The University of British Columbia The Report of the University Librarian to the Senate 50 th year September 1964 to August 1965 Vancouver September 1965 THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA The Report of the University Librarian to the Senate 50th Year September 1964 to August 1965 Vancouver September 1965 REPORT OF THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARIAN TO SENATE 196V65 The University of British Columbia Library has completed a half century of operation. It is fitting that no year in it$ history has been so marked by events of far-reaching significance. In February the university received an outright gift of three million dollars for the purchase of books from a long-time friend of the library, Dr. H. R. MacMillan, By this single act the university was assured of a collection equal to the demands of research and graduate study. Book purchases doubled instantly. It is possible to predict that the library will treble in size within a decade. In the previous year a gift from the Mr. and Mrs. P. A. Woodward Foundation made possible the construction of a major branch library serving the biomedical sciences. This handsome facility opened its doors in September, and in a year of successful operation demonstrated that a system of such libraries serving allied disciplines would be the solution to the information needs of a university large in physical size, enrollment and program. By the end of August, work was completed on an important application of data-processing machinery to library routines: an automated system for lending books. During the year other applications had been introduced in the listing of periodicals and the production of catalogue cards. Planning for future use of computers was accelerated by the addition to the staff of an experienced systems analyst. These threee^ents, out of dozens that filled the library's fiftieth year, were the most portentous, and the character of the library's future was implicit in them. Greatly increased book funds Would make possible the creation of a large and distinguished collection. The size of this collection, combined with the general growth of the university in respect to both curriculum and plant, would necessitate the development of a decentralized system of large branch libraries serving broad areas of need, such as the undergraduate students, the Faculties of Science, Applied Science, and Education. This system of libraries would be rendered as efficient as possible through applications of computers to library routines and to the storage and retrieval of information. The challenges of this period of rapid growth would be met by a staff increasing in size and in degree of specialization. This half century mark is no mere anniversary: it is a starting point. Col lections In the past few years the library has been able to report significant increases in expenditures for books and periodicals and corresponding increases in the size of the collections. This year was no exception. An examination of the statistics appended to this report reveals that if one included in the total of our resources the hundreds of thousands of individual unlisted items in the documents and microtext collections, we could boast of a collection containing well over a million titles. By custom libraries are measured by their book collections, and of physical volumes this library held over 700,000 by the end of the report year, double the number held just seven years ago. This rapid development has been attributable to the unfaltering and increasing support and cooperation of the university administration, members of faculty and many friends of the university, and to unstinting effort on the part of the library staff. Dramatic as such growth may be, however, it will not bear comparison with the growth of the next few years, when the effects of Dr. H. R. MacMillan's generosity will be felt. For in fact within this report year it was clear that the intake of books alone would double in 1965/66: in the period January - August 1964, 24,789 volumes were acquired, and in the same period in 1965; 40,604. At the end of a decade our book collection will contain over two million volumes, a size we might not have attained under normal circumstances within a quarter century. Reflected in every line of the book budget was the fact that the library had joined the ranks of Harvard and the University of California in purchasing power. Allocations to academic departments were vastly increased or completely eliminated, permitting faculty members to take advantage of opportunities in the out-of-print book market which have been forsaken too often in the past. The library arranged with bookdealers around the globe for prompt delivery of new academic publications in English and in major European and Asian languages. Over 2,000 new subscriptions to scholarly and scientific journals were provided for by an increased periodicals budget. But riches can be the source of complications, as was and will be the case in the Processing Divisions, where the sudden doubling of the workload has created problems of staffing. Additional personnel were added to the Serials, Acquisitions, Cataloguing, Government Documents and Asian Studies Divisions, and to the Pre-Bindery, but even with further additions in the 1966/67 fiscal year the increase in staff will not be proportionate to the increase in work. Intensive efforts are being made to improve the efficiency of the Processing Division through the elimination, simplification and automation of routines. However, at the time of writing a backlog of unprocessed material has developed, and will continue to grow until an adequate staff can be formed. In the fiscal year 1964/65 the library spent more than half a million dollars on books and periodicals: $516,153.44, a 31% increase over the previous year. The Cataloguing Division was plagued with difficulties and extra duties during the year: building alterations played havoc with working conditions, thirty-four new staff members including replacements required training, almost a month was lost in taking a complete inventory of the book collection, and a new card catalogue had to be created for the Woodward Library. Nevertheless, output increased by about 11%. The Bindery broke previous records by turning out more than 20,000 volumes, 24.2% more than in the previous year. Increases in output have outstripped staff increases for many years, and the point has been reached where our processing costs are among the lowe&t in North America, The difference in price has too often been paid by staff members who consistently overwork. BuiIdings In September the biomedical collection was moved from the Main Library to the new Woodward Library. From the outset it was apparent that this facility WOuld be a success. The building, furniture and equipment met the highest standards of utility and beauty. Access to collections was so much improved that recorded use doubled. The quality of research and education in the biomedical sciences has been improved by the existence of this library. Throughout the fall and spring terms work proceeded on additions and alterations to the Main Library. Conditions for study and work were at the best of times unsatisfactory, and at the worst, nearly impossible. The entire book collection had to be moved twice, inevitably disarranging the order of books and ultimately necessitating a total inventory before Summer Session. It is not surprising that this was the first year in a decade when no major increase in borrowing from the Main Library was recorded. On the positive side the completed building was more logically arranged from the point of view of the user, large enough to accomodate a growing collection, and able to offer many new specialized services. To diminish the flow of traffic through the building the Circulation Division, Xerox Service, Upper Year Reserve Book Room and main stack entry were placed on the main floor, and the north wing on that floor was given over to an enlarged Fine Arts Division. The Social Sciences, Humanities and Science Reference Divisions were brought together on the concourse floor, adjacent to the union catalogue, the bibliographic and reference collection and the unbound periodicals. The book collection, formerly housed on seven floors, was arranged on four, to reduce the vertical traffic. On the sixth floor of stacks, a new Government Documents Division was created to maintain, develop and service a collection of over 300,000 publications. At the south end of the Division, all microtext and microtext readers were brought together to permit easier access to a form of publication which is of growing importance to modern scholarship. The Asian Studies Division occupied new quarters in the South Wing of the sixth floor. The seventh floor was occupied by the Processing Divisions. On the top floor of the South Wing a new Map Division joined the Special Collections Division. At ground level, In the north wing, a phonograph record loan collection was formed, using the collection of the Extension Department as a nucleus. A gift from Dr. and Mrs. Wallace Wilson made possible the installation of listening equipment, and the result was the largest and best such facility in a Canadian University. Yet the expanded Main Library, the new Woodward Library and other library and study areas around the campus did not begin to meet the real needs of the university community. This was clearly indicated by a survey of traffic which was made on March 1st and 2nd, two fine days of the kind that prompt students to stay away from the library. The weather notwithstanding, libraries were heavily visited. Total 21,325 18,976 Total Number of People Entering All Libraries Main Library Sedgewick Curriculum Lab. Woodward Monday 11,405 6,098 2,669 1,153 Tuesday 10,401 5,366 2,040 1,169 Total Number of People Entering Main Library Stacks Monday 4,811 Tuesday 4,748 It was not possible to tell whether all of those who entered the libraries came to use or borrow books, but it is obvious that with just over 2,600 seats in all libraries, competition for a place to study was keen. At any time of year, the need for seating js acute in every corner of the campus. Prior to examinations, librarians are witnesses to the sorry sight of students wandering about the library in search of a vacant place. 7 In the immediate future two new branch libraries are assured, one in the new Forestry-Agriculture Building, and another in the new Music Building, These are both highly specialized libraries, designed to meet the needs of the departments concerned. They will not go very far in solving the general seating problem. The new reading rooms in the Angus and Buchanan Buildings will similarly do little to alleviate the larger difficulties. It is a logistic necessity that further study space be provided, and this is best accomplished by the further decentralization of the library collections and services. Moreover, the increased rate of acquisitions will cause the book collections to overflow existing stack areas in both the Main and Woodward libraries. The need for other branch libraries similar to the Woodward Library exists now, and additional stack, public and work areas will be needed in the Main Library by 1968. The satisfaction of that need must wait upon the availability of funds for construction, and beyond that funds for operation, neither of which are generally plentiful at the time of writing. Services Much has been written in recent years about the massive increase in knowledge in our century and its effect on society. It has been aptly called the information explosion, and since the printed word is still the principal vehicle for recording and transmitting information, libraries are at the very heart of the explosion. They are growing in size and complexity, and as they grow they present greater difficulties for the person untrained in their use and unfamiliar with the bewildering amount of bibliographic apparatus by which information is organized and controlled. 8 In this situation the librarian has become less the mere caretaker of books and more the specialist In the retrieval of information. Large libraries have responded to this change of dimension by developing services around areas of knowledge or types of material. At this library divisions exist for the Social Sciences, Humanities, Science, Fine Arts, Biomedical Sciences, Asian Studies, Government Documents, Maps, Rare books and Manuscripts, Within those divisions individual librarians have concentrated on narrower fields of material; the day of the general librarian is over. It is upon these specialists that the public must often rely in finding answers to questions relating to the nature, existence and location of information. It is also the task of librarians to provide most students with assistance and instruction in locating information for themselves. That our staff of librarians rises to the challenge of the day has been well attested to in the letters and words of praise and commendation received by the librarian and staff members throughout the year. Such testimonials are a better measure of success than statistics, or a recital of individual tasks and records. However, it is a fact that while we provide the quality of reference service desired, we can not provide the quantity required. It is not possible, for instance, to staff all reference service points with librarians over the hundred hours that the library is open each week. Nor can the present staff undertake all of the projects which faculty members wish them to do. Most serious of all, students are graduating without an adequate understanding of research methods, which will ultimately limit their access to the information in their own specialty.> One solution to the problem touched upon here is to continue the processes of specialization and decentralization. Implicit it* this is an increase in staff and in operating budget. Computers seem to offer another solution to the now Immense problems of storing and retrieving information, and the hope exists that electronic equipment can to some extent replace or diminish the need for librarians. The evidence so far does little to support the hope, for in those few instances where computers have been used for information retrieval, the need for highly trained personnel has been accentuated. The U. S. National Library of Medicine is developing the Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System (MEDLARS), and this system Is already used to compile the Index Medicus and to execute separate searches of the medical literature for individuals with specialized interests. While the system is able to provide superior retrieval of information due to a greater depth of indexing, it has not saved personnel. In fact, six months are required to train a librarian to write search formulas for the system. The day will probably never come when we can press a button and get the answer. The importance of the library and librarians in the crisis of information is not remaining constant, but growing dally. The library will therefore claim an increasingly larger share of the university budget, but it will do so not because it is important to itself, but because it is essential to the university. Staff After ten years as Director of the Harvard University Libraries, Paul Buck set down these words as part of what he termed his administrative credo, "Books are essential, but they must be. selected and organized for use and made available by people. Buildings are necessary, but their 10 purpose is to house the people who operate the library and the people who use it,..The importance of personnel cannot be exaggerated. An informed staff with high morale, working together harmoniously, is indispensable; without it, no library can be good...." This is a simple truth, but one worth restating, since it is so frequently lost sight of in the shadow of books and buildings. One of the library's primary concerns must be to attract and retain staff members of the highest possible order of ability and training. In the past year the library met with fair success in retaining its excellent staff of professional librarians, in the face of shortages in both Canada and the U. S. The turnover in a group of fifty-five librarians was slightly over 9%. Partly due to the existence of a School of Librarianship at this university, little difficulty was encountered in filling vacant positions. Continued stability in this group will hinge on the usual considerations of salary, working conditions and opportunity. Librarians should share in any extraordinary salary increases enjoyed by other groups on campus, and within their salary scales provision must be made for rewarding special competence or knowledge as well as administrative responsibility. Otherwise the rate of turnover will rise, and we wi11 merely serve as a training depot upon which other institutions can draw. Two-thirds of the library staff are not librarians, but high- school and university graduates trained within the library to perform special duties. They compose for the most part the operating staff of the library, and it is upon them that the continuity and smoothness of daily operation must depend. In this one year the turnover within this group of 116 persons was 46.5%. No organization can hope to render effective service when one half the staff members are new and the rest are engaged 11 in instruction. What continuity exists must be supplied by librarians and other long-term employees, a situation which tends to load clerical detail on the shoulders of higher paid employees. The evils of wasteful operation and poor service can not be wholly eliminated by any amount of intelligence and good will on the part of staff, or by any number of library guides and staff handbooks. Improvement in present conditions must wait upon an improvement in salary scales for clerical employees, for it is a plain fact that university salaries are not competitive in the local market. Beginning salaries are lower, and the ranges are so limited as to offer no prospects for a career. Students come and go, but the library operates around the year. As much as any business or industry, it needs a stable corps of employees to see to its continuous successful operation. At the end of June, Mr, Roland J. Lanning completed thirty- seven years of service at this library. As the Head of the Serials Division he had been concerned with that form of publication which is Of the foremost importance in the history of ideas, the periodical literature. It can be conservatively estimated that he personally supervised the collections of as much as a quarter of our present stock of volumes. His wide-ranging knowledge has often impressed and astounded his colleagues on the faculty and in the library, and the fruits of his effort will be enjoyed through centuries of scholarship at this campus. Happily, his retirement was quickly followed by his re-appointment as a Bibliographer, and his concern will continue to be the development of an already superb collection of learned journals. The Second Fifty Years As the University Library begins its second half century, its 12 aims - service and the development of collections - will remain the same. But the methods of achievement will differ. The establishment, in the Library's fiftieth year, of a Bibliography Division staffed by language, subject and materials specialists and drawing strength from specialists in other divisions, indicates the greater emphasis on the coordinated development of collections. The opening of the Woodward Biomedical Library is Indicative of the Improved service that will be provided from a system of subject libraries by a staff of subject librarians. And the application of data-processing techniques to the routines of circulation and acquisitions points the way, however modestly, to on-line librarian- computer communication for information retrieval in the electronic library of the future. Basil Stuart-Stubbs University Librarian APPENDIX A LIBRARY EXPENDITURES Fiscal Years, April-March 1962/63 1963/64 1964/65 1965/66* Salaries and Wages $ 491,290 $ 594,177 . $ 685,040 $ 841,927 Books and Periodicals 292,247 393,838 516,153 1,000,000 Binding 37,820 50,307 55,135 55,098 Supplies. Equipment/Etc. 63,350 78,237 94,299 119,230 $ 884,707 $1,116,559 $1,350,627 $2,016,255 Estimated Expenditures APPENDIX B SIZE AND 1 3R0WTH OF COLLECTIONS March 31 1964 Additions 1964/65 Withdrawals 1964/65 March 31 1965 Volumes 613,878 63,130 1,562 675,446 Documents 266,911* 40,304 - 307,215 MlcrofIlm 4,701 508 - 5,209 Microcard 8,977 13 - 8,990 Microprint 55,654 5,476 - 61,130 Microfiche 692 5,199 - 5,891 Maps 40,539* 2,500* 150* 42,889* Manuscripts 136 ft.** 262 ft.** - 398 ft * Figures approximate ** Thickness of files APPENDIX C RECORDED USE OF LIBRARY RESOURCES September 1964 - August 1965 1961/62 General Circulation Main Loan Desk 238,554 Sedgewick Library 148,963 Woodward Library 22,990 Fine Arts Room 15,789 Humanities Division 4,651 Science Division 2,354 Social Sciences Division 8,571 Special Collections 2,067 Asian Studies Division 1,317 Curriculum Laboratory 51,729 Biomedical Branch, V. G, H, —•*— 496,985 1962/6? 273,465 163,908 23,389 19,622 3,858 2,066 6,443 2,659 1,880 49,981 547,271 1963/64 307,383 164,577 27,494 27,737 3,466 2,228 7,957 2,785 2,370 77,228 623,225 1964/65 257,530 175,923 54,527 28,457 2,200 1,925 9,457 4,636 1,593 106,860 17,988 661,096 Reserve Circulation 97,255 " 102,139 115,372 127,561 Inter-Library Loans To Other Libraries From Other Libraries 2,417 650 1,914 657 1,215 1,160 1,213 1,662 3,067 2,571 2,375 2,275 Photocopies To Other Libraries From Other Libraries 272 248 520 655 455 1,110 1,505 678 2,183 1,173 813 1,986 Grand Total 597,827 653,091 743,155 792,918 APPENDIX D LIBRARY ORGANIZATION ADMINISTRATION Stuart-Stubbs, Basil Bell, Inglis F. Hamilton, Robert M. Watson, William McDonald, Robin ACQUISITIONS Butterfield, Rita Shields, Dorothy ASIAN STUDIES Ng, Tung King BIBLIOGRAPHY DIVISION Lanning, Roland J. CATALOGUE DIVISION Dobbin, Gerry CIRCULATION DIVISION Harris, Robert CURRICULUM LABORATORY Woodwa rd, Em i1y EXTENSION LIBRARY Mercer, Eleanor FINE ARTS DIVISION Dwyer, Melva GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS Dodson, Suzanne HUMANITIES DIVISION Selby, Joan LAW LIBRARY University Librarian Associate Librarian Assistant Librarian Assistant Librarian Systems Analyst Funds & Invoicing Librarian III Orders Librarian I I I Head, Librarian IV Head, Librarian IV Head, Librarian IV Head, Librarian III Head, Librarian I I Head, Librarian IV Head, Librarian IV Head, Librarian I I I Head, Librarian I I I Ingram, Doreen Head, Librarian I I I APPENDIX D Continued RECORDINGS COLLECTION Kaye, Douglas Recordings Librarian SCIENCE DIVISION Lelth, Anna Head, Librarian IV SEDGEWICK LIBRARY Erickson, Ture Head, Librarian III SERIALS DIVISION Johnson, Steven Acting Head BINDING SECTION Fryer, Percy Sr. Foreman SOCIAL SCIENCES DIVISION Brearley, Anne Head, Librarian IV SPECIAL COLLECTIONS Carson, Anne Head, Librarian III WOODWARD LIBRARY Mclnnes, Douglas Head, Librarian IV APPENDIX E Senate Library Committee 1964/65 Dr, I, McT. Cowan, Chairman Mr. F. E. Walden Dr. S. M. Friedman Dr. M. F. McGregor Dr. K. Mann Dr. S. Rothstein Dr. J. Norris Chancellor Phyllis G. Ross (ex officio) President J. B. Macdonald (ex officio) Mr, J. E. A„ Parnall (ex officio) Mr. Basil Stuart*Stubbs (ex officio) Terms of Reference: The Senate Library Committee shall advise and assist the Librarian in: {]) Formulating a library policy in relation to the development of resources for instruction and research; (2) Allocating book funds to the fields of instruction and research; (3) Developing a general program of library service for all the interests of the University; (4) Keeping the Librarian informed concerning the library needs of instructional and research staffs; (5) Interpreting the Library to the University,
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Title | The Report of the University Librarian to the Senate |
Publisher | [Vancouver : The University of British Columbia] |
Date Issued | 1965-09 |
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_1965 |
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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 | 10.14288/1.0115293 |
AggregatedSourceRepository | CONTENTdm |
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