College and Research Libraries The U. S. Office of Education Statistics Survey By J O H N CARSON R A T H E R EARLY THIS MONTH the Office of Education of the U. S. D e p a r t m e n t of H e a l t h , Education, a n d Welfare, began the first of its series of a n n u a l statistical surveys of col- lege a n d university libraries in the U n i t e d States. T h e survey will gather basic d a t a on library operations a n d staff salaries to be used by administrators, chief librarians, a n d others concerned with p l a n n i n g library budg- ets a n d the development of library service to higher education. T h i s survey is in the direct tradition of Office of Education li- brary studies since in many particulars it follows the form and content of a q u i n q u e n - nial series d a t i n g f r o m 1939/40, a n d its in- creased frequency falls in step with the series of public library statistics compiled annually since 1945. T h e survey continues statistical compila- tions for college a n d university libraries gathered by ALA since 1922. These statistics were for two decades incorporated i n t o the a n n u a l tables of library statistics published in the ALA Bulletin. I n 1943 their compila- tion was u n d e r t a k e n separately by A C R L a n d the resulting tables were published in CRL. D u r i n g the r e m a i n i n g war years pub- lication lapsed b u t was resumed in 1947. T h e compilation of the statistics became a responsibility of ALA's Library Adminis- tration Division u p o n ALA's reorganization in 1957. A f t e r that time the statistics were compiled by a committee of college a n d university librarians within LAD, b u t their publication as a feature of the first n u m b e r of each volume of CRL continued through this year. T h e collection, analysis, a n d pub- lication of statistics for other libraries (principally public libraries a n d school li- braries) having been a f u n c t i o n of the Of- fice of Education for some years, LAD's com- mittee agreed at its 1960 M i d w i n t e r meet- ing that the collection, analysis, a n d publica- tion of college a n d university library statistics also be u n d e r t a k e n by that office. T h e survey will be conducted by the Li- brary Services Branch, a c o m p o n e n t of the Mr. Rather is Specialist for College and Research Libraries, Library Services Branch, Office of Education, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Office of Education's Division of Statistics a n d Research Services. It will be u n d e r the supervision of J o h n Carson R a t h e r , whose basic responsibilities include r e p o r t i n g on the status of libraries of higher education as well as providing related consultative serv- ices. H e will be assisted in the survey by the research a n d statistical staff of the Library Services Branch with technical advice from the Educational Statistics Branch. COVERAGE T h e survey aims to include all institu- tions of higher education in the U n i t e d States. T h e mailing list for distribution of the questionnaire was the one used for the Office of Education's survey of fall enroll- m e n t in higher education. 1 T h i s list com- prises 1,952 institutions a n d is essentially the same as the slightly larger a n d longer list published as Part 3 of the Education Di- rectory, 1959-1960 (OE-50000; W a s h i n g t o n , D. C.: Government P r i n t i n g Office, 1959.) T h e 1,952 institutions fall into the follow- ing categories: Type Number Four-year institutions: Universities 141 Liberal arts colleges 756 I n d e p e n d e n t l y organized profes- sional schools: Teachers colleges 198 Technological schools 51 Theological, religious 173 Schools of art 46 O t h e r professional 75 Junior colleges 512 TOTAL 1 , 9 5 2 1 Opening (Fall) Enrollment in Higher Education, 1959 (Circular No. 606, OE-S4003; Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1959.) S E P T E M B E R 1 9 6 0 407 I n responding to the questionnaire, each institution has been requested to r e p o r t d a t a on all library agencies of the institu- tion, regardless of location, even if they are not u n d e r the general direction of the col- lege or university librarian. Any libraries excluded f r o m the r e p o r t are to be listed in space provided on the questionnaire. T h e Library Services Branch will a t t e m p t to ob- tain the missing data so that final statistics will reflect the total library resources of each institution. W i t h an adequate response from the 1,952 institutions, the individual statistics will c o n t r i b u t e to a r o u n d e d view of the current state of higher education libraries. T H E QUESTIONNAIRE T h e questionnaire for the survey is desig- nated as "College a n d University Library Statistics, 1959-60" (Form LSB-8). Its twenty- six questions are divided into two parts: the first deals with collections, staff, expendi- tures, a n d related institutional d a t a for 1959/60; the second with salaries of specific staff positions as of September 1, 1960. T h e questions a n d definitions of terms are sub- stantially the same as those used in previous USOE or ALA surveys. T h e y were reviewed and approved by members of the LAD Sec- tion on Library Organization a n d Manage- ment's Statistics Committee for College a n d University Libraries, formerly responsible for compiling the statistics. P A R T 1 T h e exact wording of questions 1-17 com- prised by P a r t 1 is as follows: Library Collection 1. N u m b e r of volumes at e n d of fiscal year 2. N u m b e r of volumes added d u r i n g fis- cal year 3. N u m b e r of periodicals currently re- ceived (excluding duplicates) Personal (Full-time equivalent) 4. N u m b e r of professional employees (FTE) 5. N u m b e r of nonprofessional employees (FTE) 6. T o t a l n u m b e r of employees (FTE) 7. N u m b e r of hours of student assistance d u r i n g fiscal year Library Expenditures ( I n c l u d e e x p e n d i t u r e s of all libraries. Give sums to nearest dol- l a r ; omit cents.) 8. Salaries (before deductions): Library staff 9. Wages (before deductions): Student service a n d other hourly h e l p 10. T o t a l salaries a n d wages (items 8 a n d 9) 11. E x p e n d i t u r e s for books a n d other li- brary materials 12. E x p e n d i t u r e s for b i n d i n g 13. T o t a l for library materials and b i n d i n g (items 11 a n d 12) 14. O t h e r o p e r a t i n g expenditures 15. T o t a l o p e r a t i n g e x p e n d i t u r e s (items 10, 13, a n d 14) Institutional Data 16. N u m b e r of resident students at the campuses included in this report, regu- lar session (fall through spring), 1959- 60. (a) U n d e r g r a d u a t e s a n d first pro- fessional (b) G r a d u a t e (c) T o t a l (items 16a a n d 16b) 17. T o t a l expenditures of institution for educational a n d general purposes A few definitions of terms in these ques- tions are worthy of discussion: Full-time equivalent: " T o c o m p u t e ' f u l - time equivalents' (FTE) of part-time person- nel, add the total n u m b e r of hours worked per week by all part-time personnel of each type (i.e., professional or nonprofessional) a n d divide by the n u m b e r of hours in your full-time work week." T h i s instruction offers an easier way of c o m p u t i n g full-time equiva- lents than juggling fractions. Number of resident students: " D a t a o n enrollment should be obtained f r o m the registrar. T h e figures should be consistent with the definitions of Items 7c, 8c, 9 2 of Schedule I I I , Form R S H 50-59, 'Comprehen- sive R e p o r t on E n r o l l m e n t (Summer Session a n d Fall): 1959.' " T h e f o r m cited a n d its related definitions are well known to regis- trars, b u t there is a pitfall here: The enroll- ment should only be for campuses included in the library report. If a r e p o r t e x c l u d e s library data for a branch, the enrollment of that branch also must be excluded, other- wise the figure for library o p e r a t i n g cost per student will be distorted. Total expenditures for institution for edu- cational and general purposes: " D a t a o n total expenditures of institution for educa- tional a n d general purposes should be ob- tained from the comptroller or business of- ficer. T h e figure should be consistent with the definition of Item E-32 of Schedule II 2 That is, total undergraduate and first professional students, graduate students in liberal arts and sciences, and students beyond the first professional degree, and total students. 408 C O L L E G E A N D R E S E A R C H L I B R A R I E S of Form RSS-041 (58), 'Financial Statistics of Institutions of H i g h e r Education.' " T h e definition cited requires reporting of ex- p e n d i t u r e s for organized research. Regard- less of the source of these funds, they are p a r t of the total institutional budget a n d cannot reasonably be excluded. It will be noted that the questions in P a r t 1 do not include either library operating cost per student or the percentage of total institutional expenditures for educational a n d general purposes allocated to the li- brary. These calculations will be made by the statistical staff of the Library Services Branch as the questionnaires are edited. P A R T 2 Part 2 of the questionnaire is concerned with salaries of full-time personnel as of September 1, 1960. Instructions a n d ques- tions in this part were formulated differ- ently from those in earlier surveys. T h e most i m p o r t a n t point to note is the limitation of salary data to full-time per- sonnel. Earlier surveys have accepted sal- aries of part-time staff inflated to full-time equivalents. T h e main defect of this approach is that the fact that an institution pays a given a m o u n t for (say) a half-time employee does not guarantee that it would pay twice as much for a full-time employee. Moreover, when the part-time staff member divides his time between library work and teaching, it is misleading to report his salary on the same basis as that of a full-time librarian or to work out the full-time equivalent of the salary ascribable to the library. In either case the resulting salary figure is artificial and adds little or n o t h i n g to o u r knowledge of library salaries. For the same reasons, es- timates of salaries for staff who contribute services (as in Catholic institutions) a n d the full-time-equivalent salary of anyone who works less than the full academic year have been excluded from this part of the ques- tionnaire. T h i s limitation will cause some salaries formerly reported in the statistics to be ex- cluded from the USOE study. However, the absence of these data will be offset by the greater reliability of b o n a fide full-time salaries reported. F u r t h e r accuracy will be achieved by asking each institution to in- dicate whether its salaries are paid for the academic year (9-10 months) or the fiscal year (11-12 months). T h e table of salaries requests i n f o r m a t i o n on the following positions: chief librarian or director; associate or assistant librarian; d e p a r t m e n t a n d division heads; heads of school, college, or d e p a r t m e n t a l libraries; all other professional assistant; all nonprofes- sional assistants. For each type of position, the responding library should list the num- ber of full-time salaries reported in that category, the highest salary actually paid, the lowest salary actually paid, a n d the mean (average) salary of all full-time persons in that category. Since actual salaries are re- quested, when only one person is employed in a given category, only one salary should be listed. In such a case, the salary must be entered as the "highest salary." T h i s ar- bitrary instruction is i n t e n d e d to facilitate analysis of the data. T h e question about mean salary has been introduced to permit calculation of a single median salary for each category as well as median salaries for all professional and non- professional positions. T h e mean salary is determined by a d d i n g individual salaries in a category a n d dividing by their n u m b e r . T h e arithmetic will be laborious only for larger institutions that have many full-time employees in various categories. T h e final questions in Part 2 of the ques- tionnaire ask a b o u t the b e g i n n i n g salary of a library school graduate without experience and the n u m b e r of budgeted professional positions (in full-time equivalents) vacant on September 1, 1960. T h i s last query attempts to establish a firm figure for existing va- cancies in academic libraries as a contribu- tion to an evaluation of the overall pro- fessional employment situation. T h e question has already been asked by the Library Serv- ices Branch in its survey of public libraries and will be asked in a forthcoming survey of school libraries. P U B L I C A T I O N P L A N S Data collected in this survey will be pub- ished in two parts. T h e first will be a listing of institutional data, arranged by state. It is intended primarily to serve the needs of chief librarians a n d administrators con- cerned with p r e p a r i n g budgets for the com- ing fiscal year. Since their deliberations are based on specific figures from comparable institutions, no a t t e m p t will be made to analyze the data in this first report. S E P T E M B E R 1 9 6 0 409 P a r t 2 of the survey r e p o r t will present analytical summaries of the d a t a grouped by type of institution a n d control (i.e., pub- lic or private), a n d by e n r o l l m e n t size a n d control. I n the e n r o l l m e n t tables, a dis- tinction will be made between four-year in- stitutions a n d two-year institutions. T h e tables will show ranges a n d medians f o r all significant categories of i n f o r m a t i o n a n d an effort will be made to lay the f o u n d a t i o n f o r discerning trends in the growth a n d de- velopment of academic libraries. Of course, f u l l development of this t r e n d analysis will not be realized u n t i l the statistical series has been c o n t i n u e d for several years. P a r t 1 (institutional data) is scheduled for publication as early in 1961 as possible; Part 2 (analysis) will a p p e a r approximately three months later. Obviously, speedy publication demands adherence to a tight schedule. T h e questionnaires were distributed as close to September 1 as possible. T h e dead- line f o r responses to be listed in Part 1 is October 1. However, all r e t u r n s received by December 1 will be used in the analysis, so chief librarians have been urged to submit reports even when they will be too late for listing. Reminder-cards a n d follow-up letters are being sent d u r i n g September to insure the largest possible response f o r the section on institutional data. Each f o r m is being carefully edited a n d discrepancies noted. In general, d a t a will be used as submitted, b u t an effort will be made to clarify obvious inconsistencies. T h e edited form will then be sent to the Statistical Processing Branch of the D e p a r t m e n t of H e a l t h , Education, a n d W e l f a r e so that a set of I B M cards may be p u n c h e d . Every card in the set will include common coding for state, institution n u m b e r , type, control, enrollment category, geographical region, as well as size categories f o r book stock a n d total o p e r a t i n g expenditures. T h e s e codes will facilitate immediate analysis a n d will p r e p a r e for f u t u r e machine-processing of the cards in the interests of library research. T h e I B M cards will be used to p r i n t a listing of institutional data, and as raw material for analysis. T h e IBM tabulation will be reproduced directly by m u l t i l i t h as Part 1 of the published report; IBM tapes of the analysis will be converted to conven- tional tables for Part 2. Both publications will a p p e a r as circular-size publications (about 8 x 10 inches). Copies of each r e p o r t will be sent automatically to all institutions of higher education. I n d i v i d u a l copies may be obtained f r o m the Publication I n q u i r y U n i t of the USOE. M u l t i p l e copies should be purchased f r o m the G o v e r n m e n t P r i n t i n g Office. T h e price of the reports has yet to be determined. S U M M A R Y T h e Library Services Branch has formu- lated the content a n d f o r m a t of the ques- tionnaire with f u l l awareness of the require- ments of p o t e n t i a l users of these data a n d of the desirability of simplifying the effort of responding. Plans for listing a n d analysis take account of the uses of these data a n d the urgency of p r o m p t publication. However, despite this care, chief librarians a n d admin- istrators must cooperate wholeheartedly if the results of the survey are to be of maxi- m u m value. As yet there is n o valid means of sampling higher education institutions to determine the characteristics of the entire g r o u p by statistical expansion of partial data. T h u s each library should r e p o r t in this survey. Full participation will insure comprehen- siveness in the listing a n d accuracy in the analysis. Secondly, each library should answer all questions that apply to its operations. T h e required i n f o r m a t i o n should be f o u n d readily in the records of the institution. If it is not, a reasonable estimate (properly designated) should be made; a guess is bet- ter than a blank. Although each library should answer the questionnaire fully, for purposes of listing, an incomplete f o r m sub- mitted before October 1 is preferable to a form submitted too late. Reports should not be delayed merely to obtain a missing piece of data; for example, the total institutional expenditures for educational a n d general purposes. If the i n f o r m a t i o n becomes avail- able a f t e r October 1, it can be submitted in a supplementary report. T h e advantages of complete responses may be counterbalanced by the unwillingness of some libraries to state actual salaries for specific positions. Some colleges and univer- sities have a policy against divulging this in- formation, especially when it may be listed for publication. It is h o p e d t h a t this re- (Continued on page 416) 410 C O L L E G E A N D R E S E A R C H L I B R A R I E S The U. S. Office of Education (Continued, from page 410) striction will n o t a p p l y to f u r n i s h i n g d a t a f o r analysis. T h e U S O E g u a r a n t e e s t h a t in- d i v i d u a l salaries will n o t be listed in P a r t 1 of the survey r e p o r t only w i t h i n s t i t u t i o n a l a p p r o v a l a n d , moreover, t h a t the analytical s u m m a r i e s in P a r t 2 will conceal any rela- t i o n s h i p between these salaries a n d specific i n s t i t u t i o n s . L i b r a r y statistics are essential f o r p l a n - ning, n o t only on t h e i n s t i t u t i o n a l level b u t also on the n a t i o n a l level. A l t h o u g h cur- r e n t p l a n n i n g m o r e i m m e d i a t e l y concerns a d m i n i s t r a t o r s a n d l i b r a r i a n s , t h e long- r a n g e issue c a n n o t be i g n o r e d . D u r i n g t h e past decade w h e n college e n r o l l m e n t s rose 40 p e r cent, academic libraries t h a t i m p r o v e d t h e i r resources a n d services were f o r t u n a t e . B u t even they are c o n f r o n t e d by heavy bur- d e n s d u r i n g t h e 1960's w h e n e n r o l l m e n t s are e x p e c t e d to increase by 70 p e r cent. H o w m u c h m o r e serious t h e n are t h e p r o b l e m s of less f a v o r e d libraries t h a t strain to m e e t the d e m a n d s of the p r e s e n t . T r a d i t i o n a l m e a n s of s u p p o r t f o r h i g h e r e d u c a t i o n are slowly giving way to n e w e r sources of income. W h a t this t r e n d implies f o r libraries is u n c l e a r , b u t o n e t h i n g is c e r t a i n : any c o n s i d e r a t i o n of the r e q u i r e - m e n t s of college a n d university libraries will be greatly f a c i l i t a t e d by t h e existence of a s u b s t a n t i a l body of c u r r e n t , complete, a n d reliable facts a b o u t t h e m . T h e U S O E urges all a d m i n i s t r a t o r s a n d chief l i b r a r i a n s to c o o p e r a t e in laying a firm f o u n d a t i o n f o r p l a n n i n g the d e v e l o p m e n t of academic li- braries. A Pamphlet in Your Hand Dr. Richard P. Feynman, professor of physics at the California Institute of Tech- nology, is the a u t h o r of " T h e Wonders T h a t Await a Micro-Microscope, Including an E n c y c l o p a e d i a B r i t a n n i c a o n a P i n h e a d , " i n t h e Saturday Review f o r A p r i l 2, 1960. His proposal for placing the EB on a p i n h e a d is just the beginning. H e writes f u r t h e r : "Now let's consider all the books of the world. T h e Library of Congress has ap- proximately nine million volumes; the British Museum has five million volumes; there are also five million volumes in the N a t i o n a l Library in France. T h e r e are many other collections, b u t duplications occur among them, so let us say that there are some twenty-four million books of interest in the world." T h u s , if you p u t twenty-four volumes on one pinhead, there would be a need of one million pinheads for the twenty-four million volumes. Dr. Feynman writes: ". . . we would need a million pinheads, and these can be p u t in a square of a thousand pins on a side, about three square yards altogether, approximately the area of thirty-five pages of the Encyclopaedia. T h a t is to say, all the i n f o r m a t i o n in all the books of interest in the world could be carried a r o u n d in a p a m p h l e t in your h a n d — n o t in code, b u t as a simple reproduction of the original pictures, engravings, and p r i n t e d text." 416 C O L L E G E A N D R E S E A R C H L I B R A R I E S