College and Research Libraries B y L L O Y D W . G R I F F I N a n d J A C K A . C L A R K E Orientation and Instruction of the Graduate Student by University Libraries: A Survey WITH THE GROWTH i n size a n d c o m -p l e x i t y of u n i v e r s i t y l i b r a r i e s a n d t h e e x p a n s i o n of g r a d u a t e s c h o o l s , t h e n e c e s s i t y f o r s o m e s o r t of i n s t r u c t i o n i n l i b r a r y u s e f o r t h e g r a d u a t e s t u d e n t h a s b e c o m e a m a t t e r of s p e c i a l c o n c e r n t o m a n y l i b r a r i a n s . E x p e r i e n c e h a s s h o w n t h a t t h e t r a d i t i o n a l i n d o c t r i n a t i o n of u n d e r g r a d u a t e s b y t h e E n g l i s h d e p a r t - m e n t o r b y t h e l i b r a r y staff is n o t a n a d e q u a t e p r e p a r a t i o n f o r t h e m o r e i n - t e n s i v e u s e of t h e l i b r a r y ' s c o l l e c t i o n s w h i c h is e x p e c t e d of t h e a d v a n c e d s t u - d e n t . T h e p o l i c y of l i m i t e d c a t a l o g i n g a n d c l a s s i f i c a t i o n of r e s e a r c h m a t e r i a l s f o r c e d o n l i b r a r i e s b y m o u n t i n g b a c k - l o g s a n d r i s i n g c o s t s p r o b a b l y h a s as- s u m e d a d e g r e e of b i b l i o g r a p h i c a l k n o w l e d g e o n t h e p a r t of r e a d e r s w h i c h m a n y of t h e m d o n o t h a v e . M o r e o v e r , c e r t a i n t y p e s of m a t e r i a l s s u c h a s i n t e r - n a t i o n a l d o c u m e n t s a n d m i c r o - t e x t s r e - q u i r e s p e c i a l i n s t r u c t i o n o r e x p e r i e n c e if t h e y a r e t o b e l o c a t e d a n d u s e d e f - ficiently. S i m p l e r t h a n t h e s e c a u s e s of t h e l a b y r i n t h i n e c o m p l e x i t y of l a r g e r r e s e a r c h l i b r a r i e s b u t e q u a l l y p u z z l i n g t o i n c o m i n g g r a d u a t e s t u d e n t s f r o m o t h e r i n s t i t u t i o n s — o r , f o r t h a t m a t t e r , t o " n a t i v e " g r a d u a t e s a t t e m p t i n g o r i g - i n a l s c h o l a r s h i p f o r t h e first t i m e — a r e t h e l o c a l v a r i a t i o n s i n a l a r g e l i b r a r y s y s t e m , w h i c h n e e d t o b e a n n o u n c e d a n d e x p l a i n e d . Mr. Griffin is Assistant Librarian in Charge of Humanities Reference, and Mr. Clarke is Assistant Librarian in Charge of Social Studies Reference, Uni- versity of Wisconsin Memorial Library. I n a n a t t e m p t t o d i s c o v e r h o w t h e t w e n t y - o d d l a r g e r u n i v e r s i t y l i b r a r i e s 1 a r e a p p r o a c h i n g t h e p r o b l e m , t h e a u - t h o r s c o m p i l e d a q u e s t i o n n a i r e c o n s i s t - i n g of f o u r q u e s t i o n s , a n d a c o v e r i n g l e t t e r w h i c h i n v i t e d c o m m e n t s o n l o c a l p o l i c i e s a n d p r o c e d u r e s . T h e r e s p o n s e w a s g r a t i f y i n g : a l l b u t o n e l i b r a r y r e - t u r n e d t h e p o s t c a r d a n d m a n y w r o t e d e t a i l e d l e t t e r s as w e l l . I n t h e first p l a c e , w e w a n t e d t o a s c e r t a i n w h e t h e r l i b r a r i e s a c c e p t e d a n y r e s p o n s i b i l i t y f o r t h e b i b l i - o g r a p h i c i n s t r u c t i o n of e n t e r i n g g r a d - u a t e s t u d e n t s . T w e n t y o u t of t w e n t y - f o u r l i b r a r i e s r e p l i e d t h a t t h e y d i d n o t a s s u m e a n y f o r m a l r e s p o n s i b i l i t y , a n d s e v e r a l l i b r a r i a n s r e m a r k e d t h a t t h e y p r e f e r r e d a n i n f o r m a l a n d f l e x i b l e p r o - g r a m of i n s t r u c t i o n c o n d u c t e d b y m e m - b e r s of t h e l i b r a r y s t a f f . I n t h e i r c o m - m e n t s o n t h i s q u e s t i o n , a n u m b e r of l i b r a r i a n s s t a t e d t h a t i t w a s t h e r e - s p o n s i b i l i t y of t h e t e a c h i n g s t a f f t o o f f e r s u c h i n s t r u c t i o n a s t h e y t h o u g h t n e c e s - s a r y , a n d o n e l i b r a r i a n a s s e r t e d t h a t a s y s t e m a t i c p r o g r a m w o u l d r e q u i r e a s u b s t a n t i a l o u t l a y . S i g n i f i c a n t l y , s o m e of t h e l i b r a r i e s w h e r e v e r y l i t t l e is n o w b e i n g d o n e i n d i c a t e d t h a t t h e y w e r e s e r i o u s l y r e c o n s i d e r i n g t h e i r s t a n d . W e a l s o i n q u i r e d w h e t h e r c o u r s e s i n r e f e r e n c e m e t h o d s o r i n t h e u s e of t h e l i b r a r y w e r e o f f e r e d b y t h e s t a f f , a n d if t h e s e c o u r s e s w e r e g i v e n f o r c r e d i t . O n l y o n e l i b r a r y o f f e r e d s u c h a c o u r s e f o r c r e d i t , a l t h o u g h s e v e r a l o t h e r s h a v e d o n e 1 Libraries participating in the survey were Cali- fornia, Columbia, Cornell, Duke, Harvard, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, North Carolina, Northwestern, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Princeton, Stanford, Texas, UCLA, Washington, Western Reserve, Wisconsin, and Yale. SEPTEMBER 1958 451 so in the past. T h r e e libraries reported courses taught by faculty members which were open to students of allied instruc- tional departments. T w o libraries re- plied that they h a d looked into the pos- sibility of offering formal bibliographic instruction to graduate students b u t had decided for various reasons that they could not then do anything. T h e most i m p o r t a n t reasons given were lack of staff and time for the preparation and administration of courses at the grad- uate level, and the diversity of subject matter and methodology involved. T w o additional libraries reported courses in bibliography and research techniques which had been discontinued because of "scheduling complexity" and lack of re- sponse. T h e remaining questions dealt with instructional lectures and library tours for graduate students. I n the m a t t e r of lectures, sixteen libraries replied that members of their staff—primarily refer- ence librarians—conducted them, while two libraries indicated that members of the teaching faculty assumed this re- sponsibility. I n d i a n a , Northwestern, Duke, California, Kentucky, Western Reserve checked the lecture question af- firmatively. T h e following libraries gave f u r t h e r details: Michigan State arranged lectures if requested; Cornell, on re- quest; N o r t h Carolina, when requested; Yale, "a few"; Texas, "one to three . . . given in beginning research courses"; Kansas, when requested; Princeton, in American history and others in classes by specialist librarians in charge of spe- cial collections, in conjunction with the faculty; UCLA, u p o n request; Minne- sota, "occasionally"; Columbia, orienta- tion lectures in seminars; Oregon, when requested; and Wisconsin, a series of general lectures in bibliography and use of the library in the fields of humanities and social studies, plus specialized lec- tures in seminars and branch libraries. A n u m b e r of replies from libraries which do not offer formal lectures stressed the value of informal biblio- graphic conferences with individuals by reference librarians who teach by con- versation and example. This, of course, is done at all research libraries and is one of the bases of library service to the scholar and the general public as well. Eleven libraries regularly offered tours for advanced students, b u t the remain- ing fourteen indicated that a special orientation program was not needed. O n e respondent noted that voluntary tours usually attract such a small at- tendance that they hardly make a dent in the problem of orientation. At the universities of Minnesota and Wiscon- sin, tours for foreign students, who are usually enrolled in the graduate school, were offered immediately preceding the fall quarter. Similar g r o u p tours for graduate students are arranged by the head of the circulation d e p a r t m e n t at N o r t h Carolina at the beginning of each semester. An analysis of comments and letters from responding librarians emphasized their concern with proper bibliographic indoctrination of graduate students, and, for some, their feeling of helpless- ness in the face of the situation. " T h i s is a problem which we have discussed among ourselves from time to time," one librarian wrote, " b u t u p to this point we have not made any real prog- ress." Most of the librarians canvassed con- sidered that their most profitable means of orienting advanced students was through close cooperation with, and en- couragement of, the faculty. But there was some disagreement as to whether the library or the teaching faculty should take the initiative. As one librar- ian p u t it, the library should offer bibli- ographic training for any course, grad- uate or undergraduate, for which a faculty member requests this type of service. At Columbia, however, the ref- erence d e p a r t m e n t takes the lead a n d 452 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES writes to members of the graduate facul- ties, emphasizing that the library staff is prepared to present orientation lec- tures to seminars covering such items as organization of the library, content and use of reference books, and the more i m p o r t a n t bibliographic sources in their particular subject field. T h e response to this program, the librarian writes, has grown each year since its inception. Providing instruction for seminar groups by librarians who are subject specialists was frequently mentioned in the commenting letters. For example, at Princeton graduate students in Amer- ican history are brought to the man- uscripts room of the library for one afternoon each year as a part of their course, and the curator spends several hours pointing out to them the man- uscript resources in their field. Similarly, at Oregon and Wisconsin the divisional librarians appear frequently before seminars to discuss problems of bibli- ography and methodology. At most uni- versities, specialized courses in research methods and bibliography were offered by academic departments, professional schools, or branch librarians.2 These courses, however, were often elective and failed to attract a significant per- centage of advanced students. In several instances, libraries have tried to supplement this specialized training with more general lectures open to all advanced students. T o w a r d this end, the humanities and social studies librarians at Wisconsin offered two series of lectures—a total of six—for 2 Many specialized courses in bibliography and meth- odology are required of advanced students by graduate faculties. These are conducted with more or less coop- eration from the university library at many institu- tions, among them Minnesota (romance languages), Indiana (chemistry, education, business, speech), Co- lumbia (various professional schools), Stanford (edu- cation, health education, biological sciences, chemistry, English, German, political science, psychology, history, medicine), Princeton (various academic departments), Illinois (chemistry, law, medicine, biology, maps, some departments such as English), Texas (various depart- ments), Wisconsin (English, French, geography, Ger- man, history, agriculture, medicine), and so on. Un- doubtedly, many seminars and graduate courses have substantial bibliographic content. This, however, is largely beyond the purview of the library. entering graduate students, which be- cause of crowded schedules and compe- tition for students' time have been only moderately well attended. Certain fac- ulty members have urged their grad- uate students to be present at these general library lectures and have given their wholehearted approval and sup- port. Yet only a small percentage of students are exposed to the broad view of the library and its facilities, first, because of the pressures mentioned above, and, second, because they believe that they can acquire the necessary bibliographic knowledge in or along with their regular courses and seminars. T h i s indifferent response to instruc- tional lectures has been paralleled by the experience of the University of Minnesota. Only one librarian p u t f o r t h the ten- tative opinion that "students in the fifth year of university work ought to be able to use the library with reason- able facility," but immediately qualified that statement with the clause, "al- though I must confess that both faculty members and librarians often are dis- appointed when they discover what these students really know." Biblio- graphically speaking, what one ought to know, one often does not; nor, even, does a graduate degree automatically confer this knowledge. Librarians who have experienced the regular curricula of graduate study, u p to and including the doctorate, before attending library school can testify to the narrow, limited field of specialized bibliography to which they had been exposed. Other methods suggested by librarians were library manuals designed to an- swer the usual questions and other guides written specifically for graduate students or graduate students and fac- ulty. A printed guide to the library was included in the registration enve- lope for all new graduate students at Harvard. Some universities, such as Stanford and Wisconsin, advocated sub- SEPTEMBER 1958 453 ject guides for advanced students. For example, P u r d u e has recently compiled a list of references for students of soci- ology; Wisconsin has a p a m p h l e t on educational research; and the H a r v a r d guides to a n u m b e r of subjects are well known. In connection with o u r instruc- tional lectures at Wisconsin, we have prepared a checklist of representative reference titles, revised and brought u p to date each year, which is offered to all graduate students. T o summarize, replies by card and letter to our questionnaire indicate that orientation and bibliographic instruc- tion of entering graduate students is a problem of concern to all research li- braries—and one for which no com- plete solution has been found. W h i l e all libraries expressed a willingness to help, the great majority disclaimed respon- sibility for bibliographic instruction of students at the graduate level. Only two libraries conducted general courses in orientation, reference, a n d bibliography; and only one of these courses was taught by a member of the library staff. Many specialized courses in research methods a n d bibliography were given by faculty members, with or with- out library cooperation. T h e majority of libraries provided lectures—largely in specific subject areas—which were delivered before seminars and course groups u p o n faculty request. A b o u t half conducted g r a d u a t e tours of the library. Several factors militated against a formal program of orientation, bibli- ographic instruction, and research meth- odology in the library: lack of staff, time, and f u n d s for preparation and ad- ministration of courses and extensive lecture series on the graduate level, and the extreme variation in subject fields involved, which would make a uni- formly effective orientation impossible. Perhaps most significant, however, was the complicated problem of scheduling library instruction among the welter of graduate courses and seminars, and the inability or unwillingness of graduate students to take time from their depart- mental curricula to participate in any kind of separate program sponsored by the library. Most of such attempts con- tinue to be poorly attended or have been discontinued for lack of interest. T h e best hope for orientation and instruction of graduate students by the library seems to lie in an even closer cooperation with the faculty. Librarians can take the initiative in offering to provide supplemental lectures and spe- cial instruction for established seminars and classes. An interested faculty could easily convince its graduate students of the value of personal appointments with the library's subject specialists and reference librarians to m a p out both specific and general programs of re- search and orientation. These contacts might be strengthened as well by the issuing of advanced library manuals and special s u b j e c t bibliographies and guides. It appears, however, that only by working within the established pat- tern of scholarship and research can the library offer m a x i m u m service to its graduate community. N O M I N A T I O N S S O U G H T : N o m i n a t i o n s a r e b e i n g s o u g h t f o r t h e 1959 M a r g a r e t M a n n C i t a t i o n . L i b r a r i a n s w h o h a v e m a d e a d i s t i n g u i s h e d c o n t r i b u t i o n to t h e p r o f e s s i o n t h r o u g h p u b l i - c a t i o n of significant p r o f e s s i o n a l l i t e r a t u r e , p a r t i c i p a t i o n in p r o f e s s i o n a l c a t a l o g i n g associ- a t i o n s , o r v a l u a b l e c o n t r i b u t i o n s t o p r a c t i c e in i n d i v i d u a l l i b r a r i e s a n d w h o a r e m e m b e r s of t h e C a t a l o g i n g a n d Classification Section of A L A a r e eligible. N o m i n a t i o n s s h o u l d be m a d e n o t l a t e r t h a n J a n u a r y 1 t o t h e c h a i r m a n of t h e section's C o m m i t t e e o n A w a r d of t h e M a r g a r e t M a n n C i t a t i o n , D r . M a u r i c e F . T a u b e r , School of L i b r a r y Service, C o l u m b i a U n i v e r s i t y , N e w York 27. 454 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES