The first meeting since organization was held on the evening of June 27. Mr. James I. Wyer, Jr., presided. In his opening remarks Mr. Wyer gave a brief account of the events leading up to the formation of the section. He also spoke of the various kinds of agricultural libraries and of their growth and influence.

An address of welcome was delivered by the Hon. Martin Burrell, Canadian minister of agriculture.

WM. M. HEPBURN, librarian of Purdue university presented a paper on

LIBRARY EXTENSION WORK OF AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES

Extension work is now a name to conjure with. Its most popular aspects, the corn train, the wheat special, the farmers' short course, where a thousand or more men and women from the farms gather for a week's instruction, have all been exploited in the newspapers to such an extent that they are well known everywhere. The new methods of extension work were developed in the agricultural colleges or agricultural departments of universities. It seems now as though many of these methods were to be applied in other fields. The moving cause for all this activity is the desire to bring opportunities for education to every man, woman and child in the state who has sufficient energy and ambition to desire them. Along purely agricultural lines the extension work carried on by the State college of agriculture at Cornell, is typical. The December number of the "Announcer" outlining this work contained eight quarto pages giving information under twenty-five separate heads. The work carried on by a university as a whole is best illustrated by Wisconsin, whose university extension division has carried this work further than any other similar department. The phrase, "The university that goes to the people," applied to Wisconsin, and the slogan, "If you can't come to the college, the college will come to you," used by North Dakota agricultural college, illustrate the aims of the workers in this field.

Of course much of this extension work is altogether outside of the sphere of the library, but there are signs that the libraries of agricultural colleges, and of the land grant colleges especially are waking up to the fact that there are public needs which they are best fitted to supply. The extension departments of the various colleges have found a number of problems confronting them in which they need the help of the college library, such for instance as matters relating to the use of books for special study, and the general problem of awakening in the farm community an interest in books and reading. I shall attempt briefly to characterize the various phases which this library extension work has taken, or may take, without more than passing reference to the work of specific institutions.

The first letter of enquiry sent by a farmer to his state college or experiment station, might be said to have originated the entire extension work, and the growth of correspondence between farmers and the college, with its professors and experts, indicates the nature of the demand on the part of the public, and the success of the work of the stations and colleges in arousing this interest. This correspondence forms and always will form a very important phase of university extension work. To get in touch with individuals, to have them take the trouble to write you concerning their needs is a sure indication of their interest. Just as the correspondence of the commercial house is systematized, and form letters used where possible, so the growth of this extension work has led to the publication of brief bulletins, or circulars in place of the elaborate and lengthy bulletins so often issued by the experiment stations on the same subjects.

One of the needs which was soon felt in correspondence was that for a brief list of books on agriculture, which could be sent in response to inquiries from individuals and libraries. This list is sometimes a simple mimeographed list, or a short printed list, or even a more elaborate bulletin, such as the Cornell publication, "What shall the farmer read" or the more recent one, "Reading in the farm home." There is real need for these lists, and every college library or extension department should have such a list available for distribution. There is room perhaps for some co-operation here in order to secure greater uniformity and the opinions of many who are in close touch with the needs of the farming community.

One of the outcomes of the extension work in agricultural colleges, was the forming of reading and study clubs and clubs for social and civic purposes, and the publishing of study outlines for reading courses, which might be taken up individually or by groups. In some cases all the reading necessary was included in the bulletins published, such as the Cornell reading courses. In others special books were assigned which could be purchased from the extension department, or borrowed from it. Thus began the lending of material from the college library or some department of the college, a practice which I believe is destined to grow to large proportions, especially when we secure parcels or book post. In several states this work is now well organized. The University of Wisconsin, the North Dakota agricultural college and perhaps others are prepared to send out what they call package libraries to individuals, clubs, societies or schools for a certain fixed period of time. These package libraries consist of pamphlets, speeches, newspaper clippings, articles clipped from magazines, bulletins issued by the university and other miscellaneous matter.

North Dakota gives a list of subjects on which they are prepared with package libraries in agriculture, biography, education, science, municipal affairs, etc. They will even lend typewritten copies of declamations, dialogues, orations and printed copies of amateur plays.

Wisconsin in addition to its package libraries issues bibliographical bulletins on subjects of general interest, as does the University of Texas. If these package libraries are made more elaborate including larger pamphlets and books, they can be dignified by the name of traveling libraries. So far as is known by the writer, this work is not carried on by the college library except in one instance, the library of Massachusetts agricultural college, where Prof. Charles R. Green has this work in charge. In other colleges it is managed by the extension division or department with, however, the co-operation of the college library and other library interests, as in Wisconsin. It will readily be seen that this work duplicates to some extent, the work of the public library, or at least the work that the public library should be doing. It is evident too, that this work would have its best field in states where there were few public libraries in the smaller towns and villages.

The looking up of references on domestic science, the boy scouts, or the fireless cooker and other similar subjects is supposed to be the work of the public library. It may be that notwithstanding the emphasis placed by the public library on its reference work, and work with schools, the college by its extension service is going to enter this field and do at long range what the public library is not doing for its own local community. If there is sufficient demand from the rural districts for the service given by the public discussion and information divisions of the extension work (as it is often called) it is certainly a strong argument in favor of the extension of the public library service over the counties or townships as is now being done in several states. There is a good field here for co-operation between the local library, the organized library interests of the state, the college library and the extension service of the college or university.

An interesting feature of the work of the extension department at Purdue university is the combination of the printed list of books, the sample library, and the actual sale of books to the farmers. Some months ago by consultation with members of the station staff and actual examination of many volumes, a list of about 75 titles relating to agriculture, was compiled and printed. Several sets of these volumes were then obtained from the publishers, and arrangements made with them for mail orders of these books at certain discounts. The printed lists and sample volumes were taken to county fairs, institutes, farmers short courses, and on special trains. The lists were distributed, the books shown to the farmer, and his order taken on the spot at list price. Many orders come in later by mail. There is good psychology in this method of getting the book to the farmer. He can examine the book for himself, give the necessary weight to the recommendation of the man in charge, and having confidence in the university as represented by the extension department, he trusts it with his money.

During the year and a half that this plan has been in operation 1,350 volumes have been placed in the hands of farmers in the state and the sales have been as high as $475 in a month. Some may see objections to this method of book distribution and there are dangers that must be guarded against, but in Indiana it is regarded as firmly established.

There are problems that can only be briefly referred to here connected with the distribution of agricultural literature, that are partly extension and partly library problems. Many tons of printed matter are being distributed every year by the various colleges and experiment stations. To insure the best use of this material some "follow-up" system and some instruction to the farmer in its care and preservation would seem to be essential. The small circular or bulletin is taking the place of the more elaborate publications formerly issued on the same subject and these are being sent only to those who request them and have a real need for them.

The college should be willing and able to lend books to institute workers, lecturers, clubs, and to other libraries unless this service is already well done by some other agency.

It should also be a clearing house for information relating to agricultural literature and should co-operate wherever possible with the other departments of the institution whose work looks toward the betterment of rural life. The value of books to both young and old in the farm home, may be overlooked by the other departments organized for more practical and perhaps more well defined ends, and in this matter the librarian has both an opportunity and a duty.

Dr. James W. Robertson, chairman of the Canadian royal commission on industrial training and technical education, delivered an address on economic and agricultural conditions in Canada.

Mr. Wyer read a paper prepared by Dr. A. C. TRUE, director, U. S. office of experiment stations, U. S. Department of Agriculture on the subject

SUGGESTIONS AS TO A POLICY OF ADMINISTRATION OF AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE AND EXPERIMENT STATION LIBRARIES

Dr. True said in part:

Fifty years ago next Tuesday, the 2nd of July, the act was passed which authorized the establishment in each state of a college "to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts," and it was just twenty-five years ago this year that the act was passed which created the agricultural experiment station as a department of the agricultural college.

It seems, therefore, peculiarly fitting that on this jubilee anniversary we should be discussing the relation to each other of these two institutions which have done so much for the agricultural interests of our country, and we believe are destined to do much more.

The agricultural or land-grant colleges authorized by the Morrill act of 1862 were the direct outcome of a persistent demand for an education better suited to the needs of an age of progress than the classical form then in exclusive use. Interest in experimental work grew rapidly and culminated in the passage by Congress and signing by President Cleveland in 1887 of the bill introduced by Wm. H. Hatch, of Missouri, which provided for the establishment of an agricultural experiment station at each of the agricultural colleges, as a department of the college. This act provided the sum of $15,000 annually for the establishment and maintenance of the experiment station. It was later supplemented by the Adams act passed in 1906, which provided for an increased annual appropriation, bringing the sum total of federal appropriation for each station up to $30,000.

In the Hatch act establishing the experiment stations the wording of the law clearly sets forth the fact that the station is a department of the college.

It would seem obvious, therefore, that, since the station is a department of the college, the station library should be considered a part of the college library and thus come under the general direction and control of the college librarian. This involves the presumption that the college authorities appreciate the importance of a well managed library and therefore employ a well-trained and efficient librarian, and have a good library organization.

The work of the experiment station may be broadly grouped under the two heads research and the dissemination of the results of that research. A necessary preliminary to all successful research work is the examination of the records of similar or allied work. These records are contained in books and periodicals, and a moment's thought reveals the fact that the station library lies at the very heart of the station's work and is second to nothing in importance. Even the records of hypotheses tested and found untenable are valuable, as they may save much useless effort and consequent loss of time. The equipment of the station library should, therefore, be one of the first considerations in the organization of the station, and not merely a desirable adjunct if better advocated activities permit.

The function of the agricultural college library is primarily to serve the interests of the professors and students who compose the college, whereas the mission of the experiment station library is to serve the investigators and scientific workers who constitute the station staff. For the college library to accomplish the best results there should be direct and constant intercourse between the professors and the librarian. The latter should be cognizant of the broad outlines of the courses being given and should be specifically informed of theme work about to be assigned and theses subjects when chosen. If the librarian does not know these things before the call for material comes, it may be very difficult to supply just what is wanted. Even with every care there will sometimes be a conflict of interests, but a system of co-operation between the teaching force and the librarian should reduce these conflicts to a minimum, should work for the benefit of all concerned, and make the library a constantly increasing aid in the process of education.

The experiment station library, being designed for the use of scientific investigators, is really a reference collection. It should consist of the records of agricultural investigations the world over and such books of reference in each branch of the station's work as the investigator in charge of that work thinks necessary.

The co-ordination of the interests of the two constituencies,—the investigator on the one hand and the teaching force and student body on the other, is one of the most important problems of the librarian of the agricultural library. It is a task which will require his best ability as an administrator, and will be accomplished only by the exercise of boundless patience and unlimited tact, combined with an impartial sense of justice to everybody. Only when the investigator, professor and student each realizes fully that the librarian's chief concern is to be of service to him, will the ideals of the library be realized.

The vital concern of experiment station workers and the officers of the agricultural colleges in the library and its activities was evinced by the fact that a session of the Association of American agricultural colleges and experiment stations which met in Columbus, Ohio, November, 1911, was devoted to this subject. Nobody knows better than the workers themselves how useful the library may be to them, and their discussion of different phases of its problems was full of suggestions for the improvement of the service.

In the development of the libraries of the agricultural colleges and experiment stations in the various states there have grown up three distinct types of libraries.

The first type is the experiment station library which is kept separate from the college library but under its control and which is devoted somewhat exclusively to the use of the station workers. An example of this type of library is found at the State college of Washington.

The second type is the agricultural college and experiment station libraries combined into a single agricultural library and kept separate from the university library, as at Wisconsin. This type may be considered as belonging to the departmental type of library. Other states which have adopted this plan are California, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska and Virginia.

In the third type the collections of agricultural literature including the experiment station collections, are consolidated with the college or university collections and administered as one unit. Examples of this type are the libraries of the University of Illinois, the Oregon agricultural college and the Kansas agricultural college.

Under certain conditions the advantages of one type may far outweigh the disadvantages and leave little doubt that this is the best for the particular institution concerned.

In the library of the first type,—namely, the experiment station library kept separate from the college library but under its control, the collections are composed principally of the following classes of literature:

1. As complete a collection as can be had of publications (a) of the U. S. Department of agriculture; (b) of state experiment stations in the United States; (c) of agricultural, horticultural, dairy and live stock and kindred societies; (d) the publications of departments of agriculture, of agricultural schools and societies in foreign countries, all of which literature may be designated as the "official agricultural literature."

(2) Files, at least current ones, of the leading agricultural periodicals of the United States, together with the best of those published in the interest of each of the special branches of agriculture,—live stock, dairying, horticulture, etc.

(3) A collection of reference works both general and agricultural, as well as standard works on agriculture and its various branches and allied sciences.

Few if any of the separate experiment station libraries can be said to have notably complete collections, aside from the "official agricultural literature." Scientific books and periodicals are expensive and most of the agricultural colleges have not felt able to duplicate expensive sets of periodicals and scientific reference works. Therefore, since the college needs such works as well as the stations, the result has been in most cases that they have been filed in the college or university library and the station collections have been limited principally to the "official agricultural literature" described above.

That the experiment station workers should have readily available as complete a collection as possible of the "official agricultural literature," both American and foreign, seems most desirable if not imperative. Whether this material should be filed in the station library or in the college library and to what extent it should be duplicated is a matter for each institution to decide, according to its needs and local conditions. In the case of an experiment station located on the college campus and near enough to the college or university for the station workers to use the general library, there is still much to be said in favor of a separate reference and reading room for the experiment station staff with an assistant in charge, the collection consisting principally of the "official agricultural literature," a selected list of current periodicals and a good selection of reference books of special interest in experiment station work. The ideal plan would be for this room to adjoin the university library like a seminar room. If it is not feasible on account of distance for the experiment station workers to have the collection next to the general library, then it should of course be in the experiment station building or agricultural hall.

Libraries of the second or departmental type,—namely, where the college of agriculture and the experiment station collections are combined, contain in general all the library resources of the institution along purely agricultural lines, including the "official agricultural literature," and in addition a fairly complete collection in the sciences relating to agriculture. Such libraries have a two-fold purpose. They must supply the needs of the professors and scientists in connection with their investigations and in addition must serve the students of the agricultural college. If the college of agriculture and the experiment station are some distance from the university,—so far as to make frequent consultation of the university library impracticable, there is no question but that the college of agriculture and the experiment station ought to have a separate library for their especial needs. If on the other hand they are near enough to the university library to make it feasible for the professors and scientists to use it frequently, it is an open question whether it is wise to separate the agricultural collections. It is then a question of a central library versus a departmental or special library. The nearer the college of agriculture library is to the university library, the more intensive should its collections become.

There is much to be said in favor of the third type of agricultural library,—namely, where the agricultural collections are incorporated with the college or university collections. When the topography of the campus and the location of the buildings are such as to make it feasible for the station workers and the agricultural professors to use the college or university library, the balance of the arguments seems to be in favor of this arrangement, both as regards economy of funds and efficiency of service, if the special needs of the station workers can be and are given proper consideration by providing the really necessary duplicates and an assistant especially qualified to aid in the bibliographical research connected with the investigations of the experiment station. There is a decided tendency toward unity in modern science. This is especially true in the sciences relating to agriculture. The entomologist needs to use botanical books, the botanist must use chemical books, etc., etc. This has an important bearing on library problems and as far as agricultural libraries are concerned, is an argument for centralized collections.

As it is probable that it will be a long time in the future, if ever, before the experiment stations will have sufficient funds to build up complete collections for their special use, independent of the colleges, and since it is a question whether, if funds were actually available, it would be wise to expend them in duplicating to such an extent the college library collections, it seems evident that some compromise arrangement is inevitable. In attempting to work out a satisfactory library plan, every institution should make a careful survey of local conditions, such as the size of the collections, the size of the library staff, funds available, location and architecture of the college and experiment station buildings, and then attempt to work out the best possible policy under its peculiar conditions. In working out such a policy, there are three important points to consider,—the question of administration, the question of convenience and the economy of funds.

As regards administration, attention has already been called to the fact that the station is by law a department of the college and under its control. If fully lived up to, this fact would seem to decide many vexed questions of administration. Sooner or later, it is believed, the colleges and experiment stations will find that there is less to be gained by standing alone than they had supposed and they will realize the advantages of a unified library administration for the institution as a whole.

In considering the question of convenience, distance is the most important factor. This difficulty can, however, to a great extent be minimized by an adequate telephone and messenger service between the library and the various departments of the college. Even for the sake of convenience, it is a question whether any institution is justified in separating its agricultural collections from the college or university library, unless it is prepared to provide an efficient assistant to look after the collection. Because books are near at hand does not mean that they are more accessible.

If an institution is limited in funds and if its total resources in books do not exceed 30,000 volumes, there seems little doubt but that the interests of the station and college can best be served by combining forces and resources in one strong library with adequate service, unless the topographical conditions make this plan impossible. Such a combination certainly husbands the finances, since separate libraries involving a duplication of catalogs and reference books necessitates a considerable outlay of funds.

But whatever the details of the library arrangement for the institution may be, the station should by all means have if possible the services of some person, call him what you will,—librarian, bibliographer, or reference assistant, who may give his time and energy quite fully to the special requirements of the station,—for example, in keeping the official literature complete and up to date, in looking up references, making excerpts, making and taking care of indexes, preparing bibliographical lists, and in doing bibliographical work of a miscellaneous character. There is unquestionably need for librarians trained along agricultural lines. It would seem as though the library training schools of the universities of Wisconsin and Illinois were peculiarly well situated to make a specialty of training librarians for agricultural work.

One of the important duties of such an assistant, regardless of whether the agricultural collections are maintained as a separate library or incorporated with the general library, should be the care and collection of agricultural publications obtainable by gift or exchange. There is now a great accumulation of public and miscellaneous documents, American and foreign, which may be obtained at little or no expense as regards purchase, but the collection, safeguarding and general care of this material is a very considerable task. Too many of the agricultural colleges and experiment stations have not sufficiently regarded the importance of collecting this material and of keeping their files complete and in a readily available form. A large portion of this material is never noted in the bibliographies of the book trade. It must be sought for in catalogs and book lists, in reviews, second-hand catalogs, and in many less obvious places. Much of the material is not for sale and is only obtainable by gift or exchange. It is therefore an important matter that there should be close co-operation between the experiment station and the library in arranging such exchanges. The station bulletins and reports, published by each state, should be the means of obtaining for the station or college library many valuable exchanges from this country and abroad.

In regard to the accessions to the library, whether obtained by purchase or gift, there are certain definite principles which should be followed: first, it is most desirable that all the purchases of books and periodicals for all the collections included in the university and experiment station should be made by the central general library, even the books purchased from the Adams fund, in connection with some definite project; second that all the records in regard to the resources of the library be kept in the general library. Furthermore, all the collections, whether obtained by gift or purchase, should be regarded as the unquestioned property of the institution at large, and under the custody of the librarian.

In regard to the purchase of books from the Adams fund, the fact that the experiment station worker needs in connection with an investigation certain books not already in the library, which books he is allowed to purchase from the Adams fund, is not, in the opinion of the office of experiment stations, reason for assuming that the books should not be purchased through the library or that they shall not be regarded as the property of the library. Therefore, in a library efficiently administered, there would be no inflexible rules which would make it impossible for any experiment station worker to retain in his laboratory for an indefinite period while he is carrying on his investigations, the books which he especially needs to have at hand, regardless of the fact that they were purchased through the library. As far as the office of experiment stations is concerned in the supervision of the accounts of the purchases made by the state experiment stations from the Adams fund, it has interpreted the law to mean that the funds can be used in part for the purchase of books needed to carry on a special experiment in progress but it does not hold that books so purchased must be held as the property of the department. On the contrary, it is inclined to believe that the funds will be safeguarded fully as well if not better, by the purchase of books through the library.

As regards the assignment of funds for the library, there is lacking in many of the agricultural colleges and experiment stations any well matured policy. A hard and fast allotment of funds to departments is of doubtful wisdom. It would be better to be guided more by the use likely to be made of the books by the various departments than to attempt any impartial division among them. In all but a few of the state agricultural colleges and experiment stations the funds available for books are pitiably small. They need to be greatly increased. In some instances the purchase of scientific books seems unduly restricted as compared with expensive apparatus. As long as the funds are meagre, there is the more need for a well equipped, progressive librarian, with a knowledge of the resources of other libraries, who will co-operate with other libraries, and by exchanges and inter-library loans be able to supplement the resources of his own library. The library of the U. S. Department of Agriculture has been glad to lend its books to state agricultural colleges and experiment stations as freely as possible without interfering with the work of the department. The borrowing of a book needed for the special use of an investigator will often avoid the necessity of purchasing it and leave the funds available for the purchase of books of more general use.

The answers to the questionnaire sent out by the Agricultural libraries section disclosed the fact that a large number of the agricultural colleges, but none of the experiment stations, have library committees, and that the college library committee's activities do not, except in a few instances, extend to the stations. It is not the purpose of this paper to discuss general library problems except so far as they touch upon the problems of the agricultural library. No arguments pro or con will therefore be brought to bear upon the desirability of library committees. If, however, it is thought best by an institution to have a library committee, it should by all means be a committee for the whole institution. As already emphasized, the station is a department of the college and there would seem to be no reason for excluding it in the consideration of the library problems of the college, for there is no department of the college whose interest in the library is more vital. It was interesting to note that in one of the state agricultural college libraries, whose growth in the last few years has been remarkable, there is no library committee. In another college with a growing and progressive library, the library committee was referred to as not much help and no hindrance. In some colleges the powers of the library committee are described as merely advisory as to library policies; in others, it evidently has considerable power, the decision in regard to the purchase of books being left largely to the library committee. It is a question whether this latter arrangement is altogether wise. There are certain dangers connected with it. If the librarian cannot be trusted to make a wise selection of books for the college, with the help of recommendations of the members of the faculty and station staff, then the disadvantages connected with a library committee empowered to decide on the purchase of books should be minimized as far as possible by having the library committee rotate in office, in order to insure a fair representation of the needs of all departments of the institution.

In the case of the experiment stations, the decision in regard to the purchase of books in most instances rests entirely with the director or the heads of the departments. This plan, too, has its disadvantages. The ambitious specialist allowed to have his own way without regard to the needs of his fellow workers is apt to purchase books of service only to himself. If there is a library committee for the institution, it would be far better to have the book purchases for the station considered by the committee on the basis of a general policy taking into account the special requirements of the station's work and funds. If there is no library committee, then the librarian of the college should by all means be consulted in regard to the purchase of all books for the station as well as the college. It should, of course, be understood by the librarian, as well as by other officers of the institution, that purchases of books and periodicals for the experiment station under the Hatch Act should be strictly confined to those required in connection with the work of the station and under the Adams act to those directly relating to the approved project of research. It will, therefore, be necessary for the station director to pass on the extent of the library purchases from station funds and the character of the books and periodicals to be thus purchased.

Among the functions, problems and opportunities of the librarians of our agricultural colleges, extension work remains to be considered. The extension work of the agricultural college is now one of its vital activities and is every year enlarging its scope. Leaders are needed for every phase of this work,—for correspondence schools, for farmers' institutes, for movable schools of agriculture, for work on practice farms, and in many other of the activities which are being used in carrying the improved methods of modern agriculture to the farmer himself. The experiment station is an organized effort of science to improve agriculture, and the extension work of the agricultural college is the practical means of reaching the farmer with useful information. The rural problem is one of the burning public questions of the day and upon its proper solution depends much of the progress which we confidently expect. The farmer must himself co-operate in the solution of this problem and the leadership is of a very high order that recognizes as an absolute essential to success, and succeeds in enlisting, an active participation on the part of the farmer in the work of bringing about an improved practice of agriculture. If then the library is as important in all the phases of the work of the agricultural college as we deem it to be, the work of the library should by all means be represented in all the extension work activities.

In conclusion, the above suggestions regarding the administration of the agricultural college and experiment station libraries and their opportunities for service to the investigator, the student and the farmer, may be briefly summarized as follows:

First: The libraries of the agricultural colleges and experiment stations should always be in charge of well-trained and efficient librarians.

Second: The books and periodicals should be selected with reference to the well-considered needs of the various branches of the institution, having regard for the vast amount of literature which may be secured by gift and exchange.

Third: The experiment station collection, even when separately housed, should be considered and administered as an integral part of the college or university library, under the direction of the college or university librarian.

Fourth: The needs of the experiment station staff should be met by the employment of a librarian, bibliographer or reference assistant especially qualified to serve the station in all its interests.

Fifth: In the extension work activities of the college for the more direct benefit of the farmer, the library should have its share.

It is realized that there may be a wide difference of opinion as to the methods to be employed, but the object of this paper will be in part accomplished if it directs attention to the principles upon which a policy of administration should be built. The problems of the library need the combined thought and efforts of librarians, faculties and experiment station staffs in order that it may by its efficiency promote to the fullest extent the work of the agricultural colleges and experiment stations.

Several papers were presented on

SOME TYPES OF AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE AND EXPERIMENT STATION LIBRARIES

The first was by CLARENCE S. HEAN, librarian of the college of agriculture of the University of Wisconsin, on the type

(a) Agricultural College and Experiment Station Libraries Combined and Separate from the University Library but under its Control.

Mr. Hean said in part:

The administrative officers of the University of Wisconsin believe thoroughly in the theory that teaching and research should go hand in hand. That theory practically applied in our college of agriculture and agricultural experiment station virtually combines the two organizations into one.

This agricultural department of the university is housed in a group of buildings at the extreme western end of the campus. The general university library is situated at the extreme eastern end, a full half mile away. It therefore seemed advisable to establish a departmental library for the convenience of our agricultural workers.

In our college the funds received from the United States are not nearly sufficient to finance all of the station work, or research work as we call it. The budget is made up by adding together the income from all sources and apportioning this whole amount among the departments according to their needs and talents. Orders may then be issued by each department, subject to the dean's approval, to the extent of its allotment. When bills are received the head of the department marks with an "R" all items ordered for research (i. e. station) work. The bookkeeper enters items so marked against United States funds until they are exhausted. The library being a department of the college its funds are treated in this same manner. This marking of research items in the bills with an "R" is the only distinction ever made between books purchased for station or for college purposes.

All of the books purchased are classified, cataloged and filed as one collection. It is understood throughout the college that books for the Adams or Hatch investigations are to be purchased by the library. Such books when received are given the right of way in all library processes and forwarded immediately to the investigator who requested them.

The selection of books rests with the library committee. This committee consists of five members of the faculty appointed by the dean for a term of one year, and the librarian, an ex officio member. The chairman of the committee has been reappointed for many consecutive terms. The other members are rotated among the different departments. Lists of books for consideration at their monthly meetings are made up by the librarian. Any member of the faculty, or student either for that matter, may recommend books to go on the list.

The selections having been made, the list is forwarded to the university librarian. It is then checked with the university catalog. Items already available anywhere on the campus are reported back for further consideration. If it is the judgment of the committee that an additional copy is needed in our library it is so ordered, but all needless duplication is avoided. The actual order is made out by the university librarian who has at hand the bibliographical data for such work.

The books are received, accessioned and plated at the general library. They are then forwarded to our college library to be classified and cataloged. All our books are permitted to circulate not only among the students and professors of our own college but among those of any college of the university. In return the same privilege is granted to us by the other colleges. Having a well developed delivery system and a liberal loaning policy, we encourage the policy of a strong central library.

The next paper, prepared by ASA DON DICKINSON, librarian State college of Washington, treated type

(b) The experiment station library separate from the college library but under its control.

Mr. Dickinson said in part:

In the state college of Washington, the experiment station library is said to be separate from the college, but under its control. Our college library building occupies a central position on the campus, not over two hundred yards from the offices of most of the members of the station staff. Part of the lowest tier of the college library book stack is set aside for the accommodation of the station library, the point of division being marked by a gate. A specially designated member of the college library staff acts as station librarian, under the direction of the college librarian. Her salary is paid largely but not wholly out of the station funds. Her duties as station librarian occupy about one-third of her time, but these duties have precedence over her college library work. In the absence of the station librarian, members of the station staff are served by the college library staff.

Our station library is made up almost entirely (1) of publications of the U. S. Department of agriculture; (2) of publications of the state experiment stations, and departments of agriculture and horticulture; (3) of the agricultural, horticultural and kindred periodicals. The college library contains duplicate collections of the first two classes of material. The third class in our experience is relatively of less importance, as it consists chiefly of the popular "farm-papers." The station library, like the college library, has its own card-catalog of U. S. Department of agriculture publications, and its own card-index of experiment station literature.

Students and practitioners of the science of agriculture seem to be specially fortunate in that so much of the valuable material on their subject is published and freely distributed by the federal and state governments. There is perhaps no other science in which the unofficial literature is so relatively unimportant. It is true, the technical journals of the allied sciences contain much that is of value to the experiment station worker. But so far as my experience goes, the use of this is not constant and continuous, as is the case with governmental material. Let us have separate and distinct sets of state and federal "Bulletins," for our college workers and for our station workers, as both classes need to refer to them so frequently. But is not this going far enough? Is it not the wisest policy to confine our station library collection principally to these well-thumbed publications, and to place the less constantly used and more expensive unofficial material in the college library, where it can be of service to a larger public?

MISS MARGARET HUTCHINS, of the reference department of the University of Illinois library described type

(c) Experiment station library consolidated with the university library.

Until 1897 the library of the Illinois experiment station and the university library were separately housed, cared for and supported. In that year the state erected a library building for the university and in it the experiment station deposited its collection of nearly five thousand titles. From that time the station ceased buying books from the Hatch fund, with the possible exception of a very few books for laboratory equipment, and it has never bought any from the Adams fund. The books deposited by the experiment station in the university library were classified and cataloged and became a part of the library. The only difference in treatment from books otherwise acquired was that the experiment station books were accessioned separately so that it would be possible to take them out of the library again if desired. All books and periodicals bought or exchanged for the experiment station since 1897 have been dealt with like those bought or exchanged for the university. The questions of administration come therefore for the most part under the general library policy.

Books are purchased for the university either out of the legislative appropriation for the library or the appropriations for the university and its different colleges and departments of investigation.

1. Library funds.

The library funds are assigned to the various departments in the colleges of the university by a committee on the apportionment of library funds, consisting of the president, the librarian and the deans of the colleges, who act on the recommendations of a senate library committee. This is composed of the president and the librarian and seven members representing the following interests; Agriculture, Engineering, Science, Graduate school, Library, The languages, literature and arts, and The philosophical and social sciences. Besides preparing for the first mentioned committee on apportionment, detailed estimates of the library needs of the various colleges, schools and departments, the library committee acts as an advisory board to the librarian in matters of library administration and policy. The college of agriculture, which in Illinois is of course intimately connected with the agricultural experiment station, receives its share of the library funds for the purchase of books selected by its professors and investigators.

2. Maintenance Funds, called Equipment funds in the Library to distinguish from Library funds.

Books are also purchased out of the legislative appropriations for the support of certain colleges and out of allotments made by the trustees from the general university funds for colleges not specifically provided for by the legislature. In the case of agricultural books these funds have the two purposes: the maintenance fund for the college of agriculture and the experiment station and, second, the appropriations for special departments of investigation in the experiment station.

The general policy of the faculty of the college of agriculture (or the staff of the experiment station) as to purchase of books out of these two different funds for college and experiment station is to buy books for special investigations out of station funds unless they clearly would be of use also to the students and instructors of the college at large. Books needed by the special investigator and the college in general at the same time are duplicated. When books are no longer needed in the laboratory or office for the special work for which they were bought, they are returned for general circulation to the main library by whose staff they were ordered and cataloged. Books already in the library, whether bought out of library funds or equipment funds for any college may be sent to a laboratory, office, or reading room from the main library unless they are needed for reference or class use in the main library or any branch of it.

Exchange.

The library and experiment station also work together in the matter of exchanges. The library exchange assistant arranges for the exchange of experiment station publications the same as for other publications of the university, while the station attends to the actual mailing of its publications, as it has better facilities for this than the library. In this way the library receives from the exchange of the agricultural experiment station publications alone between four and five hundred publications, of which more than one-half are from foreign countries, seventy agricultural periodicals and the publications of ninety learned societies being obtained in addition to the publications of state universities and stations and universities and libraries all over the world. Besides these, the library receives by the exchange of other University of Illinois publications many hundred more publications, some of which are of interest to agricultural scientists and economists.

Advantages of the Consolidation of Station and University Libraries

1. Economy of administration.

No staff of agriculturists or any other specialists trained for scientific or literary research can be expected to order, catalog and care for books as quickly and efficiently as can the well organized library staff of forty, with its order department, gifts, exchange and periodical assistants, and cataloging, binding, loan, and reference departments, whose whole time and attention is devoted to these special lines of library work. The library, too, which handles some thirty thousand new books a year can afford to have more elaborate equipment in the way of trade bibliographies of various countries, catalogs of other libraries, mechanical means for duplicating catalog cards, shelving books, etc., than can such an institution as an experiment station whose money should be spent mostly on salaries of specialists and laboratory and field equipment.

2. Security in preservation of valuable books.

While the majority of agricultural departments at Illinois favor departmental libraries, they all make it conditional—"If we had a proper and secure place for them." All with whom I have talked have also emphasized the advisability, almost the necessity, of keeping all books on the campus, whether in departmental libraries, laboratories or main library, under the central administration and the supervision of the librarian of the university.

3. Opportunity to use books and periodicals purchased by other colleges of the university.

It can readily be seen that books and periodicals purchased especially by the College of Science may also be of use to the Agricultural experiment station. The agricultural faculty also benefit by the periodicals, university publications, etc., received in exchange for publications of other colleges in the university.

4. Greater educational opportunities.

The agricultural experiment station, while receiving the benefits thus enumerated from its close connection with the university library, is able also to extend its circle of influence through the library, which naturally reaches more people than the station could by itself. Not only do the students and faculty of the other colleges of the university have an opportunity to use the agricultural books, but people throughout the state can and do borrow them from the library.

Discussion on the same type of library administration was continued in a paper prepared by Mrs. IDA A. KIDDER, librarian of the Oregon Agricultural College library.

She said in part:

Our policy of one central library was rather thrust upon us by the exigency of our situation than deliberately chosen, for we began with a single librarian and one part time student assistant, but after four years' experience I should pursue the same general course. It is evident, however, that in libraries growing at the almost incredible rate of many of our western libraries, one must have principles of organization and administration, rather than a fixed policy, or inflexible plans.

At the Oregon agricultural college we have the advantage of having all our class room and laboratory buildings located near each other.

We have had no difficulty or complication as to funds, since nearly all our station funds have been used for experiments and laboratory equipment. At first we had almost no college funds for the purchase of books and periodicals, having only such portion of the general equipment fund as could be spared after equipping our rapidly growing laboratories, but at the last session of our legislature the library was granted a fund of $15,000 for the biennium for books, periodicals and binding, and of the Crop Pest fund of $15,000 a year, granted for investigation, ten per cent could be spent for books and periodicals. This has been used and the library has therefore had this biennium, $9,000 a year. Most of the Crop Pest fund has been spent for books directly useful to the station investigator. Of the regular college library fund, the station departments have received their share along with the strictly instructional departments. The library fund is apportioned by the president of the college, after consultation with the librarian, the basis of judgment being the need of the department together with its present equipment. The books purchased from station funds are usually for some specific investigation and are kept in the laboratory collection of the department purchasing. A record is kept of the books purchased under each different fund.

The head of each department is responsible for the books in his laboratory collection, and once a year an inventory is taken. In our general catalog we have the cards of every book kept in a department stamped, under the call number, with the name of that department; thus it is possible to locate from the catalog all books except those out on loan. All our freshmen have one semester's instruction in the use of the library, that is, one lecture and one practical problem a week, with one college credit allowed. During this period we urge the students to feel at liberty to go to any laboratory to consult any book needed for their work, but with all the encouragement we can give them, I feel convinced that the books kept in the laboratory collections do not have the general use from the students which they would have if they were located in the general library.

We expect soon to place in our agricultural building duplicate catalogs of the publications of the United States Department of agriculture and of the state experiment stations. This will be a great accommodation to the men working in the station.

We keep our duplicate reports and bulletins arranged so that at a moment's notice any duplicates may be found. We have one department whose work it is to secure and care for the continuations of value to an agricultural college. This is one of the most valuable features of our organization, and though it was difficult to give the service for such a definite department, from our small library force, it seemed imperative and has proved a wise step. The reference librarian of the college does the reference work for the station as far as called upon. She borrows for the use of the station from a number of other libraries.

It seems to me that the problem of administering the college and the experiment station library, whether separately or combined must always present a number of almost insurmountable difficulties; men engaged in research demand all material for their work closely and immediately at hand, instructional work requires that all the material on the campus shall be easily accessible to its use. To meet these so often conflicting demands without extravagant duplication requires of the librarian a broad-minded impartiality of judgement.

The next topic was a symposium of recent reference books and new periodicals of special interest to agricultural libraries, which was treated under the following heads: (a) New periodicals, by E. Lucy Ogden, Library of Congress; (b) Agricultural reference books, by Elizabeth S. Ingersoll, of Cornell university library, and (c) Reference books in sciences relating to agriculture, by Emma B. Hawks, of the U. S. Department of agriculture library.

Miss Claribel R. Barnett, librarian of the U. S. Department of agriculture library was re-elected chairman for the coming year.