College and Research Libraries By PAUL C. REINERT, S. J. College and Research Libraries in a Decade of Decision PRESIDENT EISENHOWER'S COMMITTEE on Education Beyond the High School has reached six basic conclusions con- cerning each of which there are certain questions which I think are of peculiar pertinence to those responsible for col- lege and research libraries. The purpo~e of this paper is to comment on these s1x. conclusions and raise questions suggest- ed by them. 1 The role of the Committee is to lay before the public the problems of educa- tion beyond the high school; to encour- age active, systematic attack upon those problems; and to develop, through stud- ies and conferences, proposals to meet those problems. The Committee has thirty-five members, two-thirds of whom are laymen. To the present the work of the Com- mittee has consisted of meetings as a whole, meetings of its sub-committees, issuance of its First Interim Report (No- vember, 1956), conducting five regional workshops in the fall of 1956 and five regional conferences (attended by four- teen hundred persons) in the spring of 1957. Its second report will appear in August, and state conferences are pro- jected. ADDED STRUCTURE Of first importance is the fact that higher education will greatly revise and 1 Paper presented at the general m eeting of ACRL , June 2 7, 1957, K a n sa s City, Mi ss ouri. Fath er R einert is president of St. Louis University and a member of the President's Committee on Education Be- yond the High School. add to its institutional and organiza- tional structure. This statement is based on the Committee's conclusions that "The needs of the individual and of so- ciety . plus an unprecedented growth in the population of post-high school age will far outrun the present or planned capacity of existing colleges and univer- sities and other post-high school institu- tions" and that "The needs of the on- coming millions of individuals with varying capacities and interests will call for ·a broader range of educational op- portunities and less rigid time require- ments."2 Changes in existing educational pa~­ terns will be required to support thts first conclusion. New junior or commu- nity colleges, with carefully planned fa- cilities and programs, can help the short- age. Their program may include the first two years of the collegiate curricula, courses varying in time requirements which are needed to integrate gener- al education with vocational-technical training for sub-professional occupations, short courses for upgrading or retraining employees, and adult or continuing-edu- cation programs. The establishment of cooperative relationships (along the pat- tern set by the Southern Regional Edu- cation Board) between institutions will be necessary to exploit maximum poten- tial and avoid duplication. There will have to be internal administrative ad- justments within the colleges (such as the proposed Oberlin plan) to assure 2 P r es ident' s Committee on Education B ey ond. the High School, F irst I nteri m R epo rt to the Pres~4ent (W a shin gto n, D . C., 195 6 ) , p. 7. The quotations throu g hout thi s paper are from the same source . greater effective use of time and facili- ties. The prospect of such changes raises corollary questions. Will more junior and community colleges result in univer- sities becoming more and more centers of advanced work? If so, book collections will necessarily tend to be built as re- search collections. Where will four-year liberal arts colleges fit in? Many say they intend to remain unchanged, but many others will expand into graduate and technical fields. Many now have insuf- ficient holdings for advanced work. For example, the collections in teacher train- ing institutions offering the degree of Master in Education too consistently are in need of drastic expansion. What use will education make of such electron- ic devices as closed-circuit television? Would its use impose more or less of an impact upon libraries? As cooperative relationships spring up, should not li- braries avoid the needless expense of building collections in fields not taught at their institution? All available funds will be more directly needed, not only to build in appropriate fields, but also for multi pie copies of books to serve greatly increased student bodies. (N .B.: Libraries are already leaders in inter- institutional cooperation: the Farming- ton Plan for the acquisition of foreign materials; the National Union Catalog for the location of books anywhere in the country; and new experiments such as the Midwest Inter-Library Center.) What new avenues of cooperation can be explored in order to make the na- tion's book resources freely available? For example, can higher education make more use of our public libraries in meet- ing the challenge ahead? NECESSITY FOR RECRUITING "Many more able and qualified teach- ers," states another premise of the Com- mittee, "will be needed than present ef- forts can provide." This premise leads directly to the conclusion that top pri- ority must be given to the recruitment, training, and retention of excellent teach- ers. This mounting shortage of excellent teachers is the · most critical bottleneck in the expansion and improvement of education. Salaries must be raised and benefits increased. Recruitment must be intensified. Preparation must be expand- ed and improved. Teacher utilization must be enhanced b y giving students more responsibility, by relieving the most competent teachers of tasks others can perform, and by reforming the cur- riculum, both to reduce its size and to raise its quality. What the Committee says about col- lege teachers applies with equal, if not greater, emphasis to professionally trained librarians. According to figures I have seen there are today about ten thousand vacancies, and yet only eight hundred are graduating in library science annu- ally. Obviousl y, librarians have suffered the same disadvantages of inadequate salaries and declining social position as have teachers. In the desperate scramble for the few candidates available, col- leges and universities must compete with public libraries, school libraries, govern- ment libraries, and libraries in business and industry. Just as some are question- ing whether or not accrediting agencies can adhere to the principle that the Ph.D. degree is the appropriate level of academic achievement for the beginning instructor, so is there dissension over the principle that the M.A. degree must be the minimal professional level for trained librarians. Is a shorter training period for cer- tain types of positions in libraries pos- sible? Have administrators yet tapped every possible source of assistance and pool of manpower? Can the usefulness of the professional librarian be extend- ed by the placing of more of the routine duties with clerical and sub-professional workers? Can library buildings be 360 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES planned so as to utilize librarians in a more economical manner? Are libraries making full and effective use of auto- mation and its new machines and elec- tronic devices? Can modern methods of promotion be exploited in recruiting for librarianship to arouse greater interest in the importance of librarianship and the satisfactions of a career in it? OPPORTUNITY FOR QUALITY The Committee's report concludes that "Our ideals and the increasing com- plexity of our civilization require .that each individual develop his or her tal- ents to the fullest." The years ahead will provide higher education with unprece- dented opportunities for quality. Though the question of huge numbers of college students presents many a prob- lem, it also presents opportunities. The Committee takes the position that the quantity of students and the quality of education can rise together if the basic educational resources also rise with equal speed. This must be the choice, not of the educators, but of the American peo- ple generally. If they are willing to de- vote a significantly greater proportion of the nation's rising income to hig-her education, the colleges and universities will not be forced to choose between poorer quality or sharply restricted en- rollments. In either of those events hun- dreds of thousands of able young Amer- icans would be deprived of the oppor- tunity to develop to their full capacities. If forced to choose, the Committee would favor quality as against numbers, for it would do neither the individuals nor the nation any good to masquerade the mass production of mediocrity under the guise of higher education. But the choice between quality and quantity is not mandatory; the nation needs more of both and can have more of both. The public's decision must be expressed in terms of greatly increased income from tuition, fees, private gifts, and tax sup- SEPTEMBER 1957 port for all colleges and universities. Increased enrollments will enable col- leges to introduce the once rejected prin- ciple of differentiation. There are many encouraging indications of the death of the long held theory that the recogni- tion of varying capacities is undemo- cratic. Let me cite a few examples. Both public and parochial elementary schools in St. Louis are introducing ungraded systems. In St. Louis there will be three types of Catholic high schools: (1) ma- jor learning program, (2) comprehen- sive, and (3) prevocational. On the col- lege level, many institutions are intro- ducing honors programs and other spe- cial opportunities for the superior stu- dent. There is greater acceleration of gifted students out of high school into college. Will libraries be prepared to provide the wide range of good literature re- quired by such individualized programs, and in sufficient copies? Will the grow- ing tendency toward open-stack librar- ies, undergraduate reading collections, and other means of readily bringing stu- dents and books together be encouraged? Can a greater cooperation between fac- ulty and librarians in promoting use of the library by superior students be ob- tained so that the students can realize maximum value from their opportuni- ties. EDUCATION FOR LEISURE Our technological age demands edu- cation for leisure. The fantastic advances of which the human mind is capable seem endless in their future potential. It would seem certain that with automa- tion moving forward, most Americans will be working shorter hours and fewer days per week. The substantial part of a man's or woman's life will no longer be completely taken up . by~orking, eating, and sleeping. Here, again, change pro- vides education not only with an un- precedented opportunity but with a new obligation. If we do not educate our 361 young people for leisure, we will be con- tributing directly to the alarming spread of delinquency, the breakdown of home life, the horrible disintegration and waste that comes with long and constant pursuit of cheap entertainment and un- healthy pleasures. Here, again, it would seem to me, is a most fertile field for your endeavors. Can you librarians accelerate the flight from cheap TV programs and other forms of entertainment by engendering in our young people an abiding appre- ciation of books, art, music, and all those creative activities which blend the best we can offer in the formation of mind and heart with wholesome forms of human pleasure and enjoyment? It has often been expressed that the role of the public library is to provide for the continuing education of our cit- izens after their formal education is com- pleted. Can and will the colle~e and university librarians encourage in stu- dents an abiding desire to continue the use of libraries after graduation? The President's Committee points out that there are four rna jor educational sys- tems in operation: the traditional sys- tem of schools and colleges, an elaborate educational program under the military, a mushrooming system of education op- erated by private business, and a great variety of programs of continuing edu- cation generally grouped under the heading "adult education." One of ev- ery three adults, an estimated fifty mil- lion, participate in some form of adult education program. What part are li- brarians playing in efforts to coordinate and improve these programs, to prevent overlap and duplication, to bring some sort of ordered system into the growing but amorphous field called "adult edu- cation"? SOURCES OF SUPPORT Higher education must find newer and greater sources of financial support. "Even with the best possible utilization of existing resources," declares the Com- mittee, "additional financial support must be provided if the additional mil- lions in the population are to be enabled to develop their talents to the fullest." Some resolution must be found to the present inconsistency in the methods of meeting the costs of higher education in the United States. Here is an appro- priate place to commend the Association of College and Research Libraries for its splendid work in obtaining grants to help liberal arts college libraries from the U. S. Steel Foundation, the Sperry Rand Corporation, the Lilly Endow- ment, and others. There are two extreme positions. The first asserts that society should pay the total costs, that the citizenry as a group should subsidize higher education. Why? Each citizen has a right to an education; society needs trained manpower to sur- vive and prosper. There are disadvan- tages in this position: to the student there is the psychological deterrent of the "hand-out," loss of initiative, lack of a sense of values of working for a goal, lack of a sense of personal investment; to society there is loss through the atti- tude that services can be judged in value on the basis of costs assessed (education today has a low priority as a social value because it is comparatively cheap); to private education there is loss in the fierce competitive element produced by the cost differential which demands that almost fifty per cent of operating in- come be secured from other sources than direct payment and which results in penalizing the teaching profession by forcing it to subsidize education by fore- going higher salaries. The position of the other extreme as- serts that the individual and his family should pay total costs. Why? Education is a responsibility of the individual and the parents, not a right but an opportu- nity. Since it promotes initiative, places a high priority value on education, and tends to place private education on a 362 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES competitive basis with public education, this position does not have some of the disadvantages of the other. Nevertheless, it has other disadvantages. As long as tax-supported education does not in- crease the direct cost to an individual student, the imbalance between total enrollments in each type of institution will increase. Payment of total costs places too heavy a burden on many in- dividuals and families and thus discrim- inates against those of modest means. It might in time price private education out of business. The correct answer to the problem of financing higher education must lie somewhere between these two extremes. One thing is certain. Colleges and uni- versities will require in the next ten years an enormous expansion of funds from all customary sources: tuition and endowment income; gifts from alumni, corporations, and other private donors ; and subsidies from state and local gov- ernments. In order to secure more nearly ade- quate salaries for our faculties, includ- ing librarians, should not private insti- tutions consider charging full or nearly full cost in tuition? If this were done, could not students of limited means be taken care of by deferred payments, ex- tended loans, or pay-as-you-earn plans? Would not foundations and corporations be sympathetic enough toward such a sound financial system that they would be interested in contributing to higher education by providing revolving funds to assist institutions during a transitional period until the new system was in full operation? Is it commendable that there is some tendency among state legisla- tures to urge higher tuition rates in tax- supported institutions in order that the individual bear a higher proportion of the cost of his education? RoLE OF GovERNMENT There emerges the necessity of the formulation of policy on the role of the SEPTEMBER 1957 Federal Government in higher educa- tion. As the President's Committee states it, "There must be promptly formulated an explicit, considered policy as to the role of the Federal Government in edu- cation beyond the high school." ·Histori- cally, the Federal Government has sup- ported education beyond the high school in many ways: through land-grant col- leges, through military programs, through the "G. I. Bill," and through reftearch. Thus far, such aid has largely been on an ad hoc basis, in response to some pressing need. Currently there are two widely divergent positions, each vigor- ously upheld. On one hand it is averred that any type of Federal aid will lead to Federal control and should be opposed; on the other, that Federal aid alone can solve our national educational problems. The President's Committee empha- sizes that there are many ways in which the Federal Government can and should discharge its responsibility to higher ed- ucation which do not involve financial aid. For example, the Office of Education in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare could be greatly improved as a clearing-house of accurate, current information, as a source of stimulation of research in problems of higher educa- tion, and as a source of assistance to the various states in their badly needed, long-range educational planning. FINANCIAL SUPPORT As far as actual financial support is concerned, the Committee favors the continuance and extension of the pro- grams in which the Federal Government is now engaged, e. g., the College Hous- ing Loan Program, with its low rate of interest; use of the slum-clearance pro- visions of the National Housing Act to assist urban institutions in the acquisi- tion of land needed for expansion; a new program comparable to the Hill- Burton hospital program to assist public and private institutions in the construc- tion of non-income-producing facilities 363 such as· classroom ,' laboratory, library, ~nd administration buildings; payment of full costs, including the indirect costs to institutions, for ROTC programs, re- s_earch projects, and so on; encourage- ment of larger contributions from more individuals through revisions of Federal revenue laws. If all other sources of financing higher education prove inadequate, which forms. of Federal assistance should facul- ties and administrations of higher edu- cation prefer? Should we prefer assist- ance to the individual) such as tax credit plans which help parents; scholarships; loans; or a work-study plan comparable to the program of the NYA in the 1930's? A recent survey of American institutions indicates that a vast rna jority favors a Federal scholarship program if some form of aid is definitely to be given. But loans find some favor. A work-study program also finds favorable, but not as wide, support, though some members of the President's Committee strongly prefer such a program over either schol- ars?ips or loans .. 0~ should we prefer assistance to the znstztution? This would be in the form of grants for research, loans or grants for housing and other self-liquidating facilities, and loans or grants for other educational facilities. If Federal aid is to come, would it not b~ wise for college and university faculties and administrations to support scholarships, loans, and work-study pro- gra~s? .s~ch pro.grams, through aiding the Individual directly, avoid the inev- itable difficulties of the problem of church-state relationships . They may help avert the disturbing tendency of ~any ~orporations, especially those na- tiOnal !n scope, to contribute to higher educatiOn only through scholarship pro- grams, as a method of avoiding a choice betwee~ institutions. It is important to emphasize here that scholarship assist- ance, from any source, even when it be accompanied by a cost-of-education bo- nus to an institution, is not aid in any- thing like the true sense in which con- tributions directly to an institution for either operating or capital expenditures are aid. SUMMARY Higher education will greatly revise a?d add to its institutional and organiza- tional structure. Librarians must be alert and willing to adapt to these inevitable changes. Top priority must be given to the re- cruitment, training, and retention of excellent teachers. Librarians, as essen- tial members of faculties, must examine their current training programs with a view to increasing the attractiveness and efficiency of librarianship as a career. The years ahead will provide unprece- dented opportunities for quality. In- creased holdings b y libraries and in- creased service by librarians are essen- tial to any program seeking the goal of quality. Our technological age demands edu- cation for leisure. Librarians must share the responsibilities imposed by this de- mand and exert efforts far beyond their present commendable accomplishments. Higher education must find new and grea~er sources of financial support. Li- branans must share in this responsibility and exert efforts far beyond their present commendable accomplishments. A defensible policy on the role of the Federal Government in higher education ~ust b~ formulated. Here, again, as VItall y Interested parties, individual li- brarians and this Association should de- velop a consistent policy and exert ev- ery effort to ensure its wide considera- tion. CONCLUSION I had intended to conclude with a few observations as to what information such a group as this might furnish the Presi- ~ent's .committee in its continuing de- liberatiOns. However, an economy-mind- ed Congress will probably curtail the plans of the Committee as originally COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES formulated. In other words, most of the appropriation to the Committee still available will have to be used in pub- lishing the materials already in prepara- tion. Therefore, there are only two con- crete suggestions I can make in this con- nection. First, become acquainted with, and be sure your libraries secure as soon as they appear, the second report of the Committee, which is now at the Govern- ment Printing Office; the reports of the five regional conferences; a source book which will contain valuable data on projected enrollments, educational costs, and so on; apd a case book which will highlight in concrete terms some of the more pressing problems of higher edu- cation. Second, encourage, and, if pos- sible, participate in, state conferences which are already being planned in some states. The Committee will do all it can to stimulate the holding of such confer- ences even though it is quite certain that the several states will have to finance these conferences through their own re- sources. PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS Let me finish with three personal ob- servations typical of a university presi- dent who is primarily occupied with fund-raising and endeavoring to meet all the demands for added financial help coming to him from every school and department of his institution. The library as the very heart of an institution, as the element in education second in importance only to the fac- ulty is a concept which is extremely hard to sell to the general public. I am acutely aware of this from my present efforts to raise four million dollars for the Pius XII Memorial Library now un- SEPTEMBER 1957 der construction in St. Louis. All your ingenuity must be directed toward in- creasing the public's understanding of the role libraries play in the educational process, if the support we need is to be forthcoming. Within institutions themselves--with the press of numbers, with the inevitable tendency to give in to a passive, "filling- station" type of education with too much emphasis on television and mass consumption-the importance of books may be more and more difficult to pro- mote. Hence, you must be eternally vigi- lant, not as an organized pressure group nor as lobbyists (university presidents tend to resist such efforts), but through positive promotion based on excellent, intelligent service supported and appre- ciated by the strong, key members of the faculty, particularly the deans and directors of departments. Dedicated serv- ice to faculty and students is the best guarantee that your pleas for financial assistance to meet greater demands will fall on the sympathetic ears of those who control budgetary policy. All of us must resist the appealing em- phasis on things in higher education- buildings, facilities, equipment (includ- ing library buildings)-to the neglect of what is far more important, persons, whether they are serving in the class- room, laboratory, or, as in your cases, the library. Unless we keep a proper sense of values and true perspectives, our rapidly expanding colleges and uni- versities can become magnificent mauso- leums, filled with dead men's bones, in- stead of citadels of learning where a community of living scholars is actively engaged in the preservation, discovery~ and teaching of the wisdom of the ages.