College and Research Libraries V I C T O R N O V A K The Librarian in Catholic Institutions This paper attempts to examine the place of librarians in Catholic institutions of higher learning by providing answers to questions about the ratio of professional to nonprofessional staff, the presence or ab- sence of staff associations, the involvement of professional staffs in library administration through staff meetings, and the librarians' status and salaries. The search is based on a questionnaire, mailed to the head librarians of Catholic colleges and universities in the United States enrolling more than one thousand students. The necessary sta- tistical data on the size of the libraries, the number of students they serve, and various standards applicable to the academic libraries were obtained from published sources. The paper presents, compares, and analyzes the data. T H : S STUDY attempts to provide a pro- file of personnel practices in the Catho- lic colleges and universities in the Unit- ed States. It reports such matters as par- ticipation of the librarian in staff meet- ings, the size of the student body he serves, his involvement in the library ad- ministration, and his remuneration in comparison with that of the teaching faculty. It is based primarily on a ques- tionnaire mailed in the summer of 1966 to the library directors of institutions in- volved, but also on published statistical data. The questionnaire consisted of five parts. The first part examined the num- ber of students enrolled during the aca- demic year 1965-1966; the second part questioned the number of professional, subprofessional,1 clerical, and student as- sistant positions; and the remaining three parts dealt with such subjects as staff associations at the libraries, possible existence of staff meetings, value of 1 Subprofessional librarians, reported on the ques- tionnaire in a few cases, are combined with profes- sional librarians and are considered as such throughout the study. Mr. Novak is Serials Librarian, Univer- sity of Santa Clara, Santa Clara, California. meetings, and professional staff mem- ber's status and salary. The selection of libraries to which the questionnaire was mailed was based on two sources. Institutions enrolling five hundred full-time students or more were chosen from the Catholic Colleges of the United States of America 1952-53 by Rev. James F. Whelan, S.J. The 1965 Official Guide to Catholic Educational Institutions (hereafter called the Official Guide) was used for selection of col- leges and universities with enrollments of one thousand students and more. The Official Guide was also utilized for com- parison of growth in enrollment in col- leges selected from Father Whelan's source. Colleges where the enrollment during the intervening years had not reached the figure of approximately one thousand full-time students were dropped from the list. The resulting list consisted of seventy colleges and universities. This repre- sented 33 per cent of 211 Catholic insti- tutions of higher learning in the United States listed in the Official Guide. Of the seventy library directors, thirty-one were directing university libraries, and thirty-nine were managing college li- / 403 404 / College 6- Research Libraries • September 1968 braries. Twenty university librarians and thirty-six college librarians filled out and returned the questionnaire. These fifty- six libraries, which are the subject of this study, represent 26 per cent of all four-year colleges and universities listed in the Official Guide, or 80 per cent of all Catholic institutions of higher learn- ing in the United States with enroll- ments of one thousand students or more. R E V I E W O F F I F T Y - S I X L I B R A R I E S In order to assess properly the infor- mation in the subsequent paragraphs, a brief preliminary review of the fifty-six libraries involved in the study may be given. Of these libraries, forty serve stu- dent bodies of from 1,000 to 2,500 stu- dents, eight have student bodies of up to 7,000 students, and the remaining eight university libraries serve 7,001 to 13,000 students. Their book collections range from a book stock of 35,000 volumes to an impressive 650,000 volumes. The same numerical diversity is noticed in their current periodical subscriptions, ranging from 280 to 4,540 titles. The to- tal number of staff administering these collections ranges from 3 to 127 persons, and the range of professional staff ex- tends from 2 to 37 librarians. The per- centage of professional personnel in re- lation to the total number of staff also varies. As little as 9 per cent of the staff represents the professional group in one library, but on the other end of the range, 61 per cent of the staff is profes- sional. Some of the above statements require a closer look and additional analysis. Re- garding the book stock, twelve libraries, of fifty-five for which the figures were available, hold between 35,000 and 52,000 volumes; twenty libraries have 53,000 to 99,000 books; thirteen claim 100,000 to 200,000 volumes; and eleven own more than 200,000 volumes. While all of the libraries meet today the archa- ic 1931 American Libraiy Association standards2 holding that a collection of 14,000 volumes is satisfactory for a four- year college, several do not meet the newer ALA (1947) standards3 requiring 2 Charles B. Shaw, List of Books for College Li- braries (Chicago: ALA, 1 9 3 1 ) . 3 Classification and Paij Plans for Libraries in In- stitutions of Higher Education ( 2 d ed., Chicago: ALA, 1 9 4 7 ) , II, 2. T A B L E 1 . 5 6 CATHOLIC COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY L I B R A R I E S * S T U D E N T E N R O L L M E N T ( F U L L - T I M E E Q U I V A L E N T ) 1 , 0 0 0 - 2 , 5 0 0 2 , 5 0 1 - 7 , 0 0 0 7 , 0 0 1 - 1 3 , 0 0 0 Number of institutions 4 0 8 8 Range in book holdings 3 5 , 0 0 0 - 1 7 8 , 0 0 0 6 3 , 0 0 0 - 6 5 0 , 0 0 0 1 5 4 , 0 0 0 - 6 2 1 , 0 0 0 Range in number of periodical titles received . 2 8 0 - 1 , 4 5 7 3 2 5 - 4 , 5 4 0 1 , 4 5 0 - 3 , 2 8 4 Range in number of total staff, including students (full-time equivalent) . . . . 3 - 4 8 1 0 - 1 2 7 5 3 - 1 0 0 Range in number of total staff, excluding student help 3 - 1 3 6 - 7 7 2 4 - 7 1 Range in number of total professional staff . 3 - 9 2 - 3 7 1 2 - 2 6 Range in percentage of professional staff . 1 0 - 6 1 9 - 3 7 1 6 - 4 0 Range in percentage of professional staff, excluding student help 3 3 - 1 0 0 2 8 - 6 6 3 5 - 6 0 Number of institutions having following percentage of professional staff: 9 - 2 0 % 1 8 3 2 2 1 - 3 0 % 9 3 3 3 1 - 4 0 % 7 2 3 4 1 - 6 1 % 5 0 0 0 Student enrollment figures and information on staffs are based on the questionnaire sent to librarians of these institutions. Book holdings and periodical titles received are taken from The Official Guide to Catholic Edu- cational Institutions, 1965. Librarian in Catholic Institutions / 405 a mininum collection of 40,000 volumes. The most recent ALA selection guide,4 calling for a minimum of 53,000 titles for an institution granting a four-year degree, is not met by a dozen libraries. It is to be noted that this 1967 guide indicates the minimum number of titles; the number 53,000 would certainly be increased if it were translated into volumes. Some of the libraries, on the other hand, exemp- lify a remarkable degree of achievement in book collection development consider- ing the difficulty in obtaining adequate funds. The number of periodicals sub- scribed to by the institutions also varies greatly. Of fifty-five libraries in the tab- ulation, thirty receive fewer than six hundred periodical titles, and twenty- five get between 604 and 4,540 titles regularly. There are no ALA minimum standards available for a desired size of periodical collections or number of peri- odical subscriptions, but the Classified List of Periodicals for the College Li- brary by Ira E. Farber (4th edition) lists 601 periodical titles for college li- braries. The number of students per librarian represents another interesting field for comparison (see Tables 2 and 3). In the smaller libraries, with the enrollment of 100 to 2,500 students, the median num- ber of students per librarian is 286, rang- ing in different schools from 93 to 713 students per professional librarian. In college libraries serving over 2,500 stu- dents, the librarian-student ratio ranges from 1 librarian to 167 students up to 1 librarian to 1,380 students, with the median at 506 students per librarian. The median for the librarian-student ra- tio for all libraries in the study is 1 to 330. * Books for College Libraries: A Selected List of Approximately 53,400 Titles Based on the Initial Se- lection Made from the University of California's New Campus Program and Selected with the Assistance of College Teachers, Librarians, and other Advisors, prepared under the direction of Melvin J. Voigt and Joseph H. Treyz (Chicago: ALA, 1 9 6 7 ) . T A B L E 2 S I Z E OF T O T A L S T A F F IN 5 6 LIBRARIES N U M B E R O F L I B R A R I E S E M P L O Y E E S " Serving 1 , 0 0 0 - 2 , 5 0 0 7 3 - 1 2 students 1 1 1 5 - 2 0 1 4 2 1 - 3 0 8 3 1 - 4 8 Serving 2 , 5 0 1 - 1 3 , 0 0 0 1 1 0 students 6 2 1 - 3 0 6 5 3 - 6 6 3 9 0 - 1 2 7 * Full-time equivalent and including student as- sistants. It must be realized that the method used above for securing a librarian-stu- dent ratio would be better replaced by the ALA's recommended method, which identifies a librarian's service in unit loads, but the use of such a system was impossible because unit loads are gener- ally not readily available. The ALA meth- od assigns one, two, three, four, and five units for each lower division undergrad- uate student, upper division undergrad- uate student, honors student, graduate student, and faculty, respectively. In or- der to indicate at least how this method works in the present situation, it will be applied to two libraries in this study by basing most of the missing data on the published sources, and employing some less important but necessary assump- tions. T A B L E 3 . S I Z E OF PROFESSIONAL S T A F F IN 5 6 LIBRARIES N U M B E R L I B R A R I E S P R O F E S S I O N A L S " Serving 1 , 0 0 0 - 2 , 5 0 0 7 3 students 1 0 4 1 1 5 8 6 or 7 4 8 - 1 1 Serving 2 , 5 0 1 - 1 3 , 0 0 0 2 2 and 3 students 4 5 or 6 4 1 0 - 1 5 5 2 0 - 2 8 1 3 7 ° Full-time equivalent and including student as- sistants. 406 / College 6- Research Libraries • September 1968 In the first example, library A has 1,- 215 undergraduate students and sixty faculty members, who are served by five professional librarians. Assuming that 500 of the students are upper division undergraduate students and the remain- der are lower division undergraduates, the total service load for library A would be 2,015 units. This number of units places the library in Class 3—College Libraries—of the ALA's Classification and Pay Plans (to which the majority of colleges in this study belong). Accord- ing to these minimum standards, library A should be staffed by a chief librarian and three professional assistants for the first 800 units, and one more professional librarian for each additional 500 units or fraction thereof, or a total of six and one- half professional staff members. In the second example, library B has 6,100 stu- dents, 1,000 in the graduate program and 5,000 in the undergraduate schools, and 480 teachers, who are served by thirty-seven librarians. The total service load for this university library would be 13,500 units, which would place it in the Class 6—University Libraries—of the ALA's Classification and Pay Plans. The University Libraries Class 6 requires, in addition to the position of the chief li- brarian, twenty-two assistants' positions of professional grade for 10,000 service units, and one more assistant's position of professional grade for each additional 500 units. According to this requirement, library B needs thirty professional librar- ians to satisfy the ALA's minimum standards. The libraries in this study fall, by ALA classification, either in Class 3, Class 4, or Class 5 for four-year degree-granting institutions, or in one of the first six classes for the university libraries, as out- lined in the Classification and Pay Plans. The minimum service load for the Class 3 libraries is 1,500 units, which requires four professional staff members. Table 3 reveals that there are nineteen libraries with fewer than five professional librar- ians, which is below the minimum standards. The larger libraries are, by comparison, staffed better, and some of them, as was shown in the case of library B, may even surpass the ALA's 1947 minimum standards. Concerning the ratios of professional to nonprofessional personnel in libraries, one finds no generally accepted stand- ards. The ALA proposal regarding such ratios was 40 to 60 per cent.5 Robert B. Downs concluded that "if more than one-third of the entire staff is composed of professionals, the probabilities are that they are performing a substantial amount of clerical routines and at the same time neglecting opportunities to assist readers in doing reference and re- search, to build up the resources of the library, and to carry on other distinctly professional work."6 But most of the li- braries in this study favor nonprofession- al staff which exceeds the professional- to-nonprofessional staff ratios of both proposals. While "the median for 140 li- braries of private colleges with enroll- ments of one thousand or more is five professional to six and one-half nonpro- fessional, including student help in full- time equivalent,'"7 the median for the fifty-six libraries, under the same condi- tions,8 is five professional to nineteen nonprofessional employees. Thus, of the fifty-six libraries under discussion, at twenty-three institutions the percentage of professional librarians on the staff is below 21 per cent; at fifteen libraries the percentage of professional librarians is 21 to 30 per cent; at twelve libraries 5 Guy R. Lyle, The Administration of the College Library ( 3 d ed., New York: The H. W. Wilson Co., 1 9 6 1 ) , p. 181. 6 Robert B. Downs, " T h e Place of College Librarian in the Academic World," California Librarian, XXVIII (April 1 9 6 7 ) , 103. 7 Lyle, op. cit., p. 1 8 1 . 8 When student assistance was reported in hours, 2 , 0 0 0 hours counted as one full-time employee. It is doubtful that the ratio of professional to nonprofessional staff could have changed so much during a period of five years. Librarian in Catholic Institutions / 407 the trained librarians form 31 to 40 per cent of the staff; and at the remaining five libraries the range of the ratio of professional to nonprofessional personnel is 41 to 61 per cent of the total staff. It would appear that in the majority of fifty-six libraries in this study nonprofes- sional duties are delegated to those who can do the job cheaper and perhaps bet- ter, and that the professional librarian, hopefully, can be involved in more com- plex and rewarding areas of librarian- ship. S T A F F A S S O C I A T I O N S Some of the libraries surveyed are large enough and employ a sufficient number of personnel to make a staff as- sociation feasible. But formal library staff associations exist at only three (4.2 per cent) institutions considered in the present survey. Two of the libraries with formal staff associations are among the largest ones in the study, but the third library, reporting an informal staff asso- ciation, employs only ten people. None of the three library staff associations above publishes a newsletter, although of the fifty-six librarians who answered the questionnaire, two reported that a newsletter was published at their li- braries. Another librarian indicated that his library "used to publish a 'log' but has discontinued it." One respondent re- plied that while there is no staff associa- tion at his institution, librarians never- theless belong to the American Associa- tion of University Professors and other professional organizations. S T A F F M E E T I N G S Replies to questions on the subject of staff meetings are more varied and inter- esting. To the inquiry, "Do you hold staff meetings?" forty-six of the librarians (82 per cent) answered affirmatively. Regarding the frequency of such meet- ings, the following pattern emerges: eighteen head librarians (39 per cent) hold staff meetings monthly; at eleven libraries (24 per cent) the meetings are held two or three times a year; and ten institutions (22 per cent) hold staff meetings occasionally, irregularly, peri- odically, or when needed. Some li- braries, on the other hand, have staff meetings more frequently. Four institu- tions (9 per cent) hold them three times per month; at two libraries (4 per cent) employees meet weekly; and at one li- brary (2 per cent) the meetings are con- vened daily. Clarifying statements were added to some of the answers, such as "rarely hold a formal meeting"; "we dis- cuss daily"; "monthly, have coffee to- gether daily"; "once a month and when- ever need arises"; "nominally once a month, actually less frequently"; "at least monthly; not often enough." In answer to the inquiry concerning participation in staff meetings, the most frequent reply was that the library di- rector and all professional staff take part in the discussions. Such is the case at twenty-six (56 per cent) of the surveyed libraries. All full-time personnel, profes- sional and nonprofessional, meet at twelve (26 per cent) of the libraries. The directors of four (8 per cent) li- braries report meetings held between the library director and the heads of all departments, and meetings between the library director and other professional members. The remaining four (6 per cent) respondents follow their own ar- rangement regarding staff meeting par- ticipants: director with professional staff, and director with clerical staff; di- rector with professional, subprofessional, and some clerical staff; director with professional and subprofessional staff; and director with staff socially, director with heads of departments officially. There are some other arrangements, when at times clerical staff, and even the president of the college, also attend library staff meetings, or nonprofessional personnel is invited when needed for in- formation. Some other comments are: "meetings with department heads are in- 408 / College 6- Research Libraries • September 1968 formal"; and "department heads also have meetings with their subordinates." The replies to questions on the value of staff meetings indicate that the li- brarians are generally favorably inclined toward holding staff meetings. Thirty- seven (66 per cent) library directors an- swered affirmatively to the inquiry whether staff meetings help in decision making. That staff meetings furthermore improve library employee morale is ob- vious from the even higher percentage of affirmative answers, forty-one (73 per cent) stating agreement. The directors of forty-five (80 per cent) libraries thought that solutions to many library problems are ironed out at staff meet- ings. Additional questions examined the extent of staff participation in adminis- tration of the libraries involved: forty- four (78 per cent) head librarians agreed that staff suggestions are listened to and that they influence policy deci- sions, while only two (3 per cent) head librarians agreed with the proposition that all policy decisions are made by the library director, and are not influenced but rather followed up by the staff. In space provided some librarians in- clude short comments on the preceding group of questions. Regarding "staff mo- rale," one respondent said that his li- brary has no problems. Another com- mented that solutions to library prob- lems are not ironed out, but rather "so- lutions are begun to be found." Some policy decisions are influenced by the library committee, by the university Sen- ate, by the academic vice president, or by a combination of the above bodies. One librarian commented on the power of the library committee, which consists of the librarian, who presides, and of all department heads and administration representatives. Harmony and teamwork are results of staff meetings, thought an- other library director: "It is our practice to point out various problems to the staff, have them discuss the problems, and through the discussion arrive at a solution, which is then issued if it affects users, or represented, in case it affects workers," was another comment. "We are able to discuss problems, so all will be informed"; "communications is prob- ably the most important benefit of staff meetings"; and similar comments were expressed by several other librarians. The final question regarding staff meetings tried to establish why they had been discontinued in a few libraries. A librarian with eight employees on his staff replied that formal meetings were discontinued because of the small size of staff. An intention to revive staff meet- ings, however, was planned by another library director who discontinued the meetings because of the small staff. The reason for discontinuation of official meetings in another library was the diffi- culty of getting personnel together. In- dividual conferences and person-to-per- son contact was found more effective by a respondent with twenty-four members on his staff. L I B R A R I A N S ' S T A T U S AND S A L A R I E S The first issue in the questionnaire re- garding librarians' status in college or uni- versity libraries examined the position of the head librarians. To the inquiry as to whether or not the library director holds the rank of dean, faculty rank, or other, five library directors (9 per cent) re- plied that they hold the rank of a dean or equivalent; forty-four (78 per cent) said they hold faculty rank; two (3 per cent) hold faculty status; and five (9 per cent) hold no rank. In thirty-nine li- braries (70 per cent) librarians hold a faculty rank; seven (12 per cent) of col- lege or university administrations give faculty status to librarians; and at nine (16 per cent) institutions librarians hold no rank. In reply to a query concerning when faculty rank was first given to li- brarians, this study established that at seven libraries the professional person- nel held faculty recognition "always"; three institutions gave the librarians fac- Librarian in Catholic Institutions / 409 ulty status in 1940's; twelve schools in the 1950's; at nine institutions librarians obtained faculty status recognition in the 1960's; and one institution had recog- nized such status "for a long time." The terms "faculty rank" and "faculty status" are often used, in the library lit- erature, interchangeably.9 It is not un- likely that some of the respondents did the same. Thus it may be reasonable to assume that some of the thirty-nine di- rectors reporting faculty rank for librar- ians meant it to be faculty status. By the same reasoning, it would seem wrong to assume that librarians at the nine institutions reporting no rank for the professional librarians were classi- fied as clerks, but rather that they too most likely hold academic or faculty sta- tus. Be this as it may, if one adheres to the directors' replies and uses the terms "faculty rank" and "faculty status" inter- changeably, one can record forty-six (82 per cent) institutions recognizing librar- ians as academic personnel. By reviewing the faculty status of pro- fessional library personnel, it becomes evident that at seven institutions only the library director is given faculty sta- tus, to the exclusion of other professional librarians on the staff. Another universi- ty grants academic status to the director and also the heads of various library de- partments. The study further indicates that neither the size of the student body nor the number of professional librar- ians on the staff has any bearing on the academic status of librarians. At seven libraries, for example, where faculty rank is granted to library directors, the student body ranges from one thousand to ten thousand students, and the num- ber of professional librarians from two to twenty-eight. Only a few individual comments were given by the respondents in regard to faculty status. Some examples of these are: "faculty rank [is] not equivalent to 9 Lyle, op. cit., p. 1 9 2 - 9 3 . teaching faculty"; and "faculty rank for all, but as administrators." In examining the issue of sabbatical leaves for librarians, it should be noted that because of a typing error only twenty-two library directors, heading the largest libraries, were questioned on this subject. Since sabbatical leaves for librarians, and often for the teaching fac- ulty, especially in smaller schools, are of relatively recent origin, it is remarkable that professional librarians at four (18 per cent) colleges or universities in the study are entitled to sabbatical leaves, and one additional institution grants such leaves only to the library director. Of institutions granting leaves, one li- brarian reported that leaves are not granted at regular intervals. The direc- tors of libraries where sabbatical leaves are not granted supplied such comments as "sabbatical leaves are under negotia- tion now"; "not yet for librarians"; "the teaching faculty sabbaticals start in 1966/67, for librarians not yet"; "no precedent has been set; no policy." The subject of librarians' salaries was the last substantive question in the sur- vey of the fifty-six Catholic college and university libraries. According to the ALA's Standards for College Libraries, "the salary schedule for librarians should be the same as for teaching members of the faculty."10 Given two options in the questionnaire, ( 1 ) "the salaries of librar- ians are less than the salaries of the teaching faculty," and ( 2 ) "the salaries are approximately the same as the sal- aries of the teaching faculty," twelve re- spondents (22 per cent) answered ijes to the first statement and thirty-two of the library directors (60 per cent) said yes to the second statement. Eight (15 per cent) indicated that the salaries were the same as for teachers. One li- brarian (1.8 per cent) stated that the 10 "Standards for College Libraries," CRL, X X (July 1 9 5 9 ) , 2 7 6 . 410 / College 6- Research Libraries • September 1968 salaries were possibly higher. Of fifty- six respondents, three either did not an- swer the question or said that the sal- aries were impossible to equate. Thus the percentages indicated above are based on fifty-three institutions. Many comments were made on the subject of salaries. Here are some from librarians who stated that salaries are the same for librarians and teachers: "Our professionals have the same rules, ex- actly, as the teaching faculty. Their pro- motion, tenure, etc. are identical. How- ever, since teaching faculty is paid on ten months basis, and the library faculty on a twelve months basis, there is an ob- vious difference in salaries. Proportion- ately, however, they are about equal." Somewhat similar is the comment of the next librarian who said "the same . . . but librarians have about seven weeks vaca- tion, while teachers have twelve weeks." Another librarian commented that "graduates of library schools are ap- pointed with rank of instructor and sal- ary [is] that of beginning instructor." Regarding the percentage increase of salaries, one librarian stated that "sal- aries are the same . . . with the same percentage increase, because of more ex- acting schedules and summer employ- ment." Finally, in a library where librar- ians' services are contributed, the cor- responding estimate for salaries is the same as for teaching. From the institu- tions where librarians' salaries are only approximately the same as those of the teaching faculty, various explanations can also be cited: "The salaries are slightly lower," said one library direc- tor, "and the teaching faculty can sup- plement the income by teaching sum- mer courses, while librarians are all on eleven-month contracts." About the same reasoning is evident in this comment: "The salarv is annual instead of for nine months." One director said that in some cases the salaries are higher than the fac- ulty salaries in the same rank. Only two comments were given by respondents from institutions which reported librar- ians' salaries to be lower than teachers' salaries. The first one stated "not much less," and the second commented "ninety per cent of equivalent." C O N C L U S I O N Several significant observations and conclusions can be derived from this study. Judging from the large number of libraries where professional librarians help the director to make decisions and to solve problems, and contribute sug- gestions for better management of the li- braries, we may well conclude that most colleges and universities in this study adhere to the democratic form of library administration. This attitude of sharing authority seems to be in keeping with the modern trends. Another interesting observation resulting from the study is the fact that sabbatical leaves, only re- cently granted to some individuals in the library profession, are now established at 18 per cent of the libraries queried on the subject. Similarly, the prediction that head librarians in college and uni- versity libraries will in future receive the status of dean is already reality in nine per cent of institutions participating in this study. Further, the number of non- professional staff members has increased at most of the schools in the study, giv- ing the professional librarian, supported by additional clerical help, much more time to devote to professional duties. The reader can make a number of ad- ditional comparisons and observations, some encouraging and some discourag- ing, from the data in the study. It should be noted, however, that this study in- volves Catholic colleges and universities of a certain size only, and thus provides to a large extent in-group comparisons or comparisons of this group of colleges to various standards. A broader study, involving perhaps the same number of similar institutions, but with different administrative outlook and financial sup- port, would provide a much broader pic- ture of librarians' involvement in higher education. • •