College and Research Libraries By ROBERT H. MULLER The Selection of Daily Newspapers for a: College Library Dr. Muller is librarian, Bradley Uni, · versity. I N SELECTING daily newspapers, the college librarian is usually guided by tradition and by his personal ideas as to what con- stitutes a well-balanced representation.1 He tries to be fair in his selection by subscribing to the more conservative as well as to the less conservative papers. In the Middle West, if it is a choice between the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Daily News, he is likely to select both. To demonstrate his lack of bias, he may even add the Chi- ·cago Sun and Times, the tabloid in which the Chicago Sun was buried early in I948. When it comes to PM* or' the Daily Worker, the librarian of a typical medium- sized or small college is likely to be more cautious. I In order to ascertain what newspapers students and faculty wished to see in the library of a fairly typical medium-sized urban college, a questionnaire was submitted to a representative sample of the student body and to all members of the faculty of Bradley University in December I947· Bradley University had an enrolment of 3 I28 full-time students and a full-time faculty of I25. It is located in Peoria, a city of over Ioo,ooo population, roughly midway between Chicago and St. Louis, in the "heart" . of Illinois. t Cf. Lyle, Guy R., The Administration of the College Library. New York, Wilson, 1945, p . 387. * Now the New York Star. JANUARY, 1949 The student sample numbered 373, or about I2 per cent of the student body. The sample was designed to show the same dis- tribution as the university population; that is, 30 per cent freshman, 43 per cent sopho- mores, I 7 per cent juniors, IO per cent seniors. There were 82 men for every I 7 women, which was about the same as the division in the total student body ( 8 5 :I 5). The sample was obtained through classes in American history, chemistry, philosophy, and sociology. The faculty questionnaire was returned by 8o out of I25 faculty members ( 64 per cent). Since the responses were anonymous · and there was no follow-up, it was im- possible to determine how representative the sample was in terms of subject special- ization, age, length of residence, etc.; but it seemed large enough to be . reliable, and there was no reason to doubt it to be repre- sentative of the faculty as a whole. The following question was asked: "If you could choose only three daily news- papers, which of the following would you like to see in Bradley's library? Indicate your preferences by numbering I, 2, and 3." The list included ten titles. Another· question asked what daily newspapers had been regularly or occasionally read by the respondent during the past six months. Table I summarizes the responses, without making a distinction between first, second, and third choices. The New York Times was selected by more students and more faculty members 27 Table 1 Newspapers Selected and Read by Students and Faculty Selected for Library Read by by These Percentages of: These Percentages of: Newspaper Students Faculty Students Faculty (N =373) (N =8o) (N =373) (N =So) - - ----- New York T imes 65 84 '25 48 Chicago Tribune 50 38 So 65 Ch icago Daily News 35 '26 36 38 Chicago Suns. '29 16 51 40 Chicago Herald-American 17 3 '28 I I (Hearst) Christian Science Mon itor 17 38 7 '26 St. Louis Post-Dispatchh '2'2 ' zo 8 '21 PM (New York) II 14 7 15 Peoria 'Journal (Eve.) 33 34 81 76 Peoria Star (Morn.) 2.'2 '21 70 51 a Merged with the Chicago Times to form the Chicago Sun and Times , after the questionnaire was taken. The Chicago Time s, (a tabloid) ha d been omitted from the list of choices since it was considered to be of negligible appeal in Central Illinois in 19 4 7, a fact borne out by a survey of newspapers received in Illinois college libraries (Table 6). b Only one St. Louis paper was included among the choices, largely in order to test the relative cultural dependence of Peoria upon St. Louis as against Chicago. than was any other paper. The Christian Science Monitor won a higher proportion of votes from the faculty than from stu- dents, whereas the opposite was true of the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago S~n. The Chicago Sun had much less appeal than the Chicago Tribune among students as well as faculty. The appeal of the Hearst paper was negligible among the faculty. The Chicago Daily News was moderately popular with both groups. Local papers were chosen by equal propor- tions of students and faculty, the somewhat more conservative paper (Peoria Star) re- ceiving slightly fewer votes from both groups. The only St. Louis paper included received fewer votes than most Chicago papers, reflecting Peoria's closer ties to Chicago. Very few votes went to PM, either because it was relatively unknown or because of its leftist editorial policy. Comparisons between selections for the library and actual reading were revealing. Apart from the local papers, which, of course, were read more widely than out- of-town papers, the Chicago Tribune occu- pied the highest position for students and faculty. Nevertheless, only a little over one-half of the Tribune readers thought that the Tribune should be in the library. The same tendency was observed for the Chicago Sun and the Chicago Herald- A merican. TheN ew York Times, and the Christian Science Monitor, on the other hand, showed exactly the opposite tendency, with about twice as many votes for their being selected for the library as the pro- portions of their actual readers. Such tend- encies reflect the high prestige of these latter two papers and also perhaps the fact that what people recommend for others is not necessarily what they prescribe for themselves. In Tables 2 and 3, actual figures for first, second, and third choices are shown in detail. Among students, the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune were over- whelmingly first choices, whereas among the faculty only the New York Times re- ceived a preponderant number of first choices as compared to second and third choices. To portray relative popularity, a total score was computed for each newspaper as 28 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES Table 2 Students' Choices of Newspapers (N=373) Newspaper 1St New York Times 102 Chicago Tribune 78 Chicago Daily News 30 Peoria 'Journal 43 Chicago Sun 20 Peoria Star 27 St. Louis Post-Dispatch 20 Christian Science Monitor 15 Chicago Herald-American 12 PM (New York) 10 follows: First choices were multiplied by an arbitrary weight of 3, second choices by a weight of 2, and third choices by a weight of I. Adding these products yielded a total score, on the basis of which the rank order of each newspaper was de- termined. Table 4 shows the ranks of each newspaper; they reflect popularity among students and faculty. Such a table could serve as a p~actical aid to college librarians whose duties include the selection of newspaper subscriptions. It shows clearly how student opinion differs from faculty opinion 2 and what newspapers would be most severely missed if the library 2 Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was +.SI. Choices Total 2nd 3rd 78 61 241 64 45 187 54 44 128 41 39 123 38 so 108 30 26 83 24 38 82 32 18 6s 31 20 63 13 r6 39 carried no subscriptions to them. It is not implied that such a ranking should automatically dictate the choice of subscriptions. It should merely serve as an operational guide. To be specific, a librarian may be convinced that the Chicago Herald-American or PM is the best news- paper; but in choosing either one, Table 4 will tell him how far his selection deviates from popular opinion. He may not wish to meet popular demand, but in deciding not to meet it, a sample survey as outlined in this paper will indicate the risk he is taking. Such knowledge will be of great value in his public relations program. Table 3 Newspaper New York Times Chicago Tribune Christian Science Monitor Peoria 'Journal Chicago Daily News Peoria Star St. Louis Post-Dispatch Ch icago Sun PM (New York) Chicago Herald-American Faculty's Choices of Newspapers* (N=8o) Choices 1St 2nd 33 26 4 21 3 19 6 15 I 16 3 9 I . 4 3 7 3 6 2 Total 3rd ------- -- 8 67 6 31 8 30 6 27 4 21 5 I7 II 16 3 13 2 II 2 *When a respondent failed to indicate preferences among his t hree choices, all his selections were counted as second choices. JANUARY~ 1949 29 Table 4 Newspaper Selections Ranked by Weighted Score Totals* Rank Newspaper Students Faculty New York Times I Chicago Tribune 2 3 Peoria Journal 3 2 Chicago Daily News 4 5 Chicago Sun 5 7 Peoria Star 6 6 St. Louis Post-Dispatch 7 9 Christian Science Mon itor 8 4 Chicago Herald-American 9 IO PM IO 8 • A first choice received a weigh t of 3; a second choice a weight of 2; a third choice a weight of 1. Score totals reflect degree of popularity. II There is always a strong temptation to base recommendations and policies on what other institutions are doing. To show how closely such external evidence agrees with the evidence gathered from the kind of opinion survey described in the first part of this paper, the subscription lists of a sample of four-year colleges accredited by the North Central Association were studied. Of th~ 28 Illinois colleges that were asked to submit their lists, 25 responded. The average number of subscriptions carried by the group was 5 (both mean and median) . 3 The distribution is shown in Table 5. This table excludes specialized dailies (such as the Drover's Journal or the Chicago 1 ournal of Commerce) and foreign-lan- guage newspapers, but includes local news- papers of the town in which a particular college is located. 4 Table 6 indicates for each newspaper how many Illinois college libraries were receiv- ing it. When studying this table, it should be borne in mind that not all the colleges 3 Thi s figure is much smaller than the averages obtained in the surveys by Gable. (Gable, J. H., Manual of Serials Work. Chicago, American Library Association , 1937, pp. 176-77.) 4 Th ere was one atypical college which subscribed to a large number of local papers of town s in its region; these local papers were not counted. Table 5 Frequencies of Newspaper Subscriptions .n 25 Colleges in Illinois Number of Daily Newspapers Received Number of Libraries 0 ............. . ............... 3 I- 4· .. ....... . .. . ..... ... ....... 6 5- 6 ....... .. ..... .. .. ... ........ 9 7-I3 . · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 7 Total . .. ... ; .. ... . .. .. .. .. .... . 25 are located close to Chicago, and that col- leges in Southern Illinois are more likely to receive St. Louis papers than those in northern sections, whereas at least one Chi- cago paper is likely to be r_eceived by almost every college in Illinois. Table 6 Distribution of Newspaper Subscriptions in 22* Colleges in Illinois Newspaper Number of Colleges Receiving New York Times. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Christian Science Monitor. . . ..... . . . . . . 17 Chicago Tribune. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Chicago Sun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I 5 Chicago Daily News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I4 St. Louis Post-Dispatch ... . . ,....... . ... 9 PM .. ... .... ............... ..... .... 4 St. Louis Globe-Democrat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 New York Herald-Tribune . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Chicago Herald-American . .......... . . . Washington Post ...... ......... .. . .. . . Illino is State Journal (Springfield) . .... . Des Moines Register .... . . .. . ... . .. ... . Dallas News ........................ . *The total number of responding libraries was 25, of which 3 carried no subscriptions to newspapers (cf. Table s)• Frequencies for the first five titles are so similar that no reliable conclusions as to relative popularity can be drawn. There appears no sharp discrepancy between Table 6 and Table 4, except with regard to the . Christian Science Monitor, which is highly 30 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES esteemed by the faculty and is received, probably as a gift, by nearly all libraries, despite its low popularity among students. The survey of newspaper subscriptions in Illinois college libraries revealed several additional facts: (I) The N eiv York Her- ald-Tribune, received by two libraries, was taken in addition to, rather than as a substitute of, the New York Times. (2) The only college subscribing to Hearst's Chicago Herald-American received also all the other Chicago dailies. ( 3) The St. Louis Post-Dispatch was more popular than the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. (4) Mo.st libraries receiving the Chicago Sun also re- ceived the Chicago Tribune. There were two colleges, however, where only· the Chicago Tribune was subscribed to, and one college where only the Chicago Sun was received. ( 5) Of the four libraries re- ceiving PM, three subscribed to eight addi- tional dailies each, which indicates that such luxury can apparently be afforded only · in the more prosperous libraries. The value of the public opinion approach to newspaper selection can be seen most clearly when studying institutions that re- ceive only four or fewer than four nonlocal newspapers. College A received only the New York Times,· College B, the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, and PM; College C, the Christian Science Monitor and the Chicago Sun; College D, theN ew York Times, the Christian Science M onitor.J the Chicago Daily News, and the Chicago Tribune; College E, only the Chi- cago Tribune and Chicago Sun. In all these cases, the question arises as to the soundness of the selection in terms of what the students and the faculty want. An opmwn survey might help to provide an answer. III Several studies have shown that most JANUARY.} 1949 adults read in order to reinforce their pre- dispositions.5 They do not usually read newspapers to have themselves converted to a new point of view. If a college library is to gain the support of its cons.tituents, it must necessarily provide opportunities for reinforcement of whatever view is repre- sented among students and faculty. But what of education? Is a college not sup- posed to expose the student only to the best and to shield him from the worst? To such questions there are no easy answers. College teachers would have to be in agree- ment as to what is good and what is worth- less. They would also have to decide whether exposing the young to disapproved ideas is dangerous, or whether such ex- posure might not be a useful . device for encouraging students to exercise and train their critical abilities. It seems that the most desirable type of education permits the student to make up his own mind. Indoctrination is effec- tive only on the surface. In a democracy we should vigorously oppose any deliberate blocking of the channels of communication. A college library should foster an atmos- phere of impartiality and free inquiry. As to the practical problem of selecting newspapers the college librarian should be guided primarily by what students and faculty want and by what they believe is good for them. Such preferences can be objectively ascertained, as was demonstrated in Part I of this paper. In addition, if funds permit, he should use his good judg- ment in providing as wide a selection of different editorial slants as possible to meet the needs of minority groups and to expose students to publications they may otherwise never have an opportunity to read. 5 Cf. Waples, Douglas, and others. What Rf'ading Does to People. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1942. 31