College and Research Libraries By MORRIS A. GELFAND The College Librarian in the Academic Community! Mr. Gelfand is librarian~ Queens College. T HE position of the college librarian in the academic community can be clearly defined if there is real understanding and genuine acceptance by coll~ge administra- tors, classroom teachers and librarians, of the aims and purposes of the college. An understanding of the educational role of the library, as an instructional department whose main purpose is to further these aims and purposes, is also important. As an educational agency of the college, the library complements and supplements the work of the teacher in the classroom by serving as a center for some of the most important materials of instruction. In the selection and organization of these materi- als the library staff works closely with its colleagues in the classrooms and acquaints itself thoroughly with the curriculum. Further, through its professional person- nel, the library offers personal services in the form of guidance, counsel, and in- struction, which, when fully utilized, oc- cupy an important place in the education o-f the studeny-and perhaps in the educa- tional development Qf faculty colleagues as well. If it is agreed that the primary purpose of the college- library is to further the edu- cational program of the college and that the duties of the librarian and the pro- fessional members of his staff are basically 1 Paper presented at the Conference of Eastern Col- lege Librarians, Columbia University, Nov. 27, 1948. APRIL~ 1949 instructional in nature (or should be) , it should follow that the librarian and those of his staff who are qualified to perform their individual roles as professional li-. brarians should have the status of members of the instructional2 staff of the college . . The instructional character of librarians' duties and their educational preparation has been recognized in the status accorded librarians in a number of well known col- leges and universities. At the University of Illinois, in I 944, the professional staff was removed from civil service and granted academic status.3 Academic titles such as instructor or assistant profes~or are given to all professional positions (although such titles are actually employed only by staff members who teach) and salary scales now correspond with those of the teaching staff. At Stephens College, Columbia, Mo., all professional members of the library staff are regarded as faculty and the chief li- brarian is also Dean of Instruction.4 This is an unusual case but one that indicates acceptance of librarians as teachers and in- tegration in a high degree between the 2 It has been suggested that "academic" would be a more s uitable term than "instructional" in this con- nection. My use of "instructional" arises from my experience in the municipal colleges of the City of New York. These colleges are governed by the by-laws of the New York City Board of Higher Education in which all ranks of professional librarians are defined as members of "the instructional staff of the colleges." (See: New York (City) · Board of Higher Education. By-laws of the Board of Higher Education of the City of New York. August 1939. p.12, Section 10ra.) a Downs, Robert B. "Academic Status for Univer- sity Librarians-a New Approach." College and Re- search Libraries 7:6-9, January 1946. 4 Johnson, B . Lamar and · Lindstrom, Eloise, ~ds. The Librarian and the Teacher in General Educahon: a Report of Library-Instructional Activities at Steph- ens College. Cl1icago, A.L.A., 1948. 129 library and the classroom. Professional librarians of all ranks on the staffs of the municipal colleges of the City of New York are members of the instructional staff and have voting privileges in the faculty coun- cil.5 These are but a few of the many examples that can be cited to demo~strate recognition of library staffs as instructional personnel. Unfortunately this recognition is too of- ten limited to the chief librarian and one or two of his principal assistants. In some cases where the entire professional staff is classified as instructional it generally does not receive salaries and privileges compar- able to those of classroom teachers. These subject of their faculty colleagues and the college administration; 2. The degree of participation by librarians in the work of college committees and other college organizations and their opinions con- cerning the value of such participation; 3· The status of the professional library staff with regard to the standing of the li- brarian as a responsible administrative and educational officer and the rank and salary given to the librarian and his professional staff; 4· The librarian and the faculty. This is my report. It is offered only as an informal indication of present day con- ditions in some eastern college libraries. The replies are regarded only as suggestive Table I Status of the Library in the College Opinions of Librarians Faculty Members (according to Librarians) College Administration (according to Librarians) Library Is an Instructional Dept. '25 19 15 observations and others stem from data collected in a brief survey initiated oy the writer in October 1948. The survey was designed to elicit information concerning the present day status of librarians in east- ern · college libraries. A questionnaire was sent to 70 chief librarians in liberal arts colleges, teachers colleges, and a few small universities. The first 50 replies were tabulated and studied. Questions were asked on the following points: 1. Whether librarians regarded the library .as an instructional or administrative agency ·an"d their opinion of the attitudes on this 5 Bousfield, Humphrey G. "College Libraries with Dual Roles." College and Research Libraries 9 :25·32, January 1948. The latest of several articles written about the libraries · of the municipal colleges of the City of New York during the last few years. Library Is an Library Is No Combination Administrative of lnst. and Opinion Dept. Admin. Dept. 6 17 '2 15 10 6 16 IJ 6 of the conditions one might expect to find more generally. The sampling is too small and the method used is unsuitable for a statistically reliable conclusion. The Status of. the Library in the College Fifty per cent of the librarians polled regard the library as an instructional de- partment (Table I) ; 34 per cent look upon it as a combination of the instruc- tional and administrative, while 12 per cent believe the library is an administra- tive agency. A most revealing statement comes from Florence L. King, librarian of Wellesley College. She writes: "Is it as easy as 'either, or?' Isn't the library a department functioning as an ad- ministrative unit throu.gh an organization of 130 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES resources and personnel serving educational goals? ... As a department, isn't the library organized for services in the interests of edu- cational goals? Consequently, instruction formal and informal, direct and indirect, is included in the service program. The degree to w h ich the department's services are in- st wctional in nature depends upon the degree of libra ry-curricular integration, does it not? T he achievement of goals is related to the conc~pts of the library administrator ( s), a nd t he application of administrative policy, and t he consequent functioning of the depart- men t as an administrative unit." In agreement with Miss King are other librarians who find it difficult to draw a line between the administrative and in- structional functions of the library. It seems clear enough, however, that rela- tively few librarians regard the library as an administrative agency in the same sense as, let us say, the president's office, the bursar's office, or the registrar's office. Librarians generally regard the manage- ment of a library as administrative but the function of the work performed as instruc- tional. Faculty members and college administra- tors, according to the librarians reported here, are more divided- in their opinions concerning the status of the library. Of the faculties, 38 per cent regard the library as an instructional department; 20 per cent as a combination of the instructional and the administrative; 30 per cent look upon the library as administrative. Among the administrators, 30 per cent look upon the library as an instructional department; 26 p~r cent believe it is a combination of the instructional and administrative; and · 32 per cent regard it as an administrative de- partment. One librarian · reports: "We consider ourselves instructional with a cer- tain hybrid taint of administrative. The faculty and the administration do npt tend to think of us as a department at all-but more as subject to the dictates of 200 in- APRIL~ 1949 \ dividuals of faculty status." If these re- ports are generally indicative of attitudes throughout the country it would not be difficult to explain why so many administra- tors still seem to regard librarians as high grade clerks. Committees and Organizations Served Relatively few librarians serve on any of the important college committees, other than the library committee. Ninety per cent serve on t he library committee: 32 per cent as chairman, a few as secretary. Al- most one-third serve on the executive council of deans and administrative offi- cers; about one-fourth serve on the facult y council or senate. A surprisingly small number, seven, or 14 per cent, are on the curriculum committee. . Thirty per cent serve on the library building committee where one is in existen.ce. On other committees where librarians might be presumed to be competent to make a contribution there is very small repre- sentation. These include the publications committee, the personnel and budget com- mittee, the graduate committee, the re- search committee. Twenty-two per cent serve on committees dealing with public functions and ceremonial occasions. Very few library staff members serve on committees according to this survey. When asked to account -for this condition, librari- ans report in several instances that the nonfaculty status is the principal cause. Others indicat-e that staff members are "too busy" or "too young and inexperi- enced." One librari'an comments: "Largely a matter of loc~l habit. Faculty male, li- brary staff two-thirds female." Degree of Participation in Committee Work Participation in committee work ranges from ualmost negligible" to 20-25 per cent 131 , of the librarian's time. One-half of the librarians who report say that tqey spend from less than one per cent to five per cent of their time on committees and in other faculty activities. Among the remainder, six report spending IO per cent; five, more than 14 per cent while the others say that they spend six per cent, seven per cent, and 12 per cent respectively. It would appear that among the librarians who report rela- tively few are overburdened with commit- tee work. Relative Importance of Committees According to this survey, librarians be- lieve membership on the following com- mittees to be most important, taking into consideration the contribution they are com- petent to make and the benefits to be gained for the library. Listed in the order of their importance according to the frequency with which they are mentioned they are: Per Cent Library Committee ........... ~ ..... So Library Building Committee ......... 52 Curriculum Committee ........ . .... 40 Library Fund Raising Committee .... 34 Executive Council .................. 32 Faculty Council : ................... 28 Research Committee ............... 22 Graduate Committee .............. . 22 These findings agree in part with those of Barcus6 who, reporting the opinions of 52 librarians concerning the incidental duties of the college librarian, says: "The conceiJ.sus would seem to be that the li- brarian of a college or university, apart from his 'regular duties,' will profit through membership on those committees whose pro- ceedings affect the library most closely- chiefly, the library committee itself, the executive council, the curriculum commit- tee, and the committee on publications." In 6 Barcus, Thoma s R. " Incidental Duties of the Col- lege Librarian." College and Res earch Libraries 7 : I 4- 2 3, January 19,46. the present survey librarians regar d the publications committee as of secondar y im- portance. There is some doubt as to ho~~ librarians reporting interpret the executive council and the faculty council. If these two organizations are regarded as sim ilar in function the combined vote for t hem would indicate agreement with Bal'cus ' findings. As to the value of committee work gen- erally and the contribution the lib rarian might be competent to make, one lib r arian states: "The main contribution of the li- brarian may be his ability to see the whole academic picture, whereas so many profes- sors cannot look beyond the vested interests of their departments." 1 The Librarian as a Responsible 0 /ficer In 68 per cent of the libraries reporting, the librarians haye equal status with aca- demic department heads (Table 2). Many of these librarians, however, are also considered on the same plane with ad- ministrative officers of the college. Ten per cent of the librarians report equal status with deans. These, as might be expected, are generally in the larger colleges and in universities. Table II Status of the Librarian in the College The Librarian Has Yes No No Equal Status with Opinion Deans 5 18 27 Academic Dept. Heads 34 7 9 Administrative Officers (Bursar, Registrar, etc.) 20 5 25 Rank and Salary This is an area of great confusion: 72 per cent of the chief librarians hold aca- demic rank and of this number 56 per cent receive the same salary or more than teach- 1 Felix E. Hirsch, librarian , Bard College. 132 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES , ing faculty of the same rank. Among those who hold academic rank I 9 are professors; ro are associate professors; six are assist-· ant professors; and one is an instructor. In 24 per cent of the libraries reporting, faculty rank is accorded all professional members of the library staff. The following conditions are found among reporting libraries: 1. In most cases where faculty rank is ac- corded, it is given to the librarian and one or two of his principal assistants. 2. Librarians have faculty rank (probably for payroll purposes) but do not have . ac- ademic titles. 3· Librarians have faculty status but re- ceive lower salaries than those paid to class- room teachers of comparable rank. 4· Librarians have academic titles but re- ceive lower salaries than those paid to class- room teachers with the same titles. 5· Librarians receive the same salaries as classroom teachers but have no academic status. In general, the reports indicate, library staff salaries are lower than those for the faculty. Here are a few reports that indicate the wide diversity of practices in regard to rank and salary: Vassar: "The librarian and members of the library staff in charge of major divisions of the library have academic rank proper to the scale on which their salaries are based. Staff may attend faculty meetings but only the librarian has suffrage." Franklin and Marshall: "Librarian and assistant librarian have no specified rank but attend faculty meetings and have vote." Wellesley: "Only the librarian and three research librarians have faculty status. These librarians are in the academic proces- sion as assistant professors although rank does not appear in any official listing." Smith: "Librarian and assistant librarians are faculty members. All members of the staff are entitled to join teachers insurance and annuity pension plan. All members are welcomed as members of the faculty club." Pennsylvania State: "Library staff mem- APRILJ 1949 hers are classed as 'academic' but do not have equivalent titles to match the teaching faculty." New Jersey State Teachers College, Montclair: "Librarian, audio-visual depart- ment head and demonstration high school librarian are classified as instructor; pro- fessional assistants are classified as assistant instructor. Others are classified in the state civil service." Municipal colleges, City of New York: "Librarians of the ranks assistant librarian to librarian are paid on the same salary scale as classroom teachers. Library assistants, the lowest ranking professionals and the most numerous, are paid on a separate schedule- lower than instructors. Lafayette: "Head librarian's salary that of full prof.essor; other professionals receive salaries betw.een those of instructor and full professor." Wesleyan: "On a cor,pp'a~ative rank basis library salaries are three or more lower. This differential is in our case partly due to the fact that our faculty and student body are entirely masculine, the library staff almost entirely feminine." The Librarian and the Faculty Most of the librarians reporting believe it is one of the primary responsi~ilities of the library to keep the faculty and some administrative officers informed about new books, developments in educational prob- lems, bibliographies, changes in library policy and rules, and kindred subjects in which the faculty may be presumed to .have an interest. They use various means to inform the faculty. These include: news sheets, bulletin board notices, informal re~ ports at meetings; lists of new accessions, annual reports to the president. Brooklyn College Library is a good example of a library in which this responsibility is taken seriously. It publishes: a faculty library handbook, an audio-visual bu.lletin, a list of recent accessions and library news items, and through committees, informally and formally, it finds ways to keep the faculty well informed. 133 Summary .and Conclusions from Survey This survey, however inconclusive from a statistical standpoint, suggests that the following conditions probably prevail to- day in many eastern college libraries: I. Librarians are not in complete agree- ment as to the fundamental character . of the library; that is, whether it is an administrative or an instructional agency, or a department in which are combined the functions of both. College administrators and teachers are even less in agreement on this subject. 2. Except for the library committee, rela- tively few chief librarians serve on the most important college committees. 3· Library staff members rarely serve on any college committees of importance. 4· Librarians spend relatively- little time on committee work and other faculty activi- ties. 5· Librarians consider only a few of the numerous faculty committees and organiza- tions important, either from the viewpoint of the welfare of the library or in terms of the contribution they can make to them. Of these committees the curriculum committee is considered a most important one but rela- tively few librarians are appointed to it. 6. As a responsible administrative and edu- cational officer the librarian ranks equally with academic department heads in the ma- jority of the libraries polled. In many instances he also ranks equally with adminis- trative officers like the bursar, registrar, and others, and in a fe w cases he is of equal rank with the dean. 7. In the area of rank and salary there is little uniformity of treatment as regards li- brarians and classroom teacliers. Academic .status is often given the librarian and an associate or assistant librarian or two , but the professional staffs as a whole generally do not receive academic status. Academic status when granted has not usually brought with it the same salary scales for librarians and classroom teachers. In some colleges librarians may vote in the faculty but they have neither rank nor faculty status. In too many colleges librarians' salaries are lower than teachers' salaries for comparable ranks. 8. Librarians generally recognize a primary responsibility to keep the faculty informed about new books, new developments m edu- cation, and in other subjects in which the faculty may be interested. This responsibility is fulfilled in many ways, formal and informal. How Can the Status of Librarians Be Im- proved ? The position of college librarians can be improved by the establishment of a sound policy governing the status of the library and the library staff. 8 Under the most desirable circumstances this policy would be formulated by the administration with the advice and consent of the library staff. Such a policy should make provision for a clear statement of the educational aims and purposes of the college; the relation of the librarian to the administration; a defini- tion of library resources and an assignment to the ~ibrarian of responsibility for these resources, wherever they may be located and however acquired. This policy should also provide a statement of the duties and re- sponsibilities of the librarian. Fu~ther, there should be provision for a library com- mittee and a clear statement that it should advise and inform, rather than administer and execute. Finally, there should be a clear definition of the relationship of the librarian and the library staff to the ad- ministrative and educational units of the collegy In this definition I should hope to see the library staff unequivocally charac- terized as instructional in nature and en- titled in so far as it is possibleJ to all the privileges of the instructional staf:V As instructional personnel all lib r.a'rians from the chief librarian to the lowest rank- ing professional assistant should be accepted fully as members of the instructional or academic staff of the college. As far as it is practicableJ they should receive salaries corresponding with those of the classroom (Continu ed on page IJ9) 8 I have u sed as a basis for m y su ggestions on_ policy mak ing the excellent statement contain ed in: Wil son, L ou is R., Kuhl m an , A. F ., a nd L yle, Gu y R. R eport of a S14r vey of the University of F lorida library f or the University of F lorida. Chicago, A.L.A. , 19 4 0. pp . I7·I8 . 134 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES Journal of Applied Physiology. 2IOI Constitution Ave., Washington 25. v.I, no.I, July I948. Monthly. $7.50. $8.so foreign. . Journal of Legal Education. Duke Station, Durham, N.C. v.I, no.I, Autumn I948. Quarterly. Free? J ot,rnal of Range Management. American Society of Range Management, Mt. Royal and Guilford Aves., Baltimore 2 . v.I, no.I, October I948. Quarterly. $3.00. Korean Review. Thomas Kang, 445 Quincy St., N.W., Washington. v.I, no.I, June I948. Semiannual. $1. Le Livre. I I 6 Boulevard St. Germain, Paris 6. no. I, May I948. IO nos. a year. $4. Lusitiinia. R. Actor Jose Ricardo, 3, r/c, Lisbon. v.1, no.1, May 1948. Monthly. 18o$oo . The Micro News . National Microfilm Association, I9 Lafayette Ave., Hingham, Mass. v.I, no.I, March 1948. Bimonthly. Price not given. The Microcard Bulletin. The Microcard Foundation, Middletown, Conn. no.I, · June I948. Quarterly? Free? Die Mtuikforschung. Barenreiter-Verlag, Kassel. v .1, no. I, I948. 4 nos. a year . Mk. 24. N atU?·wissens£ haftlic he Rundschau. Wi ssenschaftliche Verlagsgesellschaft m.b.H., Stuttgart. v.I, no.1, July 1948. Monthly. Mk. 7.20. N eurotica. The Neurotica Publishing Co., 44380 Olive St., St. Louis 8. v.1, no .1 , Spring I948. Quarterly. $2. The New Central Et,ropean Observer. 35 Pond St., London , S.W.I. V.I., no.1, May IS, I948. Biweekly. $4. . North Carolina Folklore. The University of North Carolina, Box Ioso, Chapel Hill. v.I, no.I, June 1948. Frequency not given. $·2. Oklahoma Law Review. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman. v.1, no.I, May I948. Quarterly. $s. Pakistan Horizon.. Pakistan In stitute of International Affairs, Fere Hall, Karachi, v. I, no. I, March I948. Frequency not given . Rs. 8. Personnel Psychology. 1727 Harvard St., N.W., Wash- ington g. v.1, no.1, Spring I948. Quarterly $6. Foreign $7. Physics Today . American Institute of Physics, 57 East ssth St., New York 22 . v . 1, no.I, May I948. Monthly $4. Plant and Soil. Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague. v.I, no.1, January I948. 4 nos . a year. Guilders 20. Poesi. Wahlstrom & Widstrand, Regeringsgatan 83, Stockholm. no.1, I948. 4 nos. a year. Free to mem- bers of Lyriksamfundet. Prisma. P. A. Norstedt & Soners Forlag, Stockholm. v. I, no. I, I948. 6 nos. a year. kr. I4. The r,Juarterly Jot,rnal of E~perimental Psychology. W. Heffer & Sons, Ltd., Cambridge, Eng. v.I, pt.I, April I948. £ I IO s. Revista de Economia. Eurico Colares Vieira, Apartado no. I42, Lisbon. v.I, no.I, March I948. Quarterly, ss$oo. La Revtte du Chef d'Entreprise . Editions Ocia, 3 Rue Cardinal Mercier, Paris. no.I, I948. Monthly. 6oo frs. Der Stadtetag. W. Kohlhammer Verlag, Stuttgart. v.I, no. 0 , July/August 1948. Monthly. Price not given . The Swan of Avon. The Melander Shakespeare So- ciety, Santa Barbara, Calif. v.I, no.I, March 30, I948. Quarterly. Price not given. Taiwania. Laboratory of Systematic Botany, Dept. of Botany, College of Science, Natiqnal Taiwan Uni- versity, Taipei, Taiwan, China. v.I, no.r, May I948. Irregular. $7. Wald 1md W ild. Lothar Sauer-Morhard Verlag, Wiirz- berg. v.I, no. 0 , September IS, I948. Monthly. Mk. I ~ . World Politics. Yale Institute of International Studies, 202 Hall of Graduate Studies, Yale University, New Haven. v.I, no.1, October I948. Quarterly. $s. ' World Trade Review. American Register World Trade Review, I70 Broadway, New York 7. v.1, no .1 , February I948. Monthly. $1.50. Yo1tr Human Relations. Public Relations, Inc., 522 :;th Ave., New York, I8. v.I, no.I, January 1948. Monthly $s. Foreign $IS . Zeitschrift fur Angewandte Physik. Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg. v.I, no .I , January I948. Monthly. Mk. z!it~~hrift fur Elektrotechnik. Ferdinand Enke, Stutt- gart. v.I, no.I ," April 1948. Frequency not givep. Price not given . Zeitschrift f ur Religions- und Geistesgeschichte. El- wert-Grafe und Unzer Verlag, Marburg. v.1, no.1, .I948. Quarterly. Mk. 6 per issue. The College Librarian in the Academic Community (Continued from page 134) teaching staff, and they should be accorded the same privileges as all teaching staff with respect to tenure, sabbaticals, salary incre- ments, and retirement. They should re- ceive generous vacation allowances and spe- cial arrangements should be made, when possible, to permit them to pursue graduate studies. Library staff members should be invited to participate in those faculty and general college committees on which they are qualified to make a contribution. As head of an important instructional depart- ment the chief librarian should enjoy equal status with other instructional department heads. In those instances where the li- brary is large and its resources and services APRIL~ 1949 warrant, he should be given equal status with deans and other high administrative officers. These suggestions may shock some college administrators and even a few col- lege librarians. They are submitted in friendly and constructive spirit as . logical conclusions to be drawn from acceptance of the position that college libraries are im- portant educational agencies and their pro- fessional staffs are clearly instructional personnel. Given equal status with other instructional personnel the college library staffs can be expected to participate actively and effectively in the affairs of the college and to contribute in high degree toward the attainment of its aims and purposes. 139