College and Research Libraries


perhaps do their t w o years better than do 

some colleges. A n d a two-year " t e r m i n a l " 

program is w h a t it is—vocational, ter-

minal. A n d a " c o m m u n i t y - c u l t u r a l " pro-

gram is only half of the college liberal 

arts program, even though the junior col-

leges sometimes do it better because com-

pression of time requires more definite 

aims. M u c h " c o l l e g e " teaching w o u l d 

benefit by the definition and correlation 

of a librarian-dean of instruction, but do 

you see it in operation in that form at 

D a r t m o u t h , or Swarthmore, or M a c a l -

ester, or Pomona, for example? 

A l l our libraries, both junior college 

and college, are somewhat in the position 

of a heavily loaded transcontinental pas-

senger t r a i n : w h e n the railway manage-

ment puts on t w o engines ( f o r the train 

must get through) but only one diner 

(passengers stand in line for f o o d ) . A 

full-fledged library program must go along 

w i t h the first-class c o l l e g e . — W i l l i s Kerr, 

Claremont Colleges Library, Claremont, 

Calif. 

Report of a Survey of the University of 

Mississippi Library for the University 

of Mississippi. By  A .  F . K u h l m a n , as-
sisted by Icko Iben. University, M i s -

sissippi, 1940. 164P. ( M i m e o g r a p h e d ) 

A T THE REQUEST of Chancellor Butts, 
D r .  A .  F . K u h l m a n , assisted by D r . Icko 
Iben, has prepared this report of a survey 

" t o measure the adequacy of the ( U n i v e r -

sity of Mississippi) library as a means of 

attaining the objectives set in the teaching, 

research, and public service program of 

the university and to suggest w a y s and 

means for improving i t . " T h e report 

begins w i t h "the economic resources of the 

state and the university" and "an outline 

of the essentials in an effective univer-

sity l i b r a r y . " T h e s e introductory chap-

ters are followed by chapters on book 

resources, physical plant and equipment, 

personnel, organization and administra-

tion, use, financial support, and govern-

ment of the library. T h e report is w e l l 

arranged and clearly presented for con-

venient use. P a r t I is a concise " S u m -

mary and Recommendations." P a r t  I I is 

the body of the report. T h e arrangement 

is helped by division of the statistical data 

into shorter tables in the text w i t h longer 

ones at the end as appendices to the main 

w o r k . 

L i b r a r y science profits from the fact 

that the authors of a survey must discover 

or create standards, set up comparative 

tables, and find and utilize "check lists," 

or "yardsticks," to test and measure the 

library under consideration. U n f o r t u n -

ately, this is a report on a w e a k institu-

tion in a very poor state. Consequently, 

the tables, lists, comparisons, and discus-

sions to show its condition and needs seem 

at times a little like a highly complicated 

anti-aircraft gun set up where a fly swatter 

w o u l d do the trick. Precise survey meth-

odology does not get a hard test in a 

survey of this collection of 67,000 vol-

umes, in a large measure obsolete, and 

supported by annual appropriations of 

something like $6,000 per year for the 

purchase of books.  A t the same time, one 

interested in survey techniques may w o n -

der if the devices used w o u l d be enough 

to test and measure accurately the condi-

tion and needs of a better institution. 

T h e report has a purpose, however, and 

for this it is w e l l designed.  I t is thorough 

and detailed. It should serve as a sound 

basis for library development at the U n i -

versity of Mississippi for many years to 

come. T h e authors patiently point out 

the needs and recommend steps for im-

provement. T h e s e range from the pri-

MARC hi, 1941 155 



mary factor of greatly increasing the 

library budget, to providing additional 

staff members, paying better salaries, re-

modelling the b u i l d i n g — i f a donor can 

not be found to provide a new o n e — r e -

organizing the management and control, 

and c a r e f u l l y developing the book re-

sources to support adequately the uni-

versity's program of instruction and re-

search. T h e report suggests an additional 

purpose in the expressed hope that the 

university may obtain some "substantial 

help from sources outside of the state," 

since the "public revenues of the state are 

for the time being too l i m i t e d " and the 

need is urgent and of more than local 

c o n c e r n . — P e y t o n Hurt, Williams Col-

lege, Williamstown, Mass. 

The Classified List of Periodicals for Col-

lege Libraries ; 

The Classified List of Reference Books 

for College Libraries. Southern Asso-

ciation of Colleges and Secondary 

Schools. Commission on Institutions of 

H i g h e r Education. Birmingham, A l a -

bama, 1940. 1 5 p . ; 40p. ea. $ 1 . 

( M i m e o g r a p h e d ) 

A T T H E M I D W I N T E R M E E T I N G  o f t h e 

A . C . R . L . D e a n B r u m b a u g h of the N o r t h 

C e n t r a l Association cautioned us against 

using book and periodical lists compiled 

by accrediting agencies for buying pur-

poses. O n e cannot help but query w h y , 

if such lists can validly be used as testing 

tools, they should not also be used as book 

selection aids. N o t that one w o u l d ad-

vocate blind adherence to the lists in 

question, but in representing the pooled 

judgments of experienced librarians, they 

are admirably suited not only for use by an 

accrediting agency in measuring the ade-

quacy of a given library, but can also be 

used by the librarians of junior and four-

year colleges for a qualitative analysis of 

their o w n collections. 

T h e periodicals list compiled under the 

direction of G u y  R . L y l e and V i r g i n i a 

T r u m p e r of the W o m a n ' s College of the 

University of N o r t h C a r o l i n a is based on 

the 409 titles included in their Classified 

List of Periodicals for the College Library 

(2nd ed., 1 9 3 8 ) , which were ranked by 

the seventy-five librarians w h o cooperated 

in the project. T h e final list reflects their 

estimates of these titles and includes a 

f e w additional titles suggested by them. 

A r r a n g e m e n t is by the subjects in a col-

lege curriculum, w i t h fu r t h e r subdivision 

into essential and desirable titles. E i g h t y -

one titles suited to the junior college level 

are starred. T h e present reviewer doubts 

if f o r t y - t w o periodicals in education are 

desirable for a liberal arts college, but 

this is the only list w i t h which the reviewer 

disagrees seriously.  O n the w h o l e the 

quality of selection is high and if a college 

library w e r e to have all of the journals 

represented, faculty members and students 

w o u l d have access to a wide variety of 

material of current interest and future 

college generations provided w i t h a record 

of the history and thought of our times. 

T h e reference list, compiled under the 

chairmanship of M r s . Frances Cheney, 

reference librarian of the V a n d e r b i l t U n i -

versity L i b r a r y of Nashville, is likewise the 

result of cooperative effort. It, too, is ar-

ranged by subject and subdivided into 

essential and desirable titles.  O f the 778 

titles, 305 are starred as essential for jun-

ior college libraries. In inclusiveness the 

list falls somewhere between Shores' Basic 

Reference Books and M u d g e ' s Guide to 

Reference Books. Considerable ingenuity 

is shown in supplying general treatises for 

subjects for w h i c h adequate reference 

books are not available. In both lists 

156 ' COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES