SPECIAL LIBRARY EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA

Pages24-42
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/eb026106
Published date01 February 1947
Date01 February 1947
AuthorLINDA H. MORLEY
Subject MatterInformation & knowledge management,Library & information science
SPECIAL LIBRARY EDUCATION IN THE UNITED
STATES AND CANADA
by LINDA H. MORLEY
THE
development of educational programmes for special librarians has been
very gradual in America. As recently as 1937 the Training and Recruiting
Committee of the Special Libraries Association reported that there was only
one library school giving a separate course for special librarians.1 The inclu-
sion of one or two lectures or units in general courses, visits, field work, or
some special adjustment for individual students in thirteen other schools
represented all the special library training available at that time. A similar
survey2 made by the Training Committee in 1945 indicates that somewhat
less than half of the thirty-six accredited library schools now have some kind
of special library programme and most of the schools have at least one or
two lectures, usually given by special librarians, as well as several visits to
special libraries in order to acquaint their students with the opportunities in
this field and the qualifications desirable.
Problems inherent in special library education
No doubt a number of factors have had a part in retarding the formulation
of programmes of education for special librarians. Certainly the many
variants among special libraries and the lack of a clearly expressed consensus
of opinion within the profession itself
as
to the kind of instruction required
are important contributory causes.
Much confusion has been occasioned by the lack of general recognition of
the two major types of special libraries. The special subject library, the type
most familiar to the library profession in general, is commonly a department
of a public or college library or the library of a professional school, and differs
from the traditional library in its subject specialization and the resulting
technical problems of organizing materials, often of varied physical form, for
intensive use. The service and administrative policies of such subject libraries
conform rather closely to the parent library. The chief characteristic suggest-
ing a need for special preparation on the part of the personnel of such libraries
is subject specialization, which results in the need for a knowledge of both
the subject-matter and the literature of the subject. The predominant type
of special library, that is, the special organization library in corporations,
government agencies, and diverse research and non-profit organizations,
on the other hand, has peculiar administrative problems flowing out of this
affiliation. The ultimate objectives of such libraries are those of the parent
organization by which they were established and financed, and are obviously
1 'Training for Specials; the status of the library schools', by J. H. Shera,
Special
libraries,
xxviii.
317-21,
November 1937.
2 No report of this survey was published. At the request of the Committee Chairman, the
results are incorporated with the present survey.
SPECIAL LIBRARY EDUCATION IN THE U.S.A. AND CANADA 25
different from the objectives of public and educational institutions. With
different overall objectives, policies inevitably change; new functions are
assumed; and services take altered forms, influenced especially by the close
continuing association with, and the immediate accessibility to, recipients of
such service. A basic difference is apparent in that the subject librarian has a
predetermined subject for which he seeks individual clients. The converse
of this
is
true for the organization librarian, who
has
a predetermined clientele,
for whom he seeks subjects and specific information.
Unfortunately there is little in print from which the essential character-
istics,
philosophy, and principles of administration of organization libraries
can be discovered. Although raw material in the form of descriptions of
individual libraries abounds, few comparative studies have been made.
Perhaps one explanation of this lack lies in the fact that few organization
librarians have experience in more than one or two organizations. Given
the qualifications that make for a successful librarian in this field, every year
adds to the fourfold knowledge necessary for the best in organization
library service—knowledge of the work and staff of the organization; the
pertinent subject-matter in any field of knowledge; the literature and the
organizations yielding relevant facts and experience; and the particular
library and other policies and methods that will result in the greatest use of
knowledge in furthering the organization's objectives. Then, too, this
different concept of a library evolves so gradually in the mind of a librarian
developing library service for a corporation, government office, &c., and is
so inherent in the situation, that the librarian is often unconscious of the
transition, and hence fails to record such ideas in his professional writings.
This is all the more true in that he is usually addressing members of his own
professional group to whom characteristics of organization libraries are
familiar.
Add to this the fact that there is no general text on organization libraries
or even on special libraries; that general library terminology has been carried
over to the organization library field with frequent disregard of essential
change in meaning; and finally that
the
kind of special library falling under the
observation of library school faculties is not typical of the majority of special
libraries; and it is apparent that organization or staff librarians themselves
have some responsibility for bettering the situation.
The result of this lesser awareness of organization libraries on the part of
library school directors is evident in the fact that many more courses are
being offered for subject librarians than for organization librarians, although
analysis of entries in the most recent directories indicate that subject libraries
represent
less
than one-quarter of the special libraries in the United States and
Canada. Also there is considerable duplication in the subjects covered, since
law, medicine, chemistry, and music have from two to four courses each.
This duplication points up another problem, that is, the difficulty of
finding qualified instructors. The deficiencies in special library literature from
the teaching point of view previously mentioned seem to make special
library experience or extended field research in both subject and organization

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