College and Research Libraries


University of Illinois Library Programs 
By LEWIS C. BRANSCOMB 

The Radio Program 

EARLY IN r 945 the library of the . U niver-sity of Illinois was invited to sponsor a 
weekly radio program over the university's 
own station, WILL. The responsibility for · 
providing thirty minutes of educational 
stimulus week in and week out was not 
considered lightly, but the library felt that 
here was an opportunity, which should be 
seized, f<?r extending its public relations ef-
forts. Therefore, after discussion and care-
ful study, the invitation was accepted and 
the first program was set for Wednesday, 
Feb. 14, 1945, from 2 :oo to 2:30 in the 

· afternoon. The time of the program was 
chaf).ged several months later to 2:30 to 

2:55· 
From the beginning the program has been 

1 a joint project of the library and the li-
brary school. Since several other public 
relations programs were already handled by 
the librarians' association, official staff asso-
ciation of the librJtry, it was decided that 
the new radio program should be operated 
under the aegis of this organization. The 
librarians' association appointed a committee 
of six persons selected from the library staff 
and the library school to assume all respon-
sibility for planning the programs, securing 
speakers, and working with the staff of 

1 WILL. The writer. was designated chair-
man and served in this capacity until Octo-
ber 1946. The present chairman is the 
circulation librarian. Replacements of com-
mittee members have occurred from time to 
time, but continuity has been achieved by 
the fact that three committee members of 
the original six still serve. 

1 The series was christened "The Library 
Presents-." The director of the library 
and library school gave the first broadcast, 
which was concerned with the beginnings 
of books. An appropriate exception to the 
general policy of not scheduling speakers 
for repeat broadcasts has been made in the 
case of the director who thus: far has been 
featured on the first broadcast beginning 
each season. 

What Type Program? 

In deciding upon the kind of program 
to be offered, the committee was guided by 
several considerations: 

(I) The university and the library are 
educational, not recreational, institu-
tions 

(2) WILL, operating on an assigned fre-
quency of s8o kilocycles, is an educa-
tional radio station with a power of 
five thousand watts which enables it 
to cover well all of Illinois, except the 
metropolitan area of Chicago and the 
western part of the state beyond · 
Springfield; western Indiana also re-
ceives a strong signal 

(3) Being scheduled in the middle of the 
afternoon the program must be adapted 
largely to housewives, shut-ins, and a 
miscellany of other individuals who 
have access to a radio at this time of 
day 

(4) The university provides an almost in-
exhaustible supply of scholars and ex-
perts who are capable of speaking 
authoritatively on a large variety of 
subjects and many of them are glad to 

·link their subject fields with the li-
brary. 

422 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



In addition to these considerations, the 
committee was unanimous in rejecting the 
book review type of broadcast as a regular 
vehicle, although such a program is offered 
occasionally. A typical broadcast features 
a talk by a teaching professor, a research 
man, or a librarian, who speaks on some 
subject of educational value on which he is 

/ 

an expert. If a given broadcast does not / 
deal sp~cifically with a literary subject, the 
speaker usually brings in the library or 
refers to the literature of his subject. Titles 
of some of our best received broadcasts in-
clude: 

Lenten and Easter Reading 
A University Library Tour 
The Country Editor 
Christmas Books for Children 
The Architecture of Libraries 
Progress Towards Peace 
Toward Mental Health 
Authors, Books, and Libraries 

"The Architectu;e of Libraries" was an 
excellent broadcast dealing with the archi-
tecture of smaller libraries and was given 
by Alan K. Laing, of the University of Illi-
nois Architecture Department. It was sub-
sequently published in the June r, r 946, 
issue of the Library Journal and in the 
June 1946 issue of Illinois Libraries under 
the title "The Architecture of the Small 
Library." 

~ The last title in the above list was a 
-_ broadcast by Carl Van Doren who hap-

pened to be in his home town of Urbana in 
December of 1945 long enough to make a 
transcription for "The Library Presents-." 

OCTOBERJ 1947 

This program was rebroadcast from WILL 
on Sunday morning following its original 
presentation Wednesday afternoon. Sev-
eral other programs in the library senes 
have been broadcast a second time. 

Details of Management 

The series is on the air each Wednesday 
from October through June. Up to the 
time of this writing not a single broadcast 
has been canceled, although the committee 
holds a substitute program ready for such 
an emergency. Memories of absent-minded 
professors are jogged on Tue~day before the 
Wednesday broadcast. The library main-
tains a file copy of each program broadcast, 
either in the form of a typescript or a 
phonograph transcription. Members of the 
radio committee and other interested li-
brarians listen to the weekly broadcast in 
one of the library offices, after which letters 
of appreciation are written by the chairman 
to the speakers. 

It is difficult to estimate how much "The 
Library Presents-" contributes to the 
over-all public relations program ' of the li-
brary and the library school. Certainly fan 
mail from listeners is not heavy. Buf this 
is probably true of most educational pro-
gram.s on university stations. However, in 
addition to the benefit to the library result-
ing from heightened interest among listen-
ers, there is little doubt that the contact 
made between the library and the various 
speakers and between the library and WILL 
publicizes the library' and its services. 

423 



By ELEANOR BLUM and NELL M. MILES 

The Library Hour Program 

PUBLIC relations work, a "must" for the public library, is also important to col-
lege and university libraries in establishing 
friendly relationships with students and 
faculty and in informing them of their re-
sources. With this consideration in mind, 
the Librarians' Association of the U niver-
sity of Illinois Library in January 1944 
created the Library Hour-a series of 
weekly programs held every Wednesday 
afternoon between the hours of five and 
six. The purpose of this program, as stated 
by the original committee in charge, was 
"to stimulate reading on various topics by 
presenting reviews of one particular book or 
a group of reviews on one particular sub-
ject." To aid in accomplishing this pur-
pose, recommended books on the subject 
were to be exhibited and a brief mimeo-
graphed book list distributed to the audi-
ence. Speakers were selected from faculty, 
staff, and townspeople. Although the main 
qualification was knowledge of the subject, 
regardless · of university connections, most 
of the speakers were chosen from the fac-
ulty and staff for the obvious reason that 
they were more likely to be subject special-
ists than were local residents not connected 
with the university. Special interests and 
talents of faculty wives were also utilized 
and provided some excellent programs. 

The series was held at first in a book-
lined reading room with a seating capacity 
of thirty. The atmosphere here was pleas-
ant, but the crowds soon overflowed and it 
was necessary, therefore, to move to a less 
attractive lecture room which had a suffi-
cient number of seats. 

As now organized, a committee of five 
staff members decides upon subjects and 
speakers and manages the rather numerous 

details of the weekly programs. Since the 
University of Illinois has a large faculty 
and staff, there is never a dearth of potential 

• speakers. Several approaches in making a 
choice are used. Sometmes a speaker is 
asked because he is a recognized authority 
in a certain field, or sometimes, in complete 
reverse, a subject seems timely and an 
authority on it is sought. Frequently, too, 
the personality and popularity of the 
speaker are the basis for his selection. Now 
and then the plans of the committee go 
completely awry. A chemical engineer, 
famous for his work on explosives, was re-
quested to discuss this field as soon as the 
government lifted its ban of secrecy. He · 
accepted the invitation, but asked that he 
be allowed to talk oq his recent travels 
rather than on any phase of chemistry. On 
another occasion, a zoologist, when asked 
to show his reputedly excellent film on 
Eskimos, wanted to speak instead about 
tropical plants and animals. As goodwill 
is an important aspect of the program, the 
committee accepts such changes philosophi-
cally, having learned that it can generally 
rely on the judgment of the speakers. 

In certain cases it -has been difficult to 
live up to the original purpose of empha-
sizing books and other library materials. 
Some topics, because of their very time-
liness, preclude the possibility of any asso-
ciation with literature. At both times when 
talks were being giv1n on atomic energy 
and radar the government had just lifted 
its censorship and practically no printed 
ma.terials existed. When the new drug 
streptomycin was discussed by a soil chem-
ist who had made outstanding contributions 
to its development, the only literature on 
the subject consisted of a handful of articles 

424 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



in scholarly jouinals. Frequently, too, the 
speakers talk from their own experiences 
rather than from books. A professor of 
political scie~ce who had attended the San 
Francisco conference was asked to give his 
impressions immediately upon his return, 
when the only existing literature was in 
periodicals. Faculty members sent to in- · 
vestigate postwar conditions in foreign 
countries have frequently spoken on the 
program before sufficient printed material 
was available to make up a popular bibli-
ography, much less to attempt an exhibit. 
Whenever possible, however, the committee 
attempts to correlate each talk with litera-
ture by displays and book lists and urges 
the speakers to mention pertinent literature 
when such literature exists. In any case, it 
is evident that for better or for worse the 
Library Hour has developed into something 
other than the- conventional book review. 
On the whole, the committee feels that the 
change has been for the better, since some 
extremely good programs have resulted. 

Variety in Programs 

A number of the talks have been illus-
trated with slides, films, and recordings. 
Occacionally, the program has consisted 
almost entirely of recordings, films, or a 
combination of both. Reading from the 
works of various authors is another type 
of program sometimes used. 

Naturally, there are considerable details 
to be taken care of in order to keep a pro-
gram of this sort going. Speakers must be. 
invited, notices printed and posted around 
the campus well in advance of the program, 
smaller notices sent to university personnel, 
someone found to introduce the speaker 
(this is always done by a member of the 
iibrary staff), publicity written, motion pic-
ture machines operated and slides shown 
when necessary, book lists made up, and 
exhibits gathered and arranged. Fortu-

OCTOBER~ 1947 

nately, some of these duties such as the 
posting and mailing of notices and certain 
aspects of publicity are taken care of auto-
matically by the library administrative 
office. 

After a period of three years it is pos-
sible to draw certain definite conclusions 
about the Library Hour. In the first place, 
it is successful. This statement is based on 
the fact that .the average attendance has 
been 66 (with an unfortunate minimum of 
I 4 and a hectic maximum of 2 I 6 when 
crowds overflowed into the cor;idors) . 
Although sixty-six may not seem a phe-
nomenal number of people in terms of the 
size of the faculty, staff, and student body, 
it compares favorably with the size of audi-
ences at other programs of this type in the 
university. The committee has tried to 
analyze the series in terms of audience 
appeal, and it appears that: 

I. Certain speakers will attract a crowd 
regardless of subject. 

2. Audio-visual programs, especially records 
and films, are popular. 

3· Attendance is a seasonal affair, with 
first-semester programs drawing more people 
than second-semester ones, when work has 
piled up and spring weather competes with 
even the most popular speakers. 

The committee suspects that lighter pro-
grams bring -larger audiences than heavier 
ones, but so many other factors enter in, 
such as popularity of the speaker, the 
weather, and the pressure of outside work, 
that it is difficult to be certain. Neverthe-
less, more talks on literary topics are being 
presented this year and greater use of 
films and records made than in the past. 

Type of Audience 

---As- to - the nature of the audience, there 
are always a few people who come regu-
larly regardless of the topic, but in general 
the composition differs with each program, 

425 



according to subject and speaker. By · far 
the greater percentage of the audience con-
sists of staff, faculty, and graduate students, 
with never more than a handful of under-
graduates except when music or films are 
featured, and even then university person-
nel and graduates predominate. This may 
be partially due to the fact that all dormi-
tories and organized houses serve dinner 
at half-past five, but experimentation with 
four-thirty to five-thirty meetings for the 
Library Hour did not show any difference. 

The committee has also discovered that 
the size of the audience is no criterion of 
the success of the individual program. One 
of the best examples of this fact was a talk 
ori the cooperative movement which drew 
only about twenty people. These twenty, 
however, engaged the speaker in a lively 
discussion which lasted about half an hour 
after he had finished his lecture. 

The Library Hour program correlates 
with another of the public relations pro-
grams of the university-"The Library 

Presents-," a weekly half-hour radio pro-
gram over the local university station. The 
radio and lecture programs are frequently 
able to make use of each other's ·speakers. 

As a whole, the librarians' association 
feels that the Library Hour has more than 
justified the rather considerable work in-
volved. In addition to the value of the 
program as a source of information to about 
2000 different people over a period of two 
years (a total of approximately 3500 have 
attended), it has also taught the various 
committee members a great deal about the 
workings of the university-its departments 
and its personalities. 

While a large university with its wealth 
of talent is a reasonably easy field for a 
series of this sort, it is probable that an 
even greater need might exist in a smaller 
school where there are .fewer outside events. 
In any case, such a series, if well planned 
and publicized, can do much to foster the 
goodwill of faculty and students toward 
the library and its staff. 

Why Not Teach the History of the Universe? 
{Continued from page 413) 

what we lack-a sense of continuity and of 
balance and understanding of human beings 
organized into societies that move through 
time. He knows also the remedy, which is 
historical-mindedness. 

In suggesti1,1g that historical-mindedness 
begin at home, in the back yard, I do not 
mean that it should stay forever in the back 
yard. There is a front yard too, and the 

Correction 

street which passes by leads to the ends of 
the earth. Every Iowan ough_t to follow 
that street as far as his time, his interest, and 
his sense of duty propel him. If, at last, it 
leads him to the rings of Saturn, I am all in 
favor of it. Why not teach the history of 
the universe? But not at the outset, not as 
an abstraction, not until, knowing the his-
tory of Iowa, he has history in his blood. 

In the July issue, Part I, p. 259, it was stated in the article on "College and University 
Library Statistics" that the previous statistics had been published in the March 1943 
Issue. It should have read "March 1944." 

426 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES