College and Research Libraries


By K E Y E S D . M E T C A L F and E D W I N E . W I L L I A M S 

Proposal for a Division of Response 
bility among American Libraries in 
the Acquisition and Recording 
of Library Materials 

Should the acquisition program of research 

libraries of the country be inclusive or 

selective? The following proposal looks 

toward inclusiveness through cooperation. 

MONEY can be saved by reducing du-plication of work and materials. 
Library resources can be made more 

widely and more readily available by cen-

tralizing information and they can be in-

creased by coordinating the efforts of re-

search libraries. O n e or another of these 

general propositions, or a combination of 

them, has been involved in every co-

operative plan that librarians have under-

taken or discussed. 

If the discussions have been more 

numerous than the achievements, the latter 

are far from insignificant. M a n y possi-

bilities have long been evident, and the 

American Library Association, in its char-

ter, . gave as one of its purposes the in-

ducing of "cooperation in all departments 

of bibliothecal science and economy." A 

plan for expansion of Poole's Index by 

cooperative indexing of periodicals was 

unanimously adopted at the first meeting 

of the Association in 1 8 7 6 ; this first great 

periodical index is then, in part, a product 

of library cooperation. 

Still earlier, nearly a century ago, 

Charles Coffin Jewett, then librarian of 

the Smithsonian Institution in Washing-

ton, proposed a plan for centralized 

cataloging that, if it had been carried out 

successfully, might have saved the librar-

ies of the country millions of dollars. T h e 

scheme failed, partly because of mechani-

cal difficulties with the stereotype plates 

that he hoped to use for master copy and 

partly because he was ahead of his time. 

But, after Herbert Putnam became L i -

brarian of Congress, the distribution of 

printed cards was begun and centralized 

cataloging became a reality on a large 

scale. There have been various other ef-

forts toward cooperative cataloging, and 

the project begun ten years ago to supply 

cards for books not acquired by the L i -

brary of Congress will, it is hoped, expand 

considerably in the immediate future un-

der M r . MacLeish's administration. 

Perhaps the most recent realization of a 

means of securing economies by coopera-

tion is the N e w England Deposit Library, 

the first building to be erected for co-

operative storage of little-used library 

materials. 

In the field of making resources avail-

able, interlibrary loans have been advo-

MARCH, 1944 105 



cated from the beginning and have grown 

steadily. But interlibrary loan—or its 

most recent adjunct, microphotographic 

reproduction—is possible only after the 

materials to be borrowed or filmed have 

been located; union lists and union cata-

logs are prerequisites. 

Early accomplishments in this direction 

included lists of specialized material, such 

as the Census of Incunabula and Sabin's 

Dictionary of Books Relating to America. 

T h e most important achievements in this 

group are, of course, the works edited by 

Winifred Gregory ( M r s . James T . Ger-

o u l d ) — t w o editions of the Union List of 

Serials and the union lists of newspapers, 

of foreign documents, and of international 

congresses. 

Development of union catalogs and 

bibliographical centers has seemed to be 

the best way to make it possible to locate 

individual books. Regional catalogs have 

been established in recent years, but the 

Union Catalog at the Library of Congress 

is the major development. W i t h an esti-

mated 11,500,000 locations for 7,500,000. 

different titles and editions—about 60 

per cent of the titles in American research 

libraries—it is extremely useful. Plans 

for expansion as proposed by Robert B. 

Downs should be encouraged. 

A good deal, then, has been done to 

make resources accessible, but very little, 

comparatively, has been accomplished to-

ward increasing resources by cooperative 

acquisition. Surveys of localities and re-

gions have been made and there have been 

agreements covering specific fields in cer-

tain areas such as N e w Y o r k City, Chi-

cago, and between the universities of 

North Carolina and Duke. T h e relative 

lack of progress in cooperation of this sort 

undoubtedly results from the difficulties 

involved—the responsibilities of individ-

ual libraries, legal restrictions on their 

freedom of action, and obstacles to chang-

ing established practices. T h e problem is 

complex and, as in most other cooperative 

efforts, an initial investment is required. 

Cooperation Is Desirable 

There is, however, general agreement 

that cooperation through library speciali-

zation in the different fields of research is 

desirable and this agreement has been ex-

pressed at many meetings of the American 

Library Association and the Association 

of Research Libraries; in reports received 

by the director of the Experimental Divi-

sion of Library Cooperation at the Library 

of Congress as a result of his meetings 

with librarians in the year 1 9 4 1 - 4 2 ; and 

in the hearty approval given by presidents, 

deans, and library committees of educa-

tional institutions throughout the country 

to the proposal that is to be described in 

this article. 

Indeed, the advantages of cooperation 

are so obvious that everyone believes in it 

theoretically, at least, just as everyone be-

lieves in world peace. T h e difficulty is 

to determine a practicable first step. A n d , 

in suggesting such a step, it must be em-

phasized that regimentation is not wanted. 

T h e library resources of the country ought 

to be made as nearly complete as possible, 

resources should become more readily 

available, and it should not be necessary 

to invest in the research needed to catalog 

a book every time another copy of that 

book is acquired by another library. 

A possible solution is offered by a "Pro-

posal for a Division of Responsibility 

among American Libraries in the Acquisi-

tion and Recording of Library Materials," 

which was drawn up by a committee* of 

* Consisting of Messrs. MacLeish, Boyd, and Met-
calf. 

v 106 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



the L i b r a r i a n ' s C o u n c i l , a g r o u p of li-

b r a r i a n s i n v i t e d to advise the L i b r a r i a n 

of C o n g r e s s c o n c e r n i n g the r e l a t i o n of the 

L i b r a r y of C o n g r e s s to other l i b r a r i e s . 

T h i s w a s placed in the h a n d s of l i b r a r i a n s 

of m a n y of the l a r g e r l i b r a r i e s of the 

c o u n t r y some m o n t h s a g o and w a s ap-

p r o v e d by a u t h o r i z e d r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s of 

the A m e r i c a n L i b r a r y A s s o c i a t i o n , the 

A s s o c i a t i o n of R e s e a r c h L i b r a r i e s , and the 

C o u n c i l of N a t i o n a l L i b r a r y A s s o c i a t i o n s , 

as w e l l as by the A m e r i c a n C o u n c i l of 

L e a r n e d Societies. T h e essential f e a t u r e s 

of this proposal are as f o l l o w s : 

A 

It is proposed that libraries having re-
search collections join in a cooperative un-
dertaking limited for the time being to cur-
rent materials in the Latin alphabet. (It is 
hoped that Slavic materials in the Cyrillic 
alphabet can be added in the not too distant 
future.) The term "materials" refers for 
the time being only to books and pamphlets 
in the regular book trade, but plans will be 
prepared later to include public documents, 
serials, periodicals, and at least a selection 
of newspapers. 

As to these current materials in the Latin 
alphabet, the cooperating institutions would 
agree upon a common policy with the follow-
ing aims: 

1. That at least one copy of every book 
and pamphlet, published anywhere in the 
world following the effective date of the 
agreement which might reasonably be ex-
pected to have interest to a research 
worker in America, shall be acquired and 
made available promptly after publication 
by some one of the cooperating libraries. 

2. That each item so acquired shall be 
promptly cataloged (if possible by central-
ized or cooperative cataloging), listed 
promptly in the Union Catalog at the Li-
brary of Congress and also in a new 
classed union catalog to be established at 
the Library of Congress, from which sub-
ject catalogs of limited fields may later be 
published in book form or otherwise, as 
demand suggests. 

B 

T o carry out these policies, it is proposed 
that a competent staff be employed to make 
possible the following preliminary steps at 
the earliest possible moment after money 
has become available for the purpose. It is 
hoped that steps ( i ) through (6) below 
will be completed promptly enough so that 
the plan can be put into operation immedi-
ately after the close of the war. 

1. The staff will prepare for submission 
to cooperating libraries a plan subdividing 
human knowledge into carefully defined 
units, each as distinct as possible. It is 
suggested that the Library of Congress 
system of classification might serve as a 
basis for most of this work. 

2. The staff will make a survey of exist-
ing special collections as a basis for the 
allocation of responsibility. 
3. The staff will make a survey of world 
book production by country and by sub-
ject and estimate the adequacy of present 
purchases and the probable additional ex-
pense involved in making current acquisi-
tions complete instead of selective. 
4. Each cooperating library will then be 
asked to name the fields of its particular 
interest in which it would be willing to 
specialize and to assume responsibility for 
a comprehensive (not a selective) cover-
age within the terms of Section A. 

5. On the basis of these offers of speciali-
zation, the headquarters staff will try to 
arrange for the allocation of fields for 
which no offer has been made and will 
suggest, in cases where several offers have 
been made for the same field, the alloca-
tion which seems to it most practicable. 

6. After the presidents, deans, trustees, 
committees, and librarians of each coop-
erating institution have reached agree-
ment, each library will announce the fields 
for which it is ready to accept formal re-
sponsibility. 
7. Nothing in the proposed arrangement 
will limit in any way the freedom of any 
cooperating institution to purchase any 
materials it desires to secure. Librarians 
accepting this proposal will merely ac-
cept affirmative responsibility for the com-
pletion of certain fields, retaining the right 

MARCH, 1944 107 



to abandon any field after reasonable no-
tice of an intention to do so. In other 
fields, including those assigned for com-
plete coverage to others, libraries will of 
course be free to purchase as their needs 
indicate. 
8. As soon as the allocation of fields is 
completed, the headquarters staff will 
publish in appropriate professional jour-
nals the list of allocations made and ac-
cepted, in order that the responsibilities of 
each library under the plan may be known 
to all librarians and all interested users 
of libraries. 

C 

In practical operation, this proposal would 
require the following action by each sub-
scribing library: 

1. The prompt acquisition of all current 
publications in its allotted fields by or-
dering all titles of research interest listed 
in the national trade bibliographies and 
also those in standard reviews. This may 
be done by each library ordering directly 
the books within the field for which it 
assumes responsibility or with the aid of 
agents, particularly in the smaller coun-
tries, who may collect and ship all books 
for their country to a central office in the 
United States for distribution. 

2. The prompt transmission to the Li-
brary of Congress of 
a. A catalog card for each title in a form 

suitable for use as copy for coopera-
tive cataloging as well as for insertion 
in the Union Catalog; 

b. A card suitable for filing in a new 
classed catalog to be maintained in the 
Library of Congress, from which 
printed subject bibliographies may 
later be drawn if the demand requires. 

It may prove wise to arrange for cen-
tralized cataloging of some books, particu-
larly those in minor languages. 

D 

It is proposed that the program outlined 
in section C be put into effect as soon after 
the close of the war as possible. 

E 

In addition to carrying through the steps 

enumerated in section B above, the head-
quarters staff of this project would make 
plans and prepare a budget for future op-
erations, including 

1. Acquisition abroad. It is anticipated 
that it may prove desirable for the central 
office of the project to conduct corre-
spondence with agencies in many, if not all, 
foreign countries, and the central office 
may even have to take charge of the buy-
ing from certain countries and of ma-
terials in certain languages. 

2. Cataloging. In the same way it may 
prove desirable for the central office to 
act as the representative of the participat-
ing libraries in the cooperative cataloging 
of books in certain languages. If these 
books are purchased through a central 
office, an opportunity for centralized cat-
aloging will be offered or the office might 
farm out such materials to properly 
equipped libraries for cooperative catalog-
ing. 

3. Classed Union Catalog. Here the 
central office would have no very serious 
role to play but might have to supervise 
the provision of cards to the Library of 
Congress. 
4. Change in assignments as they become 
desirable or necessary. 
The cost of the central office after the 

first two years cannot be estimated at this 
time, but it should be organized in such a 
way that it can become self-supporting in 
not less than five years. 

T w o m a j o r criticisms of the f o r e g o i n g 

proposal h a v e been m a d e . F i r s t , it has 

been asserted t h a t the p l a n is too l a r g e to 

be c a r r i e d o u t and t h a t the a t t e m p t is use-

less. T h e sponsors d o not hesitate to ad-

m i t the m a g n i t u d e of the p r o j e c t a n d the 

difficulties t h a t are sure to arise b u t they 

are c o n v i n c e d t h a t the r e s u l t s w i l l j u s t i f y 

a r e a l e f f o r t a l o n g these lines a n d t h a t in-

f o r m a t i o n a n d e x p e r i e n c e of g r e a t v a l u e 

f o r f u t u r e p l a n n i n g w i l l be g a i n e d . 

S e c o n d is the o b j e c t i o n t h a t i n c l u s i v e 

acquisition of the s o r t proposed i g n o r e s 

t h e f a c t t h a t selection is f u n d a m e n t a l in 

v 108 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



the philosophy of librarianship. Here the 

sponsors reply that they agree as to the 

importance of selection but that no li-

brarian or group of librarians is wise 

enough to be sure of just w h a t w i l l and 

w i l l not be needed at some future date, 

while a relatively slight addition t o — o r 

reallocation o f — t h e funds now expended 

by American research libraries will insure 

us against errors of judgment by preserv-

ing at least one copy of each book some-

where in the country. W h e n they know 

that this safeguard is being taken, then 

librarians, except in the field or fields for 

which they have taken inclusive respon-

sibility, should be free to buy selectively 

without misgivings. 

Funds Not Yet Available 

A s has been noted, the foregoing pro-

posal was approved by the American 

Council of Learned Societies and by the 

appropriate library organizations. E f f o r t s 

to obtain funds for putting it into opera-

tion have not, however, been successful. 

T h e sponsors of the proposal are unwill-

ing to give up. T h e y are continuing their 

attempts to obtain foundation support but 

immediate success does not appear likely 

and valuable time is being lost. It is of 

great importance that the preliminary 

steps be completed before the war is over. 

I t is possible that the money might be 

raised among interested libraries. If each 

member of the Association of Research 

Libraries would give four hundred dol-

lars per year, or perhaps somewhat less? 

for two years, and if a little help could 

be obtained elsewhere, it should be pos-

sible to proceed. 

Finally, an alternative would be to con-

centrate on certain phases of the plan or 

to deal only with material from L a t i n 

America, some of the minor European 

countries, Russia, or China, as represent-

ing areas where present acquisitions are 

most inadequate. In this w a y a good deal 

might be learned at small expense and li-

brarians would later be in a better posi-

tion to develop the proposal on a broad 

scale. W i t h this in mind, a special session 

of the Association of Research Libraries 

was held recently, and proposals were 

made for action in the areas mentioned. 

It is hoped, however, that it need not 

be long before the comprehensive program 

can be attempted. T h e r e seems to be little 

question of the desirability of the ends in 

view. American research libraries w i l l 

not be contributing to scholarship as ade-

quately and as economically as they ought 

until every book needed by research work-

ers is acquired by some American library 

soon after publication, is listed in central 

union author and subject catalogs, is made 

available to other institutions by inter-

library loan or microfilm, and need be 

cataloged only once. 

Book Sources in S p a i n 

SPANISH BOOK DEALERS AND PUBLISHERS have been listed as of 1943 by the Instituto 
Nacional del Libro Espanol. T h e list is reputedly complete, containing one thousand 

seven hundred names and consisting of six parts: publishers in M a d r i d , Barcelona, and 

the provinces; booksellers in M a d r i d , Barcelona, and the provinces. A copy has been 

received by the Library of Congress which has made the list a part of its collections to 

be available for use, interlibrary loan, or photocopying. 

MARCH, 1944 109