College and Research Libraries By E D W I N E. W I L L I A M S Conference of Eastern College Librarians, 1945: Summary THE THIRTY-SECOND Conference of East-ern College Librarians was called to order at 10:30 A.M., November 24, by Andrew D . Osborn, Harvard, chairman of the program committee. T h e location of the meeting had been transferred to Mc- Millin T h e a t r e because of the unexpectedly large attendance. D r . Osborn turned the meeting over to Eileen M . Thornton, Vas- sar, who introduced the first speaker, Pro- fessor Jacques Barzun, whose paper, " T h e Scholar Looks at the Library," is printed in full on pages 113-17. In the discussion that followed it was brought out that Professor Barzun's con- ception of general knowledge chiefly in- volved the humanities rather than the sciences in which, he felt, knowledge was relatively well indexed. T h e problem of un- dergraduate indifference to libraries was brought up, and Professor Barzun sug- gested that if the teacher goes too far in inducing use of the library he is robbing the librarian of his proper function; stu- dents must be led to water and coaxed in, not thrown in. In connection with general knowledge, he complained of library book lists that combine the great works and the cheap popularizations, neglecting the inter- mediate, good popularizations. Apropos of the evils of the reserved book system, Pro- fessor Barzun thought that the lack of suffi- cient direct contact between librarian and teacher was not entirely to be blamed on either one. Publication of the Minutes Referring to the mimeographed history of the conference by Charles M . Adams, Woman's College, University of North Carolina, which had been distributed at the meeting, D r . Osborn remarked that infor- mality had always been one of the chief attractions of the conference and that there was no desire to restrict it to formal papers. T h e r e had, however, been recurrent de- mands for published proceedings. H e thought that if a fairly detailed summary could be prepared the meeting would not be formalized but a record would be available. College and Research Libraries w a s believed to be ready to publish such a summary. T h e r e would be no obstacle to publication in full of some papers, as had been done in the past. In this connection it was sug- gested that there be a bibliography of pub- lished papers of former conferences. D r . Osborn's motion that a summary of pro- ceedings be prepared was approved. Foreign University Official Publications Eleanor M . Witmer, Teachers College, Columbia University, pointed out the need for cooperative effort in collecting and mak- ing available the official publications of foreign universities. These are important materials for the study of such matters as the history of education abroad, the cur- riculum, and the role of universities in cul- tural life; they are also important reference tools. Undoubtedly much material of this APRIL, 1946 10 7 sort has been lost in Europe during the war, and there is no easy way to find out what has been published or how strong American collections are. Teachers College, last spring, sent out a preliminary letter to li- braries in the area asking their policies in acquisition and handling of such publica- tions. A number of institutions wish to collect them and to fill in present gaps in their holdings. Miss W i t m e r proposed that a small committee be appointed to study proposals for cooperative action. ( A t the afternoon session, the secretary announced that Miss W i t m e r , D r . Osborn, and Charles F. Gosnell, N e w York State Library, had been named to serve on this committee.) Principles Underlying the New L.C. Cata- loging Rules Herman H . Henkle, Library of Congress, emphasized the fact that his paper was a tentative and incomplete summary of principles underlying the new rules for de- scriptive cataloging. T h e basic aims have been to fit the rules to the functions they must serve and to design an entry that will present an integrated description of the book and indicate clearly its relation to other editions and issues of the book and to other books recorded in the catalog. Six major principles of description are involved, as follows: I. The book is generally to be described in the words or terms in which it is described by its author or publisher on the title page or elsewhere in the book. Ambiguous or unin- telligible statements are to be followed by explanations, and inaccurate statements by appropriate corrections. Where the original statements are covered by labels bearing dif- ferent statements, the original statements are to be given where possible, followed by indi- cations of the label statements. Here, the chief question is as to how far the lack of uniformity in terminology of publishers is to be reproduced and how far the cataloger must substitute a terminology of his own. 2. The book is to be described as fully as required by the accepted functions but with an economy of data, words, and expressions. In transcribing from the title page no biblio- graphical item should be repeated, data of improbable value are to be omitted or cur- tailed, unnecessary words and phrases disre- garded, and standard abbreviations used as provided. Here questions arise as to tran- scription of the author statement after the title and as to the character of the collation statement. 3. The bibliographical elements of the book are to be given on the entry in such order as will best respond to the normal approach of the reader and will be suited for integration of the entry with the entries of other books and other editions of the book in the catalog. The order selected for these purposes, follow- ing the author's name in the entry, is gen- erally: title, subtitle, author statement, edition statement, place, publisher, and date of publi- cation; followed by a statement of collation, series note, and supplementary notes. Ques- tions arise here when, for example, the sub- title or the author statement, or both, appear on the title page before the title. 4. All information relating to a given biblio- graphical item should be integrated, except where the length or construction of a given statement makes its integration with the other data undesirable. In this case the statement may preferably be given in a note. There is general agreement on this principle, which will considerably reduce the number of notes to be used. 5. The sources of the data supplied by the cataloger in brackets in the main body of the entry need not be stated on its face, except when the data are supplied from unusual or other than standard sources, sources qualify- ing the meaning of the data (e.g., cover, pref- ace, etc.), or disputed sources. 6. If the title page is capitalized, punctu- ated, or accented in accordance with the style of the text of the book, it should be transcribed in the style given. If the style is of a typo- graphical character, the title page should be capitalized, punctuated, and accented in ac- cordance with the usage of the given language. Those who oppose this principle are unwilling to follow the capitalization of the title page except when it, as well as the text of the book, is all in lower case. 110 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES Questions during the discussion brought out the fact that the A.L.A. definitions are being used almost entirely in connection with the new rules. It is anticipated that P a r t I I of the proposed revised A.L.A. code, which has been held up pending completion of the Library of Congress rules, will not appear if these rules prove to be generally satisfactory. Some Aspects of Personnel Work in College Libraries Lucy E. Fay, Temple, suggested that many of the criticisms made by Professor Barzun in his book and in his paper earlier in the day call attention to shortcomings that grow out of poor personnel manage- ment. T h e organization of the work in college libraries has grown up through the years and has been centered about the as- sistants rather than determined by the ob- jectives of the library. One means of getting away from this is to describe each position carefully and to define the qualifica- tions needed in any assistant who is to fill it. In selection of the staff, poor interview- ing techniques are widespread. Appoint- ment of assistants and notification of unsuccessful applicants should be handled in a businesslike manner. A good staff man- ual can contribute greatly to effective induc- tion procedures. A classified, graded service for both clerical and professional assistants is an aid to successful personnel administra- tion. Individual development of staff members must be encouraged; physical health should be promoted by good working conditions with reasonable hours, ample work space, ventilation, lighting, and staff rooms. Op- portunities for continuing education should be made available; an elevated conception of librarianship should be encouraged; and the staff must be made to realize its place in the educational program of the college. Successful recruiting should be facilitated by personnel policies of this sort, particu- larly if members of the college adminis- tration and faculty can be shown the opportunities in librarianship and if fellow- ship can be provided on the same basis as for other fields. Afternoon Session Homer Halvorson, Johns Hopkins, pre- sided at the afternoon session. He explained that Luther Evans was in London and that Verner W . Clapp, director of the Acquisi- tions Department of the Library of Con- gress, would present the first paper, " T h e Purchase of Books in Europe." M r . Clapp's paper appears on pages 127-34. Book and Library Affairs and the Program of an International Educational and Cul- tural Organization Carl M . White, Columbia, emphasized the need of discussing the new organization and thus agreeing on what terms the United States could give its moral and financial support. Only the charter has been for- mulated thus far. T h e meeting in London was for organizational purposes. A prepara- tory commission will be at work on a pro- gram while the charter is being approved by the required twenty nations. T h e pro- gram of the new organization might well include: 1. A publications program, which will at- tempt to promote reference works that are needed but of such magnitude that coopera- tion is required to produce them, an increasing number of good translations, and machinery for bringing to light gaps that ought to be filled by publications. 2. The development of better arrangements for international distribution of books through copyright agreements, the reduction of trade barriers, and related efforts to facilitate ready access. 3. Promotion of the use of books interna- tionally by encouraging the public library APRIL, 1946 10 7 movement, facilitating international exchange of books, interlibrary loans, and microphoto- graphic services (with a clearinghouse at the international level to gauge edition sizes), and development of good bibliographical apparatus, particularly indexing and abstracting services. M r . W h i t e hoped that the attention be- ing given to the press, radio, and screen as media of "mass communication" would not obscure the fact that some tasks can best be done by books. W i t h regard to reconstruction and re- habilitation, he thought that the forthcom- ing campaign of the American Book Center deserved generous support. T h e center has now been financed and will attempt to col- lect one million suitable books. Reference was also made to the stockpiles assembled by the A.L.A. with the help of Rockefeller Foundation grants. Discussion called at- tention to the fact that the many individual requests for aid that are coming in ought to be cleared through the American Book Center. Buildings T h e paper by John E. Burchard, Massa- chusetts Institute of Technology, on post- war library buildings appears on pages 118- 26. In the discussion that followed, the un- certainty of construction costs in the near future was emphasized. Attention was called to several new library building programs that had been processed and in- formally distributed, particularly those pre- pared at Wellesley, Pennsylvania, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. M r . Burchard said that he would be glad to send a copy of the M . I . T . program to any librarian who requested it. G. L. S. Scholarships T H E G R A D U A T E LIBRARY SCHOOL of the University of Chicago offers two scholarship awards of $450 and one award of $300 for the academic year 1946-47 for students-in its basic library science curriculum. T h e tuition and fee charges for the academic year amount to $300. Applicants must have completed at least two years of college w o r k ; the curriculum subsequent to the first two years of college covers a three-year period. Persons with four years of college credit may also apply and, if successful, will receive the scholarship grant for the final year of professional study. Forms for making application for scholarships may be obtained by writing the Graduate Library School, University of Chicago, Chicago 37. Applications must be submitted by J u n e 15, 1946. 112 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES