College and Research Libraries


By R O B E R T B. D O W N S 

Conference of Eastern 
College Librarians 
Robert B. Downs is director of libraries, 
New York University. He was chairman 
of the Program Committee for the con-
ference. 

THE TWENTY-SEVENTH annual Confer-ence of Eastern College Librarians 
met at Columbia University on Saturday, 
November 2 5 . M o r e than 300 college and 
university librarians were present from an 
area as f a r south as Tennessee and as f a r 
west as Chicago. T h i s conference has 
long since established itself as one of the 
highlights of the year for college librarians, 
particularly those of the middle Atlantic 
states. 

T h e morning session was largely given 
over to technical library matters. Papers 
included an examination of reclassification 
questions, serials procedures, and library 
equipment. These several talks are sched-
uled for publication in College and Re-
search Libraries, hence will be summarized 
here only briefly. 

D r . Harriet D . MacPherson, of the 
Columbia School of Library Service fac-
ulty, discussed " T h e Reclassification of 
Libraries with Some Reference to Special 
Collections." Out of her extensive ex-
perience, supplemented by interviews and 
correspondence with librarians whose in-
stitutions have undertaken partial or com-
plete reclassification, she summed up the 
case for and against switching from obso-
lescent or unsatisfactory classification 

schemes to more scientific systems. E m -
phasis was placed on the administrative 
aspects of reclassification and their effects 
on normal routines, rather than on the tech-
nical problems likely to be encountered. 

On the basis of a survey of serials pro-
cedures prepared for the A . L . A . Serials 
Section, Fred B . Rothman, supervisor of 
the Serials Division, Washington Square 
Library, N e w Y o r k University, reported 
"Prevailing Practices in the Handling and 
Care of Serials." Approximately 1 5 0 li-
braries replied to a questionnaire on the 
subject. So widely do existing methods 
vary for serials work that f e w generaliza-
tions are possible. In some instances vir-
tually everything relating to serials is 
concentrated in a single department; in 
others, a high degree of decentralization is 
found, with acquisition, binding, ex-
changes, cataloging, reference, and other 
activities scattered among many divisions 
of the library. T h e speaker noted a trend 
in the direction of centralization and cited 
evidence to show that consolidation of 
serials functions makes for greater econ-
omy and efficiency. 

" N e w Devices and Equipment for L i -
braries" were described by Ethel M . Fair, 
director of the N e w Jersey College for 
Women Library School. Her discussion 
covered recent "gadgets" and mechanical 
innovations for library lighting, exhibi-
tions, shelving, floors, book conveyors, re-
cording and duplicating work, and various 

D EC EMBER, 1939 11 



lesser items. Names and addresses of 
manufacturers together with the names of 
libraries where the equipment is in actual 
use are given in the list to be published 
by Professor Fair. 

T h e first portion of the conference's 
afternoon session was devoted to topics of 
immediate news interest. D r . A . F . Kuhl-
man, as editor of College and Research 
Libraries, considered the factors which had 
made desirable the establishment of an-
other library periodical, and, insofar as 
they have been formulated, outlined the 
new journal's policies and aims. Ernest J . 
Reece, of the Columbia School of Library 
Service, read by title his annual review of 
college and university library news, to be 
published shortly in the Library Journal. 
Professor Reece observed, by way of sum-
mary, that 1938-39 was marked by an 
unusual number of deaths in the library 
profession, comparatively f e w major ap-
pointments had been made during the year, 
library building activity was normal, and 
it was apparently a lean period for the 
acquisition of outstanding collections by 
libraries. H a r r y M i l l e r Lydenberg, di-
rector of the N e w Y o r k Public Library 
and chairman of the A . L . A . Joint Com-
mittee on Foreign Importations, reported 
on the current situation abroad in its rela-
tion to the acquisition of library materials. 
He referred to a similar A . L . A . commit-
tee, under the chairmanship of D r . M . 
Llewellyn Raney, which had functioned 
actively in 1 9 1 7 - 1 8 . T h e present com-
mittee represents the principal national 
library associations, both general and spe-
cial. T h e committee has not attempted to 
pass on questions involving relations be-
tween individual libraries and their agents, 
regarding such matters as outside its prov-
ince. It has maintained constant contact 
with the U . S. Department of State, the 

librarian of Congress, the British Library 
of Information, and others in a position 
to give information and assistance. U p to 
the date of D r . Lydenberg's report condi-
tions were reasonably satisfactory. Delays 
in the delivery of foreign publications did 
not ordinarily exceed ten days or two 
weeks. T h e r e were indications that trans-
portation difficulties would increase. Ger-
man material was coming through more 
promptly than the French. T h e British 
embargo on German exports had just been 
announced, however, and at the time of 
the conference it was impossible to predict 
the effect of this blockade on the shipment 
of German publications to American li-
braries. 

Reports Success of Yale Library Associates 

One of the oldest and most successful 
friends of the library societies in the coun-
try is at Y a l e University. Wilmarth 
Sheldon Lewis, editor of the Y a l e Edition 
of Horace Walpole and one of the found-
ers of the Y a l e Library Associates, gave an 
entertaining account of the formation of 
the Y a l e group, and described its present 
organization. In the course of its career 
considerable sums of money have been 
presented for library purposes, together 
with collections valued at approximately 
$2,000,000. M a n y gifts have come 
through bequests and a number of me-
morial funds have been set up. From 
funds provided by the associates rare books 
have been the principal purchases. M a n u -
scripts of modern authors, especially those 
with Y a l e connections, have been sought, 
and a collection is now being developed 
on the present European W a r . A n an-
nual meeting of the Y a l e Library Asso-
ciates is held, usually to celebrate the g i f t 
of some outstanding collection. A n un-

(Continued on page 39) 

12 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH L I B R A R I E S ' 



Post-Professional Education 
and Training 

THE POST-PROFESSIONAL education of librarians was treated in an illuminat-
ing paper by Helen Frances Pierce, li-
brarian, J u n i o r College Library, Modesto, 
Calif., before the Junior College Libraries 
Subsection at the San Francisco meeting. 
Her paper will be published in the A.L.A. 
Bulletin. It complements the foregoing 
papers. 

Miss Pierce pointed out that in recent 
years increasing provision has been made 
by the professions to assist the practitioner 
in growing. T h e r e has also been, as was 
shown by a summary of what has been 
attempted, a considerable stirring in the 
library field. But the efforts and pro-
grams on the graduate level thus f a r are 

deficient in one or more of the following 
respects: ( I ) relatively f e w librarians have 
been reached; ( 2 ) the supply of capable 
teachers is not equal to the demand; ( 3 ) 
problems of content versus methodology 
and technique have been only partially 
solved; and ( 4 ) there is not agreement 
upon the amount of specialization in a 
single field that is desirable. 

Miss Pierce is convinced that librarians 
must overcome the complacency that has 
characterized them in the past and that 
each must ferret out such knowledge and 
methods as will increase his professional 
stature, unless librarians are content to 
be merely mediators or handmaidens to 
the learned scholars. A . F . K . 

Conference of Eastern College Librarians 
(Continued from page 12) 

usual feature of the organization is some 
twenty regional alumni groups distributed 
over the country. These alumni members 
have proved particularly useful in discover-
ing and procuring local imprints for the 
Y a l e library. 

Advocate A.C.R.L. Membership 

A t the suggestion of Charles C . W i l -
liamson, dean of the School of Library 
Service, Columbia University, the ques-
tion of the future status and conduct of 
the Conference of Eastern College L i -
brarians was opened for discussion by W i l -

lard P . Lewis,, librarian of Pennsylvania 
State College. T h e conference has always 
been an informal organization, without 
officers or dues, meeting under the aus-
pices of Columbia University. M r . Lewis 
pointed out the advantages of a closer 
affiliation with the A . L . A . and the 
A . C . R . L . T h e sentiment of the group 
did not favor any change in the informal 
character of the conference but adopted a 
resolution, offered by Henry Bartlett V a n 
Hoesen, librarian, Brown University L i -
brary, supporting individual membership 
in the A . C . R . L . 

D EC EMBER, 1939 39