College and Research Libraries


By M A R G A R E T S. G I L L 

Canadian University and Reference 
Libraries in Wartime 

As librarian of the National Research 

Council of Canada, Miss Gill is in posi-

tion to observe the effects of the war upon 

many of the libraries in her country. 

ANADA went to war in September 
' 1939 and to the classes graduating 

in 1943 from Canadian unfversities the 

abnormal life of wartime was the normal 

life of an undergraduate who had known 

no other. Librarians, however, whose 

memories and records go back to the pre-

war days, when life was not necessarily all 

part of the nation's war effort, have con-

tributed various notes and reports from 

which the following has been compiled. 

Book Supply 

From east to west there is general 

agreement on certain outstanding disabili-

ties under which libraries are struggling. 

Chief among these is the increased cost of 

books, due mainly to the rate of exchange 

between Canada and the United States 

and to the special war import tax of 10 

per cent collected by the Canadian govern-

ment. T h e University of Saskatchewan 

library reckoned early in 1942 that the 

cost of books had then risen 32 per cent. 

More recently a technical book listed in 

the United States at ten dollars was of-

fered by agents in Toronto at fourteen 

dollars. T h i s is a serious handicap, not 

only to libraries endeavoring to meet the 

growing needs of their borrowers, but 

also to the individual, whether student, 

technician, or researcher, who cannot af-

ford the books he would normally hope 

to buy for himself. 

Closely allied to the question of initial 

cost is that of poor quality of paper and 

binding, necessitating early replacement, 

wThich in turn is made difficult by the 

limited editions printed. T h e small num-

ber and poor quality of many books 

printed in Great Britain, coupled with 

the delay and uncertainty of delivery, have 

reduced one of the principal sources of 

supply to a small fraction of its prewar 

usefulness. 

A major calamity in the reference li-

brary is the periodical situation. Canada's 

files of foreign journals were successively 

cut off with each advance of A x i s ag-

gression. T h e last issues from Germany 

arrived in September 1939. Those from 

Scandinavia, Holland, Belgium, Italy, and 

France followed in their turn in 1940, and 

so on. Some of the earlier numbers that 

failed to reach Canada were received, in 

limited quantities, in the United States 

and have been available for photostat or 

microfilm copying, but there are still many 

that seemingly have not reached either 

country. Although missing issues of Brit-

ish journals are surprisingly few, there 

are enough to cause troublesome breaks in 

files that cannot at present be remedied, 

and in 1942 missing numbers of United 

States publications were added to the 

99 



problem. T h e answer to a routine re-

port that a certain issue has not arrived 

is usually, "So sorry! But w e have no 

more copies." Sometimes the cold com-

fort of a month's extension of the sub-

scription is offered, but this does nothing 

for the broken file. Incidentally, the size 

and form of some British publications pre-

sent a binding problem that is not easily 

solved. 

Staff Difficulties 

T h e next major handicap under which 

Canadian libraries are struggling is also 

one shared with other countries. It is the 

lack of adequate staff. Trained assistants 

have left to enter the armed forces or to 

do work more obviously connected with 

the war effort, and the library schools are 

graduating fewer students than ever be-

fore. T h e librarian of M c G i l l Univer-

sity summarizes the situation by saying: 

" I t is impossible to replace trained assist-

ants owing to (a) higher salaries paid in 

special libraries, (b) lack of unplaced 

library school graduates, (c) diversion of 

possible library school students to war 

activities." Opportunities in other lines 

of work at higher salaries have cut down 

the supply of potential pages, messengers, 

and janitor staff, and it has been said that 

it is easier to get a qualified engineer than 

a good stenographer. T h i s situation has 

indirectly had a beneficial effect on salaries 

in some institutions where it was found 

impossible to get new staff members with-

out offering higher commencing salaries 

than had obtained formerly. Frequently 

older members have had to have increases 

to bring them level with the newcomers. 

T h e war departments of the federal 

government have drawn a large number 

of librarians to O t t a w a where they are 

serving in many guises. It is unfortu-

nately true that many good librarians 

have found that they can get better 

salaries, doing work for which their li-

brary training makes them particularly 

adapted, if they are listed under some 

caption other than "librarian." Libra-

rianship seems to rank with virtue when 

the monetary rewards are being handed 

out! However, the fact remains that 

whatever their classification in the civil 

service records, many librarians have 

found their way to O t t a w a , leaving gaps 

in the staffs across the country that cannot 

be easily filled. 

Industrial Aid 

T h e i r location relative to defense train-

ing centers or industrial areas, particularly 

in those places where other libraries are 

inadequate or entirely lacking, has been 

largely responsible for the part played by 

some libraries in the recreational and edu-

cational life of men in those centers. M c -

G i l l University lists the following under 

the heading L O A N S A N D C I R C U L A -

T I O N : 

1. G r e a t l y increased use of the l i b r a r y 
by research w o r k e r s in w a r plants, in-
dustries, and scientific l a b o r a t o r i e s . 

2. I n c r e a s e in r e f e r e n c e w o r k done by 
the staff f o r the above groups. 

3. Judicious extension of l i b r a r y rules 
and regulations f o r the use of stack 
f o r properly recommended members 
of the above groups. 

4. Increased u n d e r g r a d u a t e use of the 
l i b r a r y and more n u m e r o u s calls f o r 
assistance on the p a r t of the l i b r a r y 
staff. 

5. U s e of the l i b r a r y , f o r the first time, 
by members of the N a v y , A r m y , and 
A i r F o r c e s of the U n i t e d N a t i o n s f o r 
both i n f o r m a t i v e and r e c r e a t i o n a l 
reading, and extension of l i b r a r y rules 
to include these groups, 

6. A d u l t education g r o u p s and educa-
tional specialists use the l i b r a r y facili-

v 100 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



ties more than ever, especially w i t h 
r e g a r d to p o s t w a r planning. 

7. Establishment of a special r e f e r e n c e 
shelf on w o r l d conditions and c u r r e n t 
events. 

8. A c t i v e cooperation w i t h the I n t e r n a -
tional L a b o u r Office and N a t i o n a l R e -
search C o u n c i l by a l l o w i n g access to 
all our resources and providing help 
w h e n possible. 

9. C o l l e c t i o n of books and periodicals f o r 
the C e n t r a l B o o k and M a g a z i n e 
D e p o t f o r distribution to the a r m e d 
services. 

10. L o a n s to internment and r e f u g e e 
camps f o r educational use. 

1 1 . M a r k e d increase in providing libraries 
and research agencies w i t h photostats 
and film copies. 

M c G i l l , like the libraries of British Co-

lumbia, has taken precautions to protect 

its more valuable treasures against pos-

sible air raids by removing them to safe 

storage. 

Service to Military Units 

Although thirty miles from their camp, 

M o u n t Allison has given much appreci-

ated service, particularly recreational 

reading, to the R . A . F . men stationed in 

Moncton. T h e Provincial Library in 

Victoria reports that a large number of 

N a v y , Army, and A i r Force personnel 

have made use of the library for both per-

sonal and official purposes. T h e provin-

cial librarian writes: 

I might mention in this connection coop-
eration w i t h R o y a l R o a d s N a v a l C o l l e g e 
and H . M . C . D o c k y a r d . Special note should 
be made of operations w h i c h w e have happily 
been able to c a r r y out f o r the benefit of 
C a n a d i a n N a v a l Intelligence, A r m y M a p 
Service of the U n i t e d States C o r p s of E n g i -
neers, and U n i t e d States A r m y Intelligence, 
in the m a t t e r of collecting maps, aerial pho-
tographs, and other important m a t e r i a l f r o m 
v a r i o u s sources t h r o u g h o u t the province. . . . 

Several institutions, including Ontario 

Agricultural College, Macdonald Col-

lege, University of Manitoba, and M c -

Master University, have given the use 

of one or more buildings to the armed 

forces. T h i s has necessitated, on the one 

hand, a rearrangement of the classes or 

other activities normally held there and, 

on the other hand, a greater contact with 

the men and women thus introduced to 

the campus, who are usually given ex-

tensive library privileges. 

Diversified Contributions 

M o u n t Saint Vincent College Library 

offers an interesting example of the con-

tribution such an institution can make to 

the cultural life of its community. A s 

part of a young, rather small, liberal arts 

college for women, situated four miles 

outside Halifax, the library has had little 

direct contact with the services but has 

endeavored to help the students in their 

understanding of the present and in their 

intelligent choice of a career for the fu-

ture. T h r o u g h a small branch library at 

the entrance to the campus, the staff serves 

the people of the district, especially the 

children of the village, and gradually the 

reading interests of these young Canadians 

have been extended from the familiar 

things of their everyday life to include 

stories of other children in other lands, 

and the elders have been led on from 

Pearl Buck's Patriot and Dragon Seed to 

The Soong Sisters and the speeches of the 

Chiangs and from The Family and The 

Children to many other books on Russia. 

T h e librarian, Sister Francis de Sales, 

writes, "Is not this enlarging of sympathy 

and intelligent interest furthering our 

war aims and preparing for the brave new 

world we all prayerfully envisage?" 

T h e librarian of L'Institut Agricole 

MARCH, 1944 101 



d ' O k a reports that he is working single-

handed to carry on all the usual routines 

of his library and, in addition, to do de-

tailed indexing under English, French, 

and Latin names for the benefit of the 

French-Canadian "agronomes" of the 

Province of Quebec. W i t h a practically 

nonexistent budget the library is largely 

dependent on friendly institutions (agri-

cultural experiment stations, libraries, 

etc.) which make their publications avail-

able free of charge. 

In some universities provision has been 

made for new courses, especially wartime 

technical courses, and the libraries have 

had to do more extensive buying in these 

fields than was formerly necessary. T h e 

University of Saskatchewan mentions also 

an increased interest in current affairs, 

campaigns, and postwar problems which 

have led to an increased output of and 

demand for books on current topics in 

economics, politics, and military matters. 

T h i s in turn adds to the problems of book 

selection in institutions working on very 

limited budgets. 

Effects on Use 

Circulation statistics have reflected vari-

ous influences in different localities. 

M o u n t Allison reports a fluctuation in 

"outside" reading but feels that the lack 

of leisure time which seemingly accounted 

for a temporary drop was also responsible 

for a keener interest in the reading that 

ivas done and for an increase of 100 per 

cent in the circulation of periodicals and 

pamphlets. British Columbia attributes a 

recent drop in circulation to the war, 

"either to the military drill, etc., required 

of students, which took time they would 

otherwise have spent reading, or to pre-

occupation with the war news. There 

was at times a strikingly close relation 

between the work being done by the stu-

dents and the progress of the war." 

Acadia likewise relates the war news 

and the use of the library: 

W e w e r e f o r c e d to conclude that the stu-
dents' interest in books w a s adversely a f -
fected by the w a r . D u r i n g the first y e a r 
w e attributed this to the prevailing spirit of 
unrest and apprehension; d u r i n g the next 
t w o y e a r s to the time consumed in w a r ac-
t i v i t i e s — d a i l y drill by the men and Red 
C r o s s w o r k by the w o m e n ; d u r i n g 1942-43 
to an a c t u a l mental laziness induced by 
a b n o r m a l conditions and continuous bad 
n e w s . . . . Since college opened this a u t u m n 
( 1 9 4 3 ) a t o t a l l y different spirit seems to 
prevail. T h e r e is a l a r g e attendance of n e w 
students. . . . T h e reading rooms are 
u s u a l l y w e l l filled w i t h studious and atten-
tive y o u n g men and w o m e n . P e r h a p s a 
hope of v i c t o r y underlies this attitude. T h e 
w o r d " p o s t w a r " is heard daily in the class-
rooms and on the campus. T o sum up, at 
the beginning of the w a r and w h i l e the final 
v i c t o r y seemed d o u b t f u l , the purely intellec-
t u a l interests could scarcely be emphasized 
at A c a d i a . Scholarship in its deepest human 
v a l u e s w a s obliged to give w a y even in the 
university l i b r a r y to f r a n t i c e f f o r t s of un-
trained minds to comprehend the details of 
the s t r u g g l e and to be technically prepared 
to take p a r t in it. Succeeding this phase 
w a s one of intellectual apathy. N o w the 
time-honored v a l u e s of w h a t C h a r l e s L a m b 
called the " a c a d e m i c institution" seem to be 
once more emerging. H o p e and aspiration 
assume their age-old c h a r a c t e r , w i t h o u t 
w h i c h a university l i b r a r y w o u l d soon be-
come meaningless. 

Work of Medical Libraries 

Meeting the same problems of book 

and periodical supply, shortage and cost 

of equipment, lack of staff, etc., that are 

faced by the general university library, 

the medical branch has been struggling 

to serve the often highly specialized needs 

of a greatly augmented clientele engaged 

in research and investigational work cov-

v 102 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



ering a wide subject field. A s a wartime 

measure medical courses were considerably 

speeded up and the activities of the medi-

cal libraries were correspondingly modi-

fied. Dalhousie reports, "Speeding up of 

the courses caused the students to work 

harder and more continuously. Crowding 

in boarding houses meant that more study-

ing was done in the library, and the li-

brary had to be kept open longer hours 

in the evenings, noon-hours, week ends, 

and holidays." T h e medical men in the 

services are among the libraries' regular 

patrons and every effort has been made to 

provide any immediate information re-

quired as well as to offer the advantages 

of free access to books, indexes, and jour-

nals—a boon seldom enjoyed in ordinary 

practice. T h e Medical Library of the 

University of Western Ontario, for ex-

ample, has made special efforts to assist 

the medical men in the military district 

of which London is the headquarters, par-

ticularly in the field of war medicine, with 

the result that, although circulation figures 

for the general library showed a consid-

erable decrease from prewar years, loans 

from the medical library had increased 

appreciably. 

Reference Libraries 

T h e conditions that affect the univer-

sity library are, with the exception of 

purely institutional factors, also the con-

cern of the reference department of the 

public or special library. A recent report 

from the Vancouver Public Library states 

that questions asked in the science and 

industry division there have been "of a 

considerably higher calibre than in the 

prewar days" and indicate that people are 

taking a much greater interest in impor-

tant issues of the day. 

W i t h o u t a doubt the outstanding interest 

of people today, apart f r o m the w a r itself, 
is the question of p o s t w a r reconstruction. 
. . . T h e w i n n i n g of this w a r is inextricably 
bound up w i t h the kind of a w o r l d w e are 
g o i n g to have a f t e r it. . . . So w e are 
deluged on every side by study groups, f o r -
ums, boards of trade, political parties, clubs, 
and individuals, f o r m a t e r i a l on reconstruc-
tion and conversion of w a r industry into 
peacetime industry. T h i s question so pre-
dominates over all others that it is encour-
aging to say the least and gives some hope 
to an adult education p r o g r a m on a l a r g e 
scale w h i c h w i l l involve libraries in a man-
ner in w h i c h they have never been involved 
b e f o r e . . . . 

A s one means of answering present and 

future problems presented by the upheaval 

in manufacturing and industrial life and 

recognizing the public library's oppor-

tunity to serve business and the worker, 

the Toronto Public Library in 1941 ex-

panded its reference division to include a 

separate business and technology section 

where scientific and technical men, stu-

dents, and workers might find the infor-

mation needed to help them in either their 

immediate or postwar occupations. 

Summary 

A n d so the story goes. In reading 

reports from libraries in all parts of Can-

ada it is soon apparent that certain general 

effects of the war are felt everywhere. 

T h e slowness and uncertainty of deliv-

eries, the gaps in periodical files (especially 

of foreign journals), the inferior quality 

of paper and workmanship, the shortage 

of some supplies and complete lack of oth-

ers, are wartime hardships common to li-

braries in many countries. But Canadian 

libraries are carrying a special burden in 

the increased cost of books. Quite apart 

from local conditions that may influence 

its activities (such as the presence of a 

training center on or near the campus) 

MARCH, 1944 103 



every library in Canada is directly af-

fected by the extra cost added by federal 

taxes and the exchange rate to the list 

price of books and periodicals published 

in the United States, the obvious and 

chief source of supply. 

Added to this is the staff problem. 

W i t h the country's comparatively small 

reservoir of trained librarians the drain 

to war work in one form or another is 

a much more serious loss than might seem 

on first thought to be the case. Candi-

dates for admission to library schools are 

fewer than ever before and usually have 

positions waiting for them after gradua-

tion. M a n y members of the profession 

are deeply concerned lest the lack of quali-

fied workers lead to the acceptance of 

unqualified people, resulting in a lower 

standard of service and further delay in 

the recognition of the library profession 

through certification requirements and 

adequate salary adjustments. 

* O n the bright side of the picture is the 

fact that a large section of the public has 

become for the first time "library con-

scious." It is increasingly apparent that 

the keener minds concerned with the na-

tion's business are well aware of the li-

brary's potentialities, and there is reason 

to hope that the reconstruction period will 

bring opportunities for development never 

before thought possible. Representations 

have been made to federal and provincial 

reconstruction committees emphasizing the 

importance of adequate library service 

in the educational and intellectual life 

of a democratic community and urging the 

establishment of a nationwide plan that 

would remove some of the handicaps suf-

fered by those living in districts too re-

mote and sparsely settled to support li-

brary service without outside help and 

still less able to buy books for their homes. 

T h e correlation of national, provincial, 

regional, and local library units, existing 

or to be established, and the appointment 

of a commission to advise the government 

on library policy, are among the recom-

mendations made in briefs submitted by 

various library agencies, pointing out that 

the need for libraries is correspondingly 

greater in a country where the price of 

books is higher than in almost any other 

civilized country, making them too costly 

for any but very limited private buying. 

Canada's lack of a national library was 

first publicized over thirty years ago by 

D r . Lawrence J. Burpee, now Canadian 

Secretary of the International Joint Com-

mission, and was again brought into the 

headlines in the late summer of 1943 by a 

report from the general librarian of the 

Parliamentary Library to the Library 

Committee of the House of Commons 

and Senate, in which the present dire state 

of the Parliamentary Library was dealt 

with. T h e establishment of a national 

library would greatly help the older insti-

tution, leaving it free to fulfil its constitu-

tional function, and would be a very 

important step in strengthening the in-

tellectual and cultural life of the nation. 

T h e report was adopted by the committee, 

which went on record as approving the 

recommendations. A n y resulting action 

will be of incalculable importance to all 

libraries in Canada, giving new life and 

impetus to library and educational ac-

tivities throughout the country. In spite 

of many grim realities of the war years, 

Canadian librarians are looking forward 

to the postwar period with increasing 

hope that some at least of its almost un-

limited possibilities may soon become reali-

ties. 

v 104 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES