College and Research Libraries B y C H A R L E S W . D A V I D On the Survey of a Research Library by Scholars Dr. David is director of libraries, Uni- versity of Pennsylvania. A Faculty Survey of the University of Pennsylvania Libraries, m a d e f o r t h e B i b l i o g r a p h i c a l P l a n n i n g C o m m i t t e e of P h i l a d e l p h i a and published by the U n i v e r - sity of P e n n s y l v a n i a P r e s s in 1 9 4 0 , has l o n g been hopelessly o u t of p r i n t . W h i l e w e h a v e r e c e n t l y t h o u g h t of a t t e m p t i n g a n e w edition of the v o l u m e in o r d e r to b r i n g it up to date a n d r e v e a l the p r o g r e s s that has been m a d e since the s u r v e y w a s first issued, the w r i t e r has r e c e n t l y l e a r n e d w i t h some s u r p r i s e t h a t the v o l u m e w a s so w e l l r e g a r d e d outside the P h i l a d e l p h i a circle t h a t a brief r e p o r t on the m e t h o d by w h i c h it w a s p r o d u c e d m i g h t be d e s i r a b l e . T h e l a m e n t a b l e f a c t is that most of the r a w m a t e r i a l on w h i c h the v o l u m e is based has n o t been p r e s e r v e d . A n y v e r y f u l l exposition of the m e t h o d o l o g y , t h e r e f o r e , is not to be t h o u g h t o f , but it has been possible to piece t o g e t h e r the f o l l o w i n g brief a c c o u n t . T h e B i b l i o g r a p h i c a l P l a n n i n g C o m m i t t e e of P h i l a d e l p h i a g r e w out of the e f f o r t to b r i n g a b o u t a g r e a t e r d e g r e e of i n t e g r a t i o n a n d c o o p e r a t i o n a m o n g m o r e t h a n 1 5 0 li- b r a r i e s t h r o u g h the c o m p i l a t i o n of the U n i o n L i b r a r y C a t a l o g u e of the P h i l a d e l p h i a M e t - r o p o l i t a n A r e a . I t w a s s u p p o r t e d by a g r a n t f r o m the C a r n e g i e C o r p o r a t i o n of N e w Y o r k , w h i c h w a s a d m i n i s t e r e d by the U n i - v e r s i t y of P e n n s y l v a n i a . T h e C o m m i t t e e w a s e n g a g e d in the c o m p i l a t i o n of a v e r y s u m m a r y classified t a b u l a r Guide to Re- search Materials in Libraries of the Phila- delphia Area, and it f e l t the need f o r a m u c h m o r e detailed a n a l y s i s than existed of the h o l d i n g s of the l a r g e r l i b r a r i e s such as those of the U n i v e r s i t y of P e n n s y l v a n i a , the C o l l e g e of P h y s i c i a n s , the A c a d e m y of N a t u r a l Sciences, and the F r a n k l i n I n s t i - tute. I t t h e r e f o r e a t t e m p t e d to s t i m u l a t e some of these l i b r a r i e s to u n d e r t a k e self- s u r v e y s of their o w n collections. T h e U n i - v e r s i t y of P e n n s y l v a n i a w h i c h w a s s t r o n g l y r e p r e s e n t e d on the C o m m i t t e e a n d cooperat- i n g w h o l e - h e a r t e d l y in its w o r k , p r o m p t l y responded to the appeal. I n S e p t e m b e r 1 9 3 9 D r . G e o r g e W . M c - C l e l l a n d , the P r o v o s t of the U n i v e r s i t y , w r o t e to a l l d e p a r t m e n t heads a s k i n g t h e m f o r the n a m e s of the m e m b e r s of t h e i r d e p a r t m e n t s w h o had most to do w i t h li- b r a r y m a t e r i a l s a n d p r e s u m a b l y the best k n o w l e d g e of collections. W h e n this in- f o r m a t i o n had been secured, it w a s planned, to d r a w up a complete list of the f i e l d s to be c o v e r e d by the s u r v e y , 1 and of the per- sons designated to c a r r y out the e v a l u a - tion. D r . A l b e r t C . B a u g h , P r o f e s s o r of E n g l i s h a n d C h a i r m a n of the F a c u l t y L i - b r a r y C o m m i t t e e , w a s appointed to d i r e c t the s u r v e y . M e a n w h i l e , D r . C o n y e r s R e a d , P r o f e s s o r of E n g l i s h H i s t o r y , a n d a v e r y a c t i v e and interested m e m b e r of the B i b l i o g r a p h i c a l P l a n n i n g C o m m i t t e e , as its C h a i r m a n , u n d e r t o o k to p r e p a r e as a k i n d of pilot p r o j e c t , or m o d e l , a s u r v e y of o u r l i b r a r y h o l d i n g s in E n g l i s h h i s t o r y , the 1 For the classification see the Survey as finally pub- lished, pp. I X - X . 290 COI.LEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES subject of his p a r t i c u l a r competence. T h i s he had finished w i t h i n a month in a docu- ment of some eight pages w h i c h the B i b l i - ographical P l a n n i n g C o m m i t t e e then had mimeographed in f i f t y copies f o r distribu- tion to f a c u l t y members w h o w e r e to be charged w i t h m a k i n g the r e m a i n d e r of the s u r v e y . Some ten days later D r . B a u g h held a conference of t h i r t y - f i v e members of the f a c u l t y to set the plan in motion. T h e s e w e r e all persons v e r y f a m i l i a r w i t h the li- b r a r y w h o had agreed to e v a l u a t e the books in their p a r t i c u l a r fields. Copies of D r . R e a d ' s pilot s u r v e y w e r e placed in their hands, and in the discussion w h i c h f o l l o w e d much attention w a s given to establishing a common u n d e r s t a n d i n g as to w h a t w a s to be expected. D r . B a u g h announced that he expected to have all reports in his hands, ready f o r editing, w i t h i n ten days or t w o weeks. E x a c t l y three w e e k s later D r . B a u g h w a s able to present to the B i b l i o g r a p h i c a l P l a n - ning C o m m i t t e e the first d r a f t of a com- pleted s u r v e y , w h i c h w a s enthusiastically described in the minutes of the meeting as " a n exceptionally fine job, done in an a m a z - i n g l y short t i m e — a l m o s t unique in l i b r a r y l i t e r a t u r e . " T h e secret of its success had evidently been the provision of adequate and competent secretarial help and the co- operative w i l l i n g n e s s of a g r o u p of scholarly experts w h o w e r e v e r y f a m i l a r w i t h their segments of the l i b r a r y collections, to take the necessary time a w a y f r o m their other duties to complete their assignments p r o m p t l y . T h r e e members of the B i b l i o g r a p h i c a l P l a n n i n g C o m m i t t e e w e r e assigned to read the m a n u s c r i p t critically and note incon- sistencies and i m p o r t a n t lacunae. T h e r e - a f t e r there is a b u n d a n t evidence of the w o r k of the staff of the B i b l i o g r a p h i c a l P l a n - ning C o m m i t t e e in reference verification, minor editorial revisions and corrections, and the ironing out of inconsistencies w h i c h w e r e required in order to prepare the manu- script f o r publication. D r . B a u g h asked f o r a little more time f o r some revisions and f o r the inclusion of sections on the business and l a w libraries and on certain special col- lections w h i c h had so f a r been l e f t out of consideration. 2 T w o w e e k s later D r . B a u g h reported that the preparation of the additional ma- terial w a s w e l l under w a y , and M r . C . S e y m o u r T h o m p s o n , the university l i b r a r - ian, had u n d e r t a k e n to contribute a section on the bibliographies and other reference tools in the main or general l i b r a r y . A period of one additional month w a s then a l l o w e d f o r the completion of all additional m a t e r i a l by the contributors, and a r r a n g e - ments w e r e made f o r the w r i t i n g of the p r e f a c e and the introduction by D r . R e a d and D r . B a u g h . T h e staff of the Biblio- g r a p h i c a l P l a n n i n g C o m m i t t e e undertook to prepare the i n d e x — o n e w h i c h , it must be a c k n o w l e d g e d , has not proved w h o l l y adequate. B y J a n u a r y 2 3 , 1 9 4 0 , only t w o and one- half weeks beyond the deadline, the com- pleted manuscript of the Survey w a s in the office of the B i b l i o g r a p h i c a l P l a n n i n g C o m - mittee and w a s in actual use in the study of the research resources of the P h i l a d e l p h i a area. M e a n w h i l e plans had been made f o r its p r i n t i n g by offset l i t h o g r a p h y and f o r its distribution through the U n i v e r s i t y of P e n n s y l v a n i a P r e s s . B y the m i d d l e of A p r i l the v o l u m e had appeared. T h e total production cost of its 2 0 2 pages in paper covers, in 5 0 0 copies (there w e r e a c t u a l l y t w o p r i n t i n g s ) w a s $ 8 0 0 . A p a r t f r o m the speed and economy w i t h w h i c h the v o l u m e w a s produced, the f o l l o w - (Continued on page 308) 2 B y the time the finished manuscript was ready for printing the number of contributors had grown to eighty- two. JULY, 1954 291 TOTAL BLDG PLUS SHELVING COST IN RELATION TO BLDG COST PER SQ. FT. FOR lOO^OOO V O L U M E S COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF SHELVING »200i000 160,000 160,000 140,000 120,000 100,000 80,000 60,000 40,000 2 0 P 0 0 L E G E N D — 1 1 BRACKET-TYPE 38.7"AISLES BRACKET-TYPE 2 9 ^"AISLES BRACKET-TYPE 22./AISLES ART METAL 4 SWtftG UNITS ART METAL • SWING UNITS AMES UNITS H « — HAMILTON UNITS 30 BLDG COST PER SQUARE FOOT Figure 5 On the Survey of a Research Library by Scholars (Continued from page 2Qi) i n g f e a t u r e s seem w o r t h y of note. I t w a s a s u r v e y m a d e " n o t by the d i s t r i b u t o r s of books but by the users of books. . . . I t represents an a p p r a i s a l of the l i b r a r y collec- tions of the U n i v e r s i t y by the e x p e r t s in the s e v e r a l f i e l d s of k n o w l e d g e represented on the U n i v e r s i t y f a c u l t i e s . " T h o u g h it w a s m a i n l y c o n f i n e d to the l i b r a r i e s of the U n i - v e r s i t y of P e n n s y l v a n i a , it o c c a s i o n a l l y reaches out and c a l l s a t t e n t i o n to o t h e r i m p o r t a n t collections in the P h i l a d e l p h i a a r e a . I t is designed to be d e f i n i t e and f a c t u a l a n d to r e v e a l w e a k n e s s e s as w e l l as s t r e n g t h . T h o u g h it c a n n o t be c l a i m e d t h a t the sin of s e l f - g l o r i f i c a t i o n has been w h o l l y a v o i d e d , it p e r h a p s comes as n e a r to o b j e c t i v i t y as could be hoped f o r in a n y s e l f - s u r v e y . 308 COI.LEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES