College and Research Libraries The Technical Services Division in Libraries: A Symposium T HE rapid development of technical services (or processes) divisions in American libraries has been of interest to many administrators. The following six papers and summary, prepared for the program of June r8, 1948, of the Division of Cataloging and Classification, at Atlantic City, N.J., were abridged and edited for use in College and Research Libraries. Mr. Cohen is senior cataloger, Rutgers University; Mr. Custer, assistant librarian in charge of processing, Detroit Public Library ; Miss Brown, head of processing, Brookline Public Library, Mass.; Mr. Kilpatrick, associate director of libraries, State University of Iowa; Miss Kenny, chief of technical services division, Brooklyn College Library; Miss Winter, assistant librarian, U.S. Bureau of the Budget Library; and Dr. Logdson, assistant director of libraries (technical services), Columbia University Libraries.~The Editor. By JOSEPH LORENCE COHEN A General Consideration of the Technical Services Division in Libraries Two provocative articles which have ap- peared in recent library literature are "Mid- west Reaches for the Stars," by Ralph Ellsworth and Norman Kilpatrick1 and " The Catalog Department in the Library Organi- zation," by Raynard C. Swank. 2 Both of these papers discuss current and possible li- brary organizational techniques. They have a point in common which is the basis for the topic under review, namely, cooperation and centralization in the area of librarianship commonly called the technical processes or services. Ellsworth and Kilpatrick propose an interlibrary cooper"ative program whereby acquisitions and cataloging would be central- ized in a regional l'ibrary 1unit. Swank is concerned with centralization of acquisitional work and other processing activities in a single library. The trend toward the unification of order work and cataloging is a recent one. So widely has it grown in its short history of about ten years that our thinking in regard to the division or dep a rtment of technical 1 Co llege and Research Libraries 9 :136·44, A p ril 1948. 2 Library. Q1tarterly 18 : 24-3 2, J a nuary I 948 . services now . probably overshadows many other topics in librarianship. The technical services may be considered · as all of those processes . which incorporate ,into a library collection any items selected for it. Books and films , broadsides and seri- als, recordings and maps , after being ac- quired, must be cataloged, classified, stored, bound , shelved in order to be of use to the library's public. In view of the increase in the size and scope of library collections, these procedures have been judged of such a nature as to make it more efficient for libraries to consider them within a centralized unit. Reference may be made here to Swank's analysis of the relationship between the acqui- sition and cataloging departments of libraries. He notes the following four points: First, the catalog and acquisition departments bear a historical relationship to each othe-r in that they existed fir st .... Second, the acquisitional and cataloging processes bear a sequential relationship to each other. They comprise the first and second steps in a sequence of processes of which the end result is a book in the read- er's hand ...• 46 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES Third, ... the catalog and acquisition de- partments are alike in that neither meets the public to any extent .... Finally, there are similarities in the kind of work done in the catalog and acquisition departments. We call them "technical" de- partments, meaning ... that their modal or typical operations are more formal, de- tailed, and susceptible to codification than those of the service departments, or that a larger amount of subprofessional or me- chanical processes is carried on. This paper will not attempt, for the most part, to evaluate the unified "technical serv- ices division," but rather to report statistical data obtained by a questionnaire last spring from a group of libraries. Twenty-six libraries have thus far com- pleted the rather extensive questionnaire. The information provided by them serves as the basis for the discussion which follows. Consideration is given to: (I) the incidence and size of libraries having technical services divisions, ( 2) the reasons for establishing them, (3) aspects of their organization and personnel, and (4) some of the observed effects of reorganization upon readers' serv- ices.3 Incidence From the responses to the original letter it was discove,red that there are forty-seven libraries which have had a technical services division established. These libraries are lo- cated in twenty-three states, Washington, D.C., and in Hawaii, with a concentration in the Northeast and in the Midwest. Of these forty-seven libraries, eighteen are public libraries, four governmental libraries, six col- up of fifteen college and eleven university libraries. The twenty-six libraries whose ,questionnaires have been analyzed are made up of fifteen colleges and eleven university libraries (these sixteen will hereafter be con- sidered together) and nine public and one state library (these ten libraries will also be considered together). The book stock of these twenty-six li- braries varies from 3200 volumes to more than 2,ooo,ooo. The public libraries range hom 39,000 to the 2,ooo,ooo volumes, with ·seven of these ten libraries well over the . 200,000 mark. The college and university s Ibid., p. 25. .JANUARY~ 1949 libraries have collections ranging from 3200 to 1,65o,ooo, with eleven of these sixteen li- braries over the 200,000 volume mark. The question has arisen as to whether book stock size has any effect upon the establish- ment of a technical services division. The above statistics reveal that it has little effect. Circulation figures also do not seem to have any direct relation. ·The annual circulation figures of the libraries vary from 3500 to almost Io,ooo,ooo. The technical services divisions are recent developments. Of the twenty-six libraries under survey, only three had their divisions established before 1941, and two of these were public libraries. The others are indeed new, most of them having been established in 1945 or 1946, and five as late as 1947-48. The names of these divisions are similar. The word "technical" appears in half of them, generally followed by "services" or "processes" department or division. The next most used term is "preparations divi- sion." One librarian disapproved of the term "process." He doubted that a prepara- tions division is confined to technical opera- tions and questioned "the adequacy of the term 'processing' for order work or high- grade cataloging work." Reasons At this point, it may be well to inspect the reasons given for combining the various func- tional units into a union of the preparational act1v1t1es. Four possible reasons were sug- gested in the questionnaire for the formation of the processing division: i:. To decrease the span of control of the head librarian 2. To increase the flow of processed material 3· To decrease the cost of processing 4· To develop cooperation among the various autonomous departments. Since two libraries had a technical services division in their original organization, only twenty-four answers are available upon which to base an analysis. Of the twenty-four li- braries concerned, then, eighteen, or 75 per cent, considered that two of the aforemen- tioned reasons were of equal importance and could be regarded as basic. These were re- ducing the span of control of the librarian and increasing the flow of material processed. After these two reasons, the third-to de- 47 crease the cost of processing-was thought to be a motive by about half of the libraries reporting. It may be seen that reduction of cost was not the chief reason for the develop- ment of processing divisions. Only ten li- braries reported that lack of cooperation was a factor that was considered as a basis for the administrative change. Other reasons given for the change were: to remove per- sonnel difficulties; to provide more mobility in personnel; to decrease the number of rou- tines. Size and Organization of Divisions Consideration may now be given to the size of the centralized divisions. Swank doubted the practicability of such a division in a medium-sized library when its total acquisitions and cataloging staff numbered anywhere from fifteen to thirty full-time people. Of the twenty-six libraries under examination, five college and university li- braries and two public libraries-seven in all -fall within this grouping. Of the other libraries, twelve are smaller (their process- ing staffs averaging six), and seven are larger (their processing staffs averaging sixty- three). The largest division of these li- braries has ninety-two members. It is perhaps worth noting the relative proportion of men to women who head these divisions. Of the twenty-six administrators who head technical services, fifteen are women and eleven are men. In public libraries, seven women and three men head processing divisions; however, the men head the three largest units. In the college and university libraries, the control is evenly divided; eight men and eight women. The four largest divisions among these libraries have men at their helms. The educational background of all heads of processing divisions indicates adequate preparation. Each of the twenty-six persons has at least the undergraduate degree, or its equivalent; . twenty-one have a graduate de- gree in library service, or its equivalent; and two have doctor's degrees. Beyond formal educational background, nearly all the proc- essing heads possess experience in adminis- trative pos1t10ns. A majority at some time in their varied pasts have headed cataloging departments, a lesser number have headed acquisitions de_Partments, and an unexpected number, more than 20 per cent, have had experience in teaching. So far as formal training and work experience are concerned, then, the administrators seem well prepared for the responsibilities delegated to them. The question has arisen as to what the qualifications may be of the heads of the func- tional departments within the processing di- vision if a costly administrator is appointed in the hierarchy to supervise them. The questionnaire attempted to elicit information on this problem by inquiring about the training experience of the department heads. With sixteen responses on this topic it was discovered that the head cataloger, for ex- ample, is usually as well-trained as the aver- age processing head, although possessing a more limited job experience. Swank is espe- cially doubtful of the advisability of having a head of technical processes in the medium- sized library because, as he puts it, "one must either employ mediocre department heads if a division chief is also wanted, or else do without the division chief and put everything one has into the best possible de- partment heads .... As a general rule," he concludes, ".it may be wise to spend one's money on the department heads, lest one end with a top-heavy administration for a weak-kneed organization." 4 The seven li- braries mentioned beforehand as being of the medium-sized group have heads of catalog- 1 ing departments with training almost identi- cal to that of the heads of the processing divisions. Although we have noted a number of de- tails about the technical services divisions or their chiefs, none of the processes de- veloped by these administrators has as yet been con'sidered. It will be impossible to indicate all of such processes. However, a few of the most important warrant atten- . tion. In more than 87 per cent of the college and university libraries and in So per cent of the public libraries, the removal of clerical operations from the professional staff has been the step most frequently taken in chang- ing the work of the processing. unit. Perhaps we may assume from this fact that here is a legitimate reason for criticizing the cost of processing. After the separation of clerical from pro- fessional operations, the next eight most fre- • Ibid ., p. 26. 48 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES quently noted procedures introduced or developed by processing heads are in order of occurrence: simplified cataloging, revision of subject headings, the acquirement of new types of materials (such as films or records), the use of the multiple process slip, reclassi- fication, simplification of billing records and procedures, blanket ordering with particular presses, and finally, the centralization of spe- cial types of materials in the main processing unit. The total .number of different technical procedures which were developed by the di- vision administrators is nearly forty. Results It was previously pointed out that technical services divisions are relatively recent, so it is difficult to test exactly what the economic results of such a new organizational unit may be. It was hoped through the question- naire to discover whether costs of processing had been reduced, as has been generally as- sumed. Several specific questions were asked about the numbers of items handled and per- sonnel costs previous to the establishment of the processing division, in order to com- pare such figures with recent ones. How- ever, it appears that many such statistics either were never kept, were confidential, or were ·too difficult to assemble. Since a cost analysis is not possible at this time, the effects of the processing unit on readers' services will be examined. Through the preliminary cor- respondence it was learned that of the forty- seven libraries which had technical services divisions, twelve had a unified readers' serv- ices division set up as a coordinate unit. Of the twenty-six libraries with which we are concerned, ten have such divisions. However, regardless of the existence or nonexistence of a formally organized unit, nineteen of. these libraries report that readers' services in those institutions have improved because of the establishment of the technical servtces division. No negative answers were received on this point, but most of the remaining li- braries indicated that it was too difficult to measure so important a change when the processing unit has been in operation for only two or three years. The improvements . most often noted are the following: ( I ) there has been a simplification in the pro- cedures of locating in-process material; (2) there has been an increase in the amount of material processed; and ( 3) there has been simplification in the cataloging which the reference staff and readers find helpful. It may be of interest to note that two libraries, one public and one university, had had processing divisions but discontinued them. One reports its reason: the library is probably too small to attract a librarian for the job. Finally, several ideas contributed by proc- essing administrators who have organized and directed a centralized unit may be noted. One head was not convinced that prepara- tions divisions are administratively desirable in every size and type of library; he stressed such potential disadvantages as the lack of contact between the librarian and his pro- fessional staff, or the overemphasis on the technicalities of processing rather than on the reference and service aspects of librarian- ship. Another administrator, however, view- ing the processing problem in optimistic per- spective, affirmed that having a single ad- ministrator for all processing functions was advantageous from the point of view of management, efficiency, organization, and service; but he conceded that the special aims and goals of each library should determine its pattern of organization. Although evidence is incomplete, there are sufficient data t6 warrant continued experimentation with this type of organization. By BENJAMIN A. CUSTER The Large Public Library This analysis of the development and achievements of the technical services pro- gram in the large public library can best be JANUARY~ 1949 presented by describing the processing work in the library which I know best, the Detroit Public Library. 49 Division oj Work Under the librarian and the associate li- brarian of this institution the work is divided into five broad areas-exclusive of the mainte- nance of buildings and grounds-each under the supervision of an assistant librarian or the eq~ivalent, who plans, organizes, directs, and coordinates the activities of his own serv- ice, and makes policy recommendations to the librarian. Briefly, the organization of the work in the five areas is as follows: The business management of the institu- tion, under the business manager, is com- posed of five units which manage the finan- cial activities of the library, purchase all sup- plies and equipment, maintain receiving and inventory controls, provide shipping and trucking service, operate the print shop, com- pile statistical data, and supervise the finan- cial, stock inventory and statistical records activities in all departments and branches. The personnel service, under the assistant librarian for personnel, directs and coordi- nates the personnel activities of the library, establishing requirements for professional and clerical personnel, developing classification and pay plans, recruiting, recommending appoint- ments, promotions, transfers, and separations, and providing employee counseling and other adjustment services. The processing service , under the assistant librarian for processing, selects in part, ac- quires, classifies, catalogs, and maintains the physical condition of the library's books and other printed and related materials. This s~rvice will be described in more detail later. The reference services, under the assistant librarian for reference services, are composed of thirteen subject or general service depart- ments , divisions, and units, and a checking and switchboard service. Among the refer- ence services are the selection and preserva- tion of the book copections required for information study, and research; the organi- zation and maintenance of information, clip- ping, and pamphlet files; the preparation of bibliographies and indexes; and the provision to readers of information, and aid in the use of the library's resources. The home reading services, under the as- sistant librarian for home reading services, are composed of the Children's Department, the Youth Service, twenty-three branch li- braries, the Extension Division, the Home I Reading Department and the Children's Room of the Main Library, the Schools De- partment, the Audio-Visual Division, and the Registration, Loan, and Central Typing Bu- reaus. Among the home reading services are the selection and organization of collections of printed and audio-visual materials for popular use; the giving of guidance to read- ers; the planning of activities to stimulate groups and individuals to use materials; the supplementing of programs of other educa- tional organizations; the registration of bor- rowers; and the loan of books and other materials. Of all the activities and services thus car- ried on by the library, those with which we are especially concerned here are the ones called "processing," that is, the activities con- cerned with acquiring, recording, and prepar- ing for use the books, serials, periodicals, maps, pamphlets, films, and recordings which may be called collectively "library materials," as distinct from supplies and equipment. These duties are performed for the most part by three departments, book selection, catalog, and bindery. However , in some part process- ing activities are carried on by departments and branches throughout the system, and the assistant librarian for processing has advisory, though not supervisory, control of all these. The Book Selection Department, known until about three years ago as the Order Department, has the responsibility for select- ing, or assisting the public service agencies to select, library materials , and for acquiring them. The Catalog Department receives and certi- fies all purchased materials except serial pub- lications and documents, classifies and cata- logs the collections, with some fifty-eight dictionary catalogs in the system , makes and maintains inventory controls for library ma- terials, maintains the Union Catalog of Southeastern Michigan, and makes books ready for the shelves. The Bindery inspects and prepares books for binding, binds, mends, and cleans them , gilds call numbers, and performs related miscellaneous jobs. It is the responsibility of the assistant li- brarian-let us call him hereafter the director of processing-to supervise and coordinate these activities, to simplify routines and ex- pedite the flow of work, to reconcile the so COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES inconsistencies and irregularities o£ the Dewey classification with the needs of a de- partmentalized library, to establish standards of cataloging for reference and popular serv- ices, and to recommend policy on these mat- ters to the librarian. He also serves, with the other assistant librarians and the asso- ciate librarian, as a member of the librarian's administrative coqncil~ or "cabinet," in the establishment of general institution pro- cedures and organization. In a large library there are many oppor- tunities for the development of coordinated effort. Wi'thin the purview of the direct9r of processing the following, among others, might be cited: coordination between the Catalog, and Book Selection Departments, between the Catalog Department and the Bindery, between each of the processing de- partments and the various public service agen- cies. Let us consider an example or so from each of these. Of paramount importance perhaps is the development of coordinated effort between the Book Selection and Catalog Departments. No library could run smoothly without some degree of cooperation here, and one of the more interesting steps taken in this direction at the Detroit Public Library was initiated before the directorship of processing was es- tablished and the present incumbent assumed the position. This was the transfer from the Book Selection to the Catalog Department of the responsibility for receiving and certi- fying book orders. As I have described in some detail elsewhere, 1 this change was made in the interest of sound accounting practice, but ,resulte.d in a situation where not only did ~the inater.ial flow in and through the process mo~e smoothly, but also the checking in of materials, · the approval of invoices, and the marking of agency symbols in volumes could be combined in large part with catalog- ing procedure and the marking of call num- bers or other cataloging symbols. Missing volumes, incorrectly filled orders, overdue invoices, and other such snags are returned to the Book Selection Department for follow-up correspondence, but these repre- sent only a small percentage of the orders placed and filled. This one step has enabled us to cut greatly the elapsed time between the receipt of branch books in the shipping 1 Library lo1trnal, 73:32, January I, 1948. JANUARY~ 1949 room from the dealer and their appearance on branch shelves. Time has been cut, in fact, from two or three weeks to less than one week for nonfiction, and to one or two days for fiction. Combined with a prepublica- tion approval service negotiated not long since by the Book Selection Department, it has had the result of placing the most popular titles in branches on publication date or very shortly thereafter. A most important field for coordination of the work of the two departments is that of records of materials in process. Plans have been developed for the establishment of a single process catalog, similar to that in use in a number of libraries, where will be recorded in one file all titles on order, or received and in process, up to the time when they are recorded in the library's catalogs. These plans have not yet been put into effect because of difficulties in connection with get- ting the necessary forms. When they are, it will be possible to guard easily against un- desirable duplication of titles, to lay hands almost instantly on any title in process, and to carry on a continuous system of follow-up on all processing activiti~.-s, so that at no step may materials be pigeonholed or sidetracked. The maintenance of this catalog will be a joint effort of the two departments, whose records will be thus infegrated into one harmonious whole. At present, searching of titles before order- ing is the responsibility of the service depart- ments. It is anticipated that when the process catalog is established, if not sooner, searching will be made a responsibility of the Book Selection Department, the service depart- ments making certain only that titles ordered by them are not in their own catalogs. When this change is made, Book Selection will be expected to ascertain and note the biblio- graphical information available in the catalog and needed by the Catalog Department for handling the titles after they are received. Coordination between the Catalog Depart- ment and the Bindery is illustrated by the development of schedules for sending newly cataloged unbound books to the Bindery, and of cooperative routines for the gilding of call numbers on new books. Relations between Units Some of the most inte~esting moves m co- 51 ordination concern the relations between one or another of the processing departments and the various branches and service agencies. Here, of course, the director of processing works in close cooperation with one or more of the other assistant librarians. As I have already hinted, book selection, while primarily the concern of the service agencies, is also carried on by the Book Selection Department. It was in recognition of this fact that the Order Department was a few years ago given its present name. In the selection of books for the library's collections, this department serves primarily as an assisting and coordinating agency to the service departments. The service departments select their own books, but the Book Selec- tion Department assists by bringing catalogs, lists, and reviews to their attention. It also supplements the departmental selection work by watching out for those peripheral fields of knowledge which fall between or beyond the scope of the existing collections, and it has a desiderata fund for the purchase of such titles, as well as for general or expensive titles of broad scope or interest. Secondarily, the department has the responsibility of viewing and judging collections as a whole, imple- menting the librarian's plans for future de- velopment, and advising in the formulation of collection policies. In the · selection of books for purchase for popular use in the branches and in the Home Reading Department of the main library, the department coordinates the work of and assists the popular service librarians by ar- ranging for the receipt of new titles on ap- proval, by having staff members review these as needed, by assisting a committee of popular service librarians to exa)lline and vote upon specific titles not of unquestioned worth or unquestioned worthlessness, by preparing mimeographed annotated lists of titles ap- proved for buying, by presenting the titles weekly at book meetings for branch li- brarians, and in general by keeping the popu- lar service agencies advised on available materials. Coo•rdination with Readers Services Among the ways in which the work of the Catalog Department has been or can be co- ordinated with that of the service agencies are the following: Special branch cataloging, as distinguished from the kind of cataloging required for the complex needs of the research library, calls not for a bibliographical but for a use ap- proach, and use annotations on catalog cards can best be supplied by popular service li- brarians. In a departmentalized library such as De- troit's, catalog guides are needed to lead the reader from a given department' to related materials in the other departments. We visualize ~eferences such as the following . which might be filed in the Fine Arts De- partment catalog: "Architecture. For works on the practical and technical aspects of Building see the catalog of the Technology Department. The public catalog is the com- plete guide to material in all parts of the Library." These references can be worked out only with the active assistance of the de- partments concerned. Many of .you are familiar with the general order of the Librarian of Congress on grada- tion of cataloging for various categories of material. The Detroit Public Library plans a similar system, but the _Catalog Department expects to require guidance from the depart- ments in assigning individual titles or collec- tions to their proper categories. As for coordination between the Bindery and the service agencies: until recently all agencies sent materials for binding whenever and in as large quantities as they wished, with the result that the Bindery shop was flooded, floor to ceiling, with a backlog of many thousands of volumes. By the simple expedient of assigning weekly binding quotas to each of the agencies, based on circulation, book fund, replacement problem, and the like in each agency, the backlog has been elimi- nated, and the binding time has been cut from an average of several months to 2-3 weeks. Objectives Among other objectives already attained or to be worked out are the following: A change over to the use of visible index equipment for the recording of serial in- formation, and possibly in time the establish- ment of a serial unit for the acq~isition, cataloging, and servicing of serials. The possible elimination of separate de- partmental shelf lists. The assumption by the Catalog Depart- ment of the regular inventory of the Main Library. 52 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES The assumption by the Catalog Depart- ment of all the special cataloging activities previously performed in service departments, e.g. phonograph records, and books and other materials of the Burton Historical Collection. Consideration of the form of the public catalog. Should the catalog be broken hori- zontally? Should older subject headings be left unchanged, as terminologies change, with see also references to them? Or · should older subject cards be eliminated altogether as more and more bibliographies are pub- lished? Should the Edwards catalogs and L. C. Cumulative Catalog be used as a pri- mary catalog, supplemented by cards? Cooperation with neighboring libraries in acquisition, cataloging, and photoduplication service. Segregation of clerical duties from the as- signments of professional staff members. For example, the following assignments in the Catalog Department have been transferred from professional hands or close professional supervision to clerical hands exclusively: dis- card records; searching, ordering and follow- ing up orders for L. C. cards; marking of agency name on books; routine receiving and certification of orders, exclusive of dis- crepancies and errors; filing; copy reading on all cards; all added copy and added volume work. It remains now to be shown how the co- ordination and changes in procedure outlined above, so far as they are accomplished facts and not plans for future action-as many of them still are at this time-have brought about increased production. In the past two years, new title cataloging has increase.d nearly 13 per cent per cataloger. In addition to this, with a fractional decrease in catalogers, and a I 7 per cent increase in clerical staff, the Catalog Depart~ent has nearly finished the making of catalogs for three new subject departments soon to be established, involving the duplication of over 350,000 cards; made a catalog for the new Extension Division, which had a $20,000 establishment fund to spend for books; trans- ferred a large geology collection from non- departmental status to the Technology Department; transferred the library economy materials from non-departmental status to a special collection with its own catalog. It has coped with a large increase in temporary cataloging, brought about by increased effort to release popular books promptly, combined with delay in filling L. C. card orders and discontinuance of the depository catalog. And, it now makes two sets of cards for from 75 to 8o per cent of the new titles cataloged, as compared with two sets · for from 40 to 50 per cent before cards were made for the new departmental catalogs. With no increase in staff, the Book Se- lection Department's coverage of new titles published has increased by perhaps 40 per cent, and of dealers' catalogs by several hundred per cent. It has not bought more books, be- cause funds for that purpose have not in- creased, but its selection problem is the greater for that very reason. The production of the Bindery, with no increase in staff, has increased about 10 per cent. There is no logical point at which to end this discussion. Although many things have been accomplished, much more remains to be done. And much of what has been done is so recent that beneficial results have hardly had time to appear. The only conclusion which can be drawn at the moment is that, on the basis of the partial results now known, the administration of the Library is convinced that the technical services division is not a luxury, but a highly important part of modern library organization. By MARGARET C. BROWN The ~mall Public Library In much of our thinking and writing about the administrative consolidation of all so- called "technical ·services" we have tended usually to consider the possibilities of this type of organization for the large library. JANUARY, 1949 Certainly the libraries adopting such an or- ganization have been, with few exceptions, large public or university libraries. In study- ing the technical division, as it has been de- veloped in the small library, we have fewer 53 examples upon which to draw. I have been asked to describe the organizational plan of one such small library. Of those libraries which have organized all processing procedures under the direction of one staff member, the Public Library of Brookline is undoubtedly one of the smallest. Brookline's total book collection is about 200,000 volumes. This collection is distrib- uted among the following units: the main library, three branches, three elementary schools and one high school. The library is organized along functional lines and has a staff of about thirty-five, with six members of this staff responsible directly to the librarian. These are: head of circulation department, head of reference department, head of tech- nical services, high school librarian, head in charge of services to the schools, and head of children's department. Like many a New England library with a long and venerable history-the Public Li- brary of Brookline is almost one hundred years old-the growth of the library's collec- tion has been very gradual. Consequently its organizational plan is as much the result of compromises with tradition as it is of clearly defined specifications. The division of technical services is no ex- ception to this rule. Over the years the duties connected with the operations we call today "technical" were assumed by various members of the staff who discharged these re- sponsibilities in the time remaining from a schedule designed primarily to accommodate the service departments. All other duties took precedence over the behind-the-scene operations. As the library grew, however, the need for specialization became evident, and eventually there developed the depart- mental organization which we have today. From general staff responsibility for process- ing procedures there emerged four depart- ments to carry on this work: (I) adult cataloging, responsible for the cataloging of materials for all adult services in the system, including the high school; ( 2) children and school cataloging; ( 3) ordering; ( 4) marking and binding. However, centralization remained incom- plete. Many of the activities which rightly belonged in one of the processing departments continued to be performed by the members of other departments. The lines of authority and responsibility were not clearly defined, and, if defined, certainly not clearly under- stood. The relationship between the line and staff officers was frequently a nebulous one. The need for a greater degree of centrali- zation of all processing procedures was one consideration prompting the creation, in February of 1947, of a division of technical services. The head of this division was made responsible for all processes concerned with ordering, cataloging, mending, marking, and binding of books. The heads of the depart- ments named above were made responsible to the head of technical services. Besides the impetus toward greater cen- tralization which it was hoped the reorgani- zation would give, it was also felt that more conscientious planning of the work of these departments in their interrelationships would result in a more coordinated effort, greater efficiency of operation and, consequently, im- proved service to the public. One further consideration prompted this administrative consolidation. Prior to the setting up of the division of technical services, the librarian necessarily assumed much of the responsibility for the over-all planning and directing of the processing departments. The new organization enabled the librarian to deal with one officer instead of four, and to delegate responsibility for planning and di- recting operations in the division to the head of technical services. At the present time, the division of te hoi- cal services at Brookline has a staff of seven professionals, five clericals, and two student assistants. As in many small public libraries, the members of the processing departments are scheduled a few hours of every week at the service desks. The time so allotted ranges from an average of five hours in the case of one cataloger, to as much as fifteen or sixteen in the case of another. For this reason, the ratio of professional to clerical, when ex- pressed in terms of hours rather than indi- viduals, is approximately one to one, since all clerical workers give full time to the work of the division. In the calendar year 1947, catalog records for approximately ro,ooo volumes were fur- nished the various libraries in the Brookline system. These 10,000 volumes were repre- sented by approximately 4500 individual sets 54 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES of catalog cards. In this same year, 3470 fact. The expenditure of effort is not con- volumes were withdrawn from the collection, fined to the members of the staff directly and the number of books and pamphlets involved. The success of the reorganiza- ordered, exclusive of government documents, tional plan at Brookline depends, to a con- totaled 8472. A figure which is perhaps even siderable extent, on the cooperation and more significant than those just quoted, when understanding of every member of the staff. considering the work load of the cataloging It is the habits and thinking of the staff that departments, is the number of individual require reorganizatidh as much as any pro- catalogs maintained and edited by these com- cedural details. It is our habits and think- bined departments. At present writing, ten ing, of course, that are the more difficult to catalogs are the responsibility of these depart- reorganize. ments, and the figure promises to grow. In In Brookline the very creation of the posi- addition to the dictionary catalogs, four tion of head of technical services, in itself, shelflists, duplicates of those shelflists at the has helped, I think, to clarify the lines of main library, are provided for some collec- authority and responsibility. The responsi- tions remote from the main library. bility for all processing procedures was placed The production figures quoted above, for in the hands of one individual; the control the first year under the new organization, over these procedures had also to pass into represent a slight increase over the previous the hands of that same individual. As was years for which comparable statistics were mentioned earlier, many details of processing available. This increase in production was were performed by various members of the effected despite various adverse circum- staff under the direction of no single indi- stances, the most important of which was a vidual. During the year in which the new turnover in staff that affected nine of the organization has been in existence it has been twelve positions in the division. However, possible to transfer some of these operations these production figures seem to me to be an to the appropriate department. But for lack unsafe basis for any very meaningful con- of staff more would have been transferred. elusions about the benefits of the new type I think this move toward centralized opera- of organizational plan over the old. There tion and control was made easier with the is not qecessarily any relationship between consolidation of all procedures under one the increased production and the reorganiza- administrator. Such centralization, when tion described. An equation with too many finally completed, will undoubtedly result in variables is incapable of solution and varia- more efficient operation, and until such cen- bles we had. There are many factors re- tralization is completed no very accurate sponsible for the statistical picture. One estimates can be made of work loads, staff factor, wholly unrelated to the reorganiza- needs, or budget requirements. tion, undoubtedly affected the cataloging sta- r- The centralization of all processing pro- tistics for 1947. In that year purchases cedures in the hands of one person also makes were heavier than any year since 1941. It it possible for the librarian to supervise this is quite likely that, of the myriad of tasks branch of the library's operation through one that fall to · the staff of a catalog department, assistant instead of four or more. In a greater number of those performed in 1947 speaking of the type of administrative con- were capable of statistical presentation in an solidation we are discussing here, the span- annual report. of-control argument has perhaps been Indeed, if we are lacking a neat statistical over-emphasized. What is usually meant by before-and-after view, what evidence can we this argument is that the librarian's span of present that this new organization at Brook- control, through the creation of a service and line is superior, in any way, to the old? The a technical division, is reduced to two. Hi- organization at Brookline is in what could secting an organization into service and be described as an experimental stage of its technical divisions may be advantageous in development. It is inevitable that any re- certain instances, but reducing the span of organization, while it can take place over- control to as low a figure as two usually night on paper, requires a much longer time can only be done at the cost of removing the and a great deal of effort before it exists in librarian yet one step further from his staff. JANUARY~ 1949 55 Where possible, the librarian would seem to benefit from the counsel and reporting of five or six members of his staff who are directly in touch with the work they supervise, rather than from two staff members who themselves may be just another part of the hierarchy. The problem in Brookline was not how to reduce the librarian's span of control to two, but how to reduce it t