use of materials in a wo­ men’s studies curriculum.11 S u b j e c t H e a d i n g s Women Are Human is now published biweekly and is in its sixth volume. The first four volumes included bimonthly author-title indexes, which were helpful in locating reviews as long as one could remember either the author or the title. The inadequacy of standard su bject heading lists— especially that of the Library o f Con­ gress— for women’s studies materials has been documented.12 Rather than developing their own list, the editors of Women A re Human requested the list developed by HERSTORY Indexing Task Force of ALA/SRRT Task Force on Women. This list was prepared for the purpose of indexing a collec­ tion of newsletters, clippings, handbills, and leaf­ lets; but it also served as a basis for developing a list to index a bibliography and announcement sheet. E s t a b l i s h i n g t h e L i b b a b y By 1976 there were four offices on campus concerned with women’s issues (the Office of Women’s Studies, the Women’s Services unit of Student Services, Affirmative Action Office, and Women’s Programs in the Division of Continuing Education). Each office had acquired a file of journals, newsletters, and pamphlets. Rather than moving these materials to a centralized women’s studies library, which did not even exist at that time, it was decided to use the HERSTORY In­ dexing Task Force list o f subject headings to reorganize all of these files. There is now a master list of subjects included in each office so that referrals can now be made to the appropriate collection. Since all files are prepared by the same method using the same list, we are able to use each other’s files and refer students to the office collecting the needed mate­ rials. Until 1976, when an agreement was reached between the library administration and the Office of Women’s Studies, collection development, coordination of resources, library instruction to women’s studies classes, and the subject indexing of Women Are Human had all been carried on by ad hoc and volunteer workers. During the spring quarter of 1976, two librarians were given re­ leased time from their assigned duties for a total of sixteen hours per week to provide reference assistance in women’s studies three afternoons a week. A half-time women’s studies librarian was ap­ pointed in October 1976 to develop the women’s studies collection as a member of the Undergrad­ uate Library staff until a separate library could be established. In addition to book selection, the women’s studies librarian is involved in cur­ riculum development as a member of the wo­ men’s studies faculty, serves on the advisory committee to the Office of Women’s Studies, and concentrates her efforts on bibliographic instruc­ tion for the students in women s studies courses. For example, the introduction to women’s studies course includes a two-hour class in the library and a term project that involves evaluation of a book and the critiques written by reviewers at the time of publication. In August 1977 the Women’s Studies Library moved to separate quarters in the main library building. What had begun as an ad hoc program supported by feminist librarians has become a vi­ able library unit serving the Office of Women’s Studies and its faculty and students. Eventually, as the program grows, offers graduate courses, and builds its research components, women’s studies will require a departmental library with a full-time librarian and a larger staff. Then, the dream some of us have held since 1972 will be a reality. R e f e r e n c e s 1. Florence Howe, “Women and the Power to Change,” in Florence Howe, ed., W omen a n d th e P o w er to C h a n g e (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1975), p. 153; Em ily Toth, “Women’s Studies,” O f f Our Backs, March 1977, p.23. 2. Grace J . Murphy, “ National W om en’s Studies Association Convention,” W om en s Studies in Indiana 2, no.8:l (1977). 3. Florence Howe and Carol Ahlum, “Women’s Studies and Social Change,” in Alice Rossi and Ann Caldewood, eds., Academic Women on the Move (New York: Russell Sage Foun­ dation, 1973), p.404. 4. Elaine Showalter, “Introduction: Teaching about Women, 1971,” in Elaine Showalter and Carol Ohmann, eds., F em ale Studies, Vol. 4 (Pittsburgh, Pa.: KNOW, Inc., 1972), p.i. 5. Gayle Graham Yates, “Women’s Studies in its Second Phase,” W om en s Studies Newslet­ ter 5:5 (Winter/Spring 1977). 6. Ohio State University, Office of Women’s Studies, “ Statem en t of P riorities and Rationale,” Columbus, Ohio, 1976. 7. Sources for these developments include a session on library resources at the Midwest Women’s Studies Conference, Bloomington, Indiana, April 4 - 5 , 1974: Linda Parker Griffin, “W om en’s Studies/Reference Sources,” B ooks and Libraries at the Univer­ sity o f Kansas 12:6-11 (Winter 1975); Albert Krichmar, comp., “Women’s Studies: A List of New Acquisitions in the UCSB Library,” April—May 1976; Rita Lichtenberg, “Guide to Women’s Movement Sources in the Indiana University Libraries,” Bloomington, Indiana, 1974; E dith M. Bjorkland, “ Part IV— Women’s Studies Bibliographer/Coordinator Proposal”; advertisement in New York Times, 68 Feb. 13, 1977, Sec. 4, p. 11; Northwestern University Library, Special Collections De­ partment, “The Women’s Collection News­ letter,” no.3, June 1975. 8. Noel P eattie, “W om en’s C ollection D e ­ velopm ent,” SIPAPU 6 :3 -5 (July 1975); Helen Josephine, “The Unserved Majority,” L ibrary Jo u rn a l 99:188-89 (Jan. 15, 1974); Susan Trewbridge, “Book Publishing: How T o ,” T h e F em in ist P ress N ew sn o tes 6:8 (Spring 1977). 9. Women Are Women is edited by the women’s studies librarian and published by the Office of Women’s Studies and OSU Libraries. Sub­ scriptions ($4 a year) are available from the OSU Libraries Publications Committee, Main Library, 1858 Neil Avenue Mall, Columbus, OH 43210. 10. Ohio State University, Ad Hoc Committee on Women Studies, “A Proposal for a Center for Women’s S tu d ie s," Columbus, Ohio, 1974. 11. Not all reviewers are conscious o f the feminist perspective, see Helen Mogen, “Letters,” L ib ra ry Jo u rn a l 101:2356 (Nov. 15, 1976). 12. Sanford Berman, Prejudices and Antipathies: A Tract on the LC Subject Heads Concerning P eop le (Metuchen, N .J.:Scarecrow , 1971); Joan Marshall, On E q u a l T erm s: A Non- Sexist Thesarus f o r Indexing and Cataloging (New York: Neal-Schuman Associates, 1977). ■■ ACRL 1978 National Conference “ New Horizons F o r Academic L ib raries” The Boston Public Library, ju st two short blocks from the Sheraton Hotel, will be the scene of a reception honoring the fortieth anniversary of ACRL and officially opening the ACRL National Conference in Boston on November 8-11, 1978. This library combines the pure elegance of an older building, erected in 1895 and now a Na­ tional Historic Site and one of the fifty most im­ portant buildings in the history of American ar­ chitecture, with that of a modern $22.6-million new Central Library opened in 1972. The reception is only one of several interludes that will add to this important conference that will focus on the future prospects for academic and research librarianship in the U.S. There will be both invited and contributed papers, and the overwhelming response to the contributed paper sessions will assure that all major topics will be covered. Ample time will be provided for visiting exhibits as well as libraries and historical sites. Please reserve the dates November 8-11, 1978, now! Registration information will be mailed later; for further information please contact Julie A. Carroll Virgo, executive secretary of ACRL, or George Parks, conference chair, at the University of Rhode Island. ■■ Boston Public Library, site o f 1978 ACRL National Conference.