College and Research Libraries


CONFERENCE ON LIBRARY SPECIALIZATION 
?N[ew Tor\ City, May iyi4, 

ON M a y 13 and 14, a conference of approximately forty librarians, deans 
of graduate schools and executive secre-
taries of learned societies or councils was 
held in N e w York on the subject of 
specialization by American libraries in the 
acquisition of research collections. T h e 
conference was called by the American 
Library Association Board on Resources 
of American Libraries. T h r o u g h the 
courtesy of the Director of T h e N e w 
York Public Library, the conference met 
in the Trustees Room of that library, the 
afternoon session of M a y 13, being held 
at the H a r v a r d Club. 

T h e purpose of the conference was to 
consider the great variety of problems 
created by the enormous increase in the 
publication of books, government docu-
ments, periodicals, and other library ma-
terials. T h e r e was general agreement 
from the outset that the world of printed 
and other forms of recorded knowledge 
has become so vast that these problems 
can no longer be solved by the independent 
efforts of the various libraries of the 
country. A totally new point of view 
must be developed, namely, that each li-
brary is to serve not only its own immedi-
ate constituency but regional and national 
interests as well, benefiting in turn from 
the reciprocal services of the other libraries 
of the country. T h i s involves specializa-
tion by each library in the development of 
its book collection. Paul Vanderbilt re-
ferred, for example, to figures which have 
been published by Fremont Rider as to 
the prospective size of such a library as 

1 S u m m a r y s t a t e m e n t p r e p a r e d by H a r v i e B r a n s -
comb, f a c u l t y m e m b e r , D u k e U n i v e r s i t y . 

1 9 4 1 1 

that of Yale University, if its growth 
continues at the rate shown in the past. 
T h e figures are not excessive, he declared, 
but the anticipated growth is to be ex-
pected on the basis of past experience. 
T h e same speaker emphasized the necessity 
for a reworking of the basic conception 
of the research library. American li-
braries have been set up as independent 
units, and this conception has stamped 
itself on every one of their operations, 
particularly their cataloging and acquisi-
tion processes. These must be re-examined, 
if the institution is to function most effec-
tively in this new cooperative era. 

T h e proposal that the various libraries 
of the country undertake to develop 
specialized collections called for a defini-
tion of specialization. M r . Van Hoesen, 
who spoke to this point, declared that this 
could not be supplied in a universally ap-
plicable form, but that a definition or 
description of particular special collections 
could be formulated. T h i s would be ( a ) 
in terms of the field of collecting; ( b ) 
in terms of the policy adopted within the 
field, whether inclusive, selective, or unde-
fined ; ( c ) in terms of its completeness or 
adequacy for research; ( d ) in terms of 
its comparative strength with reference 
to standard bibliographies or to other col-
lections; (e) in terms of its rate of growth 
or of adequate financial support for con-
tinued development. For the purposes of 
the conference, the term specialization was 
used in the sense of collections on par-
ticular subjects that are reasonably ex-
haustive, and which are assured continuous 
financial support. 

T h a t other obligations would rest on 

348 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH ) L I B R A R I E S 



libraries taking part in such a program 
besides that of collecting in specified areas, 
was brought out in the discussion. An 
obvious one would be to refuse to dupli-
cate collections already available in other 
libraries. A second was the advisability 
in many instances of transferring collec-
tions or portions of collections to other 
libraries. I t was clearly recognized that 
such proposals as these involve, for those 
libraries connected with universities, ques-
tions of educational policy and of legality 
for which librarians are not primarily re-
sponsible. T h e conference requested, 
therefore, that the Board on Resources of 
American Libraries address to the Associa-
tion of American Universities a communi-
cation urging that it give consideration to 
the problem considered by this conference 
and to the educational issues related to it. 

T h e questions whether an effort to 
initiate a program of specialization on the 
part of American libraries should await 
the collection of more information as to 
present holdings, whether experimentation 
should be carried out first on a regional 
basis before being considered nationally, 
and whether initial efforts along this line 
should be confined to any group of li-
braries, occasioned much discussion. It 
seemed to be agreed that while more in-
formation as to special holdings was needed 
there was available through union catalogs 
and published bibliographies a body of 
information sufficient to justify and sup-
port many agreements between libraries 
even while more data was being secured. 
It was also felt that attention should be 
kept focused on the national character of 
the problem. A number of regional pro-
grams subsidiary to the national plan are 
already in existence and others will no 
doubt develop. Regions with limited re-
sources should also be encouraged, it was 

felt, to develop special interests. O n the 
issue whether one collection on certain 
subjects might not be adequate for the 
entire nation, W . W . Bishop stressed the 
factor of insurance. One could not forget 
the Chicago fire, he remarked. T h e ele-
ment of insurance would justify, he felt, 
the duplication of every important collec-
tion at least in one other locality. T h e 
best approach to specific agreements of the 
sort under consideration was felt to be 
primarily through the libraries constitut-
ing the membership of the Association of 
Research libraries. 

T h e conference laid upon the Board 
on Resources of American Libraries the 
responsibility of continuing the study of 
the problems discussed and of proposing 
practical steps in the direction of library 
specialization. Carl M . W h i t e presented 
to the conference at its last meeting a 
statement of general principles in accord-
ance with which a program of specializa-
tion should be developed. 

T h r o u g h o u t the discussions it was clear 
that the Library of Congress was regarded 
by the conference as central in any move-
ment of the sort under discussion. T h e 
conference urged that every effort be 
made to develop fully the Library of 
Congress Union Catalog, and expressed 
the hope that means would be found to 
publish in book form the author catalog 
of the library. M r . MacLeish, who was 
present the first day, described the new 
Experimental Division of Library Coop-
eration in the Library of Congress. I t 
was set up, he explained, to aid the li-
braries in developing cooperative agree-
ments, though not to dictate them. T h e 
conference expressed its belief that the 
agency would be of marked assistance. 

T h i s summary statement is by no means 
(Continued on page 367) 

SEPTEMBER, 1941 349 



Readings in Business Administration 
MA R I A N C. M A N L E Y , business branch librarian, Newark Public Library, supplies the following annotated list of recent articles in the field of business administration 
which have marked application to libraries. 

Benge, E. J. Job Evaluation and Merit 
Rating: a Manual of Procedures. N a -
tional Foreman's Institute, Inc., Deep 
River, Conn. 1941. 73p. plus 26 charts. 
$7.50. 
T h e first p a r t d i s c u s s e s n e w s o l u t i o n s , j o b e v a l u a -

t i o n m e t h o d s , t h e f a c t o r c o m p a r i s o n m e t h o d , u s i n g 
t h e j o b c o m p a r i s o n s c a l e , e t c . M e r i t r a t i n g i s c o v -
e r e d i n t h e s e c o n d p a r t a n d a b i b l i o g r a p h y i s i n -
c l u d e d a f t e r e a c h s e c t i o n . P a r t t h r e e c o n t a i n s i l l u s -
t r a t e d c h a r t s a n d c a s e m a t e r i a l , w h i c h w i l l e n a b l e 
t h e r e a d e r t o b e t t e r u n d e r s t a n d a n d a p p l y t h e 
p r i n c i p l e s d i s c u s s e d . 

Jackson, J. J. "Organization Plans." Per-
sonnel Journal 19:378-84, Apr. 1941. 

T h e g e n e r a l p r i n c i p l e s a n d b e n e f i t s o f a d e f i n i t e 
o r g a n i z a t i o n p l a n a r e d i s c u s s e d f r o m b o t h t h e e x e c u -
t i v e ' s a n d w o r k e r ' s v i e w p o i n t s . 

Knowles, A . S. "Measuring Salesmen's 
Performance." Advanced Management 
4:50-57, Apr.-June 1941. 

M e r i t r a t i n g a s a m e t h o d t o a v o i d s n a p j u d g m e n t 
a n d t o p r o m o t e b e t t e r u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f w o r k a n d 
m e n i s d i s c u s s e d i n r e l a t i o n t o s a l e s m e n . T h e 
q u a l i t i e s c o n s i d e r e d a r e a s i m p o r t a n t i n t h e l i b r a r y 
field. T h e m e t h o d s d i s c u s s e d m a y b e a s e f f e c t i v e l y 
a p p l i e d . 

Mapel, E. B. "Stimulating Employee Self-
Improvement." Personnel Journal 19: 
316-24, M a r . 1941. 

T h e u s e o f q u e s t i o n n a i r e s o f t h e " t r u e a n d f a l s e " 
a n d " m u l t i p l e c h o i c e " t y p e a r e d i s c u s s e d a s a m e a n s 

o f s t i m u l a t i n g e m p l o y e e s ' i n t e r e s t i n a n d i m p r o v i n g 
t h e i r k n o w l e d g e a n d p e r f o r m a n c e o f t h e i r j o b s . 
S a m p l e s a n d t e s t s a r e g i v e n . 

Riegel, J. W . Salary Determination. Uni-
versity of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 
1940. 278p. $3. 

A p r a c t i c a l a i d i n a d j u s t i n g t h e s a l a r i e s o f e m -
p l o y e e s a c c o r d i n g t o t h e r e l a t i v e d i f f i c u l t y a n d i m -
p o r t a n c e o f t h e i r p o s i t i o n s a n d t h e i r p r o f i c i e n c y . 
E x p l a i n s h o w t o m a k e a s a l a r y s u r v e y , h o w t o 
d e t e r m i n e k e y s a l a r i e s i n a s a l a r y s c h e d u l e , h o w 
t o a n a l y z e a n d v a l u e u n c o m m o n p o s i t i o n s o f a 
r o u t i n e t y p e , h o w t o d e v e l o p p e r f o r m a n c e r a t i n g 
p l a n s , h o w t o l i n k p e r f o r m a n c e r a t i n g t o j o b v a l u a -
t i o n , a n d h o w t o a p p r a i s e m a n a g e r i a l a n d t e c h n i c a l 
p o s i t i o n s . B a s e d u p o n a n i n v e s t i g a t i o n o f p r a c t i c e s 
i n f o r t y s e l e c t e d c o m p a n i e s . 

Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing 
Co. Industrial Relations Manual. Part 
I. Jan. 16, 1940. 

A n i l l u m i n a t i n g a n a l y s i s o n s a l a r y a n d e m p l o y m e n t 
p o l i c i e s , g r o u p i n g o c c u p a t i o n s a s u n s k i l l e d , s k i l l e d , 
i n t e r p r e t a t i v e , c r e a t i v e , e x e c u t i v e , a d m i n i s t r a t i v e , a n d 
p o l i c y . P o s i t i o n s f a l l i n g i n e a c h g r o u p a r e _ n o t e d 
a n d t h e g r o u p i n g p e r m i t s a q u i c k a p p r o x i m a t i o n o f 
t h e r e l a t i v e i m p o r t a n c e o f a n e w p o s i t i o n u n r e l a t e d 
t o o t h e r s . 

Wilking, S. V . "Reading Ability and Ex-
ecutive Ability." Personnel Journal 12:34-
37, M a y 1941. 

T h e p o s s i b i l i t y o f s p e e d i n g u p t h e e x e c u t i v e ' s 
f u n c t i o n i n g b y m e a n s o f i m p r o v i n g h i s r e a d i n g s k i l l 
i s r e l a t e d t o t h e p r e s e n t n e e d f o r e f f i c i e n c y d u r i n g 
t h e n a t i o n a l e m e r g e n c y . 

Conference on Library Specialisation 
(Continued from page 349) 

a complete record of the topics considered. 
M r . M c M u r t r i e brought forward pro-
posals for developing by cooperative means 
adequate subject bibliographies. T h e sub-
ject of cooperative storage warehouses, 
with reports concerning progress of these 
projects at Boston and Chicago, was given 
attention. T h e relationship of micro-

photography to library specialization was 
not ignored, though there seemed to be 
an undercurrent of feeling that salvation 
was not to be awaited from any mechan-
ical device. A complete stenographic rec-
ord of the conference proceedings is 
available on microfilm. Plans for publica-
tion in edited form are in process. 

SEPTEMBER, 1941 367