College and Research Libraries By R A Y N A R D C. S W A N K University of Oregon's Audio'Visual Service1 D r. Swank, formerly librarian of the University of Oregon, is now director, Stan- ford University Libraries. IN S E P T E M B E R 1946, the University of O r e g o n established a centralized, campus wide audio-visual service, somewhat experi- mentally, as part of the university library. T h i s article defines the scope of this de- partment, states the principles that guided its inception and development, describes its facilities, services, staff, and organization, and characterizes its use by the instructional departments of the university. Scope Audio-visual service is extended to all departments of the university. W h i l e it is oriented primarily toward the instructional and research programs, athletics and student activities are also accommodated. O f f - campus extension service is not offered, since it is a function of the D e p a r t m e n t of Visual Instruction at O r e g o n State College. T h e audio-visual fields covered by the department include moving picture films, film strips and slides, microfilms, and sound recording and amplification. W i t h i n these fields instructional and research materials are acquired or produced, cataloged, and loaned to students and faculty, and the equipment required for their use is made available. Photostating and most photo- 1 Paper read by Don L. Hunter, director of Audio- Visual Department, University of Oregon Library, at Conference of Oregon Library Association, Reed Col- lege, May 27, 1948 (slightly abridged). graphic work on other than 35mm. film are performed by the university's photographic bureau, which is concerned primarily with publicity and pictures for the student an- nual. M a p s , charts, prints, models, and museum objects are still handled by con- ventional library and museum methods. Principles T h e faculty members Lester Beck (psy- chology), C a r l Johnson (foreign langu- ages), and H u g h W o o d ( e d u c a t i o n ) , who proposed the organization of this depart- ment, and the library staff members who brought it into being were guided by four m a j o r principles: ( 1 ) that all audio-visual equipment and materials2 which are the property of the university should be placed under the custody of*a centralized agency serving all departments of the university, ( 2 ) that this agency should be the existing library in order that the acquisition, organi- zation, and use of the audio-visual and printed materials might be readily cor- related, ( 3 ) that audio-visual services to instructional departments should be financed by the direct allotment of uni- versity f u n d s to the library, and ( 4 ) that the service program should promote indi- vidual as well as group study of audio-visual materials. T h e centralization of responsibility for audio-visual equipment, materials, and 2 Throughout this paper, "materials" will mean in- structional materials, such as films, slides, and record- ings; "equipment" will mean projectors, screens, record players, etc. OCTOBER, 1948 29 7 services is a principle which, being already well established, needs little exposition. Projectors, films, and recordings, have mani- fold uses in many departments of the uni- versity. W h e n in constant use, equipment or collections of materials can be deposited in the instructional departments. W h e n needed occasionally, they can be borrowed f r o m the central pool. Equally important is the provision in a centralized agency of an expert staff to keep abreast of develop- ments in this rapidly changing field, advise the faculty about new equipment and in- structional materials, select and purchase new equipment, keep it in repair, and instruct faculty and students in its opera- tion. T h e second principle, that this central agency should be the library, is less well established. W h a t e v e r is unique about O r e g o n ' s audio-visual program derives f r o m the conviction that audio-visual and book services should be correlated in a single li- brary program. T h e usual arguments against library par- ticipation were considered: that the methods and philosophy of audio-visual instruction are different f r o m instruction through books and are not understood by l i b r a r i a n s ; that audio-visual education is a specialized field w i t h its own materials, problems, and objectives; that the library is not equipped or staffed to care adequately for the materials and equipment f r o m a technical point of v i e w ; and that the im- portance of the audio-visual field justifies independent status parallel to the library. O n the other hand, it was strongly argued that audio-visual aids ought not be viewed in opposition to printed aids but should be integrated with them. Both are instruc- tional aids used together in the same edu- cational process, and if properly related, supplement each other. W h e n administered w i t h vision and a clear understanding of educational objectives, their combination in the library should result not in the neglect of audio-visual service but in a broader and more adequate philosophy of the library it- self—a philosophy involving both types of aids in n e w relationships. T h a t the existing library was not staffed or equipped to handle audio-visual materials was granted, but the conclusion d r a w n f r o m that fact was not that these materials be handled elsewhere, but that something should be done about the library. T h e necessary new staff and facilities should be provided and the old staff educated to its new responsibilities. A n d since the acqui- sition, cataloging, reference use, and circula- tion of instructional materials are jobs w i t h which the library already has a wealth of experience and for which an elaborate or- ganization already exists, it was believed that the adaptation of this agency for audio- visual purposes could be accomplished more effectively and economically than the estab- lishment of an entirely new agency. T h e decision to administer audio-visual services through the library was f u r t h e r supported by the conviction that, in the long view, their contribution to instruction, and especially, to research will depend less upon the manipulation of mechanical devices in the classroom than upon the systematic acquisition and organization of audio-visual resources for instruction and research—that is, upon the creation of an audio-visual li- brary in the literal, accepted sense. P r o - jectors, reading machines, phonographs, and recorders are merely the mechanical appur- tenances of the audio-visual library. T h e third principle, that audio-visual services to instructional departments should be financed by the direct allotment of uni- versity f u n d s to the library, was readily accepted as soon as those services were recog- nized as a legitimate extension of the tra- ditional library function. T h e traditional library is an all-campus agency which, al- though in one sense the servant of the 300 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES instructional departments, is expected to make a contribution of its own to instruc- tion and research. Similarly, the audio- visual library was conceived as an integral part of the educational program. T e a c h i n g w i t h films and phonograph records was given the same status as teaching w i t h books. I n addition to enabling the audio-visual department to accept an educational re- sponsibility, the direct allotment of uni- versity f u n d s obviates the undesirable red tape which accompanies interdepartmental budget transfers. F o u r t h , as plans for the audio-visual de- p a r t m e n t took shape, the conviction grew that in the long r u n the individual study of films, slides, recordings, and related ma- terials would become as important to in- struction, certainly to research, as their group use by entire classes and other large audiences. If the proper facilities for indi- vidual study were available, a faculty mem- ber would often have no better justification for showing films in the classroom than for reading aloud f r o m textbooks which stu- dents can read for themselves at the library. T h e provision in libraries, moreover, of auditoriums and other large rooms for audio-visual purposes was felt to offer less than that of a number of small record booths, slide and film projection rooms, and the like. W h i l e facilities for record con- certs and movie programs for students are obviously desirable, they should not displace the less dramatic type of quarters to which students can take class assignments for private intensive study. Facilities T e m p o r a r y q u a r t e r s were found for the new department on the ground floor of the library building next to the newspaper reading room. T h e s e include an office and a shop in which equipment is stored and repaired and films are previewed. T h r e e small adjacent rooms, originally intended for reading to blind students, are used inter- changeably for microfilm reading, listening to recordings, rehearsing speech and langu- age exercises with wire and tape recorders, and projecting slides. A photographic lab- oratory, equipped for microfilming, slide making, and the processing of both black- white and color film, is located nearby. O n the third floor of the building is the Doug- lass room, containing the record collections (soon to include tape as well as disc), non- music as well as music, phonographs for both individual and group listening, and music scores. T h e library's browsing room contains a phonograph for record concerts of a recreational character and can be darkened for the projection of moving pic- tures • and slides. Selected classrooms, lecture halls, and such specialized rooms as speech and music studies are being equipped as rapidly as possible w i t h blinds, sound absorbing materials, screens, or whatever is required to facilitate the use of audio- visual methods. T h e r e being no suitable space in the library building, a disc record- ing studio is still maintained at the school of music. T h e s e temporary arrangements are soon to be replaced by new quarters in the library addition upon which construction is sched- uled to begin late in 1948. T h e r e will be a reception room with space for audio-visual magazines, catalogs, bibliographies, and other reference tools. A d j o i n i n g will be the director's office, shop and storage areas. T w o combination recording and film pro- jection studios are planned with a common control room. T h e new7 Douglass room will contain shelving for disc and tape recordings and music scores, table-mounted phonographs with earphones, a series of phonograph booths, a group listening room, and a small piano room in which students can try out music scores. T h e phonograph booths will also double as wire and tape recording booths for language, speech, music OCTOBER, 1948 29 7 2nd other students, and as slide projection booths. Several larger booths will also be provided especially for slide and film pro- jection. Space for photographic processes will include dark rooms and a studio for microfilm, copy, and other camera equip- ment. Conference and seminar rooms in the subject departments of the library (humanities, sciences, etc.) will be equipped for use of phonographs, films, and slides. Microfilms will probably be stored and used primarily in the department of special collections ( r a r e book, archives, and N o r t h - west h i s t o r y ) . Facilities outside the main department will continue to be developed on the theory that, beyond a certain point in the growth of the program, it will prove desirable to decentralize f u r t h e r the use of audio-visual materials through integration, on the one hand, with the subject depart- ments of the library and, on the other hand, through controlled distribution to speech, music, psychology, language, art, and other instructional departments in which use is intensive. The use of audio-visual materials is, of course, decentralized now to a considerable degree; the central department serves pri- marily as headquarters for the acquisition, production, organization, repair, and distri- bution of materials and equipment. A brief account of the n a t u r e and disposition of present equipment and instructional ma- terials will elucidate this point. T h e film collection is still small and growing slowly because ( I ) instructional films w o r t h buying in a number of subjects at college level are not available, ( 2 ) many good films are needed only occasionally, perhaps only once a year, for single classes, and should therefore be rented, and ( 3 ) the department of visual instruction at O r e g o n State College maintains a large ex- tension collection which the university uses and does not wish to duplicate. Present policy is to store all films in the audio-visual department. T h e filmstrip collection is also 302 CO still small and stored in the audo-visual de- p a r t m e n t . Both films and filmstrips are loaned to or deposited in the instructional departments as needed. T h e slide collections, now totaling about 25,000 slides, are stored almost entirely in departmental deposits. T h e audio-visual department is only now s t a r t i n g a collection in the main library for departments which do not care to house the slides in their sub- jects and for little-used slides being returned f r o m deposit. F u t u r e policy will probably encourage the weeding of departmental deposits, the r e t u r n of inactive materials to a central repository, and the free inter- change of little-used materials between the deposit collections and the central re- pository. Disc recordings, including transcriptions of both musical and nonmusical subjects, are now centralized in the Douglass room, with the exception that small and fluid w o r k i n g collections are deposited in the school of music and the school of physical education. T h e physical education deposit consists primarily of folk dances. A grow- ing collection of tape recordings, now kept in the audio-visual office, will be moved to the Douglass room as soon as separate tape players are available. N o recordings are yet being preserved on wire because of the high cost of wire cartridges. Both disc and tape recordings are loaned to faculty mem- bers for classroom and other instructional purposes. All audio-visual equipment belonging to the university, except a few pieces which could not easily be shaken loose f r o m their original departmental owners when the central service was established, is now under the custody of the audio-visual department. A m a j o r part is on deposit in various in- structional departments where use is so frequent that borrowing f r o m the library is impractical. T h e rest is held in a central pool for general campus use. F o u r sound and two silent moving pic- LLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES ture projectors are now in the central pool. T h r e e additional projectors are located in the university high school, military depart- ment, and athletics department. T w e n t y - two slide projectors of various types, in- cluding combination slide and filmstrip projectors, are available. Of these, seven are pooled and fifteen deposited in the anthropology, architecture, geology, educa- tion, physics, biology, and chemistry depart- ments. T h e r e are f o u r opaque projectors of which two are deposited in the music and architecture departments. Six portable, dual-speed transcription or record players are on hand, two of these being deposited in the music and physical education depart- ments. A large console phonograph is lo- cated in the Douglass room and a combina- tion radio-phonograph in the browsing room. T w e l v e table-mounted phonographs w i t h earphones are located in the Douglass room. Five wire recorders are on deposit in the speech, music, and foreign language departments, and two tape recorders are pooled. O n e console disc recorder is in the music department, one portable in the speech department, and one portable is pooled. C a m e r a equipment includes a G r a p h l e x microfilming outfit (used also for slide m a k i n g ) , a 16mm. moving picture camera, and 35mm. miniature cameras. T h e r e are three microfilm readers, one of these on deposit in the history department. Sound reinforcement equipment includes four amplifiers of different types and a variety of microphones and speakers. M i s - cellaneous items include a number of screens, both pooled and on deposit, film splicer, vacuum tube voltohmeter, light meters, film developing tanks, enlarger, etc. A n ozalid machine is available at the regis- t r a r ' s office. Services T h e services normally rendered by the audio-visual department may now be enumerated. Information. T h e director tries to keep abreast of developments in equipment and instructional materials and to i n f o r m the faculty of those pertinent to their fields of interest. H e actively stimulates the wrider and more effective use of audio-visual tech- niques by suggesting and demonstrating new possibilities to faculty members. H e offers bibliographical and reference assist- ance and aids in the evaluation of instruc- tional materials. Acquisition. T h e department reviews re- quests for equipment and instructional materials and approves all requisitions for the entire campus. I t therefore bears central responsibility for the selection of appropriate equipment, for the elimination of unnecessary duplications, and for the building of the university's resources in films, recordings, etc. Film, filmstrip, and slide rentals for all departments are also handled by the audio-visual department. D u r i n g J a n u a r y and F e b r u a r y 1948, film rentals totaled 48 and 85 respectively. Production. T h e university's audio- visual resources are augmented not only through the acquisition of materials f r o m outside sources, but also through local pro- duction. All such materials produced by the audio-visual department for instruc- tional purposes are paid for by the library and added to the library's collections. D u r - ing J a n u a r y and February, 1014 slides, a large part in color, were m a d e ; 755 frames of microfilm were t a k e n ; and 626 ozalid prints were produced. Disc, wire, and tape recordings are made of a wide range of subjects, f r o m concerts and public addresses to counseling interviews and programs for radio broadcast. Some of these are ephem- eral ; other are cataloged and preserved for archival or instructional purposes. W o r n , irreplaceable disc recordings are copied, sometimes on tape, and wire or tape recordings are often copied on discs for more convenient usage. T h e audio-visual depart- ment helped prepare the pilot version of the OCTOBER, 1948 29 7 educational film, " H u m a n G r o w t h , " spon- sored and distributed by the E . C . Brown T r u s t of the University of O r e g o n . Circulation. Equipment and instruc- tional materials are, of course, loaned to faculty and advanced students and deposited when necessary in departmental offices and classrooms. Incomplete records for J a n u - ary 1948, which was not a peak month, show that moving picture projectors were used at least 42 times, slide projectors at least 182 times, portable record players 112 times, sound amplifiers 9 times, tape record- ers 128 times, and wire recorders 160 times. Delivery and pickup service is provided by the audio-visual department, although faculty members are encouraged to call for their own materials whenever possible. Operation of Equipment. T r a i n e d op- erators, usually students, are supplied by the audio-visual department when the n a t u r e of the job requires them or when it is clear that a department cannot provide com- petent operators f r o m its own staff. T h e general policy, however, is to train, as an important part of the educational process, as many faculty members, graduate assistants, and students as possible to operate their own equipment. T h u s in F e b r u a r y only 66 hours of operator service were provided to the instructional departments by the central service. N o charge was made for this time. Instruction. In addition to giving in- formal instruction in the operation of equip- ment, to advising faculty of new develop- ments in the audio-visual field, and to help- ing faculty and students select appropriate materials for their purposes, the director also assists with formally organized courses involving the instruction of students in the use of audio-visual materials. A n example is the course in audio-visual aids offered by the school of education. Design and Repair of Equipment. T h e audio-visual department is responsible for keeping all equipment in a d j u s t m e n t and repair. Pieces on deposit in the instruc- tional departments, as well as those loaned f r o m the central pool, are regularly checked and serviced. Beyond this, the department is often engaged in the designing of new equipment and the adaptation of old equip- ment for new purposes. T h e table-mounted phonographs in the Douglass room, for ex- ample, were designed and assembled by the audio-visual s t a f f ; and experiments are now being conducted toward the development of a " l o o p " ' recorder in which one minute or so of tape can be r u n continuously through the erasing and recording heads. Noninstructional Services. Sound ampli- fication and other services are provided for athletic events, convocations, conferences, dances, and the like. T h e s e services, unlike those in instructional departments, are paid for by the departments or organizations requesting them, and the money so collected is used to pay the operators and buy equip- ment of the kinds required for these jobs. T h e educational activities board finances for students a weekly "movie n i g h t " which is now managed by the audio-visual depart- ment. A subcommittee of the faculty li- brary committee assists with the selection of films to be included in these programs. Staff T h e staff of the audio-visual department consists at present of the director, his sec- retary, a music librarian ( h a l f - t i m e ) , a technician, and student assistants. T h e director, D o n L . H u n t e r , is a regular department head of the library with rank of assistant professor. H e attends all department head meetings, is a member of the library staff association, and is active in staff affairs, both professional and social. H e has a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and has specialized in sound recording and reinforcement. H e originally became interested in photography as a 304 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES hobby. H e has no professional library training. T h e music librarian, T r u e M o r r i s , w h o supervises the Douglass room, is a profes- sionally trained librarian w i t h a masters degree in music. H e r academic rank is in- structor. Half her time is spent as a member of the reference staff. T h e technician, Robert M e r r e l l , is classed as audio-visual assistant in the O r e g o n state civil service. H e received his training in the audio-visual field while a member of the armed forces. Before join- ing the library staff, he served as a radio technician for K O A C , a state-owned station located at Corvallis. Student assistants are used as equipment operators, for delivery and pickup service, and for attending the Douglass room. As will be noted later, other members of the library staff participate in the w o r k of the audio-visual department, since all orders for films and recordings are handled by the acquisition department and all acquisitions are cataloged by the catalog department. T h e library-trained staff is teaching the audio-visual staff as rapidly as possible w h a t it needs to know about library methods, and the audio-visual staff is teaching the library- trained staff w h a t it needs to know about audio-visual methods. Financial Administration According to the principle already stated, the audio-visual department is financed by direct allotment of university f u n d s to the library. T h e s e allotments are incorporated into the general library budget. N o f u n d s are budgeted to the instructional depart- ments by the president for audio-visual purposes. T h e final budget breakdown for the general library includes separate accounts for audio-visual wrages, audio-visual sup- plies, film rentals, general audio-visual materials, and departmental audio-visual allotments. " F i l m rentals" cover rentals for all instructional purposes. F u n d s for the purchase of instructional materials (films, recordings, slides, etc.) are divided between "general audio-visual materials" and "departmental audio-visual allotments." T h e former is used by the director for the purchase of materials of general interest and for helping out departments whose allotments prove to be inadequate. T h e latter consists of allotments, analogous to the traditional allotments of book funds, placed at the disposal of the instructional departments. These allotments are assigned on the basis of need by the head librarian, in consultation w i t h the director of the audio-visual department, the acquisition li- brarian, and the faculty library committee. It is expected that the departmental book and audio-visual allotments will soon be consolidated. Audio-visual equipment and travel have not been separated in the budget f r o m general library equipment and travel. F u n d s collected for services to noninstruc- tional departments are credited to a special audio-visual account which is separate f r o m the main library account. Acquisition and Cataloging T h e library is the university's purchasing agent for films, slides, recording, and other instructional materials. O r d e r s are placed and the materials received by the acquisition department, which controls the f u n d s for the purchase of audio-visual materials as well as books and which exercises final approval on all orders. O r d e r s for supplies and equipment are placed by the librarian through the university's business office. Audio-visual materials, those produced by the audio-visual department as well as purchased through the acquisition depart- ment, are then cataloged and classified by the catalog department. C a r d s for films, filmstrips, and recordings (tape as well as OCTOBER, 1948 29 7 disc) are made for the general public catalog and others for separate catalogs in the audio- visual department. In the general public catalog, a recorded speech by T h e o d o r e Roosevelt is therefore listed among his printed works, and a film on sound waves is listed among printed w o r k s on the same subject. C a r d s for slides are not being filed in the general public catalog, although the compilation of a central card catalog of slides in all the university's collections is in progress. O z a l i d contact prints made f r o m the mounted slides or f r o m the film strips before c u t t i n g and m o u n t i n g are pasted on the catalog cards to facilitate identification and selection. Slide classifications w i t h a u n i f o r m base for all subject fields are being developed in order to permit the exchange of slides among d e p a r t m e n t a l deposits and the central repository as educational needs change. Slides, like books, are expensive; and the same slides are often useful to several departments. Anthropology, biolo- gy, and geography, for example, have com- mon use of many slides; and the collections in a r t and architecture are useful to foreign languages, anthropology, history, and music. N o subject classification is applied to films, filmstrips, recordings, or microfilms, these being arranged simply by physical type, size, and order of acquisition. Recordings, however, are divided into several very broad classes, such as music as well as by size. Use A l t h o u g h a few statistics suggesting amount of use have been given under the heading Services, the kinds of use made of the audio-visual department by selected in- structional departments may now be charac- terized. T h e school of music regularly sends its students to study recordings and scores in the Douglass room. Students in music theory, history and appreciation, and con- ducting are enabled to carry out individual assignments so f a r w i t h o u t scheduling the use of phonograph equipment. Recordings are extensively borrowed for classroom use, and a record deposit is maintained in the music building. A portable record player is on deposit there for classroom use. Also on deposit is a wire recorder which is constantly used to record student and faculty practice, both instrumental and vocal. M o r e permanent records of student progress are made on discs. T h e audio- visual staff advises the music staff in the effective use of recording equipment and operates the equipment for them when superior results are desired. T h e audio- visual staff now records, usually on tape, many concerts and recitals. T h e s e record- ings enable the performers to rehear their work and often comprise valuable additions to the cataloged record collections in the Douglass room. A recent festival of modern music, for example, yielded several recordings by outstanding composers of their own works and recordings of a number of other pieces not commercially available. Such recordings, and sometimes those of faculty and student recitals, are in- corporated f r o m time to time into the daily browsing room record concerts. Slides and filmstrips of music scores are produced by the audio-visual department for use in music classes. T h e department of foreign languages sends its students to the Douglass room to hear songs in Spanish, French, and other languages. Recordings of this type are also borrowed, together w i t h a portable player, for classroom use. Students are assigned to practice pronunciation w i t h Linguaphone and similar recordings and w i t h tape or wire recorders in the three booths in the audio-visual department. A wire recorder is on deposit in the depart- ment of foreign languages for practice and teaching purposes. Additional recorders are 306 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES borrowed to record oral examinations. N u m e r o u s foreign language films are rented, and some are incorporated into the "movie n i g h t " programs managed by the audio-visual department. Slides are used in some classes as background material. Some of these are made especially for this purpose by the audio-visual department, others are borrowed f r o m the collection in the school of architecture and allied arts. T h e school of architecture and allied arts has the largest slide program of all depart- ments on the campus. L a r g e numbers of slides, mostly copied in color f r o m illus- trated books, some original pictures of build- ings, gardens, art objects, etc., are made by the audio-visual department for their rap- idly growing collection. Student w o r k is preserved on film, the better examples being made into slides for instructional purposes. T h e use of slide projectors is very heavy. Films on techniques of painting, drawing, pottery making, and the like are frequently r e n t e d ; a few are purchased. Preliminary w o r k is under way on the production of technique films. Such films as " T h e R i v e r " are sometimes used for background ma- terial in survey courses. M u s i c records illustrating a r t movements are used for background in history courses. T h e audio- visual department records special lectures now and then for playing to interested classes. T h e speech-drama department (including radio) is another heavy user of audio-visual services. W i r e recorders are regularly on deposit in the department for use in speech practice and teaching, and in speech correc- tion. O n e of these is also used by the veterans counseling bureau. Students of speech study recorded speeches and dialect recordings. Recordings of these types are also loaned for classroom use. Slides of speech organs are used in speech correction w o r k . D r a m a students use the Douglass room for study of recorded plays and dia- lects. Slides of stage settings and lighting equipment are used in classrooms. I n con- nection w i t h play productions, the audio- visual staff makes special recordings for sound effects and musical backgrounds. T a p e recordings are used to study audience reactions. Sound reinforcement is supplied for large play productions in M c A r t h u r court (used as an a u d i t o r i u m ) . I n the little theatre, the audio-visual staff is in- stalling w i r i n g for speakers in the dressing rooms for cueing purposes. M a i n t e n a n c e of equipment in the radio studios is a responsibility of the audio-visual depart- ment. T a p e recordings are made and music recordings loaned for radio broadcasts. Anthropology requires many slides and films and uses tape to record field notes. Education uses the audio-visual equipment as teaching materials in audio-visual courses, and previews numerous films at the ele- mentary and secondary school levels. O z a - lid prints of city maps are made for students in sociology. T h e library's department of special collections benefits f r o m the micro- filming, ozalid, and slide services. The Northwest A l t h o u g h the work of the audio-visual department has progressed little f u r t h e r than the provision of "instructional aids" in the usual limited sense, the department is conceived to have a broader, longer range objective—that of collecting, producing, and preserving audio-visual documents sig- nificant to historical and sociological re- search, especially on the N o r t h w e s t . I t is hoped that a beginning can soon be made t o w a r d the systematic documentation of the c u r r e n t local scene. A n unexpected wed- ding of interests between the department of special collections, which is actively acquir- ing early W e s t e r n photographs for his- torical purposes, and the audio-visual department is leading t o w a r d the organi- (Continued on page 3TO) OCTOBER, 1948 29 7 Record Library T h r e e record players will be available, and though wire does supersede the record in many respects, the latter will be a large item in the p r o g r a m . T h e college owns a record library of many rare musical records, and is in the process of adding recent releases of musical recordings. O n e benefactor has presented the library w i t h several records of considerable value. Represented in the record library will be examples of good speech, literature, and historical speeches which have been made by persons who are involved in the m a j o r w o r l d issues. I n connection w i t h the record library, there will be many occasions w h e n students and faculty may listen together to the great artists who have recorded the best in musi- cal literature. T h e s e gatherings are in- formal, the only requirement being an interest in good music. D u r i n g the ap- propriate seasons, this group will come to- gether to hear the broadcasts of the M e t r o p o l i t a n O p e r a and N e w Y o r k Phil- harmonic Symphony O r c h e s t r a . T h e last item in the original program is the public address system which will be used in the gymnasium, chapel, athletic field, and other places w h e r e there are large assemblies. T h i s outfit consists of t w o in- door speakers, two outdoor speakers, and a control box which carries both a micro- phone and a record changer. T h i s equip- ment is to be used for athletic events, dances, assemblies, and other all-collegiate functions. O u r audio-visual program will be under constant examination, study, and evalua- tion and it is the intention of the college staff to develop its maximum values in the whole pattern of the educational process. University of Oregon's Audio-Visual Service (Continued from page 307) zation of field trips designed to produce for the f u t u r e historian both audio and visual records of O r e g o n industries, peoples, institutions, and folk arts and customs. A committee of faculty members representing the anthropology, history, business, music, and other departments, as well as the li- brary, has been appointed by the president to plan and help execute field trips of this kind. Consideration is being given to such projects as the sampling of local church services, city council meetings, lumbering activities, and such c u l t u r a l groups as the Basques in E a s t e r n O r e g o n . Conclusion As stated earlier, w h a t e v e r is unique about the University of O r e g o n ' s audio- visual department derives largely f r o m the effort to correlate the acquisition, organiza- tion, and use of audio, visual, and printed resources under the administration of the university librarian. T h e effort is f r a n k l y experimental, and its success or failure should be significant not only to librarians but also to audio-visual specialists and uni- versity administrators. T h e faculty atti- tude, w i t h very few exceptions, has been w a r m even when departmental equipment was being t r a n s f e r r e d to the custody of the library. T h e library staff has been co- operative and eager to learn. If the ex- periment succeeds, the practicability of a fully correlated audio-visual and book serv- ice on a university campus will have been demonstrated. 310 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES