College and Research Libraries


raphies and the distributing efficiency of 
publishers. If persons overseas whose w o r k 
brings them into contact w i t h new reference 
books w e r e to send a brief description of 
these to M i s s W i n c h e l l she might be helped 
in her task of assembling titles for examina-
tion. In the final result the very g r e a t use-

fulness of the Guide to Reference Books and 
its excellent supplements, of which Reference 
Books of 1944-1946 is typical, w o u l d be in-
creased f o r all w h o make use of them, both in 
this country and a b r o a d . — W i l m a Radford, li-
brary assistant, Public Library, New South 
IV ales. 

Governing Boards and Libraries 

Men Who Control Our Universities: The 
Economic and Social Composition of Gov-
erning Boards of Thirty Leading American 
Universities. By H u b e r t P a r k B e c k ; w i t h 
a f o r e w o r d by G e o r g e C . C o u n t s . N e w 
Y o r k , K i n g ' s C r o w n Press, 1947. x, 22gp. 
C o l l e g e and university libraries are on the 

w a y to gaining equality of status and con-
sideration with other instructional depart-
ments. L i b r a r i a n s t h e r e f o r e should be re-
v i e w i n g their boards of trustees w i t h the 
same kind of concern as is appropriate to 
cheir classroom-teacher colleagues. T h e mat-
ter of fact is that the librarian's concern is 
g r e a t e r because the average trustee under-
stands the role of librarians less than he 
does that of teachers. 

D r . Beck's book is an indispensable aid to 
the librarian w h o wishes to look squarely at 
his trustee situation. O f special interest to 
the administrator and student of administra-
tion are the numerous tables (p. 168-98) 
which show the distribution of board mem-
bers by occupation, age and length of service, 
offices and directorships in business enter-
prises, and method of designation. T h e in-
formation bearing on socio-economic back-
grounds w i l l have extraordinary meaning f o r 
librarians operating in publicly supported in-
stitutions w h e r e boards of governors must 
represent the claims of their institution upon 
the tax funds of some governmental unit. In 
addition to general analyses which describe 
the composition of governing boards on a 
nation-wide scale, the author has provided 
much enlightening data f o r the thirty in-
dividual universities studied. 

T h e author addresses his study and 
conclusions to an extremely broad audience 
composed of all w h o are interested in the 
relationship of social forces and backgrounds 
to education. L i b r a r i a n s w i l l t h e r e f o r e find 
practically nothing that relates specifically to 
their functioning in institutions of higher 

e d u c a t i o n — w i t h the exception of the reported 
fact (p. 58) that 5 out of 734 board members 
w e r e librarians or museum officials. ( T h i s 
small representation is not as deplorable as 
it may seem when one notes the " t o t a l ab-
sence of professional sociologists, economists, 
psychologists, political scientists, social w o r k -
ers, and social w e l f a r e administrators" f r o m 
governing boards.) T h e r e is a good deal, 
however, which should stimulate thought and 
inference among librarians of college, uni-
versity and endowed research libraries. 

O n e may w e l l , for example, raise questions 
about the educational accomplishment of 
members of governing boards. A very large 
percentage (72 per cent) hold earned bache-
lor's degrees; a still higher percentage show 
educational achievement beyond the high 
school. F r o m the point of v i e w of improving 
financial support generally, and salary scales 
f o r librarians in particular, may it not be 
desirable to have larger numbers of board 
members with an educational background 
which has demanded more extensive and 
serious use of libraries such as is implied in 
any p r o g r a m of g r a d u a t e study? A g a i n , one 
notes that the age-level data places most 
board members in college some thirty to 
f o r t y years ago, in a period w e l l before li-
braries assumed their enlarged role in the 
instructional program. 

A s one reads in D r . Beck's book of the 
numerous and varied business, institutional, 
and charity activities in which individual 
board members engage, he is inclined to ques-
tion w h e t h e r the paucity of time and en-
ergies l e f t f o r a college or university w o u l d 
not of necessity result in superficial interest. 
W i t h all of these activities (p. 105-06), board 
members can hardly be expected to attain a 
w o r k i n g aquaintance w i t h the aims, opera-
tions, and needs of one part of a u n i v e r s i t y — 
its library. It w o u l d be interesting to know 
how frequently, if at all, members of govern-

274 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



ing boards have visited the libraries directly 
or indirectly under their jurisdiction. W h a t 
image do trustees have of their l i b r a r i a n s ? 
D o they think of them as the book-fetching 
and date-stamping set one met at a public li-
b r a r y desk in the days of y o r e ? 

I t may be a r g u e d that there is little per-
tinence in these questions because g o v e r n i n g 
boards are but rubber-stamping agencies f o r 
the college president's decisions. D r . B e c k 
points out that this is f a r f r o m true especially 

in m a t t e r s of budget allocation. T r u s t e e 
interference in the m a t t e r of appointments 
must also be taken into account: T h e r e is 
also the question of academic f r e e d o m w h i c h 
has on occasion reared its ugly head in the 
annals of librarianship. F o r those w h o s e 
p r i m a r y interest is in endowed research li-
braries, the problems w h i c h are discussed in 
this book must have even g r e a t e r immediacy. 
—Sidney Ditzion, College of the City of New 
York Library. 

International Exchanges 

American Library Association. Board of Re-
sources of American Libraries and Inter-
national Relations Board: Conference on 
International Cultural, Educational and 
Scientific Exchanges, Princeton University, 
November 25-26, 1947. Preliminary Mem-
oranda. Recommendations Adopted; 
Summary of Discussion. B y E d w i n E . 
W i l l i a m s [ a n d ] R u t h V . N o b l e . C h i c a g o , 
A m e r i c a n L i b r a r y Association, 1947. xxii, 
2 I O p . 

In the autumn of 1839 there a r r i v e d in the 
U n i t e d States a F r e n c h m a n "of rather under 
the medium size, spare, w i t h long hair, 
sparkling eyes, and an energy of gesticulation 
w h i c h , " said a contemporary, " a c c o r d s w e l l 
w i t h his animated countenance." T h i s man 
w a s imbued w i t h an idea, and it w a s admitted 
that " e v e r y b o d y w i t h w h o m he converses be-
comes enlisted in his project, nor is it possi-
ble to w i t h s t a n d his earnest arguments, which 
evidently come direct f r o m the h e a r t . " T h e 
subject of this description w a s A l e x a n d r e 
V a t t e m a r e , and his idea w a s to promote the 
international exchange of publications. " I n -
telligence diffused and e v e r y w h e r e a c c e s s i b l e ! " 
w a s his battle cry. T h e a r t of printing, 
through w h i c h intelligence is diffused and 
made accessible, w a s f o r him nothing less 
than " t h a t mighty engine which has estab-
lished the f u t u r e liberty of the human r a c e . " 
H is o w n j o b w a s to promote the diffusion and 
the accessibility. 

T h e story of the immediate and enduring 
benefits to A m e r i c a n scholarship w h i c h re-
sulted f r o m V a t t e m a r e ' s visit composes a 
w e l l - k n o w n chapter in A m e r i c a n l i b r a r y his-
tory (it is s u m m a r i z e d and adequately docu-

mented in the w o r k under n o t i c e ) , and his 
memorial to C o n g r e s s in 1839 is o f t e n cited. 
T h e present w o r k promises to become a land-
m a r k of at least equal prominence. Super-
ficially, it is the record of a t w o day c o n f e r -
ence at Princeton in the autumn of 1946, at-
tended by t h i r t y - t w o librarians and others, to 
discuss the w h o l e m a t t e r of exchanges. T h e 
idea f o r the conference and the supporting 
studies w a s originally conceived by C a r l H . 
M i l a m . T h e meeting w a s sponsored by the 
B o a r d on R e s o u r c e s and the I n t e r n a t i o n a l R e -
lations B o a r d of the A m e r i c a n L i b r a r y A s s o -
ciation. T h e preliminary w o r k as w e l l as the 
publication of the results w e r e made possible 
by the C a r n e g i e C o r p o r a t i o n . T h a t the con-
ference w a s related to the w o r k of U N E S C O 
is evident f r o m its title. ( A c t u a l l y , since the 
interest of the conference w a s restricted to 
library exchanges, the title is a trifle mislead-
ing.) T h e c h a r t e r of U N E S C O specifically 
mentions international exchanges as one of the 
objects w h i c h it w i l l promote in the interest 
of peace. T h e question put to the Princeton 
conference, t h e r e f o r e , w a s " h o w the highly 
significant aims can be most effectively 
achieved." 

T o the P r i n c e t o n conferees the subject of 
exchanges w a s no longer the simple m a t t e r 
that it w a s to V a t t e m a r e . In the one hundred 
nine y e a r s which have elapsed since the pub-
lication of his memorial, the simple concept 
of exchange of publications has become en-
tangled w i t h a multitude of dependent and 
ancillary considerations. I t is a chief merit 
of the present w o r k that it has assembled, 
disentangled, and b r o u g h t order into these 
v a r i o u s considerations. T h e lapse of time has 

JULY, 1948 •275