College and Research Libraries By HAROLD L. BOISEN A Venture in Reclassification Harold L. Boisen is librarian of the George Avery Bunting Library~ Washington Col- lege~ Chestertown~ Maryland. T HE PROBLEM of classification seems to be of perennial interest. Because it illustrates a fundamental activity of the mind and forms the basis of scientific think- ing, there is no reason why speculation about it should languish. Since I938 new editions of basic works on the subject have appeared, by Melvil Dewey/ Margaret Mann/ and William S. Merrill, 3 and the Library of Congress has continued to ex- pand its schedules. Current library litera- ture still weighs the pros and cons of reclassification, the merits of different meth- ods, and the experiences of those who have shifted from one scheme to another. Some outstanding libraries have submitted to the throes of reclassification, and others, I dare say, are sorry they started the process. Large institutions have turned to the Li- brary of Congress system and have drawn smaller libraries in ·their wake. The George Avery Bunting Library of Wash- ington College was inclined to pull the other way, and its struggle ended in a compromise. During I 939 and I 940 the liberal arts ideal was undergoing restatement on this campus preparatory to adopting the divi- sional plan of curriculum organization. Our present postwar planning committee is again giving it consideration. - Once 1 Dewey, Melvil. Decimal Classification and Rela- tive Index. 14th ed. rev. and en!. Forest Press, 1942. 2 Mann, Margaret. Introduction to Cataloging and the Classificatiun of Books. 2nd ed. A.L.A., 1943. 3 Merrill, William S. Code for Classifiers. 2d ed. A.L.A., 1939. DECEMBER~ 1944 more the humanities are kindling into life, at least in the spirit. Even four years ago we were attempting to break down the barriers between subjects and to achieve some form and wholeness in the sum of our offerings. In the spring of I940, just previous to moving into a new building, William M. ·Randall and J. Periam Danton made a study of the book collection. It was pro- posed to bring the library into closer rela- tionship with the students, the faculty, and the teaching program ; to support the cur- riculum in more than a passive way with a collection of books; to interpret our liter- ature with active devices, illuminating, as it were, the neglected corners of the shelves, filling the gaps through good book selection, and making the books more approachable to the student and the extracurricular reader. In the fall of I 940 the writer, assuming the duties of librarian, initiated a program of reorganization based on certain passages in the survey report. If the library were to exemplify the ideas ex·pressed by Dr. Randall, it behooved us to get its intel- lectual contents in order, to gather the scattered atoms of the past into some unity. If the book collection were to reflect ideals of humane cultivation, it would be neces- sary to broaden the basis of classification. A simple, intelligible arrangement of sub- jects should be provided for the patrons who used the stacks. As Mark Van Doren wrote: The search must be for a narrow formula -wisely narrow of course; or, if the word is not outworn, creatively narrow. The only 67 classification of studies [books] that is capable of interesting the mind is a simple classification, under a few heads. . . . And these had better be the right ones or the liberal arts will take their revenge.4 Good classification is, in this sense; of more than intrinsic value; it serves as an instrument of direction. Something so fundamental was involved that we were tempted to take the necessary steps at once. Classification at Washington College For years Library of Congress numbers had been faithfully accepted. Among our fifteen thousand titles no revision had been in some small libraries. But they were awkward here. Anomalies tend to disap- pear in a large library serving advanced scholars; there it is possible to split hairs to advantage, to classify infinitesimals, and to lose small items in a multitude. Classifi- cation is done according to a design wnich is irrelevant to the requirements of the small college. Pointillism in the distribu- tion of a million books may even make pictures, but the same ·scale or screen ap- plied to a small collection suggests a half- tone under high magnification ; forms fail to take shape and one sees only unrelated dots. made to improve the location of a book. · Nor had preferable numbers been employed Minute Classification when available in the schedules. Related Years ago Charles A. Cutter challenged items were dispersed· and subject matter the defenders of broad classification for was spread thin upon the extensive rack maintaining that books became separated of the L.C. scheme. Psychology had be- in a minute scheme. 7 In practice they do. come hydra-headed, appearing in five classes. It is seldom possible to concentrate the Unnatural cleavages had developed among essence of a book into one exclusive subject. T (technology), Q (science), H ( sociol- The closer the subdivisions, the more chance ogy), and G (geography). for difference in judgment and for simi- Fiction, biography, and travel had wan- larity in various parts of the schedules, as dered over the collection, in thorough has been indicated in the case of psychology. agreement with L.C. practice. The chrono- Division does not proceed in a straight line. logical treatment of English and American Subjects have a way of crossing and re- literature proved confusing. The dichot- crossing, which means that alternatives be- omy between philology and literature in come possible. the L.C. schedules, while important to Perhaps it would give the game away recognize, resulted in islands of foreign to express at this moment a preference for language books appearing at opposite ends the Dewey decimal scheme. L.C., the of section P (language and literature). Colon system, and the Brussels classifica- Individual books needed correction, such as tion probably answer the purposes for which Defoe's Journal of the Plague Year_, which they were intended, but they are not for had been placed in R (medicine). the small library which houses · few books ]. R. Gulledge, 5 seconded by Karl T. of such specialized type as to warrant J acobsen, 6 of Luther College, testified that classification beyond a subdivision of the these developments caused no inconvenience third order. They do, however, suggest 4 Van Doren, Mark. Liberal Education. Holt, 1943, p. I 13, 6 Gulledge, J. R. "L.C. vs. D .C. for College Li- braries." Library Journal 49:1026- 2 7, December 1924. 1924. e Jacobsen, Karl T. "The Reorganization of the Library of a Small College." Library Quarterly 4: 234-43, April 1934. compromise because they represent h'ybrids in themselves. Since L.C. is a cross be- tween expansive classification and D.C., it 7 Cutter, Charles A. "Close Classification." The Librar:v and Its Contents. Wilson, 1925, p. 20 3-12. 68 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES only remams to g1ve D.C. a little more edge to secure the desired correction. A ~ew public library notions applied to classifi- cation would help to counteract the amor- phous tendencies exhibited in some college book collections and restore the perspective recommended by Henry B. Van Hoesen. 8 Such considerations preclude the final stand- ardization of cataloging procedures to fit all situations. Intangible forces are at work in every library which demand individual treatment; it is properly so and good to recognize them and respond accordingly. The L.C. schedules contain approxi- mately 6500 pages, with a quarter of a million divisions-far too much cloth for our cloak. We wanted to shrink it to the proportions of the Abridged Decimal Classification. 9 This does not ~lways occur to librarians when confronted with the bulk of the L.C. scheme. Some of us regard the changing of an L.C. class number as heresy. To paraphrase 0. G. Sonneck, of the Library of Congress, concerning a sen- sible approach to the L.C. music schedule: It is possible to telescope the scheme into a suitable instrument for any collection of any size, by canceling unnecessary subdivisions, by substituting subdivisions needed for spe- cial purposes, and by rearranging the se- quence of certain entries. 10 In this way complete reclassification may be avoided. It is still possible to retain the benefits enumerated by J. C. M. Hanson over twenty years ago: the numbers on the printed cards for suggestion, elastic nota- tion, local subdivisions, expert service, and the support of the government.11 The small library can thus reduce the bulk of the schedules, simplify notation, and individ- a Van Hoesen, Henry B. "Perspective in Catalog- ing." College and Research Libraries I: 330-35, Sep· tember 1940. 11 Dewey, Melvil. Abridged Decimal Classification. 6th ed. Forest Press, 1942. 10 U. S. Library of Congress. Classification: Music and Books on Music. 1917, p. 6. 11 Hanson, J. C. M. "Library of Congress Classi- fication for Small Libraries." Library Journal 46: 151-54, February 1921. DECEMBER~ 1944 ualize directions according to specific ends in view. Bringing out fewer classes is a mnemonic help, but this is not so ~m­ portant as the closer grouping of kindred books. At best college students learn few class numbers. They remember books by location and are bewildered when shifting has been done. A preliminary inspection of the shelflist showed that our books were roughly di- vided as follows: Class A- 200 B- 750 C- 400 D-1300 E- 700 F- 500 G- 200 H-16oo J- 6oo K- 100 L-1100 titles Class M- 100 N- 400 P-4200 Q-1800 R- 150 S- 150 T- 300 U V- 100 Z- 300 15,000 titles On the basis of three titles to a subdivision, they would nicely fit into a schedule of five thousand places. Should our collection be doubled twice over, the average subclass would catch only twelve titles. It is hazar- dous to place an ultimate limit on expected growth. But the 'prospect seemed rather remote that a small college, 162 years old, would increase its library to a million or more volumes. The building will hold eighty thousand at the most. Our policy calls for a small well-chosen collection. "Perhaps the ideal library, after all," wrote Edmund Gosse, "is a small one, where the books are carefully selected and thought- fully arranged in accordance with one cen- tral code of taste."12 Something quite dif- ferent from the Library of Congress, where not even the copyright limits selection. The L.C. schedule A (general works) contains sixty-six subdivisions, more than can be profitably used in a small library. 12 Gosse, Edmund. Quoted in Mosher, Thomas Bird. Amphora. 1926, p. 103. 69 I J The same is true of the other schedules. Moreover, the Outline of the Library of Congress Classification~ 1942, and the synopses provided in the main schedules, can only serve as guides in the work of abridgment. They supply too few sub- divisions, and the numbers given in blocks are not very helpful. As a first step, we accepted the twenty-one main classes, then chose subdivisions from the complete sched- ules, keeping watch on the book collection and the courses offered. Occasionally we could leave sections intact without change of notation. Fiction~ Biography~ and Travel Under the aegis of rule 6 of the Merrill code, 13 we made decisions · involving fiction, biography, and travel. Since L.C. uses the PQ-PT sections of national literatures to bring together works by or about an author regardless of form and places current fic- tion in PZ, this gave us a good chance to lump all fiction in the latter place. It was necessary to coax the cataloger to this prac- tice in two stages. At first he would con- sent to shelve fiction only at the end of its literature section, creating for this pur- pose special numbers: PRZ (English fic- tion) , PSZ (American fiction), etc. Dur- ing this phase of conversion English novels were in three places; now they are in one. In shelving our fiction alphabetically by author without book number, long call numbers were dropped, such as PZ 3.G7876 Pr2, for Robert Graves' Proceed~ Sergeant Lamb. Of course, it could have been done without using even a class number. At any rate, this popular section of books has been strengthened by the introduction of such characters as Mr. Woodhouse, the Reverend · Septimus Harding, the Misses Matilda and Deborah J enkyns, and the 13 "Modify a rule of classification of books when necessary or de.;irable to meet special need s or types of service." In Merrill, W. S. Code for Classifters. 1939. p. 2, more lusty Moll Flanders, Tom Jones, and Becky Sharp. These persons of varied dis- tinction improve upon acquaintance with Judge Honeywell, Mrs. Dalloway, and the George Apleys of Boston. Given a chance, they can hold their own beside Studs Loni- gan, Ulysses, and the J oads. · Another new grouping was made of biog- raphy, taking the L.C. symbol CT 275 for individual works and CT go for collections, followed by two or three figures of the Cutter-Sanborn tables as needed. Few titles had found their way to this class, due to the L.C. policy of placing biography with subject. In general we left kings, presi- dents, and statesmen in history, and artists in art, but where personal interest pre- dominated, we used CT. Julian Green's Memories of Happy Days~ Siegfried Sas- soon's The Old Century~ and Edwin Way Teale's Dune Boy are now close neighbors. As Randolph Bourne has expressed it, they are among: Those persons and things that inspire us to do our best, when we are in their presence, that call forth from us our latent and un- suspected personality, that nourish and sup- port that personality-those are our friends. The reflection of their glow makes bright the darker and quieter hours when they are not with us. They are a true part of our widest self; we should hardly have a self without them.14 Although this move may be quite a con- cession to general readers, it has already demonstrated its usefulness to history and literature students as a store of memorable personal records. Washington College also wanted a travel section for its own sake. Charles Brooks' Thread of English Road~ Rockwell Kent's Wilderness~ William· H. Hudson's Idle Days in Patagonia~ and the written thoughts of such richly endowed travelers as Hedin, 14 Bourne, Randolph S. Youth and Life. Hough- ton, 1913, p, I5I. 70 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES Keyserling, and La Farge are literary crea- tions entitled to a particular place instead of being strewn about as collateral inform- ers to other subjects. In L.C. such mate- - rial goes into history as essential to the understanding of a country, if not in a special subject, as science. The classifier is given no real choice, but G (geography) looked possible to us. Reproduction of a portion of this schedule shows our simpli- fication, achieved without drastic change of class numbers or loss of expansibility. Fifty pages of notation were reduced to one. G Geography G 73 Study and teaching G I I5 General works. Bibliography G I6o World travels (To divide by coun- try use L.C. Table I) G I6I United States (To divide by state use L.C. Table III) G I61.A2 Alabama G I63 South America G 400 Air travel G 500 Mountaineering G 520 Ocean travel, sea life G 575 Polar travel and exploration Giooo Atlases, gazetteers GA I Cartography GB 50 Physical geography Students of economic geography, foreign relations, and history are already using this section. Bibliography of geography was placed with subject, as proposed for small libraries by J. C. M. Hanson. 15 Students of abnormal psychology had been using books on mental , hygiene, psy- chiatry, and child psychology, which were in R (medicine), QP (physiology), LB (education), and HQ (child study). After arbitrarily . reshelving them for class use several times, it seemed worth while to transfer some fifty or more titles perma- nently to BF (psychology), closing their former numbers. This decision was ap- proved by the psychology department and the result has been satisfactory. 15 Hanson, oP. cit., p. 153. DECEMBER~ 1944 Literature In the next instance we were not pre- pared to go so far as one faculty member proposed: that all literature in English be shelved together alphabetically by author regardless of form or nationality. Perhaps, after all, it is simply a matter of choosing a system and adhering to it. John Cowper Powys reminds us that: ... the finest literature floats and drifts, as the wind blows, round the unlikeliest places. But the more cultured a human mind may be, the more serpentine will be its power of adjusting itself both to the ivory towers of the old-fashioned aesthetic responses and to the circus-tent sawdust of the new.16 The undergraduate, however, lacks this power as yet and appreciates our efforts to reach an orderly· system. We decided to cling to the national divisions of literature, at least until some drastic change occurred in the curriculum or methods of teaching. The chronological divisions in L.C. were another matter. The curricular presenta- tion of literature, emphasizing form rather than period, made it desirable to separate poetry, drama, and essays within each coun- try, as their exceptional forms merit. A schedule was drafted which closely follows L.C. connotation: PR I I9 30 8o soo 620 821 goo IOOO IIIO IIJO I240 English Literature General materials Encyclopedias and dictionaries Study and teaching History and criticism-general Poetry Drama Prose Oratory Literature Collections-various authors Collections-individual authors using various forms Poetry Drama 16 Powys, John Cowper. The Meaning of Cultur1. Norton, 1929, p. 43· 71 1285 Prose 1320 Oratory 1340 Letters 1360 Essays All subdivisions are not shown, but, as in travel, the schedule was reduced to one page. The revision caused considerable reprocessing, but the effect in the case of English poetry alone was worth the effort. Shorter notation also resulted in many cases, for example, PS 3525.I495K5 for Edna St. Vincent Millay's The Kinls Henchman became Ps 63 1.M6k. The problem of philology is to be solved arbi- trarily by shelving books on the study of languages ahead of their respective litera.:. tures. For example, English philology ( PE) will immediately precede English literature ( PR). Although strict alpha- betical sequence will be broken, kindred sections will come together rather than re- main at opposite ends of the main class, a constant annoyance to students and pro- fessors. Section T (technology) is not useful as a separate entity in our program. Most of it will be a·bsorbed into related subjects in the sciences, industry, and production economics. Perhaps this offers the great- est affront to the orthodox. Applied me- chanics is to be placed in physics, surveying in mathematics, sanitary engineering in medicine or city planning, railroads in trans- portation, and electrical engineering in physics. Periodicals and newspapers will be placed in a separate range of stacks by title. Our present set of schedules with their geographical tables, seventy pages in all, promises to be adequate. Thus the huge and rambling classification of the Library of Congress has been reduced to reasonable dimensions for our purposes. To Librarians of Colleges and Universities Engaged in Planning New Li~rary Buildings IN RESPONSE to a notice in a recent issue of the Library 1 ournal~ I find that some thirty-odd colleges and universities are thinking about new library buildings for postwar construction. The Committee on Buildings and Architecture of the A.C.R.L. is anxious to offer as much help as can be given within reason. Such help must necessarily be of a preliminary kind, because each librarian will presumably have an architect and a faculty committee. The committee would like to know what kind of help librarians would like to have. College and Research Libraries has kindly allowed us ·space for the answering of specific questions and for the insertion of news and other helpful statements. If these questions can be sent to my office, I will try to see that they are answered by someone who knows- whether this be a librarian, an engineer, or an architect. In the meanwhile, librarians may be interested in knowing that Julian P. Boyd, librarian of Princeton University, is at work forming a committee of librarians of universities planning new buildings. If his plans materialize, this committee should be of tremendous help during the next two years. RALPH E. ELLSWORTH, 72 Chairman~ A .C.R.L. Subcommittee on Buildings and Architecture~ State University of Iowa Li- braries~ Iowa City COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES