ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


349

Letters
Dear Editor:

I find myself in complete agreement with 
Louis Kenney’s letter in the July/August issue 
of C &R L  News. I also believe that the ACRL 
Board of Directors made a mistake when its 
members approved the policy statement at their 
Midwinter meeting in January of this year, to 
the effect that the M .L.S. is the appropriate 
terminal degree for academic librarians.

One may well question the wisdom or a tram 
of thought that in effect equates the academic 
librarian’s M.L.S. degree with the in-depth de
gree accomplishments of faculty members also 
serving at an institution of higher education. It 
seems to me that to suggest such equality is 
both unrealistic and unwise. The very nature 
of the library as a repository of all knowledge 
demands that the librarian shows a high degree 
of subject competency as well as library spe
cialization. The present unrelenting trend of 
specialization of all sorts, coupled with the end 
of the library manpower shortage, has insured 
the demise of the “generalist” librarian and 
simultaneously signalled the inadequacy of the 
M.L.S. by itself for establishing precise effec
tive lines of communication between the library 
and other areas of the academic world. To rec
ommend and prescribe a library degree pro
gram that ignores the pressing realities of spe
cialization invites empty isolation for academic

librarians rather than active dynamic participa
tion as coworkers in a relevant activity of a 
cognate area(s) belonging to the academic 
community.

It is equally unrealistic and unwise for aca
demic librarians to insist on “full academic 
status.” That such an objective is a desirable 
goal is not all in question. But is the librarian 
willing to pay the price for “full academic 
status”? The librarian’s academic counterpart 
has long recognized the fact that academic 
status is synonymous with an earned degree, 
usually the doctorate, and the publication of a 
book or article by an outside agency. Other
wise protests in favor of academic status have 
a hollow ring and at best could only mean pa
per acceptance and recognition.

Accordingly, the “subject specialties” of the 
academic librarian, based as they frequently are 
on personal interest and an undergraduate ma
jor, suffer from comparisons with the subject 
specialties of regular faculty members.

All told then, there is no retreat from the 
challenges and demands of academic life as it 
is presently conceived. The alternative of a 
clerical image, as exemplified by the directional 
type question, is not at all satisfactory.

Sincerely,
E u gen e D. D ukes 
Assistant P rofessor 
Bow ling G reen State University 
B ow ling G reen, Ohio

College and University Library Survey
The National Center for Education Statistics 

has announced the publication schedule for the 
1975 edition of the College and University L i
brary Survey. Continuing the format of the 
1973 report entitled L ibrary Statistics o f  C ol
leg e and Universities, the 1975 survey report 
will be released in three parts. The early re
lease report will be available in early 1976, the 
complete institutional report in June 1976 and 
the analytical report by the end of 1976.

Initiated in the present format by the U.S. 
Office of Education in 1959, the survey is now 
conducted as a part of the Higher Education 
General Information Survey (H E G IS ) system 
and the Library General Information Survey 
( L IB G IS ). The biennially conducted survey 
contains statistical data on more than 2,700 
college and university libraries in the U.S. The 
early release report contains twelve key institutional

data items on approximately 90 percent 
of the respondents. The key items compiled in
clude library operating expenditures for salaries 
and wages, fringe benefits, bookstock, and peri
odicals; numbers of full-time equivalent staff 
with separate listings for librarians and for 
technicians, clerical, and others; library re
sources including number of volumes of book- 
stock held and number of titles of periodical 
subscriptions.

The complete institutional report contains 
basic information on collections, staff, and ex
penditures for all academic libraries. The ana
lytical report provides national estimates for all 
academic institutions with library service and 
background data on the survey. The three-part 
report will be sold by the Superintendent of 
Documents, Government Printing Office. No 
price has been set. ■■