College and Research Libraries


B y R I C H A R D H . L O G S D O N 

Changes in Organisation at Columbia 
Dr. Logsdon is director of libraries, Co-

lumbia University. 

TH E D E S C R I P T I O N G I V E N B E L O W o f changes in organization and division of 
responsibility within the Columbia U n i v e r -
sity Libraries which went into effect J u l y I , 
1 9 5 3 is taken directly from the " B u l l e t i n " 
issued to the staff at that time. Present or-
ganization is shown on the accompanying or-
ganization chart. 

T H E P O S I T I O N OF A S S O C I A T E D I R E C T O R 

D I S C O N T I N U E D . T h e duties and responsibili-
ties of the positions of Director and Associ-
ate Director w i l l be carried by the now f u l l 
time position of Director and by the Assist-
ant Director and Supervising Librarians. 
Division of responsibility within the Office 
of the Director of Libraries w i l l be pre-
sented in more detail later in this statement. 

A S S I S T A N T D I R E C T O R O F T E C H N I C A L 

S E R V I C E S N O W A S S I S T A N T D I R E C T O R . T h e 

Assistant Director Technical Services w i l l 
drop the Technical Services part of his title, 
devoting f u l l time to sharing the w o r k of 
the Office of the Director of Libraries, in-
cluding f u l l responsibility in the absence of 
the Director. 

T H E C A T A L O G L I B R A R I A N W I L L R E P O R T 

TO T H E D I R E C T O R OF L I B R A R I E S rather than 
to the Assistant Director, Technical Serv-
ices, as previously. Administrative units 
within the Cataloging Division remain the 
same, i.e. ( 1 ) General C a t a l o g i n g ; ( 2 ) 
Serials C a t a l o g i n g ; ( 3 ) Processing; ( 4 ) 
L a w C a t a l o g i n g ; ( 5 ) M e d i c a l Cataloging. 

T H E S C O P E OF T H E A C Q U I S I T I O N S D E -

P A R T M E N T IS E N L A R G E D T O I N C L U D E B I N D -

I N G A N D P H O T O G R A P H I C S E R V I C E S . T h e 

acquisitions L i b r a r i a n w i l l have general re-

sponsibility for the w o r k of the Acquisitions 
Department as now constituted, the Binding 
Department, and the Department of Photo-
graphic Services. Accordingly, there w i l l 
be five units in this newly constituted divi-
sion, namely ( 1 ) Book O r d e r D i v i s i o n ; ( 2 ) 
G i f t s and E x c h a n g e s ; ( 3 ) Serials and 
Documents Acquisitions; ( 4 ) B i n d i n g ; ( 5 ) 
Photographic Services. T h e Acquisitions 
L i b r a r i a n w i l l report to the Director of 
Libraries. 

T H E L I B R A R Y OF T H E S C H O O L OF L I -

B R A R Y S E R V I C E IS N O W P A R T OF T H E D I V I -

SION OF S P E C I A L C O L L E C T I O N S , having been 
transferred from the B u t l e r Division. T h i s 
was done f o r three reasons: ( a ) the close 
relationship between Special Collections and 
the School of L i b r a r y Service L i b r a r y in 
their concern with and coverage of the 
Graphic A r t s and Book A r t s m a t e r i a l ; ( b ) 
the close geographical location and joint use 
of Deck 1 2 of the stacks; ( c ) a desire to 
utilize more f u l l y the space presently as-
signed to Special Collections and the L i -
brary School L i b r a r y . 

O T H E R C H A N G E S I N T H E B U T L E R D I V I -

S I O N . T h e responsibilities of the College 
Librarian w i l l be enlarged to include gen-
eral supervisory responsibility f o r the Philos-
ophy L i b r a r y and L e n d i n g Service. T h e 
bases f o r this change were three: ( a ) to 
achieve a more even distribution of responsi-
bility within the B u t l e r D i v i s i o n ; ( b ) the 
adjacent physical location; ( c ) to provide 
greater flexibility in the use of staff assigned, 
particularly during vacation and intersession 
periods. 

F O U R R E A D E R S ' S E R V I C E S D I V I S I O N S 

C O N T I N U E W I T H T H E S A M E I N T E R N A L O R -

G A N I Z A T I O N . T h e f o u r remaining divisions 

158 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



Columbia University Libraries Organization Chart 
July I, 1953 



of the Readers' Services, namely ( I ) Avery-
W a r e and associated Fine Arts Libraries; 
( 2 ) Engineering and Physical Sciences Li-
braries; ( 3 ) L a w and International L a w 
Libraries; ( 4 ) Medical and Natural Sci-
ences Libraries will continue to operate on 
the Divisional arrangement as heretofore. 

R E S E A R C H A N D S T U D I E S A S S I S T A N T B E -

C O M E S A D M I N I S T R A T I V E A S S I S T A N T . T h e 

position of Research and Studies Assistant 
established in 1948 has been renamed Ad-
ministrative Assistant. T h e scope of this 
position will include research and studies 
projects, general supervision of the Library 
Office, and assistance in work related to the 
Development Program. 

T H E P E R S O N N E L O F F I C E R A N D T H E 

S U P P L Y A N D E Q U I P M E N T C L E R K continue 
with the same responsibilities, reporting to 
the Assistant Director. 

D I V I S I O N OF R E S P O N S I B I L I T Y W I T H I N 

T H E O F F I C E OF T H E D I R E C T O R OF L I -

B R A R I E S . T h e Director of Libraries will 
work directly with the eight Supervising 
Librarians, the Assistant Director, and Ad-
ministrative Assistant in planning and carry-
ing out the work of the University Li-
braries. T h i s position will carry primary 
responsibility for liaison with the Office of 
the President of the University, the Library 
Committee, the L^niversity Council, and 
with Faculties or members of the Faculties 
where questions coming from the latter in-
volve more than one division of the library. 
It will also carry responsibility for prepara-
tion of the annual budget and for any 
changes in individual allocations covered by 
the budget. 

T h e Assistant Director will carry pri-
mary responsibility for work relating to ( 1 ) 
the Controller of the University; ( 2 ) the 
Department of Buildings and Grounds; ( 3 ) 
the Office of Public Information; (4) per-
sonnel policies of the University with special 
reference to Non-Academic Personnel Com-

mittee; ( 5 ) the Purchasing Agent of the 
University; ( 6 ) interpretation of personnel 
policies of the libraries and the University; 
( 7 ) Friends projects and activities, includ-
ing Columbia Library Columns. 

Flexibility will be the keynote in handling 
responsibility within the Director's Office, 
adjusting work between Director and As-
sistant Director as circumstances dictate 
during the year, and especially in handling 
representation with outside groups. 

G E N E R A L C O M M E N T . In making these 
changes, it is recognized that there is no one 
perfect organization for all time but rather 
a choice of more promising alternatives at a 
given time. No feature of our organization 
and way of operating should be considered 
as permanent. If something fails to work 
out well in practice, we should change 
quickly to something better. 

Guide lines in developing the above pro-
posals were ( 1 ) to retain the strength of 
past experience and practice especially in 
building up divisional responsibility; ( 2 ) to 
strive for a maximum of direct communica-
tion—that is, a relatively horizontal as op-
posed to a vertical organization ; ( 3 ) to pro-
vide for the maximum of autonomy of 
operation in divisions and departments, con-
sistent with the objectives of a co-ordinated 
library system; ( 4 ) to secure a maximum 
of staff participation in developing and 
maintaining the library program. 

"Administration" of the Libraries will be 
considered as residing with the Supervising 
Librarians, the Assistant Director and 
Director, as influenced by recommendations 
of Department Heads. Monthly meetings 
of the Supervising Librarians are projected, 
as have been held in the past, with some-
thing like quarterly meetings of Department 
Heads and Supervising Librarians. 

These features are not new but are men-
tioned here to indicate that continued and 
increasing emphasis is being given to them. 

160 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES