College and Research Libraries Cataloging Practice in English Technical College Libraries IN GREAT BRITAIN, outside the universi- ties, there is a great variety of higher edu- cation, provided mainly by local educa- tion authorities in technical, commercial, and art colleges. These colleges offer courses leading to a wide range of quali- fications ranging from external university degrees and the highest technological awards to craftsmen's certificates. In the year 1962-63 there were about one hun- dred fifty-eight thousand full-time students and about one and one-half million part- time students at technical and commercial colleges. Nearly a million other students attended evening institutes. The great and continuing expansion of technical educa- tion springs from the White Paper of 19561 which resulted in a building pro- gram in 1956-1961 of nearly £100 mil- lion. Colleges are organized in four broad groups: 1. Local colleges (350) provide mainly part-time courses leading directly to craftsman and technician qualifications such as Ordinary National Certificates (ONC); 2. Area colleges ( 165) provide also some advanced courses from two to four years' duration for students starting at the age of eighteen or nineteen and leading to Higher National Certificates (HNC) and Diplomas (HND); 3. Regional colleges ( 25) cover wider geographical areas than the local and area colleges and do a substantial amount of advanced work, including external degrees, chiefly in science and technologies; 1 Technical Education. Cmd. 9703. HMSO, 1956. BY GEORGE R. STEPHENSON Mr. Stephenson is Tutor Librarian in Northumberland County Technical College, Ashington. 4. Colleges of advanced technology ( 10) concentrate entirely on advanced work, including postgraduate and research work. The recent report of the Rob- bins Committee2 has recommended that these colleges of advanced technology (CAT) should be designated as inde- pendent technological universities, with power to award both first and higher degrees. COURSES AT TECHNICAL COLLEGES Courses are extremely diverse. The largest group of students . attending col- leges (over five hundred thirty thousand in 1962-633 ) are young employees re- leased by their employers, usually one day a week. A wide variety of craft courses is available. Courses of a more professional character, suitable for tech- nicians or for those who aim ultimately at membership in a professional institution are also provided, leading to national cer- tificates approved by joint committees representative of the Ministry of Educa- tion and the appropriate professional body (such as the Institution of Mining Engi- neers) . These courses are at two levels: leading to the Ordinary National Certifi- cate (ONC) and after a further two years' study to the Higher National Certificate (HNC). The latter qualification is gen- 2 Committee on Higher Education, Report of the Committee Appointed by the Prime Minister under the Chairmanship of Lord Robbins, 1961-69, Cmd. 2154 (HMSO, 1963). 3 Ministry of Education, Statistics of Education, Part 2: 1962 ( HMSO, 1963). 404 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES erally considered to reach a level corre- sponding to a pass degree in the subject concerned. Full-time courses are taken by an in- creasing number of young people at tech- nical colleges (over one hundred forty thousand in 1962-63). The most impor- tant group take advanced courses leading to London University external degrees, Higher National Diplomas (HND)- awarded by joint committees in the same way as Higher National Certificates-or to the Diploma in Technology (Dip. Tech.) which is equivalent in standard to a university honors degree. Many colleges also run general educa- tion courses for the General Certificate of Education (awarded at two levels, or- dinary ( 0) and advanced (A) ) , as well as postgraduate studies, and a large num- ber of specialized short courses for senior technical staffs engaged in industry. The great flexibility in technical col- lege courses in effect provides alternative routes for young people to attain uniyer- sity degrees or their equivalents apart from attendance at university. SURVEY OF CATALOGING PRACTICE IN TECHNICAL COLLEGE LIBRARIES The recent expansion referred to above in technical colleges has been reflected in the large number of colleges inaugurating library services during the last eight years. It was not, for example, till 1957 that the Ministry of Education issued any official pronouncement4 about the role that such libraries should play or the standards of accommodation and service suitable for them. Hence in mid-1963, the author, finding very little on the subject in the professional literature, thought it would be of general interest to form some sort of picture of current practice in cataloging in technical college libraries. It was there- fore decided to investigate by question- naire (perhaps inevitably), and 112 4 Ministry of Education, Libraries in Techni cal Colleges, Circular 322 (April 12, 1957). SEPTEMBER 1964 copies were circulated-to roughly a fifth of the total number of colleges-with an invitation to take part in the survey. Fifty- seven questionnaires were returned and on these an interim report was based. What follows has been largely drawn from the report. 5 Fifty-six colleges are in England, and one is in Scotland. The geographical dis- tribution is fairly even except for a slight concentration in the northeast. The types of college were as follows. Local 13 Area 33 Re~onal 9 Colleges of Advanced Technology 2 The questions asked ranged over most aspects of cataloging, although some at- tempt was made to make answering as simple as possible (e.g., by deleting alter- natives), and it was perhaps as long as one could expect the patience of very busy people to bear with. Most colleges answered all questions; a few colleges left one or other section unanswered (which explains why totality is not achieved in all of the tabulated answers) . Two factors were used in assessing the size of the colleges in the sample: (a) by number of full-time staff; (b) by number of students. No. of Full-time No. of Staff Colleges 1-40 4 41-80 17 81-120 19 121-160 6 161-200 2 over 200 4 Total 52 The number of library staff varied from one part-time staff member to 8~. 5 G. R. Stephenson, Cataloguing Practice in Tech- nical CoUeges: an Interi1n Report of a Survey (Ash- ington, Northumberland, England: Northumberland County Technical College, 1964). 405 SIZE BY STUDENT PoPULATION FULL-TIME PART-TIME E VENING Students Colleges Students 1-199 7 1-499 200-399 8 500-999 400-599 11 1000-1499 600-799 10 1500-1999 800-999 5 2000-2499 1000-1199 2500-2999 1200-1399 3 3000-3499 1400 or over 0 2 3500 or over 0 Total 46 Total No. of Library No. of Staff Colleges 1 or under 7 2 or under 23 3 or under 15 4 or under 6 5 or under 2 over 5 4 Total 57 Broadly speaking, ten colleges carried out work up to ONC/ 'A' level; twenty- eight up to HNC; and eighteen HND and beyond. Twenty-one carried out industrial research of one sort or another. As might have been expected, the card catalog predominated, with other forms very much in the minority. One or two librarians hankered after book catalogs. Type Card Card and visible index Card and sheaf Sheaf Total No. 50 2 3 2 57 The Englishness of the response was typified by the answers to this question: 9 5 per cent used a classified catalog: Type of Catalog Classified No. 53 Remarks 7 lacked sub- ject or author indexes Colleges Students Colleges 4 1-499 2 5 500-999 8 5 1000-1499 5 8 1500-1999 7 7 2000-2499 6 5 2500-2999 7 8 3000-3499 2 1 3 500 or over 0 5 43 Total 42 Dictionary 3 2 divided; 1 undivided Alphabetico- classed 1 Total 57 Everybody used a decimal classification scheme (Dewey, UDC, or a mixture of the two) . In some colleges, Dewey was modified by BNB practice. The actual figures are : DC 0 UDC DC + UDC Total 37 13 7 57 The Joint Code predominates, although there were some interesting deviations from the narrow path of uniformity. Code AA AA modified ALA ALA modified CCR6 0 No. 23 22 3 2 1 Remarks 1 in the light of the 1961 International Conference; 2 in accord- ance with BNB e Seymour Lubetsky, Code of Cataloging R u l es: A uthor and T i tle Entry, A n Unfinished Draft ... ( [ChicagoJ: ALA, 1960) . 406 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES SLA7 . 1 Homemade 3 Total 55 A number of colleges stated that they modified existing codes in applying them to their own catalogs. Modification took the form, mainly, of shortening descrip- tive matter. Type of Modification No. No collation 14 Shortened col- lation 3 Omit series 2 Simplify (incl. shortened title) 8 Govt. depts. under dept. 6 Initials only for forenames 2 Name as on title page 1 Total 36 Remarks . 1 in accordance with Lubets- ky i.e. , not under name of country 7 Wilfred Saunders and Norman G. Furlong, Cata- loguing Rules ; Author and T i tle Entries for the Use of S chool Librarians, 2d ed . (London: School Library Associ a tion, 1961). TYP E OF MATERIAL Books Pamphlets Government publications Periodicals Articles Theses Standards Patents Micro records Trade literature Films Filmstrips Gramophone records Tapes Slides SEPTEMBER 1964 Libraries were asked what types of material they cataloged and whether each type was cataloged in full or not. Some attempt was made to find out what part the BNB plays in catalog prac- tice. Out of fifty-four libraries, thirty- three subscribe to the full service, seven- teen · to part of the service, seven not at all. Four libraries subscribe only to the card service (experience of the card ser- vice seems to show that the disadvantages of this form of centralized cataloging have not gained it widespread acceptance. 8 Nine libraries "accept" BNB entries. The use of BNB for subject headings was also acknowledged by nine libraries. In the field of cataloging, the technique of forming subject headings known as "chain indexing" is comparatively recent. Its use in college libraries is fairly wide- spread. Use of Chain Indexing Yes . No Did not say No subject index Total 38 10 6 3 57 s George Hill, " The Use of BNB Catalogue Cards at Ma n chester College of Science and Technology Library," Librarian & Book World, XLVI (October 1957) . 192-95 . No. OF LIBRARIES CATALOGING TOTAL Fully Selectively 49 8 57 24 29 53 38 14 52 13 10 23 (some list only) 1 19 20 1 - 1 19 14 33 ( 6 libraries used the yearbook) 4 3 7 9 1 10 2 13 15 4 2 6 10 5 15 3 2 5 - 1 1 5 - 5 407 Standard Lists of Headings Sears 10 includes 1 also us- ingBNB BNB 14 Library of Congress 1 also uses British Technology In- dex UDC . 2 Other . 1 Total 28 Authority Files In classified order . In alphabetical order Both 13 6 4 Fifty libraries made added entries (or see refs.) as detailed below. Many librar- ies emphasized that such entries were not made invariably but as circumstances de- manded. Type of Entry Joint authors 44 Editors 37 Revisors 27 Translators 13 Illustrators 16 Pseudonyms 30 Titles 22 Series 28 Analyticals, or the practice of making catalog entries for parts of larger works, was practiced by twenty-five libraries, al- though in some cases only occasionally. Made for No. Collections . Plays Periodical articles Symposia Progress series . Essays Offprints bound together Subsidiary subjects . 7 7 8 2 1 1 1 2 Annotation of catalog entries was not carried out to any great extent. In some cases it was only performed infrequently. Elucidation of obscure or misleading titles was the form of annotation most often used, followed by indication of the level of textbooks. Title elucidation Textbook level . Presence of bibliographies Other 12 8 3 5 Guidance for readers in the use of the catalog was carried out in one form or another by nearly all libraries. Student instruction predominated, although in many cases the instruction was confined to full-time students (largely because of time available for this activity) . Notices near catalog Leaflet Class instruction 31 30 48 Respondents were asked to give some estimate of how the readers used the cata- log: whether subject approach was more usual than author approach, or vice- versa. Preferred Approach By author/title By subject . Both 22 10 10 Three examples of title pages were given and respondents were asked to give the main heading they would choose for each example. Two examples were sticky corporate entry problems; the third a problem in title-or-author entry. The examples were taken from the minutes of the fifty-sixth meeting of the Association of Research Libraries (January 29, 1961, pp.30-31). In an age of unit entry, such problems may seem to be largely illusory, but it seemed interesting to discover what degree of similitude would exist between ~ibraries working by the same code. More- over, a plethora of added entries may be said to be somewhat uneconomical. Re- sults, detailed below, were remarkably diverse in example no. 1, but largely con- sistent for the other two examples. 408 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES Heading Chosen AA Code ALA Code Others Total Bowman, Karl H. 17 3 5 25 Langley Porter Clinic * 13 2 1 16 California, State of Judiciary Committee on Sex Research 3 - - 3 California, State. Sexual Deviation Research 1 - - 1 California. Assembly. Judiciary Committee on Sex Research 1 - - 1 Sexual Deviation Research Langley Porter Clinic 1 - - 1 Bowman Report • • 0 • • 1 - - 1 United States. Langley Porter Clinic 1 - - 1 California. Langley Porter Clinic - - 1 1 Totals 38 5 7 50 * With or without Sexual Deviation Research as a subheading . 1. "Report of Karl H. Bowman, Medi- cal Superintendent of the Langley Porter Clinic, Sexual Deviation Research. March 1952. Prillted by the Assembly of the State of California at the Request of H. Allen Smith, Chairman, Judiciary Committee on Sex Research." 2. "Oxford Economic Atlas of the World. Prepared .by the Economist Intel- ligence Unit and the Cartographic De- partment of the Clarendon Press. Oxford 1955." 3. "The Suprarenal Cortex; Proceed- ings of the Colston Research Society Held in the University of Bristol April 1st-4th, 1952, Edited by J. M . Yoffey. Heading Chosen Oxford Economic Atlas of the World New York: Academic Press, 1953 (Cols- ton Papers, no. 5) ." The question asked about the cost of cataloging and the time spent on catalog- ing did not produce much usable informa- tion, although in subsequent correspon- dence, Frank C. A dey, chief librarian of the Leicester Colleges of Art and Tech- nology, states that the college's school of business and management studies has conducted a "somewhat superficial investi- gation" into staffing required for the treat- ment of new materials and their finding is that from selection to shelf takes on the average rather forty-five minutes per book, the greater part of which, of course, is AA Code ALA Code Ot hers Total 35 4 6 45 - -Economist • • • 0 • • • • • • • 0 • 1 1 Economist Intelligence Unit & Cartographic Dept. etc. 1 - - 1 Economist Intelligence Unit and Clarendon Press 2 - - 2 Clarendon Press. Cartographic Dept. - 1 - 1 Economist Intelligence Unit & O.U.P. Cartographic Dept. 1 - - 1 Economist Intelligence Unit 1 - 1 2 Totals 41 5 7 53 Heading Chosen AA Code ALA Code Others Total Colston Research Society 38 4 5 47 Suprarenal Cortex 1 1 1 3 Yoffey, J. M. • • • 0 • • • • - - 1 1 Bristol. University. Colston Research Society 2 - - 2 Totals 41 5 7 53 SEPTEMBER 1964 409 nonprofessional time--although much de- pended on the view taken of catalog checking and on catalog card filing. In the meantime, however, it is fairly obvious that for the work they are trying to do most colleges are understaffing their libraries; this appears to be borne out by the fact that only four colleges in the sample had a staff greater than five. The widespread use of the AA code (and the Dewey Decimal Classification) suggests a strong public library tradition-public li- brary staffs have, of course, provided the chief source of recruitment for technical college libraries. That many libraries too employ "chain indexing" in their catalog work might suggest the influence of British library schools. • • CoNCLUSION The above account is intended to be mainly descriptive of a scene which has not been charted before. It gives a rea- sonably representative picture of what is going on in technical college libraries at present. Other lines of investigation could perhaps delve deeper into certain aspects, e.g., the kind and amount of instruction that readers receive in the use of the cata- log, and its effect. 410 Building Materials PHOTOGRAPHS of fourteen new college and university library buildings, which were among thirty-three award-winners in 1963 and 1964 Buildings Award programs, are included in a New Libraries display available from the American Institute of Architects, Dept. E., 1735 New York Ave., N.W., Washington, D.c.· 20006. Twenty-four 30" x 30" panels of heavy card stock present 122 photographs and explanatory text. Each package also contains six copies of a folder providing background information. Additional copies of the folder may be obtained free of charge from AlA by purchasers of the displays. Cost of the display package is $30 each, express collect. To aid librarians and architects in the process of building new college and university libraries, the Library Administration Division of ALA maintains a collection of floor plans, photographs, slides, and statistical data on college and university library buildings recently constructed, available through interlibrary loan. Size of collection and student body should be stated when requesting. Single copies are available, without charge, of lists of suggested consultants and architects who have designed library buildings, of recently completed library buildings, and bibliographies on various aspects of college and university li- brary planning. Inquiries should be sent to the Library Administration Divi- sion, ALA headquarters. Planning Library Buildings for Service-the proceedings of the 1961 Build- ing and Equipment Institute, edited by Harold L. Roth, is now available at $3.75 per copy from the ALA Publishing Department, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago 60611. So also is Problems in Planning Library Facilities, the proceed- ings of the 1963 Building Institute, edited by William A. Katz and Roderick G. Swartz, at $4.25 per copy. • • COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES