College and Research Libraries


Revie·w Articles 

A New ·Guide 
The .Administration of the Co/leg~ Library. 

Guy R. Lyle. H. W. Wilson Co., 1944· 
6otp. 
There could be no better proof that the 

college library as a factor of education is 
coming of age than the growing volume of 
significant literature on the subject. It is 
encouraging that the last dozen years have 
seen the publication of several excellent books 
in the field, beginning with William M. 
Randall'~ descriptive study of the library in 
the American liberal arts colleges. Brown 
and Bousfield then analyzed circulation work 
in college and university libraries; Randall 
and Goodrich gave to the profession the most 
lucid exposition of the principles of college 
library administration that we have; Douglas 
Waples described better ways of evaluating 
the college library; Blanche Prichard Mc-
Crum revised and expanded her well-balanced 
estimate of standards for a college library; 
B. Lamar Johnson told how he had vitalized 
library service at Stephens College; and, 
finally, Harvie Branscomb considered criti-
cally the task of teaching with books. Along 
with these major writings went a tremendous 
amount of interpretation and description of 
modern college library work, presented in the 
form of periodical articles. At first sight', 
therefore, the publication of Guy R. Lyle's 
stout new volume might appear rather super-
fluous. But a careful reading of the book 
will show that it actually fills a very im-
portant gap and that we owe to tbe author 
a considerable debt of gratitude. The thanks 
of the profession are to be extended also to 
his three collaborators, Paul H. Bixler 
(whose chapter on book selectio~ and 
acquisition is especially praiseworthy), Mar-
jorie ]. Hood, and Arnold H. Trotier. 
Their contributions fit in so well that the 
reader gains the impression of having before 
him the work of one mind. 

Lyle, who combines rich experience in col-
lege library work with teaching in library 
schools, is the first writer in this field who 
thinks primarily of the needs of the young 
student. Not that previous authors had 

SEPTEMBER~ 1945 

neglected them, but they had other audiences 
more on their minds, usually either the col-
lege librarian and his staff or the college 
administrator. For this very reason, they 
did not feel obligated to give a complete pic-
ture of all aspects of college library work. 
This led to the uncomfortable situation that 
syllabi for library school courses in college 
library administration had to include a wide 
variety of selections from books and periodi-
cals in order to cover the ground. But any-
body who has ever taken such a course knows 
that it is practically impossible for' the be-
ginner to absorb in a limited period a large 
measure of widely scattered and sometimes 
repetitious ma,terial. Therefore, it was a 
splendid idea to present the newcomer to the 
professi·on, or to this particular branch of 
library w~rk, with an introduction that gives 
him a well-rounded picture of all the per-
tinent problems involved in it and that con-
centrates on college library administration 
exclusively. 

Lyle has a clearer and more appealing style 
than have many other textbook writers among 
librarians; he is more down to earth than 
most of them. Even a library school student 
completely lacking in professional experience 
will grasp from this text the larger issues at 
stake. If he wants to dig more deeply, he 
can do so easily, thanks to Lyle's usually 
rather full list of references. 

Hawever, not only the library school stu-
dent, but also the college librarian and his 
staff, will find the book rewarding. For the 
author does not just rehash what he read 
somewhere but gives his public the benefit 
of his own wide observations and the results 
of questionnaires, correspondence, and visits. 
His findings are set forth without any intent 
of arousing controversy. He deserves ap-
preciation for .well-balanced judgment and 
for fair presentation of both sides where 
there is argument on an important topic. 
This writer feels that there is hardly a single 
statement on the whole . six hundred pages to 
which he would wish to take. exception, even 
though naturally he might here a~d there 

369 



have put emphasis on different aspects of a 
problem. 

It is to the author's credit that he starts 
his book with an excellent. chapter showing 
the ties that bind the college library to the 
changing trends in college instruction. There 
is nothing that a beginner needs more badly 
than to see this close interrelationship. 
Throughout the volume Lyle continues to 
stress this educational aspect. · He speaks of 
the necessity for the college libr.arian to be 
in constant · touch with the administration and 
to keep alive the interest of the college presi-
dent· in this department of his institution. 
College librarians ought never to be satisfied 
with hearing the library praised as the "heart 
of the college" by their superiors on solemn 
occasions; they should labor day by day to 
gain and preserve the sympathetic under-
standing of the educational significance and 
the future heeds of the college library on the 
part of the president. 
· Certainly, Lyle's remarks on the relation 
between faculty and librarian are · also very 
much to the point. The general principle, 
he states, must be simply "that the library 
can function effectively only as a part of the 
whole instructional unit." In this connection, 
the present writer would like to put forward 
again his thesis that in the smaller liberal 
arts · college there · is · hardly a need ·for a 
faculty-library committee. The librarian 
will get better results if he is not hampered 
by the predilections and · ambitions of a few 
professors who more or less accidentally have 
been appointed members of such a committee. 
Its mere existence may easily become, in a 

. small college community, an impediment for 
the librarian who wants to work as closely 
as possible with every single instructor, 
regardless of rank, and who wishes to minis-
ter to his particular needs. If the librarian 
desires moral suppor.t on campus for some 
worthy purpose, he will find it ~ore easily 
from those library-minded scholars on the 
faculty who believe in his work than from 
any committe~; Naturally, these remarks do 
:not apply equally to the situation in large 
colleges, where a faculty-library committee 
will be inevitable; however, readers of 
Jacques Barzun's recently · published brilliant 
book on The Teacher in America know that 
even in big institutions committee meetings 
may not always be profitable. 

It has been often stated that as librarians 
we can expect ~o command the respect of the 
faculty only if we are meeting them on even 
terms. That raises once more the question of 
proper training for the college librarian. 
Lyle believes it impossible for him tb be a 
scholar in the sense of an eminent specialist 
or research man: "His work allows him no 
time for the continuous application to · a 
single subject which is essential for the 
specialist." But Lyle agrees that the college 
librarian certainly must have the instincts 
and sympathies of a scholar and should be 
familiar with the methods of research. He 
als_o stresses repeatedly the necessity of 
possessing a broad academic background. 

This reviewer for one is convinced that 
the college librarian of the future ought to . 
master thoroughly one field of knowledge; 
it will depend on the individual case, whether 
or not he should take a Ph.D. degree in that 
subject. This full scholarly preparation, 
combined with proper professional training, 
would assure the college librarian a strong 
position among his teaching colleagues on the 
faculty; they would have the feeling that 
any day he could join them in the classroom 
instead of interpreting the book collection of 
the library to the college community. There 
is also food for thought in the criticism which 
Lyle reports, that chief librarians often lac.k 
the vision and ability to play an active part 
in the formulation of college policy. 

Lyle offers some pertinent suggestions re-
garding personal contacts with students: 
"The successful librarian · is at the service 
of each student who needs help in his studies, 
guidance in outside reading, or advice on 
personal problems .... The quality of sym-
pathy is the least dispensable." This point 
deserves · stressing, since Barzun in his 
thought-provoking book · complains "that a 
love of administration together with some-
thing like a defensive attitude, has conspired 
to make the librarian's relation to students 
rather less satisfactory than it could be. Li-
brarians doubtless develop through their 
training a passionate love of books. But 
need it be so possessive?" Certainly, most 
of us will agree that a college librarian who 
spends his time thinking about new rules and 
regulations, instead of planning fo'r making 
books more .freely accessible, has missed his 
calling. We do not need red tape! 

·370 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



Many other points that Lyle rais~s would 
also deserve comment. Space does not permit 
discussing here, however, various questions 
that have vexed many a college librarian, 
be it the desirable size of the open-stack 
book collection, the . usefulness of brows-
ing rooms, or the educational value of de-
partmental libraries. Suffice it' to say that 

the forward-looking college librarian will do 
well to buy not qnly a copy of Lyle's book 
for the library but to add another to his 
private collection. It is one of those fairly 
rare volumes of our profession:al literature 
th~t warrants re-reading.-Felix · E. Hirsch, 
librarian, Bard College,, Annandale-on-H ud-
son, N.Y. . 

The Eleventh Catalogers, Y earboo.k 
Catalogers, and Cla;si/iers, Yearbook No. I I, 

1945. Compiled by the Division of Cata-
loging and Classification of the American 
Library Association. Chicago, A.L.A., 
1945· 96p. 
This, the eleventh number of the Cata-

logers, and Classifiers, Yearbook, represents 
a resumption of the series . (the tenth number 
appeared in 1941) after the plans for a 
quarterly journal were at least temporarily 
abandoned. Sponsored, as in the past, by 
the Division of Cataloging, and Classification 
of the A.L.A. and under the general editor-
ship of a special committee of which Mar-
garet Oldfather, of Ohio State University, 
is chairman, the volume closely follows the 
pattern and format of its predecessors. 

The first six contributions to the symposium 
· were presented originally at the Milwaukee 
Conference in 1942. That their publication 
has been so long delayed seems not in the least 
to have diminished their usefulness-a virtue 
which may be either attributed to the time-
lessness of their contents or to the eternal 
repetitiousness of library literature, depend-
ing upon one's point of view. To these have 
been added two special papers by Robert B. 
Downs and Herman H. Henkle and the text 
of the report made at the close of 1943 by 
the Library of Congress to the General 
Education Board concerning the status of the 
cooperative cataloging project. · The com-
pilation concludes with a listing of the officer's 
and committees of the Division of Cataloging 
and Classification, and the entire work is 
dedicated to the memory of]. C. M. Hanson. 
Truly a modest libation for one whose career 
was so distinguished. 

As one might expect, the implications of 
the new A.L.A. catalog code loom large in 
the several papers, for it was during the 
period covered by these essays that the 

SEPTEMBER~ 1945 

A.L.A. Catalog- Code Revisio~ Committee 
brought to completion its prelimin:ary work. 
But if one were to point out a common 
denominator for all the papers which com-
prise this collection, it would be a recognition 
of the growing awareness among catalogers 
that they are on the defensive against charges 
of steeply . mounting cataloging co~ts. . That 
these accusations are not without foundation 
is evident from the seriousness with which 
all the writers re-gard them and th~ impres-
sive array of statistical · evidence that is be-
ginning to accumulate from cost. analysis 
investigations in various types of institutions . . 
It is too easy to dismiss the seriousness of the 
growing financial burden invol~ed in the 
maintenance . and expansion of our swelling 
card catalogs as being merely an Inevitable 
by-product of the increasing size and com-
plexity of libraries themselves. The problem 
is much more than a mere exer~ise in the 
projection of a parabolic curve; it strikes at 
the very raison d,etre of the dictionary cata-
log and asks frankly and bluntly whether the 
instrument really justifies the tremendous 
expense involved. 

Julia Pettee, in the opening paper of the 
collection, hastens to defend the "authorship 
principle" elaborately set forth in the new 
code as being in reality a long-term economy 
and denies that the code should be made a 
"scapegoat" for "all the costs that new mod-
ern demands make upon our catalogs" 
(p. 19). Grace P. Fuller is equallystaunch 
in her support of econ9mies made possible by 
the present methods of establishing corporate 
entry; and a similar poi~t of view .is main-
tained by Clara Beetle when she writes of 
personal authors and anonymous classics in 
the Library of Congress catalog. 

That the card catalog is a focal point in 
library operation is implicit in the trilogy on 

371