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FROFESSIOUnL AND 3HRVIC. DIVISION
CiiHIBUS LI3RAR1 PROJECT
(30275)
THE_«CR." OF
THE ClilC^SC PUBLIC LIBRARY 0LRI6U3 PROJECT
•■this v;cri: fays your collukity" leek
Lay 20—25, I940
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J.JSDJR E .iuRKJ -0F.3.CY
PARI; FRCJLCTO ..ut.:NiJTR;.TiC5
(Illinois)
District No. 3
1400 Viest Washington Boulevard
Chicago, Illinois
Telephone
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TTI3 CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY CMNIBUS PROJECT
/{30275
For the past three centuries America has been so deeply engrossed in
the task of conquering the frontier that it has paid scant attention to the
development of an American culture. The job of felling trees, clearing vir¬
gin fields, harnessing ray; n.ture, and exploiting our natural resources has
been such an all-absorbing one that it has claimed the greater part of our
energies. After three hundred years of economic evolution we can point with
due pride to our material accomplishments. We have established „.n enviable
record in the production of material goods. But this emphasis on material
progress has not been without its evil effects. It has served to stunt the
cultural growth cf our country. It h .s made 1 .rgu sections of our popula¬
tion blind to the cultural potenti .lities of Amorio.ui life. Recently we
have begun to recognize this deficiency as a nation and everywhere efforts
are being m .dc to rectify the situation. Thus, wo o.re .t last beginning to
anpreciate the significance of preserving written records—public and pri¬
vate. Wo have finally come to understand that cultural development depends
on records, for, broadly spe..king, records .re to society what memory is to
the individual.
The work of the Chicago Public Library Omnibus Project is a small part
of this largo nation?.l movement to restore and preserve for succeeding gen¬
erations the records of American culture. The Library Omnibus ^roject, at
present, consists of some seven related projects or phases sponsored by the
Chicago Public Library.
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EXTENSION OF LIBRARY SERVICES
This first phas^, as its titlo implies, assists the Chicago Public Lib¬
rary and quasi-public institutions; such as, the Newberry Library, the Jofrn
Crerar Library, the Chicago Art Institute, thG Harper Library of the Univer¬
sity of Chioago, the Deering Library of Narthwestern University, and others
to extend their services and facilities to readers and patrons. The work of
the projcot consists in repairing library books., assisting in the ^reparation
of library catalogues, checking shelf lists, arranging clipping and pamphlet
files, and performing acoros of other library clerical tasks.
INDEX OF MUSIC /JID PRINTING PERIODICALS
FH^SS B
This unit is preparing an index to music and -printing periodicals. The
indox is not confined to English periodicals only; it embraces foreign pub¬
lications as well-. The periodicals th .t arc hoing indexed do not appear in
any of the guides th .t are now in existence. The completed index will open
up an enormous body of liter .turo on the subject of music and printing which
will be extremely useful to persons interested in these fields..
INDEX CF CONGRESSION. X DEBATES
PHASE C
An indox to Congressional Debates has for many years been badly neoded.
The prcsont indioes th .t accompany each volume arc inadequate in two respects.
In the first pi .00, in order to traoe a subjoct, suoh as, Public Lands dur¬
ing the years 1850—1860, it is nccossary to oxamino some forty volumes or
more in order to extract -.11 of tho dat . on the subject. There is no cum¬
ulative index.- In the second pi \oo, the indices that accompany oaoh volume
are extremely deficient in th .t they :.rc incomplete, inaccurate, and poorly
cross-roforoncud. The project is preparing a siuglo index which will cover
all congressional debates from 1789 to the present and will thus make this
important sot of publio records easily accessible.
INDEX OF METROPOLITAN 1RESS
I-HaSE D
This phase is engaged in preparing a name :nd subject index of at
least one solcctou Chicago newsp-.ncr from 1833 to tho present. The justifi¬
cation for the project exists, in the fact, that tno newspaper is one of the
principal primary sources for social scientists. It is a giant reservoir of
information useful to historian, sociologist, political scientist, and econ¬
omist alike. The newspaper is equally essential to other olasscs of people.
Hundreds of inquiries come in daily to reference librarians, of Chicago, for
information about persons who do not got into biographical dictionaries or
encyclopedias. References to such persons arc found only, if at all, in
nowspapers. The nev/spj.rer files, it may be added, are consulted frequently
by gonoologists, journalists, editors, business men, and others. But the
newspaper without an index is like a sealed book. Tho information it oon-
tains is inaccessible except by thumbing pago after page and scanning each
column—not unlike looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack, An
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index is the key that unlocks this vast body of valuable material. Only per¬
sons who have been buried for months in nuwspa^or stacks searching and dis¬
covering bits of information piooe-moal horo nd there can truly appreciate
the indisponsability of a news p.-.-ior index.
DIGEST OF FCREIGN L.iNGih.GE PRESS
PHaS E E
A digest of articles in the foreign-language press of Chicago, which
have any bearing on the part played by foreign groups in the development of
the city, is being prepared by Phase E of the project. It should be noted
that in the past it has boon virtually impossible to evaluate the part
played by the foreign-language communities in the development of Chicago, be¬
cause no ono person could read all the necessary languages, and there was no
organization interested in making available the material which would enable
interested persons to utilize the gr.,at fund of information contained in the
foroign-lenguagc press. When such material in the local foreign-language
press is transl .tod into English by this project, it will be used in the pre¬
paration of historical, sociological, and economic studios and reports on all
phases of city, community and group life.
BIBLIOGRAPHY CF THE HISTORY OF PRINTING
PHaSE F
This unit is compiling :.n exhaustive bibliography of ..11 works in every
language dealing with the subjcot of printing. Since no bibliography of
printing has boon published, within the last fifty years, rad since the year
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194^ marks tho fiv^ hundredth anniversary of the invention of printing, it is
especially .ppropriato tlv.t suoh . bibliography bo proparod at this time.
Tho comploted bibliography will bo extremely usoful to all persons engaged in
tho printing industry, which is tho thrid largest in this country#
INDEX TO PORTRAITS—SCIENCE .JfD INDUSTRY
FIIAS C H
This phase is propnring an index to portraits of men and women in the
field of science and industry, -which appear in books * periodicals, and other
litcraturo. Such an index will bo an extremely useful reforcnce tool for sci¬
entific and technical libraries.
All of those services which the Chicago Public Library and the Work
Projects Administration are providing will make more roadily available to the
public tho rich resources of Chicago libraries. In addition, a large number
of persons .rc given congenial work raid an opportunity to develop new skills
or maintain old ones, ",7c of the Library Omnibus Project aro pleased to seize
tho opportunity offered by "This Work Pays Your Community" 'Week to show you
tho various ways in which tho intellectual, economic, and cultural lifo of
Chioago arc being enriched by tho work of our projoot.