College and Research Libraries


By L O U I S E R I C H A R D S O N 

Developing a College 
Library Staff 
Louise Richardson is librarian of the State 
College for IVomen Library, Tallahassee, 
Fla. 

TH I S D I S C U S S I O N of developing a col-lege library staff for both the func-
tional and the subject organization of the 
library is limited to the college library, 
because its work differs from that of a 
university in being concerned chiefly with 
undergraduates and with one educational 
unit. T h e staff as here considered includes 
the librarian and professional assistants, 
but not the student or clerical staff. Func-
tional organization of the library includes 
the plan of operation and service, such as 
work in acquisitions, cataloging, lending, 
and reference. Subject organization cov-
ers background and knowledge in subject 
fields of the professionally trained staff. 

Developing the library staff begins with 
the librarian, for the library will seldom 
be better than its librarian. I do not 
agree unqualifiedly with the president of 
Brown University when he says, " T h e 
least important qualification of the librar-
ian is his training."1 T h e very nature 
of his position and the function of the col-
lege library make the training of the li-
brarian important. He should be a scholar 
and have the attitude of a first-rate teacher, 
but he must go even further—he must 
know the functional organization of ma-
terial and the administration of personnel. 

1 Wriston, Henry M. "College and University 
Libraries." In Danton, Emily M., ed. Library of 
Tomorrow. A . L . A . , 1939. p. 147. 

Assuming a good general education, the 
librarian should be trained in technique 
(not necessarily routine) and this train-
ing should be followed by discipline in 
service, in order to know applied tech-
nique. 

T h e functional processes of a well-
organized library are inseparably inter-
woven, and each process in its relation to 
all others needs clear understanding on the 
part of the administrative head. In short, 
nothing else entirely takes the place of 
training and experience. For this reason, 
it seems to me, the college librarian should 
not be one who steps from library school, 
undergraduate or graduate, into this ad-
ministrative position. T h e trained person 
who knows first hand the toils and prob-
lems of acquisition, circulation, reference, 
and even cataloging work, is better able 
to organize the library; better able to de-
velop a normal or superior staff; and 
better able to meet with assurance and 
decision the administrative problems to be 
discussed with the administrative head of 
the college. Such a librarian inspires the 
confidence of the staff and commands its 
respect, without which the service of the 
library suffers. T h e librarian needs " a 
command of library procedures on which 
to build professional performance." 

There seems to be a tendency nowadays 
to waive much of this in filling certain 
positions. More men, for instance, are 
being appointed to executive positions—an 
undesirable policy unless the man is ap-

2 322 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



pointed on his qualifications. Sex should 
not be the deciding factor. Requirements 
of training, experience, personality, execu-
tive ability, and scholarship are as neces-
sary for the one as for the other. 

I agree readily that technical training 
plus experience is not a substitute for 
knowledge in subject fields. Knowledge 
of library science, scholarly knowledge in 
other fields, and thorough understanding 
of functional relationships are inseparable 
in effective college library service. But, 
other things being equal, the person with 
executive ability who has been an assistant 
in one or more of the functional divisions 
of a library is better qualified, it seems to 
me, to become librarian than the person 
without practical experience in applied 
techniques. These technical skills, along 
with a thorough knowledge of the role 
of the library in an educational institution, 
of the educational objectives and curricu-
lum of the college, and of the needs of both 
students and faculty, are the foundation 
upon which we set to work to make the 
library function as an auxiliary teaching 
instrument. 

Organizing the Staff and. Promoting 
Morale 

In developing the staff for the func-
tional organization of the library the fol-
lowing suggestions may serve as a 
starting point from which to w o r k : 

i. The greatest care possible is not too 
much in the selection of staff personnel. 
This may be done in one, or both, of two 
ways: (a) by thorough investigation of each 
applicant academically, professionally, and 
experientially; (b) by conference with the 
applicant. 

We expect the professional staff to possess 
technical and bibliographical knowledge es-
sential to the processes of administration for 

SEPTEMBER, 1940 

which they are employed, but in many cases 
too little is done in getting all possible 
information as to personality, adaptability, 
ability to work with others, and interest 
in people as well as in books. 

2. All plans for the library and the real 
problems of the library should be laid, first, 
before the department concerned and, second, 
before the professional staff as a group. 

This practice is especially desirable in any 
new plan or in a proposed change of existing 
policy. It makes for unity of purposes and 
for a balanced consideration of all facts 
from which a decision is ultimately to be 
made. 

3. Staff discussion should be encouraged— 
discussion of procedures, of service, and of 
problems as they arise. Such discussion 
makes for constructive criticism and tends 
to prevent useless complaint and dissatis-
faction. It also promotes enthusiastic co-
operation, so essential in the work of the 
library. 

4. Graduates of several library schools 
should be employed. In such a group several 
viewpoints are represented, from which pro-
gressive ideas are likely to develop. While 
differences may never be made to agree, the 
stimulation is vigorous and the result is apt 
to be healthy. "Consider divergent points 
of view and out of them develop a wise 
forward policy."2 

5. Hard and fast departmental lines 
should be avoided. Stress cooperation, co-
ordination, interdependence, and integration 
of departments. This is more easily said 
than done, but the librarian who has vision 
and who keeps clearly in mind the purpose 
of the whole library can foster this inter-
relationship of departments. 

6. Interchange of schedule and occasional 
shifts in assignments, whenever possible, are 
helpful in giving each person a practical view 
of the other's work and a feeling of the 
whole. Such changes and shifts may be 
more practical for assistants than for heads 
of departments. 

7. Time allowed in the schedule for some 
professional reading or study of the cur-
riculum yields big returns, and is a policy 
which encourages "thinking on the spot." 

2 Tead, Ordway. Human Nature and Management. 
McGraw-Hill, 1929, p. 159. 

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8. Responsibility, with corresponding au-
thority, should be delegated to heads of 
departments; then each should be given a 
free hand in developing his division of the 
work. Making each assistant responsible 
for some particular share of work, however 
small, also helps in staff development. The 
librarian may observe the whole and keep in 
touch with all, but refrain from interfer-
ence, except in cases of real need. 

9. After responsibility has been delegated, 
give credit where credit is due for work 
well done. I know of no single thing which 
so encourages a staff to greater effort, to 
more enthusiastic interest, than does this 
simple, but to some librarians difficult, prac-
tice. 

10. The librarian sometimes needs to get 
into "the thick of the fray," not for critical 
purposes but to see situations as they really 
are and firsthand to ascertain difficulties, 
working conditions, and inadequacies in serv-
ice. For this nothing else seems to be so 
satisfactory as an actual schedule for the 
librarian of a few hours each week in loan 
and reference departments. Time thus spent 
produces a pleasing, somewhat intangible, 
but potent effect on staff morale. 

Subject Organization 

Another phase of library development 
is that concerned with subject organiza-
tion. For subject organization of the 
work of a college library, the professional 
staff should have varying backgrounds in 
subject knowledge. Many have back-
grounds in English and history, but this is 
not enough. In selecting professional as-
sistants the librarian should make an effort 
to select each assistant with a different sub-
ject .background : one trained in fine arts, 
one in language and literature, one in 
social sciences, one in biological sciences, 
one in physical sciences, or one with a 
combination of sciences. In this way 
personnel of staff may be strengthened for 
both the functional and subject needs of 
the library, and the smaller college li-

braries which cannot afford a large refer-
ence staff can at least have some of the 
main subject fields covered by other mem-
bers of the staff. These, then, would be 
available for consultation in matters con-
cerning their various subject fields. 

The necessity for familiarity with the 
literature of particular subjects needs no 
amplification for college librarians. In 
this respect they must meet the faculty on 
a scholarly level; they must be able to 
integrate library services, functions, and 
resources with the educational program of 
the college. For better service to students 
and faculty, for better and more thorough 
contact between people and books, for 
stimulation of student minds, and for 
lasting results in reading interests and 
habits, there is reason enough for having 
staff representatives in a variety of sub-
ject fields. At the same time we shall 
probably have to maintain to a consid-
erable extent that encyclopedic inter-
est and information to which we seem 
to commit ourselves when we become li-
brarians. 

By knowledge in a subject field I do 
not mean specialization in a narrow in-
tellectual or scientific sense. T o me this 
sort of specialization has no essential place 
in the subject organization of a college 
library. I personally do not believe that 
the Ph.D. degree is necessary for the col-
lege librarian unless such a degree is avail-
able along broader lines than is now 
obtainable. There is a regrettable tend-
ency today to appoint as heads of depart-
ments, and as librarians, those who have 
Ph.D. degrees but no library training. 
As long as we librarians do such things in 
our own ranks, would it not be more 
becoming in us to say less than we have 
about some of the recent appointments to 
certain state and national positions? 

2 324 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



Developing Subject Familiarity 

But suppose we already have our staff, 
a good one too, not chosen primarily for 
knowledge in subject fields, then what? 
Begin development where we are: 

1. By assigning to each member of the 
professional staff, after conference as to 
interests, the study of basic bibliography in 
the field decided upon. 

2. By having the person read widely au-
thorities in the field. Here the faculty will 
be glad to lend a helping hand. 

3. By making a reading list in the field, 
such a list to be primarily for students. 

4. By planning a program for the system-
atic building of the book collection in the 
field, with the assistance of faculty special-
ists. 

5. By giving the staff members opportu-
nity to take a course or courses in the sub-
ject selected. This practice may be regarded 
as among the most important for keeping the 
staff intellectually competent.3 

6. By the librarian's guiding, encouraging, 
and participating in such a program as above 
given for development in the subject 
fields. 

T h u s far I have not mentioned financial 
3 Gapp, Kenneth S. " T h e Librarian's Task in 

Improving Personnel." College and Research Li-
braries 1 : 1 3 5 , M a r . 1 9 4 0 . 

encouragement as a part of the program 
for development of the staff, but no phase 
of it is more important. Psychic remu-
neration (enjoyment of work) is not 
enough. Salaries are a tangible source of 
inspiration, for both greater effort and 
further study. Here, I think, the librarian 
is obligated to work unremittingly until 
a salary level comparable, at least, to that 
of the teaching staff is reached for staff 
members with equivalent training and ex-
perience. Such a scale of salaries should 
enable the librarian to secure the best pos-
sible staff as to training, experience, and 
knowledge of subject literature. No salary 
scale short of this is adequate for the 
library which is actively participating in 
the college program. 

Emphasis upon scholarship and develop-
ment in subject fields should not lead to 
subordination of technical and adminis-
trative ability.4 A l l phases of staff de-
velopment resolve themselves into a whole, 
each complementing the other. Upon the 
librarian rests the responsibility and the 
duty of effecting such development. 

4 Ibid. 

SEPTEMBER, 1940 

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