College and Research Libraries


Changes in Organisation at the 
University of Illinois Library* 

THE most significant development of the year at the University of Illinois L i -
brary has been the reorganization that has 

taken place. Heretofore those in charge 

of thirty-six different divisions and depart-

ments of w o r k on the U r b a n a campus 

have reported directly to the director of 

the library. T h e M e d i c a l , D e n t a l , and 

Pharmacy L i b r a r y in C h i c a g o is another 

unit. Since the director of the library is 

also director of the library school, the 

number of independent units under the 

direct supervision of one man has totaled 

thirty-eight in all. T h i s span of control is 

too wide. T h i s fact has been recognized 

for some years, but it has been l e f t so that 

the n e w director w o u l d have an oppor-

tunity to work out his o w n solution. 

T h e first step w a s to bring together all 

of the public service departments of the 

library on the U r b a n a campus and place 

them in charge of one person. T h e posi-

tion of associate university librarian w a s 

created September I, 1941 ; H o m e r H a l -

vorson, of the reference department of 

the H a r v a r d University L i b r a r y , w a s ap-

pointed to fill it. T o this officer has been 

assigned the responsibility of administer-

ing, under the director, the twenty-odd 

public service departments on the U r b a n a 

campus. In addition to these duties, the 

associate librarian assists w i t h the general 

administration of the university library. 

T h e second step w a s to centralize the 

responsibility for personnel. F o r this pur-

pose the office of assistant university li-

* E x c e r p t f r o m the a n n u a l report of the director. 

brarian in charge of personnel w a s created 

last September and Josie B . Houchens w a s 

placed in charge. M i s s Houchens con-

tinues as binding librarian and as lecturer 

in the library school. T h e duties of this 

office cover recruiting primarily and cer-

tain specifically assigned responsibilities 

which are not so heavy but that they can 

be carried by one person whose attention 

ranges over a w i d e r field than personnel. 

T o quote from the memorandum which 

announced to members of the library staff 

the creation of the position and M i s s 

Houchens' appointment: 

T h e duties of this officer are investigative 
and executive. T h e task of investigation 
will involve securing information about 
candidates for positions and presenting it 
in such form as will facilitate selection on 
the basis of merit. T h e executive respon-
sibilities will involve putting into effect 
personnel policies as they are developed to-
gether with such other duties of personnel 
management as may be assigned. . . . A l l 
applications for positions and all correspond-
ence concerning positions on the staff, in-
cluding student help, should be referred to 
Miss Houchens. She will keep such records 
of persons seeking employment in the uni-
versity library and such other records per-
taining to personnel as the library may 
require. When a vacancy occurs the first 
step to be taken by the head of a department, 
departmental librarian, or other person hav-
ing supervisory responsibilities will be to 
report the vacancy to Miss Houchens on a 
form prepared for the purpose. 

In filling positions an attempt will be 
made to secure as much information about 
available candidates as possible before a de-
cision is made. For regular positions on the 
staff, the decision itself will be made, insofar 

DECEMBER, 1942 57 



as regulations of the university civil service 
permit, by the director of the library. T h e 
intent of all steps preliminary to this de-
cision is to produce and crystallize such 
information as will make the decision the 
most intelligent, and to this end anyone who 
can contribute information will be fully 
utilized. In particular the one who is in 
charge of a department or departmental 
library in which a vacancy occurs will be 
called upon to contribute as much informa-
tion as possible. 

Executive responsibilities.assigned to the 

assistant university librarian in charge of 

personnel include appointment of students 

paid by the hour, keeping a record of staff 

absences, representing the director in han-

dling civil service appointments at the 

clerical level, and maintaining a schedule 

of vacations of members of the staff. 

T w o other campus-wide services are 

acquisitions and cataloging. T h e s e serv-

ices remain essentially unchanged, but each 

of them is now in charge of an assistant 

university librarian. W i l l i a K . G a r v e r 

has been appointed assistant university li-

brarian in charge of acquisitions. U n d e r 

her are three divisions—the purchase di-

vision, the periodicals division, and the 

division of gifts and exchanges. 

A r n o l d H . T r o t i e r has been appointed 

assistant university librarian in charge of 

cataloging. H e is in charge of all catalog-

ing on the university campus except that 

done in the university high school. T h e s e 

changes in organization have been made 

w i t h a v i e w to reducing the span of control 

and placing greater executive strength at 

the top of the organization. 

U n t i l a f e w months ago the library of 

the university high school w a s only nomi-

nally under the director of the library. 

T h e salary of the librarian and a special 

allotment for book purchases w e r e in the 

budget of the college of education. T h e 

transfer of both of these items to the uni-

versity library budget and the approval of 

recommendations that this library function 

under the director of the library as an 

integral part of the library system of the 

university has brought desirable results 

both in terms of sound organization and 

wholesome interdepartmental relations. 

In the office of the director an assistant-

ship to the director w a s not filled when 

the position became vacant. M a r y Lois 

B u l l , the remaining assistant to the direc-

tor, has been given direct charge of the 

office w i t h several specific executive respon-

sibilities of a general nature in addition 

to the supervision of the three steno-

graphic assistants. She is the only person 

besides the director w h o regularly carries 

responsibilities for the library school as 

w e l l as the library. H e r salary, like that 

of the director, is carried entirely on the 

library budget. 

C A R L M . W H I T E 

58 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



Katharine L. Sharp Scholarship 

TH E K A T H A R I N E L . S H A R P S C H O L A R -SHIP, which carries a stipend of three 
hundred dollars and exemption from tui-

tion, w i l l be awarded by the faculty of the 

University of Illinois L i b r a r y School in 

M a r c h 1943. T h e award is made for the 

second year of study in library science. 

Application should be filed w i t h the di-

rector of the school, C a r l M . W h i t e , U r -

bana, 111., before M a r c h I. Application 

blanks may be secured upon request. 

T h i s scholarship w a s endowed in 1933 

by the University of Illinois L i b r a r y 

School Association as a memorial to the 

founder of the library school. T h e present 

Katharine L . Sharp scholar is A g n e s 

Reagan, w h o completed her first year of 

library school .training at E m o r y U n i v e r -

sity L i b r a r y School, E m o r y , G a . Since 

1939 she has been on the library staff at 

A g n e s Scott College, D e c a t u r , G a . O t h -

ers w h o have held this scholarship a r e : 

Lucy B. Foote, head cataloger, Hill M e -
morial Library, Louisiana State University, 
University. 

Donald W . Kohlstedt, librarian, Public Li-
brary, Grand Rapids, Mich. 

M a r y E. Silverthorn, assistant professor, 
Library School, Ontario College of Educa-
tion, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont., 
Canada. 

Katherine A . Brose, head, Loan Depart-
ment, Mills College Library, Mills College, 
Calif. 

Ruth M . Heiss, Technology Division, Pub-
lic Library, Cleveland, Ohio. 

Felix Snider, librarian, East Carolina 
Teachers College, Greenville, N . C . 

M r . Marion A . Milczewski, executive as-
sistant, Books for Latin America Project, 
American Library Association, Washington, 
D . C . 

Katharine Kinder, readers' adviser, Willis-
ton Memorial Library, Mount Holyoke 
College, South Hadley, Mass. 

Organization of the U.S.D.A. Library as 
Indicated by Its Organization Charts 
(Continued from page 34) 

library. T h e s e changes are not presented 

as improvements; they prove nothing out 

of their context of the organizational and 

operational needs and conditions of their 

time and place; they indicate that through 

the years there has been an effort to keep 

our library's organization geared closely 

to the sum total of operating factors and 

that that process is still going on. 

T h e process of g r o w t h and fission and 

sloughing off of dead branches is one 

interesting tale told by our organization 

charts over the years. T h i s and much 

more can be found in these charts, but w e 

must remember that the charts offer 

merely one-dimensional skeletons to which 

our staff adds life and purpose and per-

spective. 

DECEMBER, 1942 59