College and Research Libraries B.y LOUIS KAPLAN What Kind of Divisional Reading ~ooms? I N THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Of the next . decade, the outstanding new public serv- ice feature will be divisional reading roomy As a result of the example set by Colorado, Brown, and Nebraska, an increasing inter- est in this type of public service has on all sides become evident. According to the proponents of the idea, a number of advantages accrue from the use of divisional reading rooms. Because each reading room (devoted to the social sciences, the humanities, etc.) is smaller than the prevalent type of general reading room, students suffer from fewer distrac- tions7,hrough open-shelf collections patrons are enabled to browse among a large num- ber of standard treatisey By placing the reading rooms adjacent to the stacks, stu- dents can pass from one to the other with a minimum of inconveniencey Lastly, because librarians with special subject training su- pervise the reading rooms, it becomes pos- sible to concentrate within · them a variety of servic9~ for example, at Nebraska, ref- erence 5ooks and current periodicals are shelved in the reading rooms; both the gen- eral reference room and the current periodi- cals room have been abolished. To understand the erpergence of the di- visional reading room, certain aspects of library history must be taken into account. One feature of the plan-the use of li- brarians with special subject training-re- quires no comment because it has for some years been discussed in library journals. The other basic feature-the open-shelf JANUARY~ 1947 • collection of standard treatises-requires some explanation. In the last quarter of the nineteenth century the textbook method of instruction began to fall into disrepute. Wider reading on the part of students be- came a common objective. At first the wider reading program was directed almost exclusively by the faculty, but later more emphasis was placed on student browsing. As a result, student access to the stacks became imperative. At the same time, student enrolment was growing rapidly. Thus, at the very mo- ment when students required the utmo~t freedom of the stacks, their greatly in- creased number forced librarians to place restrictions in their way. Today, in most university libraries, a large proportion of the undergraduates are prohibited from the stacks. To remedy this situation, a number of solutions have been ' proposed. At Colum- bia, when a new library building was erected in 1934, a portion of the building was set aside for undt1rgraduates in order to provide them with an open collection of books. Harvard's answer to the problem, a separate undergraduate library, will soon become a reality. At Colorado, .and then at Nebraska, the · divisional reading rooms were . introduced. Harvard's solution is too expensive for m·ost institutions; and Columbia's seems to have been overlooked with the passage of the years. But the divisional reading room idea is probably on its way to wide adop- 17 tion. Therefore, it is high time that a pub- lic discussion be i~stituted in order to determine what services shall be given in the reading rooms, and in what manner older services are going to be affected. To begin with, what is the result , of shelving standard treatises in the divisional reading rooms? For undergraduates lack- ing ~cess to the stacks, ·this is a victory because these patrons previously could get at such books only through the card catalog or some bibliography. For students with access to the stacks, this is a setback be- cause now they must search- in two places whereas before they had only to search in the stacks. Furthermore, because books are circulated from both the reading rooms and the main circulation desk, confusion results; patr~ns generally cannot be expected to re- member from which desk a book was with- drawn. Is it possible to give better service to those 1<\cking stack permits without penalizing the others? Is this the best possible ar- rangement for those without access to the stacks? Is there some way to avoid the con- fusion resulting from the circulation of books from several desks? Nature of Student Body To answer these questions it is first neces- sary to examine the nature of the univer- sity student body. ·university students can be divided into three groups: ( 1) those attending classes open only to graduates, ( 2) those receiving instruction in courses given for both graduates and undergradu- ates, and . (3) those enrolled in classes re- served for undergraduates. At some point the number of students becomes too large for all to be served in the divisional reading rooms. And, since it is the students in the third group who are in the main barred from the stacks, it is they who merit first consideration. Without at- tempting to fix a definite minimum, it can be said with assurance that separate facili- ties should be provided for this group when- ever its total exceeds three thousand. That is, this group should then have an open collection of its own, one chosen specifically with its needs in mind. The moment this is done, it is no longer necessary to shelve standard treatises in the divisional reading rooms. This is true be- cause the remaining students (those in the first and second groups) can be given access to the stacks. Why disperse the standard treatises between stacks and reading rooms, when it is possible and preferable to leave them intact? But even without standard treatises, di- visional reading rooms can be put to good use. In most libraries, students who wish to pass from the stacks to a reading room must traverse a considerable distance. Since few students are provided with adequate study space in the stacks, most must study in some reading room. For their greater convenience, the divisional reading rooms should be placed adjacent to the stacks. In this manner, direct access between stacks and reading rooms is made possible. Sh~lving in Reading Rooms But what materials can logically be shelved in the reading rooms? Aside from standard treatises, already discussed, there are these possibilities: reference booksr bound periodicals, current periodicals, and books on reserve. Reference books are shelved in the divi- sional reading l'OOJI\S at both Nebraska and Colorado. This is a logical development, but only when persons with special subject training supervise the reading rooms. In most reference rooms of the traditional type, the absence of persons with such training has resulted in comparatively poor service to advanced students. In this con- 18 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES nection it should be noticed that wherever a separate collection for beginning students is established, reference books will consti- tute a portion of the collection; it is here that the traditional type of reference worker will still be needed. Should curr~nt periodicals be shelved in the reading rooms? There are several ob- jections. If the current periodicals room is abolished, where are the general periodi- cals to be shelved? Moreover, some peri- odicals (such as Speculum which treats of the whole of medieval civilization) traverse a number of wide fields of knowledge. Fi- nally, many faculty members feel that ·a single periodicals room is one in which stu- dents are more likely to become acquainted with a greater variety of periodicals. Bound sets of periodicals, however, can logically be shelved ·in the reading. rooms. This is the case because the bound sets are rarely used by browsers. In most instances, they are consulted by patrons who have found references to them in bibliographies and periodical indexes. But what is to be done with bound sets of periodicals which are general rather than special in nature? Th~se cannot logically be shelved in the divisional reading rooms. Nor should they be left in the stacks, be- cause they are so frequently · consulted. usually, these sets are shelved in reference rooms; but if this type of room disappears, a new location will have to be found. Per- haps other librarians would care to follow the Wisconsin example, where stac~ space for such pe~iodicals is provided within the current periodicals room. Reserve books for . advanced students (that is, those in the first and second groups mentioned above) can also be shelved in the reading . rooms. In this way, the con- g~stio.ri in the present type of reserve room could be relieved, providing, of course, that reserve books for beginning students are separately shelved. Summary To summarize, divisional reading rooms are desirable because they provide study space comparatively free from distractions and because they can be used to provide easy access to and from the stacks. These are advantages which can be derived from the reading rooms even if not a single book is shelved within them. However, librar- ians will naturally wish to make use of the shelf space thus made available. In doing so, car~ must be taken not· to disrupt any useful service·s. Correction in Miss McCrum,s Memorandum I wish to call attention to an error in the last sentence of the third paragraph of my recent mimeographed open letter distributed to membe.rs of the A.C.R.L. As it stands it reads: For instance, the annual allotment to the Division of Public Libraries has been in the neighborhood of $14,000; that of the A.C.R.L. is some $1,8oo out of an estimated $8,500 paid annually in dues to A.L.A. by ~embers of the A.C.R.L. It should read as follows: For instance, a Public Library Office exists and was supported in 1944-45 by a budget of some $14,000, while the A.C.R.L. has no such office and must finance its work from the all-ot- ment of $1,8oo annually from dues estimated at around .· $8,soo, paid by members of the A.C.R.L. to the A.L.A.-an allotment said to be quite comparable to funds also available to the Division of Public Libraries. JANUARY~ 1947 BLANCHE PRICHARD McCRUM Librarian., Wellesley College 19