The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. L.S.Klinck, Esq., M.S.a., D.Sc, LL.D., President, Chairman of the Senate, The University of British Columbia. Sirs- In accordance with the intimation given in my letter of transmittal accompanying the last Library Beport (September 1931-32) I have the honour herewith to present the Beport of the Library which covers the period September 1932 to larch 1933. fhe Intention of the Committee ia hereafter to make the period of the Beport correspond with the University's fiscal year. lours very truly, W.L.HacDOMLD Chairman, Library Committee. 29th November 1933. -2- The Library The University ef British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. W.L.MacDonald, Esq., Ph.O., Chairman, Library Committee, The University of British Columbia. Sir, in the Beport presented to you, and to the Library Committee, early in the present year, for the information of the Senate, it was stated that the next succeeding Report would be for six months instead of a year - from September 1932 to March 1933 - in order that future annual reports might coincide with the University year. The present Beport, therefore, is for the six months period. THB BOOK COLL10T101 At the end of Mareh 1933, the Library had 82,290 accessioned volumes, and about 3,550 duplicates, a total of 85,840 books, and an estimated total of between 9,000 and 10,000 pamphlets. The growth of the book collection since 1928 is as shewn belows- March'33 Sept,'32 Sept.'31 Sept.'30 Sept.*29 Sept.'28 Hew Volumes 938 4823 3612 7997 4221 4373 Total vols.) accessioned) §2,290 Duplicates 3,550 81,352 3,500 76,429 3,750 72,686 3,681 68,900 3,400 64,689 3,400 Total 85,840 84,852 80,179 76,367 72,300 68,089 -3- 938 new books were added in the six months covered by this Beport. This is the smallest addition, for a corresponding period, in the whole history of the University. During the session 1,893 students were registered as users of the Library, while 30 persons unconnected with the University were enrolled as Extra Mural Headers. In all, 80,299 books were loaned. Of these, 33,575 were "Ordinary" and 46,724 were for "Reserved" books for Required Beading. The following statement shews the use by months:• Ordinary Reserved Sept. 1932 1,431 309 Oct. 5,145 6,901 Nov. 6,109 10,604 Dec. 3,458 5,680 Jan. 1933 5,097 5,408 Feb. 6,153 7,727 March 6,182 10,095 33,575 46,724 46,724 80,291 Monthly aversge Ordinary 5,596 volumes Monthly average Reserved 7,787 volumes This shews a substantial increase in the "Ordinary" loans, the best test of the general reading cf the student bedy. The average monthly loans for preceding years are as follows:- 1928-29 2,769 volumes 1929-30 2,909 n 1930-31 3,288 « 1931-32 3,381 » 1932-33 5,596 w (6 months) There is, however, a diminution in the "Reserve" leans of almost 900 volumes a month, as Is shewn in the following statement:- 1928-29 5,186 volumes 1929-30 6,554 » 1930-31 7,311 » 1931-32 8,657 " 1932-33 7,787 " (6 months) This diminution in Beserved Loans is doubtless due to the reduced hours of library service to which reference is made elsewhere in this Beport. The Library is open nine hours a week less than in previous years, or almost twelve per cent. This twelve per cent reduction in service would account for the whole of the 900 Reserved books not loaned in the period covered by this Beport. EVENING ATTENDANCE Due to reduced appropriations, the Beading Booms were closed on Friday evenings and Saturday afternoons. The average daily attendance on the four evenings they were open was about 85, the aggregate monthly attendance beings- October, 1932 560 November 1,555 December 1,325 January, 1933 575 February 1,230 larch 2,548 7,793 FINANCE, STAFF, ADMINISTBATION In the last Report reference was made to the fact that the reductions in the grant made by the Provincial Government to the University were immediately and automatically reflected In the appropriations made to the Library by the Board of Governors. -5- The Staff, already too small for the increasing work of the Department, had to be reduced, as set forth in the last Beport. The loss of the typist has resulted in a continuous congestion in all those activities having to do with the preparation of new books for the shelves. The Cataloguing Department is constantly in arrears in its work. It needs two cataloguers to keep abreast of the requirements of this Library, and when there is but one, and that member of the staff has not the assistance of a typist In transcribing her manuscript, it is obvious that the catalogue, the key that unlocks the resources of the book collection, must be far from the efficient tool it should be, and into which it might be made. All that can be done Is being done; but analytics and cross references that should be found in the catalogue are not there, for lack of staff to do the work, while the teaching staff has to reconcile itself to unavoidable delays in new books being made available for use. This is a condition that cannot be remedied until funds once more permit the engagement of a typist. The correspondence of the Department, and the repcrts to the Library Committee also suffer from the same cause. In the course of its work this Library has achieved a reputation among those of the Dominion, and in consequence it receives numerous letters requesting information or advice. With but one stenographer to earry oh. the whole of the cataloguing and correspondence typing, these enquiries cannot be dealt with in a satisfactory manner. In the last Report the conditions created by the enforced withdrawal of the appropriation for "Student Assistance" and the consequent situation as it affected the Circulation Department were set forth, as also was the offer of four members of the Staff to give -6- voluntary service during the evenings, and of twenty students (principally those majoring in History) to act as Student Assistants without pay. The voluntary services of Miss Mary Barton, a professionally-trained librarian, and of Miss Patricia Harvey, a graduate of this University, were also gratefully acknowledged. In this Beport it is only necessary to state that largely by virtue of the work ©f these volunteers, the service given at the Loan Desk was quite satisfactory, though the hours of such service had to be reduced from 73 to 64 a week. It is with more than ordinary feelings of satisfaction that the Librarian has been able to report these offers of voluntary service, which saved the essential distribution and circulation service from disorganization, to the Committee and now to the Senate. They are proof of the estimation in which the Library is held by those It serves, and evidence of the disposition of students of the University to come to the help ef the instutition in times of financial stress. THE BiRIODICAL PROBLEM In the six months period covered by this Report, the problem of general finance was almost as serious as that of Staff and Administration. The appropriations made by the Board fer Books and Periodicals have, in recent years, varied from suras of #12,000 to #15,000. for the University year 1932-33 this appropriation was reduced to $2,000. The reduction to one-sixth or one-seventh of the normal appropriation created well-nigh insoluble difficulties. First and worst of these had to do with subscriptions to periodicals, annuals, -7- and serials. The Library was in regular receipt of almost seven hundred periodical and serial publications, of which, possibly, one- fourth are gifts from government or other instutitona. It requires slightly over #4,000.00 a year to pay for these, and this cost has always been considered a first charge on the Book and Magazine appropriation. Thus the entire appropriation for the period under review was barely sufficient to pay for one-half of this fixed item of expenditure. To meet the situation, all the Departments having unspent balances to their credit on the books of the Library from previous grants, notified the Librarian of their willingness to give these credit balances toward the purchase of the periodicals specializing in their own fields of knowledge - chemistry, philosophy, geology, history, economics, botany, <&c. In all, the sum of $1,513.00 was thus transferred, making, with the Board's appropriation, a total of $3,513.00 to Met periodical requirements of $4,000. There was thus a further sum of about #500.00 required if the Library's subscriptions were to be continued and important files remain unbroken. After a careful consideration of the situation, the Library Committee decided to request permission of the President and the Board for an Appeal to the governing bodies of the University and to its graduates and friends for help. This assistance might take the form of a gift of money, or of the transfer of periodicals to which they personally subscribed. Authority was given by the Board in September 1232, and a circular was sent to about 2,500 persons at a cost of about #115.00. The circular listed about 500 periodicals, donations of which were requested. -8- The results of this appeal cannot be considered very gratifying. In all, $308.00 worth of subscriptions were received. The hulk of this was gifts of periodicals, while $68.60 was contributed in cash. These gifts, however, did enable the library to continue almost the whole of its regular subscriptions, only about $250.00 worth of the publications having to be dropped. When the #115.00 of expense is deducted from the gifts received, there remains a net gift of #193.00. Perhaps, however, the publicity given to the Library's circumstances and needs can be set against this disappointing financial result. BINDING In the last Beport, it was noted that for five years the Library has received an appropriation of $3,000.00,later reduced to $2,000.00, for Binding, and that in the year under review no fund for this purpose could be voted by the Board. The ccnsequeneesof this regrettable (and unavoidable) omission were duly set forth. All that is now necessary to state is that the 800 volumes awaiting binding at that time have since been increased by the completed volumes of periodicals since received. An immediate Binding appropriation of #5,000.00 would not completely have met the situation with which the Library was confronted at the beginning of the present University year. CARNEGIE GRANT On recommendation of its Canadian Advisory Committee, the Carnegie Corporation of New York made grants, totalling $185,000, to the Book Funds of a number of Canadian universities. The whole of -9- the money was to be spent on Books for Undergraduate Beading in the Liberal Arts, this and other terms upon which the gift was made being stated in the letter notifying the University of the grant. Five Canadian universities, of which as this was one, received maximum grants of $5,000.00 a year for a period of three years. This unexpected and generous gift, the first instalment of which was paid in December, a«d coming, as it did, at a time when the Library Book and Periodical Fund was at the lowest ebb in the whole history of the University, was one of the few high lights in a period of enforced economy and anxiety. Owing to the premium on American exchange, the $5,000.00 remitted from lew York was equal to $5,871.87 in Canadian currency. Further advantage was taken of the exchange relations to remit $4,000.00 to a London bank for settlement of book purchases made in England, and a smaller further profit was made by the transfer of part of these funds back to Canada when the pound and the dollar approached nearer parity. The Library Committee gave careful consideration to the allotment of this money among the Departments qualified to participate therein. Arrangements were made by the Library for separate administration and accounting,and for special reports to the Carnegie Corporation for all expenditures made from the Fund. Hardly any such expenditures could be made, however, by the end of larch, the terminal date of this Report. Fuller details will be given in that for the succeeding University year. -10- Th© Staff has h@en unchanged in number and personnel since the last Beport presented to the Senate, and has continued to give loyal and intelligent service, most of its members assuming additional and unpaid hours of duty that the service might be maintained to users of the Library. The Library Committee has likewise remained unchanged, and its members have continued to give to the work of the Separtment that interest and co-operation which the Librarian has in previous Beports appreciatively acknowledged. Seven meetings of the Committee were held In the six months covered by this Beport. fiespectfully submitted. John Ridington Librarian. 29th November 1933.
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[Report of the Library] 1933-11
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Title | [Report of the Library] |
Publisher | [Vancouver : The University of British Columbia] |
Date Issued | 1933-11 |
Subject |
University of British Columbia. Library |
Geographic Location |
Vancouver (B.C.) |
Genre |
Periodicals |
Type |
Text |
FileFormat | application/pdf |
Language | English |
Notes | Alternative titles in chronological order: Report of the Library Department for the University years 1920-21 and 1921-22 Report of the Library Department for the University year 1922-23 Report of the Librarian to the Senate Report of the Library Committee to the Senate Ninth Report of the Library Committee to the Senate Tenth Report of the Library Committee to the Senate Eleventh Report of the Library Committee to the Senate Twelfth Report of the Library Committee to the Senate Thirteenth Report of the Library Committee to the Senate Fourteenth Report of the Library Committee to the Senate Fifteenth Report of the Library Committee to the Senate Sixteenth Report of the Library Committee to the Senate Seventeenth Report of the Library Committee to the Senate Eighteenth Report of the Library Committee to the Senate Nineteenth Report of the Library Committee to the Senate Twentieth Report of the Library Committee to the Senate Twenty-first Report of the Library Committee to the Senate Twenty-second Report of the Library Committee to the Senate Twenty-third Report on the University Library to the Senate Report of the University Librarian to the Senate The Report of the University Librarian to the Senate The Report of the University Librarian to Senate Annual Report of the University Librarian to the Senate of the University of British Columbia The Report of the University Librarian to the Senate of the University of British Columbia The Report of the University Librarian to the Senate of the University Report of the University Librarian to the Senate |
Identifier | Z736.B74 A4 Z736_B74_A4_1933 |
Collection |
University Publications |
Source | Original Format: University of British Columbia. Archives |
Date Available | 2015-07-15 |
Provider | Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library |
Rights | Images provided for research and reference use only. Permission to publish, copy, or otherwise use these images must be obtained from University of British Columbia Library: http://www.library.ubc.ca/ |
CatalogueRecord | http://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=1217574 |
DOI | 10.14288/1.0115288 |
AggregatedSourceRepository | CONTENTdm |
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