College and Research Libraries


Y e t all users of a library know that 

changes are necessary. If a scholar 

knows, through consultation, what the 

problems of the librarian are, he will 

accept those changes more willingly than 

if he is left in ignorance of the inner work-

ings of the librarian's mind. T h e simpli-

fication arising in cataloging from cost, 

all will accept, and any other changes 

which the common interest of librarians 

and scholars may dictate. . 

A n y person who knows a library from 

the standpoint of independent research will 

know how complex the management of 

great stores of printed material is and like-

wise he will appreciate the effectiveness of 

the staffs of university libraries. W h a t -

ever changes must be made, should be 

made in light of the observed needs of the 

users of libraries and in the light of the 

experience of the professional librarian. 

It must be, in the nature of the case, a slow 

process but one that is constant. T h e 

scholar and the librarian both have a pro-

found common interest in the preservation 

and expansion of the American library. 

T h e elements of professional jealousy and 

scholarly arrogance must fade in the com-

mon consciousness of the larger issues be-

fore us in the maintenance of the library, 

scholarly or otherwise, as a functioning 

element in our democratic way of life. 

In Anticipation of Reconstruction 
A M E R I C A N L I B R A R I A N S in research insti-

J T x . tutions, harassed during the last sev-
eral months with missing issues and 
volumes of foreign journals, can sympa-
thize with their European and Asiatic 
colleagues. Those librarians have for the 
last few years had the multiple problem 
of delivery failures, extensive reductions in 
budgets, necessitating almost wholesale 
journal cancellations, and in many in-
stances destruction of important sets al-
ready held by the institutions. T h e size 
of this complex problem is impossible to 
estimate at the present time but we have 
sufficient evidence already to know that 
it is of huge proportions. And with no 
immediately cheerful prospects of change 
in the international situation we can as-
sume that the problems for both foreign 
and American institutions will continue to 
multiply. 

Whether we in the United States receive 
aid in completing our sets of foreign jour-
nals or not there is considerable satisfac-
tion to be derived from knowing that work 
has been accomplished in this country 
which will aid in the future rehabilitation 
of foreign institutions. T h e Rockefeller 
Foundation, with its constant interest in 
international scholarship, has given to the 
American Library Association grants total-
ing $110,000 to be used to purchase cur-
rent issues of important American journals 
to be shipped to European and Asiatic 
research institutions at the end of hos-
tilities. T h e Committee on Aid to Li-
braries in W a r Areas has been responsible 
for the administration of this program. A 
brief report on the acquisition of this 
supply appeared in the April 1942 issue 
of the A.L.J. Bulletin. 

(Continued on page 268) 

206 C O L L E G E , AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



In Anticipation of Reconstruction 
(Continued from page 206) 

By the end of 1942 the Association will 

own a supply of 1939-42 issues of many 

of the most important research journals. 

T h e committee assumes that the supply 

will be adequate to cope with the requests 

from at least the outstanding foreign 

research centers and that European and 

Asiatic scholarship therefore will not be 

entirely deprived of the product of Ameri-

can research during the war years. 

Augmenting Purchased Supply 

T h e committee would like to be able 
to accomplish more than this and has 
realized from the first the necessity for 
augmenting the purchased supply of jour-
nals with an active campaign for gifts. 
T h e lack of large-scale storage space has 
made the postponement of such a campaign 
seem wise. In the meantime the commit-
tee is doing everything it can to insure the 
success of this future campaign. 

T h e supply of learned journals is never 
large and even under normal conditions 
tends to disappear rapidly. W i t h today's 
abnormal demand for material for pulp 
this supply will be rapidly absorbed unless 
definite steps are taken to protect it. T h e 
December issue of this journal carried, as 
did other library periodicals, a brief state-
ment of the aims of the committee in the 
preservation of scholarly journals. M a n y 
of the journals themselves are currently 
printing a similar statement in an attempt 
to notify individual scholars. These state-
ments have brought forth offers and prom-
ises of gifts and have undoubtedly 
prevented some destruction of the supply. 
T h e committee feels that the institutions 

and individuals represented in the Associa-
tion of College and Reference Libraries 
are the logical source of further assistance. 

Though a large-scale campaign isn't yet 
possible small campaigns can be accom-
plished and will contribute greatly to the 
success of the final program. A t least in 
one instance a local campaign is already in 
progress. Flora B. Ludington, the librarian 
of Mount Holyoke College, has reported 
such a campaign and its success should 
encourage librarians of other institutions. 
A brief statement of the problem in faculty 
meeting, supported by personal appeals to 
individual faculty members, will bring 
offers and promises of current journals. 
A letter to the emeritus members of the 
teaching staff will make available another 
supply. T h e library duplicate collection 
can be combed with the committee's inter-
est in mind, setting aside odd numbers or 
complete volumes of the important Ameri-
can journals. 

T h e committee will be grateful for any 
activity of this nature, sure that it is at-
tracting and protecting a quantity of im-
portant research material that would no 
longer be available for collection in even 
a year or two. A list of some four hun-
dred journals, judged to be those for 
which the committee will receive the most 
requests, has been prepared. Requests for 
this list, questions concerning the project, 
and reports of cooperative activity should 
be directed to W a y n e M . Hartwell, Ex-
ecutive Assistant to the Committee on Aid 
to Libraries in W a r Areas, Rush Rhees 
Library, University of Rochester, Roches-
ter, N . Y . 

268 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES