College and Research Libraries By F R A N K A. L U N D Y a n d E U G E N E M. J O H N S O N Documents in the Divisional Library TH E U N I V E R S I T Y O F N E B R A S K A Librar-ies are organized for service and for administration by broad fields of sub- ject matter. T h e public service divisions are the humanities; the social studies; and science and technology. Practically coordinate with these three are the principal branch libraries, in the College of Law on the Lincoln City Campus, in the College of Agriculture on a sepa- rate Lincoln campus, and in the College of Medicine on the campus in O m a h a . These six divisions are coordinated by the associate director of libraries. T h e r e is also a technical service division with an assistant director in charge. T h e science and technology division, for example, u n d e r the direction of an assistant director of libraries for science and technology, includes not only the science and technology reading room and related areas of the central stack, b u t also the branch libraries in chemis- try, in geology, and in bacteriology, botany and zoology, and the laboratory libraries in physics, in pharmacy, in dentistry, and so on. A close liaison is m a i n t a i n e d by this division with the principal branch libraries in agriculture and in medicine where there are many overlapping interests. T h e responsibilities of each subject division are broad and include book selection, bibliographical checking, cata- loging, classification, reference work with students and faculty, formal and informal instruction in the use of the library, and close contact with the serv- Mr. Lundy is Director, and Mr. John- son, Acquisition Librarian, University of Nebraska Libraries. ice problems of the students at all levels and with the faculty. T h e boundaries of responsibility are described by fields of subject matter r a t h e r t h a n by aspects of f o r m a t (such as monographs, periodi- cals, newspapers, or reference sets), or by library process (such as book selec- tion, cataloging, classification, reference work, reserve books, two-week loans), or by i m p r i n t (such as publications of the U n i t e d Nations or of agencies of the federal government). I n the interest of business-like effici- ency in dealing with certain common problems of office procedure, a single acquisition d e p a r t m e n t serves to con- centrate the receipt of all incoming mail, the ordering of books a n d periodicals, the h a n d l i n g of gifts a n d exchanges, and bindery preparations. Cataloging and classification are concentrated physically into one large room and u n d e r the supervision of three full-time catalogers, b u t the bulk of the work of cataloging and classification is performed by the staff of the subject divisions and of the principal branch libraries working in the central catalog d e p a r t m e n t . T h e physical processing of books (book-plat- ing and marking) is concentrated at the end of the cataloging process in one operating u n i t u n d e r the catalog librar- ian. Similarly, circulation functions in the central library building are concen- trated i n t o one central administrative unit u n d e r the circulation librarian, who also exercises a general control of circulation procedures t h r o u g h o u t the system of libraries. T h e basic divisional idea of organiz- ing the college or university library a r o u n d broad subject concepts instead SEPTEMBER 1958 463 of by f o r m a n d process, by f o r m a t , or by i m p r i n t , is n o t new, a n d its application, w i t h m a n y local variations such as the completely o p e n stack or the total aban- d o n m e n t of r e a d i n g rooms as such, is becoming m o r e a n d m o r e widespread. Step by step the divisional idea, w i t h all of its legitimate variations, is being re- fined a n d e x t e n d e d . A t Nebraska, f o r example, 90 per cent of all reserved materials are on o p e n shelves interfiled w i t h the rest of the h u n d r e d t h o u s a n d books on o p e n shelves; the d u a l assign- m e n t of reference work a n d cataloging as the p r o p e r responsibilities of the same m e m b e r s of the professional staff in the divisions has been a p p l i e d successfully for a p e r i o d of five years. T h e adminis- trative s u b o r d i n a t i o n of all b r a n c h a n d laboratory libraries to a p p r o p r i a t e sub- ject divisions has been accomplished. I t r e m a i n e d u n t i l recently to apply the same u n d e r l y i n g p r i n c i p l e of organiza- tion by subject to the d o c u m e n t s col- lection. I n library p a r l a n c e " d o c u m e n t s , " or m o r e commonly " g o v e r n m e n t docu- m e n t s , " refers to all p u b l i c a t i o n s issued by agencies of g o v e r n m e n t . I n libraries w i t h i n the U n i t e d States the b u l k of the d o c u m e n t s collection is likely to consist of p u b l i c a t i o n s issued or sponsored by agencies of the federal g o v e r n m e n t . Be- cause of their great q u a n t i t y a n d b u l k a n d a complex of issuing agencies, also because there are available certain spe- cial check lists a n d indexes, these publi- cations are commonly segregated in the library a n d p u t u n d e r the administra- tion of one or m o r e d o c u m e n t s special- ists. T h e d o c u m e n t s concept, however, is a b r o a d one a n d includes the publica- tions of the U n i t e d N a t i o n s a n d the L e a g u e of Nations, of all foreign gov- ernments, a n d of regional, state, or local agencies of g o v e r n m e n t . Collectively these p u b l i c a t i o n s include a wide r a n g e of subject m a t t e r . T h e very existence of a d o c u m e n t s d e p a r t m e n t in a divisional p l a n library, w i t h wide-ranging respon- sibilities f o r the selection, acquisition, recording, processing, housing, a n d serv- icing of p u b l i c a t i o n s of g o v e r n m e n t a l agencies, seems to be a c o n t r a d i c t i o n in terms a n d in f u n c t i o n s . For m a n y years the University of Ne- braska L i b r a r y has h a d a closed docu- ments collection. T h i s collection has been a d m i n i s t e r e d w i t h i n the social stud- ies division, the p r i m a r y responsibility resting w i t h the d o c u m e n t s l i b r a r i a n w h o is a m e m b e r of t h e staff of t h a t di- vision. T h e basic library f u n c t i o n s of selection, acquisition, record keeping, shelving, reference service, a n d circula- tion of g o v e r n m e n t p u b l i c a t i o n s have been p e r f o r m e d u n d e r the i m m e d i a t e d i r e c t i o n a n d supervision of the docu- ments l i b r a r i a n . T h i s is c o m m o n prac- tice in m a n y o t h e r university libraries. I n 1956 the library council, consisting of the director a n d associate director of libraries a n d the heads of the divisions a n d p r i n c i p a l branches a n d depart- ments, w o r k i n g in a series of i n f o r m a l evening discussions, u n d e r t o o k to evalu- ate g o v e r n m e n t p u b l i c a t i o n s per se, a n d the closed d o c u m e n t s collection at Ne- braska. O u t of these discussions a new policy has been evolved. T h e p u b l i c a t i o n programs of govern- m e n t a l agencies have increased greatly in q u a n t i t y a n d in variety of subject m a t t e r in recent years, especially since W o r l d W a r II. T h e o u t p u t of the exec- utive agencies of the U n i t e d States gov- e r n m e n t has increased u n t i l it now ac- counts for over two-thirds of the U n i t e d States g o v e r n m e n t p r o d u c t i o n of p r i n t e d materials. Eighty per cent of U n i t e d States publications are serial in n a t u r e , consisting, t h a t is, of periodicals, a n n u a l reports, a n d r e g u l a r or irregular mono- g r a p h i c series. T h e s e observations led us to r e e x a m i n e o u r policy for their acquisition a n d organization in r e l a t i o n to the three p r i n c i p a l divisions in hu- manities, social studies, a n d science, a n d 464 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES in agriculture, law, medicine, a n d also in relation to the library's system of rec- ord keeping. W e asked, for example, to what extent we have been using gov- e r n m e n t publications or failing to use them in serving the patrons in our sub- ject divisions outside of the social stud- ies. Will not the subject material pub- lished by governmental agencies greatly strengthen, or in some cases replace, re- lated publications issued by non-govern- mental agencies, that is, by private pub- lishers? Should not each of the divisions a n d principal branches be making reg- ular use of the Monthly Catalog of gov- e r n m e n t publications along with the common periodical indexes and abstract- ing services, b o t h as a tool of book se- lection and also of reference service? T h e bulk of government publications held by the University of Nebraska is not represented in the public card cat- alog, despite the fact that our aim has been to make this tool a u n i o n catalog of all titles held by the University Li- braries. In view of the fact that 80 per cent of the material published by the U n i t e d States government is serial in nature, it would seem practical to re- cord government-issued serial titles in the public card catalog, and to rely on the Monthly Catalog and other indexes to analyze the content of that material. Careful pursuit of the implications of these observations and questions, in frank and open discussion, has resulted in a changed a t t i t u d e toward that valu- able mass of material referred to as doc- uments. T h i s changed a t t i t u d e led to the f o r m u l a t i o n of a policy adopted in November 1956, which reads in p a r t : I t shall b e t h e policy t o select, h o u s e , a n d service g o v e r n m e n t p u b l i c a t i o n s ac- c o r d i n g t o s u b j e c t c o n t e n t . E a c h s u b j e c t division will h a v e t h e r e s p o n s i b i l i t y f o r selecting a n d servicing those p u b l i c a t i o n s w h i c h fall w i t h i n t h e s u b j e c t i n t e r e s t of t h a t division . . . I n s o f a r as p r a c t i c a b l e , g o v e r n m e n t p u b l i c a t i o n s will be h a n d l e d w i t h i n t h e p a t t e r n s of o r g a n i z a t i o n a n d use established f o r o t h e r l i b r a r y m a t e r i a l s . T h e aim of this policy is to integrate and coordinate all aspects of the govern- ment publications program with public service and technical service procedures as they have been developed at Ne- braska. At the time this policy was adopted the director of libraries a p p o i n t e d a committee of three to implement that policy, consisting of the acquisition li- brarian as chairman, the documents li- brarian, a n d the associate director of libraries. T h i s committee was instructed to work out smooth procedures a n d rou- tines for transferring some of the respon- sibility for documents to other public service areas; to relocate integral groups of government publications w i t h i n the system of libraries when desirable; to integrate the ordering a n d receiving of all governmental material with the li- brary's general procedures for purchases, gifts, and exchanges; to integrate record keeping with the library's card catalogs; and finally, to m a i n t a i n m a x i m u m avail- ability and service d u r i n g the transition period. First of all the entire collection of publications of the U n i t e d States De- p a r t m e n t of Agriculture was moved to the campus and library of the College of Agriculture. T h i s was a m a j o r reloca^ tion of materials. T h e staff of the Col- lege Library has u n d e r t a k e n the prepa- ration of records which will gradually replace those formerly m a i n t a i n e d for this material in the documents reading room. Each serial title will have a u n i t card in the public catalog a n d in the shelf list in the central University Li- brary and in the public catalog a n d shelf list in the College of Agriculture Library; actual holdings will be record- ed in the College Library serials file (Post Index). Monographs not in series will be h a n d l e d in one of three ways: those of p e r m a n e n t value will be cat- SEPTEMBER 1958 465 aloged a n d classified in the same m a n n e r as similar m o n o g r a p h s f r o m non-govern- m e n t a l publishers; materials p r i m a r i l y of c u r r e n t interest will be shelved ac- cording to the S u p e r i n t e n d e n t of Docu- m e n t ' s classification, will have n o addi- tional records made, a n d will be ap- p r o a c h e d as in the past t h r o u g h the Monthly Catalog; e p h e m e r a l materials will be h a n d l e d the same as o t h e r verti- cal file materials. W h e n all non-social studies materials have b e e n relocated in this m a n n e r f r o m the d o c u m e n t s r e a d i n g r o o m , the b t d k of the collection will r e m a i n . T h i s mate- rial will be recorded in the m a n n e r de- scribed above. U n i t cards will b e filed in the p u b l i c card catalog, in the m a i n shelf list, a n d in t h e social studies divi- sion a u t h o r catalog a n d shelf list. A master-file card at the loan desk a n d a half-card in the p u b l i c card catalog will indicate the location of the title. T h e classification scheme for the g o v e r n m e n t p u b l i c a t i o n s r e m a i n i n g in the docu- m e n t s r e a d i n g r o o m area will be t h a t of t h e S u p e r i n t e n d e n t of D o c u m e n t s f o r all U n i t e d States p u b l i c a t i o n s a n d a n a d a p t a t i o n of t h a t scheme f o r publica- tions of o t h e r g o v e r n m e n t a l agencies. I n summary, the p u b l i c a t i o n s of all g o v e r n m e n t a l agencies, great in b u l k a n d n u m b e r , a n d rich in c o n t e n t as they are, will now be looked u p o n as a pri- m ary resource of interest n o t only to students a n d faculty w o r k i n g in o n e or m o r e phases of the social sciences, b u t as of interest to students a n d faculty working in any field of knowledge where such p u b l i c a t i o n s seem to have bearing. Responsibility for selection a n d the ini- tiation of t h e processes of acquisition will rest w i t h all t h e divisions of the li- brary a n d w i t h its p r i n c i p a l branches, a n d a p p r o p r i a t e tools for selection will be m a d e available. T h e technical serv- ice division will be responsible for all acquisition a n d record keeping. Incom- ing materials will flow i n t o a p p r o p r i a t e locations in r e a d i n g rooms, in branches, a n d in the stacks u n d e r the same selec- tive a n d critical d i r e c t i o n that is now a p p l i e d to all o t h e r i n c o m i n g publica- tions. Service in the use a n d interpreta- tion of g o v e r n m e n t a l p u b l i c a t i o n s will be a responsibility of the e n t i r e p u b l i c service staff in h a r m o n y w i t h the gen- eral p r i n c i p l e of subject specialization now a p p l i e d to o u r three central divi- sions in the h u m a n i t i e s , the social stud- ies, a n d science, a n d to o u r p r i n c i p a l b r a n c h libraries in agriculture, in law, a n d in medicine. T h e i m p r i n t concept is now being relegated to a position of secondary i m p o r t a n c e . It will follow nat- urally, however, t h a t the b u l k of the d o c u m e n t s m a t e r i a l will be r o u t e d i n t o the d o c u m e n t s area, o n e of three large r e a d i n g r o o m areas comprising the social studies division o n the t h i r d floor of the Love M e m o r i a l L i b r a r y ; also, t h a t heavy reliance u p o n d i r e c t i o n in its use will rest u p o n the division's staff. T h e docu- m e n t s l i b r a r i a n now becomes a l i b r a r i a n in the social studies division. Concerning A C R L Committee Appointments W y m a n W . P a r k e r , P r e s i d e n t - E l e c t of A C R L , a n d A r t h u r T . H a m l i n , C h a i r - m a n of A C R L ' s C o m m i t t e e o n C o m m i t t e e s , r e q u e s t f r o m A C R L ' s m e m b e r s h i p v o l u n t e e r s t o serve o n t h e Association's several c o m m i t t e e s a n d f u r t h e r sugges- tions as to a p p r o p r i a t e a p p o i n t m e n t s . T h e c o m m i t t e e will d e t e r m i n e its rec- o m m e n d a t i o n s t o t h e P r e s i d e n t - E l e c t a t M i d w i n t e r . Suggestions s h o u l d be sent well a h e a d of t h a t t i m e to A r t h u r T . H a m l i n , U n i v e r s i t y of C i n c i n n a t i , Cin- c i n n a t i 21, O h i o . 466 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES