College and Research Libraries W . C. B L A N K E N S H I P Attitudes of Wisconsin State University System Librarians Towards the ALA Standards for College Libraries A study was made to determine if the librarians in the Wisconsin State University System considered the ALA Standards for College Libraries to be primarily minimum model specifications for quality library service or goals toward which college libraries should strive. Regardless of the kind of library work they were in, their sex, or their tenure in their positions, the librarians queried predominantly favored the former interpretation of the Standards. T H E R E SEEMS to be a difference of opin- ion among academic librarians in re- gard to the ALA Standards for College Libraries.1 Apparently, some librarians believe that the Standards should be im- plemented as soon as possible 2 and the fact that they have not been adopted in many if not most college libraries3 should not affect their validity as minimal model specifications for quality library service. Other librarians, however, seem to re- gard the Standards as goals 4 toward which college libraries should strive and which may be achieved sometime in the future, rather than as guidelines which 1 "ALA Standards for College Libraries," CRL, XX (July 1 9 5 9 ) , 2 7 4 . 2 Felix E. Hirsh, "How Can W e Implement the Standards in College Libraries?" CRL, XXII (March 1 9 6 1 ) , 1 2 5 - 1 2 9 . 3 "Adequacy of U.S. Library Services," ALA Bul- letin, LVI (September 1 9 6 2 ) , 689. 4 Sidney L. Jackson, letter in "Free for All," ALA Bulletin, LVI (December 1 9 6 2 ) , 974. Mr. Blankenship is Professor of Library Science, Wisconsin State Library, White- water. 132/ should be implemented immediately. A study was recently made of the at- titudes of librarians in the Wisconsin State University System to determine which of the two concepts described above more nearly coincided with them. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to report the findings of a survey of the attitudes of the librarians of these nine institutions. The chief question with which the re- port is concerned may be stated in this form: "Do Wisconsin State University System librarians believe that the ALA Standards for College Libraries should T A B L E 1 D I S T R I B U T I O N OF R E S P O N S E S TO T W O S T A T E M E N T S AND X 2 T A B L E First No Second Statement Opinion Statement Observed [ 3 0 | 3 1 5 1 38 Expected | 12.66 | 12.66 [ 12.66 j 38 f o - f e 17.34 9.66 7.66 ( f o - f e ) 2 300.68 93.32 58.68 ( f o - f e ) 2 23.75 7.37 4.63 fe X2 = 35.75 df = 2 P < .01 Standards for College Librarians / 133 T A B L E 2 SCNH0ED0UFLE S T A T E M E N T S BANKED ACCORDING TO M E A N V A L U E OF BESPONSES Statement ACCOMPANIED BY CHI SQUARE T A B L E S 2. The faculty library committee should act strictly in an advisory capacity. (Mean response value = 4.71): Strongly Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Disagree Observed 1 2 8 | 9 I 1 1 0 1 0 1 3 8 Expected 1 7 . 6 | 7 . 6 | 7 . 6 f 7 . 6 1 7 . 6 1 3 8 f o - f o ( f o - f e ) 2 ( f o - f e ) 2 fe 2 4 . 4 4 0 1 . 6 0 5 2 . 8 4 1 . 4 1 . 9 6 . 2 6 6 . 6 4 3 . 5 6 5 . 7 3 7 . 6 5 7 . 7 6 7 . 6 0 7 . 6 5 7 . 7 6 7 . 6 0 f o - f o ( f o - f e ) 2 ( f o - f e ) 2 fe X 2 = 7 4 . 0 3 df = 4 P < . 0 1 10. Staff work areas should comprise 125 square feet of floor space per person. (Mean re- sponse value = 4.37): Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree Observed 1 1 9 | 1 5 I 3 I 1 1 0 1 3 8 Expected 1 7 . 6 | 7 . 6 | 7 . 6 | 7 . 6 | 7 . 6 3 8 f o - f e 1 1 . 4 7 . 4 4 . 6 6 . 6 7 . 6 0 ( f o - f e ) 2 1 2 9 . 9 6 5 4 . 7 6 2 1 . 1 6 4 3 . 5 6 5 7 . 7 6 ( f o - f e ) 2 1 7 . 1 0 7 . 2 0 2 . 7 8 5 . 7 3 7 . 6 0 fe X2 = 40.41 df = 4 P < . 0 1 3. Normally, the library should require a minimum of 5 per cent of the total educational and general budget of the institution. (Mean response value = 4.29): Strongly Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Disagree Observed 1 2 1 1 1 0 1 5 I 1 1 1 1 3 8 Expected | 7 . 6 1 7 . 6 1 7 . 6 | 7 . 6 | 7 . 6 | 3 8 f o - f e 1 3 . 4 3 . 4 2 . 6 6 . 6 6 . 6 ( f o - f e ) 2 1 7 9 . 5 6 1 1 . 5 6 6 . 7 6 4 3 . 5 6 4 3 . 5 6 ( f o - f e ) 2 2 3 . 6 2 1 . 5 2 . 8 9 5 . 7 3 5 . 7 3 fe X2 - 3 7 . 4 9 df = 4 P < . 0 1 8. For the development of college library collections, the following may serve as a guide: up to 600 students, 50,000 volumes; for every additional 200 students, 10,000 volumes . . . these are minimal figures. (Mean response value = 4.24): Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree Observed 1 18 I 14 I 4 I 1 1 1 1 38 Expected 1 7.6 | 7.6 | 7.6 | 7.6 1 7.6 | 38 f o - f e 10.4 6.4 3.6 6.6 6.6 ( f o - f e ) 2 108.16 40.96 12.96 43.56 43.56 ( f o - f e ) 2 14.23 5.39 1.70 5.73 5.73 fe X 2 = 32.78 df = 4 P < . 0 1 134 / College 6- Research Libraries • March 1968 1. The librarian should be responsible directly to the president. (Mean response value = 4.18): Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree Observed 21 1 8 | 5 I 3 I 1 | 38 Expected 7.6 1 7.6 | 7.6 | 7.6 | 7.6 | 38 f o - f e 13.4 .4 2.6 4.6 6.6 ( f o - f e ) 2 179.56 .16 6.76 21.16 43.56 ( f o - f e ) 2 23.62 .02 .89 2.78 5.73 fe X 2 = 33.04 df = 4 P < . 0 1 7. The library of a college enrolling 600 students cannot be expected to give effective support to the instructional program if it contains fewer than 50,000 carefully chosen volumes. (Mean re- sponse value = 4.13): Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree Observed 17 1 13 | 4 I 4 I 0 | 38 Expected 7.6 1 7.6 | 7.6 | 7.6 | 7.6 | 38 f o - f e 9.4 5.4 3.6 3.6 7.6 ( f o - f e ) 2 88.36 29.16 12.96 12.96 57.76 ( f o - f e ) 2 11.63 3.84 1.70 1.70 7.60 fe X 2 = 34.07 df = 4 P C . 0 1 5. For a college library three professional librarians constitute the minimum number required for effective service; i.e. the chief librarian and the staff members responsible for readers' serv- ices and technical processes. (Mean response value = 4.10): Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree Observed 18 1 12 | 3 I 4 • I 1 | 38 Expected 7.6 1 7.6 | 7.6 | 7.6 | 7.6 | 38 f o - f e 10.4 4.4 4.6 3.6 6.6 ( f o - f e ) 2 108.16 19.36 21.16 12.96 43.56 ( f o - f e ) 2 14.23 2.55 2.78 1.70 5.73 fe X 2 = 26.99 df = 4 P < . 0 1 9. The college library should be large enough to provide seating for at least one-third of the student body. (Mean response value = 4.03): Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree Observed 1 1 1 2 1 | 2 I 4 I 0 | 3 8 Expected 7 . 6 1 7 . 6 | 7 . 6 | 7 . 6 | 7 . 6 I 3 8 f o - f e 3 . 4 1 3 . 4 5 . 6 3 . 6 7 . 6 ( f o - f e ) 2 1 1 . 5 6 1 7 9 . 5 6 3 1 . 3 6 1 2 . 9 6 5 7 . 7 6 ( f o - f e ) 2 1 . 5 2 2 3 . 6 3 4 . 1 3 1 . 7 0 7 . 6 0 fe X2 = 3 8 . 5 8 df = 4 P < . 0 1 11. Table space of 3' value = 3.89): x 2' per reader is recommended for general library use. (Mean response Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree Observed 1 3 1 1 5 | 4 I 5 I 1 | 3 8 Expected 7 . 6 1 7 . 6 | 7 . 6 | 7 . 6 | 7 . 6 | 3 8 f o - f e 5 . 4 7 . 4 3 . 6 2 . 6 6 . 6 ( f o - f . ) 2 2 9 . 1 6 5 4 . 7 6 1 2 . 9 6 6 . 7 6 4 3 . 5 6 ( f o - f e ) 2 3 . 8 4 7 . 2 0 1 . 7 0 . 8 9 5 . 7 3 fe X2 = 1 9 . 3 6 • d f = 4 P < . 0 1 Standards for College Librarians / 135 6. At least one professional librarian should be on duty at all times during which the library is open for full service. (Mean response value = 3.79): Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree Observed 1 18 | 5 I 6 I 7 1 2 I 38 Expected 1 7.6 | 7.6 | 7.6 | 7.6 | 7.6 | 38 f o - f e 10.4 2.6 1.6 .6 5.6 ( f o - f e ) 2 108.16 6.76 2.56 .36 31.36 ( f o - f e ) 2 14.23 .89 .34 .05 4.13 fe X2 = 19.64 df = 4 P C . O l 4. Experience shows that a good college library usually spends twice as much (or more) for sala- ries as it does for books. (Mean response value = 3.74): Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree Observed 1 10 1 15 | 9 I 1 1 3 I 38 Expected | 7.6 1 7.6 | 7.6 | 7.6 | 7.6 | 38 f o - f e 3.4 8.4 2.4 6.6 4.6 ( f o - f e ) 2 11.56 70.56 5.76 43.56 21.16 ( f o - f e ) 2 1.52 9.28 .76 5.73 2.78 fe X2 = 20.07 d f = 4 P < .01 serve as minimal, model specifications for the evaluation of college libraries which should be implemented immedi- ately if at all possible?" To test the question, schedules were sent to the sixty-three librarians who were associated with the Wisconsin State University System late in 1965. Thirty- eight were returned, which made a re- turn rate of 60.32 per cent. The schedules included the two statements below, and the respondents were asked to check the one which more nearly agreed with their conception of the Standards. I believe that the Standards should serve primarily as minimal model specifications for the evaluation of college libraries and should be implemented immediately if at all possible. I believe that the Standards should serve primarily as goals toward which college li- braries should strive, and that immediate implementation is not necessary. Thirty respondents checked the first statement. Five checked the second state- ment, and three people were undecided. Table 1 indicates the distribution and the statistical analysis of this distribution by chi square, although by inspection it appears to be obvious that there is a significant difference in the responses. From the responses above, it would seem that the majority of the Wisconsin State University System librarians re- gard the ALA Standards for College Li- braries as minimal model specifications for the evaluation of college libraries, which should be implemented immedi- ately if at all possible and that the chief question of the survey is answered in the affirmative. To further test their attitudes, the li- brarians were requested to evaluate elev- en additional statements which were taken or paraphrased from the Stand- ards. Agreement or disagreement was in- dicated by the respondent checking one of five answers: Strongly agree, agree, undecided, disagree, or strongly dis- agree. Numerical values assigned to the answers ranged from one to five; one for strongly disagree through five for strongly agree. The statements were ranked according to the mean value of the weighted responses and appear in 136 / College 6- Research Libraries • March 1968 Table 2 together with the statistical anal- yses. It is true that chi square indicates di- rection only. However, an inspection of Table 2 indicates that the responses to all eleven statements fell primarily in the strongly agree and agree cells, thus the chi square values would indicate that the librarians are in agreement with these facets of the Standards. Therefore it is believed that these responses sup- port further the findings of the choice between the two main statements, which differentiated between the Standards as minimal guidelines to be implemented immediately or as goals to be achieved in the future. It is also interesting to note how the librarians as a whole reacted to the indi- vidual statements. According to the nu- merical value of the responses, the li- brarians agreed more strongly with the following statement than with any of the others: "The faculty library committee should act strictly in an advisory capaci- L " They also indicated a high rate of agreement that staff work areas should consist of at least 125 square feet per person and that the college library should receive a minimum of five per cent of the total institutional budget. As a whole, the librarians indicated the smallest degree of agreement to the following statement than with the other ten: "Experience shows that a good col- lege library spends twice as much (or more) for salaries as it does for books." The questionnaires also requested other d^ta, and this part of the paper will consist of analyzing the responses to the eleven statements listed above when the librarians are grouped accord- ing to professional areas of service. Ac- cordingly, an attempt will be made to prove or disprove the following state- ments. "There is no significant difference in the attitudes of Wisconsin State Uni- versity System librarians toward selected T A B L E 3 ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE AMONG MEANS OF RESPONSES OF T H R E E GROUPS OF LIBRARIANS No. of Group I. Group II. Group III. Item on Admin- Readers Technical Schedule istrators Services Processes 1 . . . . 4.22 4.00 4.38 2 . . . . 4.55 4.81 4.00 3 . . . . 4.78 4.00 4.31 4 . . . . 4.44 3.25 3.85 5 . . . . 4.44 4.00 4.00 6 . . . 3.44 3.75 4.08 7 . . . . 4.33 4.06 4.08 8 . . . . 4.44 4.19 4.15 9 . . . . 4.33 3.81 4.08 10 . . . . 4.33 4.37 4.38 11 . . . . 4.11 4.12 3.46 Sums 47.41 44.36 44.77 Means 4.31 4.03 4.07 Grand Sum 136.54 General Mean . 4.14 ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE COMPUTATION: A. Calculation for Sums of Squares 1 . C o r r e c t i o n T e r m ( C ) = ( 1 3 6 . 5 4 ) 33 18,643.17 = 5 6 4 9 4 3 3 2. Total Sum of Squares = ( 4 . 2 2 ) 2 + ( 4 . 5 5 ) 2 . . . ( 4 . 3 8 ) 2 + ( 3 . 4 6 ) 2 - C = 568.75 - 564.94 = 3.81 3. Sum of Squares Among Means = (47.41 )2 + (44.36) 2 + (44.77 )2 _ c = 11 565.44 - 564.94 = .50 4. Sum of Squares Within = 3.81 - .50 = 3.31 B. Analysis of Variance Source df SS MS Among 2 .50 .25 Within 30 3.31 .10 Total 32 3.81 F - -50 = .15 P < . 0 1 3.31 aspects of the ALA Standards when they are grouped according to the follow- ing professional areas of service: admin- istration, public services, or technical processes." When asked to identify their profes- Standards for College Librarians / 137 sional areas of interest, nine respond- ents stated administration; sixteen were engaged in readers' services; and the re- maining thirteen were working in the technical processes areas. In order to test the null hypothesis, the means of the numerical values of the re- sponses to each of the eleven statements taken or paraphrased from the ALA Standards were determined for each of the three groups, and these values were subjected to an analysis of variance. An inspection of Table 3 will indicate that all means indicated agreement with the statements since all values were above 3.00. The analysis of variance computa- tion yielded an F of .15 which indicates that, at the .01 level, there is no sig- nificant difference in the value attitudes of Wisconsin State University System li- brarians when they are grouped accord- ing to their professional areas of service as administrative, public service, or tech- nical processes librarians. Since it appears that there is little question that the ALA Standards are accepted by a significant number of the respondents, there seemed little point in applying the same statistical tests to the remaining data. Therefore, it was de- cided to compute correlations from rank differences in the responses of the li- brarians when grouped according to age, tenure, and sex. Accordingly, an attempt was made to test the following statement: "There is no significant difference in the rank orders of the statements representing facets of the ALA Standards assigned by librarians over forty years of age when correlated with the ranks assigned by librarians under forty years of age." The means of the weighted responses for each of the two groups of librarians described above were determined, and Table 4 lists the abridged statements in ranks. The rho calculation indicates that the two groups differ somewhat in the inten- sity of their agreement with the state- T A B L E 4 BANK O R D E R OF M E A N BESPONSES ASSIGNED TO S T A T E M E N T S BY LIBRARIANS GROUPED ACCORDING TO AGE, T E N U R E , AND S E X AGE No. OF STATE- MENT ABRIDGED STATEMENT Group I Under 4 0 Yrs. of Age Group II Over 4 0 Yrs. of Age D D 2 2 10 1 3 8 7 9 1 1 5 6 4 Library committee act in advisory capacity Work-areas 125 square feet per person . Librarian directly responsible to president . Library requires 5% of budget Up to 600 students, 50,000 volumes in collection Support instruction, 50,000 volumes in collection Library should seat one-third students . Table space of 3' x 2' per reader is recommended Three professional librarians compose minimum staff One professional on duty at all times . Twice as much money for salaries as for books 1 2 3 4.5 4.5 7 7 7 9.5 9.5 1 1 1 6 8 2 4.5 4.5 7 9 3 10.5 10.5 1.0 4.0 5.0 2.5 .0 2.5 .0 2.0 6.5 1.0 .5 1.00 16.00 25.00 6.25 .00 6.25 .00 4.00 42.25 1.00 .25 2 D 2 = 102.00 Bho Computation Bho - 1 6 2 D 2 = .54 Bho Computation Bho N( n2 - 1 ) = .54 138 / College 6- Research Libraries • March 1968 ments; indeed if Garrett5 is correct that the correlation of .54 is not significant at the .05 level, the null hypothesis is not sustained. Apparently the younger group feels that it is more important that the librar- ian report directly to the president than does the older one, and the older group apparently believes that it is more im- portant to have a minimum of three pro- fessional librarians than do the younger librarians. The second category in which the li- brarians were placed was that of ten- ure. As the term is used here, tenure equals the number of years that an indi- vidual had spent in library service. Twenty-two of the respondents had fewer than fifteen years of service while sixteen had been librarians for more than fifteen years. Tenure presents much the same pic- 5 Henry E. Garrett, Statistics in Psychology and Education ( 5 t h ed., N e w York: D a v i d McKay Com- pany, 1 9 5 8 ) , p. 2 0 1 ; 2 7 5 . ture as age, a positive correlation of .56 which again is not significant at the .05 level. Therefore, it may be concluded that while Wisconsin State University System librarians agree with the state- ments taken or paraphrased from the ALA Standards, the intensity of agree- ment is not sufficient to produce a sig- nificant rank order of correlation, when the statements are arranged according to their weighted responses of librarians grouped according to length of service. The greatest differences in rank were found in the same statements which were noted for age. The responses of male and female li- brarians were also ranked in order of weighted responses in order to test the following statement: "There is no sig- nificant difference in the rank orders of the statements representing facets of the ALA Standards assigned by female li- brarians when correlated with the ranks assigned by male librarians." The means of the weighted responses T A B L E 4 (Cont.) R A N K O R D E R OF M E A N R E S P O N S E S ASSIGNED TO S T A T E M E N T S BY LIBRARIANS G R O U P E D ACCORDING TO A G E , T E N U R E , AND S E X TENURE SEX Group I Under 16 Yrs. of Service Group II Over 16 Yrs. of Service D D 2 M Res-ponse, Men M Res-ponse, W o m e n R of M e n R of W o m e n D D 2 1 1 1 1 . 0 0 4 . 5 7 4 . 8 8 1 1 1 1 . 0 2 4 . 5 2 . 5 6 . 2 5 4 . 3 3 4 . 4 1 2 4 2 4 . 0 3 9 6 3 6 . 0 0 4 . 2 4 4 . 1 2 3 9 6 3 6 . 0 4 4 . 5 0 . 5 0 . 2 5 4 . 0 9 4 . 5 3 4 . 5 3 1 . 5 2 . 2 5 5 3 2 4 . 0 0 4 . 0 9 4 . 4 1 4 . 5 5 . 5 . 5 6 6 . 5 0 . 5 0 . 2 5 3 . 9 5 4 . 3 5 6 6 . 0 . 0 7 6 . 5 0 . 5 0 . 2 5 3 . 8 1 4 . 2 9 7 7 . 0 . 0 8 8 0 . 0 . 0 0 3 . 7 6 4 . 0 6 8 1 1 3 9 . 0 9 2 7 4 9 . 0 0 3 . 6 7 4 . 6 5 9 2 7 4 9 . 0 1 0 1 0 . 5 0 . 5 . 2 5 3 . 5 2 4 . 1 1 1 0 1 0 . 0 . 0 1 1 1 0 . 5 0 . 5 . 2 5 3 . 3 8 4 . 1 8 1 1 8 3 9 . 0 2 D 2 = 9 7 . 5 0 1 - 6SD 2 N ( 2 - 1 ) = 1 - 5 8 5 1 3 2 0 = . 5 6 1 - 6ZD 2 N ( N 2 - 1 ) = 1 - 6 6 4 . 5 0 1 3 2 0 S D 2 = 1 1 0 . 7 5 = . 5 0 Standards for College Librarians / 139 for each of these two groups of Wiscon- sin State University System librarians were calculated and ranks were assigned to the statements. Table 4 also lists the ranked abridged statements, together with the mean responses for the seven- teen women and twenty-one men. As was true of age and tenure the intensity of agreement with the standards differed, and the correlation of .50 was the lowest of the three. It was, of course, not signifi- cant. Thus w e may conclude that, while men and women both agree with the statements, they do not necessarily agree to the same degree with the same state- ment. Women apparently feel more strongly than men that three professional librarians should b e the absolute mini- mum number of staff members, but they feel much less strongly about the librar- ian being responsible to the president. An inspection of Table 4 also indicates that for every mean value response by men the equivalent for women was high- er except in the case of one statement; the one stating that the librarian should b e responsible to the president. These responses may indicate that, while li- brarians of both sexes agree with the statements, the females tend to agree more strongly. S U M M A R Y An opinion survey concerning the ALA Standards for College Libraries was sent to sixty-three Wisconsin State University System librarians in 1965. Thirty-eight schedules, 60.32 per cent of the total were returned. When asked to check one of two statements which more nearly agreed with their concept of the Stand- ards, thirty librarians, or 79 per cent of the respondents, checked the first of the two following statements: 1. I believe that the Standards should serve primarily as minimal model specifications for the evaluation of college libraries and should be im- plemented immediately if at all pos- sible. 2. I believe that the Standards should serve primarily as goals toward which college libraries should strive, and that immediate implementa- tion is not necessary. Five, or 13 per cent of the respond- ents, checked the second statement and three respondents did not answer. From this evidence, it would seem that Wis- consin State University System librar- ians believe that the Standards are not goals but minimal specifications for col- lege library service and should be imple- mented immediately. To further test the attitudes of the librarians, eleven statements represent- ing specific aspects of the Standards were also placed on the schedules and the respondents were requested to check one of five categories to indicate their degree of agreement or disagreement for each item. The categories were as fol- lows: strongly agree, agree, undecided, disagree, and strongly disagree. A nu- merical scale, which ranged from a value of five for strongly agree down to one for strongly disagree, was used to assign numerical values and to compute means from the weighted responses. The data were coded and placed on punched cards, and computations were made by using the equipment of the Computing Center at Wisconsin State University—Whitewater. Table 2 indicates that a significant number of the respondents agreed with the statements taken from the Standards. When the frequencies of the responses to the statements were subjected to chi square tests, it was found that the differ- ences between the agreement and dis- agreement responses were significant at the .01 level for all of the eleven state- ments representing aspects of the ALA Standards for College Libraries. The schedules also yielded additional information such as the area of librarian- 140 / College 6- Research Libraries • March 1968 ship in which the rspondents were en- gaged, the sex of the respondents, their approximate ages, and the number of years that the individuals had been in library service. When the responses of administrative, readers' services, and technical processes librarians were subjected to an analysis of variance, an F value of .15 indicated that there was no significant difference in the mean values of the responses among the three groups. Thus it is believed that Wisconsin State University System librarians do not differ signifi- cantly in their attitudes toward selected aspects of the ALA Standards when these individuals are grouped according to the area of librarianship in which they prac- tice. The rank difference method of correla- tion was used to analyze the responses of the Wisconsin State University System librarians when they were grouped ac- cording to age, tenure, and sex. It was found that there was a posi- tive rank order of correlation: ( a ) be- tween the responses of librarians over forty years of age and those under forty; ( b ) between the responses of librarians having over sixteen years of service and those having fewer than sixteen; and ( c ) between the responses of men and the responses of women. In all cases, a sig- nificant number of the librarians agreed with the statements, but the intensity of agreement did not indicate that the rho's were significant. It is interesting to note that from an inspection of Table 4, the female li- brarians apparently were more strongly in agreement with the statements taken or paraphrased from the Standards than were the men. From the data above, it would appear that the following generalizations might have a factual basis: 1. A significant number of Wisconsin State University System librarians be- lieve that the ALA Standards for Col- lege Libraries should serve as mini- mal model specifications for the evalu- ation of college libraries and should be implemented immediately if at all possible. 2. Apparently, there is no significant difference in the attitudes of Wiscon- sin State University System librarians toward the ALA Standards for Col- lege Libraries, when they are grouped according to their professional areas: administration, readers' services, and technical processes. 3. Rank orders of correlation indicate that librarians over forty years of age, librarians who have been active in the profession for more than six- teen years, and librarians who are women tend to agree more strongly with the ALA Standards than the corresponding groups of librarians. The rho's also indicated that while a significant number of librarians agree with the ALA Standards, they vary in intensity of agreement in their re- sponses to statements representing various aspects of the Standards. Perhaps the chief value of this report is its indication of the strong support of the ALA Standards by this particular group of college librarians, but one should not fail to notice that there is a minority who think of the Standards as goals rather than as guides for quality library service.