College and Research Libraries To the Editor: W. A. Moffett's article "The Academic Job Crisis ... ," ( CRL, May 1973), war- rants special attention. Indeed, academic libraries should seize the opportunity of today' s job market and recruit librarians with Ph.D.s as subject specialists or otherwise. The Ph.D. remains the major distinguishing factor in the aca- demic community between the librarian and the teaching faculty. Special efforts to bridge this gap will certainly enrich and upgrade the profession as a whole. Further- more, the new recruits will provide an im- petus for the librarian's drive for full fac- ulty status with all its rights and responsi- bilities. However, a word of caution should be in order here. In recruiting Ph.D. candi- dates, one should be reasonably sure to see first that they are of outstanding caliber and second to assess carefully the degree of their commitment to the library profession. Libraries should not serve as a stepping stone to teaching positions. This could be partially demonstrated by the candidate's willingness to obtain an MLS in addition to his subject specialty. An MLS degree should not be sacrificed as it offers the edu- cation that is basic to the library profession. One may argue the need to revise the li- brary school curricula not only to accommo- date the new breed of librarians but to meet the continuous changes in the aca- demic community. ]alal Zuwiyya, Librarian State University of New Y ark at Binghamton To the Editor: Mr. Moffett's article in the May CRL was prefaced by a call for comment on the question of whether a library degree was important for a subject specialist Ph.D. This note, delayed by my vacation, offers one re- sponse. 276/ Letter·s My own feeling is that this question was answered fully and fairly by Phyllis A. Richmond in her article, "The Subject Ph.D. and Librarianship," in CRL for March 1957, p.123 ff. Rather than sum- marize this article, I earnestly invite your attention to it. It is clear, coherent, and cogent; indeed, I wish I had written it my- self. In it, Ms. Richmond shows that "the library school provides some very essential knowledge which the Ph.D., for all his lengthy training, lacks" ( p.124) . For the record, my own background is B.A. Yale (Honors English), M.A., Ph.D. Princeton (Medieval & Ben. English) , and M.S. Columbia (Lib. Serv.). C. Roger Davis North American Bibliographer University of Virginia Library Charlottesville To the Editor: W. A. Moffett's article, "The Academic Job Crisis" (May C RL) is thoughtful and well presented, but far from definitive. My comments and questions are presented more or less at random. No originality is claimed for them, and no answers may be possible for some of the questions at this time. If they keep the discussion going, they will be serving their purpose. Moffett's article about bringing in subject specialists from the academic world into the library in order to improve library service begs the question as to how good or bad current library staffs are. If library staffs are inadequate, is the fault to be found in the education of librarians, the quality of peo- ple who become librarians, or is it due to unfortunate organization of the individual library and the profession so that librarians are not placed properly and are not free to function according to their ability? How much subject knowledge should the subject specialist have minimally and how much librarianship does he need? Is it • ) easier to send a librarian to school to keep up with a subject, or to send a subject spe- cialist to school to learn librarianship? As- suming that university librarians should have two master's degrees, does the doctor- al dissertation make one a better librarian? Does teaching experience? How will the salaries of the new subject specialists com- pare with those of library school graduates? Can the library hang on very long to Ph.D.s unless they get good salaries, in case the academic job market should improve? Does that mean that library school graduates will continue to get the disgustingly low salaries they now get, or will their salaries be raised? Will libraries develop a caste sys- tem, with subject specialists not speaking to catalogers? Will the M.A.L.S. degree be a hindrance to promotion, as some para- noiacs now claim it may be? I have a hunch, and only a hunch, that the typical academic library is a hierarchy much too old-fashioned and rigid, that li- brarians have far too little mobility, that it is difficult for the librarian to participate to the best of his ability in academic and pro- fessional affairs, and to make a name for himself, and that it is therefore much easier for the academician to get the more glam- orous library positions of subject specialist or administrator than it is for a librarian to achieve status. A recent job announcement calls for 10 years' experience in a university library. One can get to be governor or an industrial executive with less experience. There is no question but that many li- brarians in the past were mickey mouse people, satisfied with mickey mouse posi- tions. When Archibald MacLeish came to the Library of Congress, he found nonli- brarian Jerome Wiesner much more inter- esting to talk to than the trained librarians on the staff. Some of these weak sisters-I apologize for the term-may still be around, but the newer crop of librarians seems to have better intellectual, educa- tional, and personal qualifications. Profes- sional work in a library demands a high de- gree of all of these, and should be judged individually and not on the basis of formal degrees and experience. Libraries are not static. Library people should have mobility, both within the li- brary world and within related professions. Letters I 277 They must have the opportunity to grow by taking courses, workshops, or by infor- mal means, just like other professionals. The Ph.D. coming into the library will probably profit from some library courses, but may have no need for a library degree. The good academician should be allowed to chart his own course. The academic library is a complex insti- tution, like the multiversity, the hospital or the space program, which employ many professions. Not everybody working in the library has to be a librarian. It is more im- portant to get the best people and give them a chance to do their job. ] ohn Neufeld East Lansing, Michigan · To the Editor: In the May issue of CRL, Dr. Moffett feels that the academic job crisis is a poten- tial boon for the library profession because libraries may now be able to recruit unem- ployed nonlibrary Ph.D.s. As an academic library director with a biology Ph.D. and a library M.S., I am responding to the edi- tor's request for opinions on Dr. Moffett's article. I agree with the author's assumption that a subject Ph.D. and related experience can be very helpful in improving relationships between the librarian and the rest of an academic institution. I find that having the degree both promotes a feeling of equality between the parties and, in addition, gives the librarian insight regarding the needs of the teaching and research interests. I do not agree, however, with Dr. Mof- fett's suggestion that libraries should seek Ph.D.s directly from the subject disciplines because this implies that a library degree is superfluous. I have found my library M.S. to be an important asset for at least three reasons. First, it denotes to my institution's M.D.s and Ph.D.s that I should be more qualified than they to comprehend and deal with library matters. Without this sign of formal education, they would consider that my only possible claim to superior library expertise might be some practical experi- ence shelving books. Next, the masters de- gree allows me to maintain a normal pro- fessional relationship with other librarians by indicating to both me and them that I 278 1 College & Research Libraries • September 1973 have gone through an accepted library training regimen and thus, presumably, am as competent as they to discuss the sub- tleties of librarianship. Finally, the course- work and personal contacts that were asso- ciated with attending .library school have given me a nucleus of information. and ~c­ quaintanceships upon which to bu1l~ while developing my library and expandmg my professional interests. I think Dr. Moffett's article is useful be- cause it focuses attention upon forces which are raising the normal educational requirements for librarians. No sooner has the library bachelors degree been virtually supplanted by the masters than the doc- torate is now becoming increasingly com- mon in library circles. The job shortage, of course accelerates this trend by providing librar; schools with more and better quali- fied applicants. . I believe, however, that the author IS needlessly worried about the ability of and, in fact, the desirability for library schools to respond to his so-called challenge by al- tering curricula and currying Ph.D.s. The same subject matter that is useful to a re- cent B.A. is similarly needed by a Ph.D. with no library background, so why should a graduate library program give special consideration to such Ph.D.s? Also rather than launching a recruitment drive to snare jobless Ph.D.s I think the schools should, instead, be extra cautious to guard against accepting Ph.D.s who are merely marking time until jobs become available in their subject areas. A Ph.D. who is interested in a library career pre- sumably would be sufficiently familiar with her or his own institutional library to seek out its director and find out how to prepare for a role in the library profession. Finally, it should be noted that Dr. Mof- fett extrapolates from the specific advan- tages of having Ph.D.s as academic librari- ans to the generalization that recruiting Ph.D.s would be a good thing for librarian- ship as a whole. Because nonacademic (e.g., school, public, government, and spe- cial) library positions greatly outnumber those in academic libraries, it would be re- gretful if library schools were to so favor Ph.D. applicants that these highly-educated scholars would culminate their library edu- cation by vying for the privilege of running a circulation desk in a small town library. Donald]. Morton Director University of Massachusetts Library Worcester To the Editor: W. A. Moffett's article in CRL for May 1973 ("The Academic Job Crisis: A Unique Opportunity, Or Business as Usual?") sets out what ought to be, for librarians in a po- sition to hire other librarians, a nonproblem. That there are large numbers of persons with Ph.D.s marauding around America need concern librarians only to the extent that such a phenomenon dismays the aver- age citizen. It would be a happy conjunction of cir- cumstances should individuals holding doc- torates in fields of use to academic libraries actually find employment in such institu- tions. But these persons ought properly to have degrees in library science. It's important to have the proper measure of respect for the Ph.D. degree. The pos- session of a doctorate doesn't grant the franking privilege or allow its holder to en- ter my room unannounced, and it would make little sense to elevate the degree to the point where we are willing to relax li- brary standards to accommodate such peo- ple into our ranks so that, and this is the fi- nal irony, our own positions vis-a-vis the teaching faculty might be enhanced. What we ought to get in the habit of doing is not recruiting Ph.D. subject spe- cialists into libraries but rather into library schools. I think the answer to Moffett's article lies in reconciling the elements of his title. The academic job crisis is very likely an oppor- tunity for libraries to hire highly-degreed persons and in so doing to strengthen the profession and help take the unemployed off the streets. But libraries, in their own best interests, and in the interests of their clientele, ought to insist that these subject- specialists hold MLS degrees from ALA ac- credited library schools. Which is business as usual. One has respect for E. M. Forster's ad- monition: · "Only connect." But when, with whom, and under what circumstances is 1 I . j ·J ~ I ,. ...... • I J I more than a quibble, the mastery of these matters is the implied significance of the command. To the Editor: Milo G. Nelson Humanities Librarian University of Idaho Library Leo N. Flanagan, in his article "Profes- sionalism Dismissed?" ( CRL, May) pre- sents a well-reasoned argument for his case that librarianship, as it exists now, is not a profession. What I cannot accept, however, is his proposed solution. Mr. Flanagan seems to feel that a "deeper and longer li- brary-school education" would help librari- ans to "make themselves professionals.'' Yet, most librarians, unlike doctors, lawyers, or even teachers are forced to work within hierarchically-organized bureaucratic insti- tutions. New professionals working in these institutions are expected to conform to the norms and implement the policies and pro- grams which have already been formulated. Often a questioning of these practices or policies is considered a mark of disloyalty. Since librarians cannot open their own practices or form partnerships with a few congenial colleagues (unless one of them happens to be a millionaire) they are con- strained to operate within systems which often seem to have been designed to keep the librarians, the clients, and the materials as far apart as possible. Unless library schools can discover and then teach a meth- od for new professionals to effect the change that they know is needed from the point at which they enter the profession (usually the bottom of an institution) it will be fruitless for them to fill the curric- ulum with more and deeper knowledge about what "should be" or even "could be.'' As Wasserman says so well in his latest book, The New Librarianship: Challenge for Change, the need for change must be acknowledged at the top of the professional hierarchy before the profession can be up- graded in the ways that both Mr. Flanagan and I would like to see. No amount of edu- cation for new librarians will change that fact. Gayl E. Koster Philadelphia, Pennsylvania . Letters I 219 To the Editor: In reference to "Professionalism Dis- missed," by Leo N. Flanagan in the May CRL: If Mr. Flanagan is so sure that librarian- ship is not a profession, why did he enter the field? Perhaps he is disgruntled at some happening or injustice which he encoun- tered while a student. The old adage, "Publish or Perish," is one of the reasons there is a "pollution of in- formation" in various journals and period- icals. The professional fears that if he d oes not publish, he will lose status or be passed over for advancement. The current trend in librarianship is to put public relations and service as the main priorities in any library. It is the assumption of this writer that librarianship is a profes- sion. Most professional librarians are inter- ested in providing service for their clien- tele. The true professional seeks to service his patron, anticipate his needs, provide for his future needs, and develop ways to at- tract potential patrons. Whether I am considered a professional by Mr. Flanagan has little bearing on my functioning as a professional librarian. Many of us in the field, who have graduat- ed from accredited A.L.A. schools of li- brarianship are more interested in service and public relations than the pros and cons of whether librarianship is a profession. We know it is a profession. (Mrs.) Margaret Fisher Clifton Librarian Camp Lejeune Dependent Schools Jacksonville, North Carolina To the Editor: Since Ellsworth Mason left Hofstra Uni- versity, the librarians here have become deeply involved in A.A. U .P. negotiations. The writer of this letter is serving as the elected library representative on the A.A.U.P. steering committee as well as on various fact-finding subcommittees of the negotiating team. He thus feels somewhat qualified to comment upon Dr. Mason's well-known editorial and subsequent letters to CRL. To be sure, librarians at Hofstra are pres- ently not required to terminate if tenure is 280 I College & Research Libraries • September 1973 denied. It is also true that our tenure peri- od is ten years long! Also, one cannot help but wonder which of us would be willing to remain as pa1t of a staff which has chosen to reject that person for tenure. Is not refusing to abide by a more rigorous and considerably shorter tenure requirement akin to killing the patient rather than curing the disease? If true academic tenure is some- thing towards which librarians ought not to strive because of its inherent faults, is it not better to change the system rather than to ignore it in the hope that it will go away? Professor Wilkinson's comment in the May issue of CRL that librarians "be free to speak their minds on controversial issues" is one of those axioms which (among others) stands at the crux of the tenure issue, especially for librarians. All of us at Hofstra are gratified that Dr. Mason does "earn far more than the facul- ty." However, at a lesser distance from the bottom than Dr. Mason is, the picture ap- pears rather different. In my capacity as A.A.U.P. library representative I have had numerous occasions to examine library pay scales and make comparisons between those of library-faculty and teaching-faculty. That there is a significant difference should come as no surprise since I am sure that this sit- uation pertains on other campuses. The dif- ference becomes worse when the twelve month work year versus the nine month work year is taken into account. It is dis- quieting in the extreme not to be able to join TIAA-CREF because one cannot af- ford the monthly deductions. I too find librarianship "varied and excit- ing." It is, to me, among the most stimulat- ing professions that one can aspire to. Yet I do not believe that it is either right or proper for those who must go through the same standards as teaching-faculty to be permanently placed in the ranks of second- class citizens; a situation which, in spite of our telling ourselves how good we are, will continue as long as we refuse to accept the responsibilities of full faculty rank tem- pered with a clearer understanding of the librarian's true academic role. Tenure, rank, and salary must be earned. But kindly al- low those of us who wish to earn these re- wards to do so without having to join the continuous migration from one library to another. Alan R. Samuels Reference Librarian Hofstra University Library Hempstead, Long Island, New York To the Editor: I would like to respond to your May 1973 editorial "ALA-Is it time for an Al- ternative?" Yes it is time and probably has been for years. I am no longer a member of ACRL, since I chose not to belong to ALA. I objected to a dues structure that seemed exorbitant for an underpaid profes- sion and offered very little in return. More- over, I did not like the slice of the pie that was being dispersed to ACRL and LRTS. Granted, these were the only divisions I personally cared about, but the proportions were hardly equitable in view of size and appetite of these divisions. Last year at Chicago I asked with a mix- ture of both whimsy and malevolence whether I could make out my $40 check to ACRL, I was informed that I could not. Last year I spent my $40 on ALA, I did not this year. Quite honestly the only reason I would join ALA again would be to have a vote that would get ACRL out of ALA. ACRL as a totally new organization, in- dependent and shaping its own destiny is the solution. I feel we could tend to our own affairs with a great deal more care and attention than that which was allowed us by ALA. From the matter of ACRL's budget to the areas of support in the battles for aca- demic status and federal funding an inde- pendent ACRL would be more responsive. I will also get satisfaction from disassociat- ing myself from an organization that raises its budgetary demands when the members of that organization are experiencing a tre- mendous budget crunch. Delight will also come from disassociating myself from an organization in which I have no confidence. ALA perhaps has ceased to fulfill the needs of ACRL because of its size. Jugger- nauts when they have become too large can no longer roll freely; and ALA has be- ~ I 1 1 J • come, over the years, a juggernaut that has grown and grown only to be stopped by its size. The momentum is gone and inertia has set in. Those that suffer are the individual divisions which need active and innovative programs. By whatever name it adopts ACRL, AAL etc. we would collectively be better for the venture. The time to do this is now! To the Editor: L. S. Strohl Technical Services Librarian Roger Williams College Bristol, Rhode Island . My conclusions upon having read Mc- .tfually and Downs (CRL, March 1973) are that library administration should be all the more challenging and worthwhile, because "The new type of leadership within the li- brary requires that [the director] be a leader and not merely an authority" ( p. 123) and that many of the changes in the milieu of the director should have occurred years ago. It is interesting to note that stresses in a library are a major reason for the resigna- tion of many directors. Any director who views librarians as professionals should not be surprised when they demand the auton- omy that generally characterizes members of professions. More aggressive behavior (including unionization when necessary) by librarians and support staff years ago might have made the library world a far better one than it is. It would certainly have ensured a greater division between professional and other duties, which in tum makes it more probable both elements of the library staff would be suitably compen- sated. The situation that leads fastest to dis- harmony is one in which librarians and clerical staff members do the same kinds of work. This means that both will be badly paid and that poor morale will be the norm. Particularly significant is Robert Miller's observation that unionization, the move- ment for faculty status, and similar activ- ities represent "an attack on the father image." What is important is that Miller did not write "parent image" or ccmother im- age." One of the underlying problems in li- braries of all kinds is that most men were Letters I 281 at or near the top, while most women were at the bottom. Paternalism by library direc- tors may therefore have been mixed with sexism. (This is not to suggest that Mr. Mil- ler approves of this situation.) Benfamin R. Beede Assistant Law Librarian Rutgers, The State University of New I ersey To the Editor: In the May issue of CRL, Leo N. Flan- agan's article "Professionalism Dismissed" cut deep into the problem of the effective- ness of library education. Mr. Flanagan's thought of curing the ills of uinsecurity" by "human communication" is an essential point. Library schools should incorporate into their curriculum not only courses in in- terpersonal communication but also exten- sive and meaningful apprenticeship pro- grams that apply these concepts. The lack of this type of training among practicing librarians is so apparent that most of us tuck it into our subconscious and try to dis- miss it as unimportant. Two cases that demonstrate this deficien- cy come to mind. The first involves the very basic concepts of reference technique. To be blunt, all of this c'hiding behind a desk" and c'fingerpointing" has become so common in academic libraries that the ma- jority of students do not even bother to ap- proach the reference librarian with research questions. It is about time for the reference librarian to approach the students through an effective orientation program and by circulating around the reference room among the students. This means both oral and body communication. The second case involves the participa- tion of librarians in national, regional and state organizational activities. There has been a din of complaints for years that these organizational gatherings leave the participants cold. Recently I attended the College and Research Library Section meet- ing of the Kentucky Library Association. It was obvious that the program was off key, for very few were excited, much less interested, in what was being said. Then, during the last session of the conference, a discussion arose over several ideas about 282 I College & Research Libraries • September 1973 library orientation. There was a discernible surge of excitement, but the conference was over and so was this flurry of words. This example leads me to my point. If there were any amount of communication among these librarians, they would correspond and visit other libraries to follow through on these words. They could influence the organizers of the next meeting to plan a workshop so that they would be exposed to different types of orientation programs. This brand of constructive communication b etween librarians can mean positive re- sults in their libraries. If librarians have a yearning to be called "professionals," it will come through com- munication. Bennett C. Ford Assistant Librarian of Reference Georgetown College Library Georgetown, Kentucky To the Editor: I would like to supplement the article by MacDonald and Elrod "An Approach to Developing Computer Catalogs" ( CRL, May 1973). The idea of separating the finding and bibliographical functions of the catalog is not of course a new one. 1 • 2 In practice, not much has been done to follow it up, but the catalog of Bath University library, En- gland, was recently converted to machine records with short entries (average 110 characters) .3 • 4 An experiment is current- ly in progress to compare this catalog with the conventional card catalog, which is still being maintained until the experiments are completed. 5 The union catalogs maintained by the British Library Lending Division (which incorporates the old National Central Li- brary) may well be maintained in computer form in future, with records of about 100 characters on average.6 This was shown to be feasible by a research study, which further showed that ambiguity was likely to occur only in a tiny minority of cases.7 If readers want bibliographical informa- tion on the books in a library, there are two main possibilities open to them. The first is to look at the books themselves, if they are not on loan. The second is to consult published bibliographies, which cover the vast majority of items in any given library. The cost and effort of this extra checking, which will be necessary in only a small pro- portion of cases, have to be balanced against the lower cost of local catalog pro- duction and maintenance and the greater speed of checking most items in a smaller, more compact and more usable £le. Quite apart from library costs, there is little doubt that users would benefit on the whole. If libraries really do want bibliographical records of their own books, this may not be best achieved by conventional cataloguing, which usually aims to produce a surrogate of the title-page (and in extreme cases, the contents pages). An alternative is to micro- £lm the title-page and contents page ( s) of each book, coding the £1m with codes linked to a computer file of short records so entries can be retrieved automatically. This would provide better bibliographical information, and also some very useful sub- ject information in the contents page ( s). REFERENCES 1. M. W. Grose and M. B. Line ... On the Con- struction and Care of White Elephants: Some Fundamental Questions Concerning the Catalogue." ALA Bulletin, 62:741-47 (June 1970). 2. M. B. Line. "White Elephants Revisited." Catalogue and Index, 13:4-6 (Jan. 1969). 3. Philip Bryant, Gillian M. Venner and M. B. Line. The Bath Mini-Catalo gue: a Progress Report. (Bath University Library, England, February 1972). 4. Philip Bryant and Maurice Line. "Catalogu- ing and Classification at Bath University Library." Library Association Record, 73: 225-27 (Dec. 1971). 5. OSTI Newsletter, December 1972, p.8. 6. Great Britain. Department of Education & Science. The Scope for Automatic Data Processing in the British Library. (London, H.M. Stationery Office, 1972). 7. William Y. Arms and Caroline R. Arms. Ac- cess to Union Catalogues Maintained by Computer. (London, National Central Li- brary, 1972). Maurice B. Line Deputy Director-General British Library Lending Division To the Editor: Please let me take this opportunity to tell you that I am very much interested in a statement printed in the May issue of CRL, j .I I .. ALA-Is It Time for an Alternative?" I attended the Las Vegas meeting in late June and was somewhat concerned and even depressed by the diversity of the meeting, particularly by the great number of programs which, in many instances, did not follow the announced theme of the meeting. I am not a librarian, and have no formal training in the area of librarianship. My own background is in English literature, having studied at the University of North Carolina many years ago. For the past few years, at the request of our librarian, I have attended the two annual meetings of the American Library Association and have concluded that we are perhaps moving far away from the basic intellectual thrust which should seem to be necessary in an organization that is attempting to encour- age the life of the mind. There is a rela- tionship between the size of an organization and its many commitments. Perhaps the American Library Association could better serve its membership, if some of the prob- lems concerning the welfare of librarians are the responsibility of some other organi- zation. I am thinking particularly of the American Association of University Profes- sors which is concerned primarily with the welfare of academic people. This is not to Letters I 283 suggest that the welfare of professional li- brarians should ever be neglected, but it is to suggest that such matters could better be served in another organization. Perhaps librarians should push harder for profes- sional status; but this is difficult to do until librarians, themselves, have a clearer idea of the nature of the profession. I am par- ticularly interested in the article prepared by LeoN. Flanagan in the May 1973 issue of CRL. As you know, he states precisely that li- brarianship is not a profession and referring to the article by Mary Lee Bundy and Paul Wasserman in CRL, Jan. 1968, indicates that the librarian is more directly related to the druggist than to a medical doctor. The implication here is quite clear and needs no further elaboration. The ideas which I am expressing here are not original, but they are nonetheless per- tinent and even alarming. I think it's quite in order that the journal College and Re- search Libraries continue this discussion, if for no other reason than that of prevent- ing librarians from becoming mere clerks and technicians. Albert H. Buford, Ph.D. Dean of Graduate Studies Villanova University Villanova, Pennsylvania