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.