College and Research Libraries


use of reading machines. O n e other limi-
tation not mentioned is that current rec-
ords which involve comparisons between 
documents, as most current records do, 
cannot be used efficiently on films because 
of the time involved in threading films in 
and out of the reading m a c h i n e s . — M a r -
garet C. Norton, Archives Division, Illi-
nois State Library, Springfield. 

Report of the President [of the Carnegie 
Corporation]. Carnegie Corporation 
of N e w Y o r k , 5 2 2 F i f t h A v e . , N e w 
Y o r k , 1 9 3 9 . 9op. 

ACCORDING to President Keppel, the 
Carnegie Corporation does not consider 
the year 1 9 3 8 - 3 9 to be one of outstanding 
achievement in its history. Be that as it 
may, no person concerned with the prob-
lems of higher education should fail to 
read this report, for it indicates the diffi-
culties that beset a group of men earnestly 
trying to direct the resources of a huge 
fund into the most productive American 
and British educational channels. T h e 
problems, plans, hopes, and fears of such 
men are of vital interest to those of us 
w h o are trying to achieve a better educa-
tional system. 

Especially interesting to this reviewer 
are the discussion of a somewhat new 
emphasis upon timeliness in making cer-
tain grants, the remarks upon general edu-
cation and the relation of the professions to 
the community, and the conclusion, in 
which the progress of the American peo-
ple in the fields of interest of the corpora-
tion since its creation in 1 9 1 1 is surveyed. 

T h e report begins with an account of 
the general effect of world-wide unrest 
and uncertainty upon the investment poli-
cies of the corporation. T h e s e policies 
have been made even more conservative 
than before with the result that the 5 per 

cent interest rate on Carnegie Corporation 
investments of 1 9 2 7 has shrunk to 3 . 0 4 
per cent this year. T h e dwindling in-
come from investments is one very concrete 
factor that makes the corporation uncer-
tain about the future. T h e long-term 
programs for the development of adult 
education, library, fine art, and museum 
facilities which consume about three-fifths 
of the Carnegie income have not been a f -
fected greatly, but the corporation has been 
very careful in making long-term com-
mitments with the remaining two-fifths. 

T h e main body of the report and a large 
section of the Appendix summarize the 
w o r k and appropriations of the corpora-
tion so succinctly that a brief review can 
only send its reader to the original. In 
the opinion of this reviewer, the report's 
most challenging idea relates to academic 
degrees and their slight significance today 
as signs of educational achievement: 

O n l y in a f e w strong professions . . . can 
it be said that the possession of a degree to-
day necessarily means anything. E l s e w h e r e , 
all too often, a degree as such may mean 
literally nothing. A l l over the country 
teaching and other vacancies are being filled 
by degrees, not by men or women, the ap-
pointing bodies accepting the diploma as a 
substitute f o r the tiresome process of really 
finding out something as to the professional 
and personal qualifications of individual 
human beings. 

It cannot be too strongly urged upon 
the corporation that some study be made 
with a view to the rectification of this situ-
ation. Such a study would be arduous 
and charged with dynamite, for it would 
touch accrediting standards and agencies, 
questions of emphasis upon teaching or re-
search for college faculty members, and 
many other controversial issues. It is pos-
sible, however, that a thorough study of 
academic degrees might throw considerable 

MARCH, 1940 189 



light upon the reasons for the shocking 
short-comings of A m e r i c a n collegiate edu-
cation as shown in the Carnegie study by 
Learned and W o o d entitled The Student 
and His Knowledge. 

D r . Keppel returns to a theme of earlier 
reports when he calls attention to the im-
portance of fuller consideration of the 
place of the professionally trained men 
and women in the community. T h i s year 
the point carries home to librarians by di-
rect reference to the appointment, within 
the past eighteen months, of two laymen 
to influential library positions. D r . K e p -
pel feels that such appointments should 
cause us to ask ourselves both whether the 
layman responsible for selection of men 
for such posts understands the significance 
of professional qualifications and also 
whether our present machinery for the 
training, not only of librarians but else-
where throughout the professions, is w o r k -
ing adequately. 

T h e conclusion to the report looks back-
w a r d at the long-term record of the cor-
poration and claims at least a share in 
certain accomplishments in a number of 
areas of broad human interests. Since 
1 9 1 1 when the Carnegie Corporation w a s 
founded, the A m e r i c a n people have ac-
cepted the conception of education as a 
life-long process. T h e American public 
is more disposed than formerly to recog-
nize that art is a matter of normal human 
interest. T h e influence of the corporation 
upon libraries and museums has been im-
portant. Economic, historic, and social 
inquiries large and small have been fi-
nanced. M o n e y has been given to aid in 
the endowment of colleges and universi-
ties and many of these benefits have ac-
crued not only to the A m e r i c a n people but 
to the peoples of the British Dominions 
and Colonies. 

Librarians w i l l be especially interested 
in t w e n t y - t w o pages of publications listed 
in the A p p e n d i x . M a n y of these are of 
great importance for purchase in college 
and university l i b r a r i e s . — N e i l C. Van 
Deusen, Fisk University, Nashville. 

College and University Library Buildings. 
E d n a R u t h H a n l e y . A m e r i c a n L i b r a r y 

• Association, 1 9 3 9 . i 5 2 p . $ 4 . 5 0 . 

T H E TITLE of this interesting volume 
is slightly misleading. I t includes only 
t w o buildings which house a half million 
or more volumes and only three which 
serve 5 0 0 0 or more students. Doubtless 
the University of M i c h i g a n building w a s 
included because the study w a s made un-
der D r . Bishop's supervision though his 
building is by some years the oldest one 
included. N o volume can be considered 
a study of university buildings which does 
not include several other buildings of a 
size and type comparable to M i c h i g a n , 
such as Illinois, Rochester, California, 
H a r v a r d , Y a l e . A c t u a l l y this book is a 
study of college and smaller university li-
brary buildings. A s such it is eminently 
satisfying. 

T h e division by price ranges enables a 
librarian faced with a building problem to 
examine buildings within reach of his ap-
propriation and to present them to college 
authorities without being confused by 
more expensive or cheaper buildings. 

T h e section entitled, " S o m e Essentials 
in College L i b r a r y P l a n n i n g , " is very well 
done. Personally I w o u l d emphasize, 
even more strongly than M i s s H a n l e y 
does, the fact that most library buildings 
of the past, though planned for fifty years, 
have been seriously outgrown in from 
twenty to twenty-five years. It is impos-
sible to place too much emphasis on the 
importance of planning every library 

1 9 0 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES