Post-War Standards for Public LibrariesReview by: Carl H. ChattersThe Library Quarterly, Vol. 14, No. 2 (Apr., 1944), pp. 163-164Published by: The University of Chicago PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4303221 .

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REVIEWS I63

This volume Man the Measure is the work of such a refugee. Formally it is a survey of world history, but actually it is an attempt to dis- cover and expound a principle that will give to history a coherence and a meaning. The author believes that he has found such a principle in his identification of the specific quality that makes man human. This, he maintains, is man's ability to transcend his own being-to objectify himself and to subjectify his fellows. Accord- ingly, this treatise traces the evolution of "the human" through the ages from its first emer- gence in primeval man to its resubmergence in the bestiality of the Nazi system. At every point the exposition is masterly: the world events selected for discussion are admirably chosen, and their interpretation in terms of the author's formula is always ingenuous. Even one who finds Dr. Kahler's main rationalistic thesis less probable than the traditional ex- planations of theology must profit greatly by the broad sweep of his vision, his pregnant comments, and his illuminating intuitions.

This is a book which many Americans should study, but above all the American librarian, whose profession imposes a special obligation. He must deal with every range of scholarship from mathematics to poetry. Accordingly, he needs, in a way that the specializing scholar does not, a sense of historic unity, intellectual perspective, and comparative values. All these he will find abundantly in this volume.

PIERCE BUTLER Graduate Library School

University of Chicago

Post-war Standards for Public Libraries. Pre- pared by the COMMITTEE ON POST-WAR PLANNING OF THEE AMERICAN LIBRARY Asso- CIATION, CARLETON BRUNS JOECKEL, CHAIR- MAN. ("Planning for Libraries," No. i.) Chicago: American Library Association, I943. Pp. 92. $I.50.

This book is clear, concise, and authoritative. Conclusions of the authors sound like practical suggestions of experienced librarians. Even a slight undertone of evangelism for the public library adds to the interest and value of the document. Certainly the standards can be used for the purposes intended; that is, as a measure for individual libraries and as a national measuring-stick. There can be little disagree- ment with the broad conclusion that a planned program of library development includes com-

plete library coverage, library service of ade- quate quantity and dynamic quality, and large units and co-operation in library service. How- ever, the specific standards are high. Thus, while librarians might approve them, the task of selling them to the public as part of the tax bill presents greater obstacles.

Standards of library service are given in quantitative as well as in general terms. The quantitative standards include registered borrowers, circulation of books, and hours of service. General standards relate to the avail- ability of reference and reading aid, adult education, services to children and young people, and adequate records.

Highly commendable is the suggestion that the library should be an integral part of local government and not a subordinate part of the school system. Surely, a state library agency is needed to develop leadership and extend service. The plea for federal financial aid to local li- braries seems incompatible with state and local control. Why should the federal government give financial aid unless the states and their local governments have shown their financial inability to provide more extended services by use of their own resources?

The line between the policy-making duties of the library board and the administrative duties of the chief librarian is well drawn. No govern- mental activity can function properly without a complete separation of the legislative or ad- visory body from the professional executive.

A distinct contribution to the entire field of public administration occurs in the discus- sion of library standards of size and area. The statement that "public library units should be large enough in population, area, and financial support to insure adequate library service" is equally true of other public functions. But the case for the library is easier to demonstrate.

Those librarians who favor a segregated tax levy for library purposes may not like the recommendation that library appropriations should be considered in terms of other com- munity needs and that the library appropriation should be determined by the legislative body of the political unit served by the library. This reviewer, however, thinks the idea is sound from the viewpoint of the library and the local gov- ernment. Librarians may well bear in mind that a public agency which does not have to fight for its existence may become self-centered or it may be forgotten.

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I64 THE LIBRARY QUARTERLY

Is the national minimum of $i.oo per capita annually for public library support defensible? Such a standard oversimplifies a complex problem. However, if libraries need greater financial support to do their work efficiently and more extensively, then the $i.oo minimum be- comes a slogan to help promote a cause. The slogan is no more wrong than the efforts of a motorcar manufacturer to sell on the slogan "Economical Transportation."

The attainment of a national minimum of $i.oo per capita for library support would probably be an indication that library service had made great advances, but it would not prove that a single library was operating effectively or meeting minimum standards. However, if libraries now cannot meet the standards of service described in this mono- graph and if they can do so by increased ex- penditures, then the goal of $i.oo per capita is a desirable goal, provided, first, that the money is not needed more urgently for other com- munity services. The propriety of the ex- penditure of $i.oo per capita, or any other amount, depends on the effectiveness with which the money is used and the relation of library services to other community services. The same comments would apply generally to the minimum of $1.50 per capita for reasonably good service and $2.00 for superior service.

Librarians can best be the judges of the standards of buildings, of the book collection, of personnel, and of technical processes, de- scribed in the last four sections. The standards are high and are supported by authorities on the various subjects.

Although they are labeled "post-war," these standards are applicable at any time. They can contribute to the future usefulness of libraries by giving lay citizens and professional li- brarians some concrete methods of testing present performances. When this second step has progressed, it will be easier to determine a future program for public libraries.

The monograph creates the impression that it was carefully and skilfully prepared to serve a practical purpose. The best practical use would be to have every chief librarian sit down with his governing board and see how his library measures up to the standards proposed. The book deserves this attention-and so does the library. CARL H. CHATTERS

Municipal Finatce Officers' A ssociation Chicago

The Public Library Service: Its Post-war Re- organization and Development: Proposals by the Council of the LibraryAssociation. London: Library Association, I943. Pp. I6. 6d.

In I942 the Library Association of Great Britain published The Public Library System of Great Britain: A Report on Its Present Condition with Proposals for Post-war Reorganization," by Lionel R. McColvin, city librarian of West- minster and honorary secretary of the Library Association (reviewed by Louis R. Wilson in the Library Quarterly [July, '9431; by Carleton B. Joeckel in the A.L.A. Bulletin [May, I943]).

That was a personal report. "Whether, and to what extent, the Association will in fact endorse the views and support the recom- mendations," Mr. McColvin said in his Intro- duction, "is entirely a matter for the Association itself to determine."

The answer, at least in part, to that implied question is to be found in this sixteen-page pamphlet of fifty-three numbered paragraphs in which the Council sets forth its own "pro- posals for the Post-war Reorganization and Development of the Public Library Service" of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It is a worthy successor to other distinguished library reports produced in England.

The four most important recommendations are: (i) the provision of adequate servicesby suitable library authorities must be made compulsory; (2) there must be an appropriate department of the central government re- sponsible for guiding, encouraging, and co- ordinating the work of local library authorities and insisting upon their efficiency; (3) all local authorities must be rendered financially able to attain efficiency; and (4) the composition and size of local government areas must be such that the best results are made possible.

All these recommendations, and especially the first, may well be a challenge to American library thought. In my opinion, compulsory library legislation is long overdue in this coun- try-and must be sought even if it will be just about forty-eight times as difficult to achieve as in Great Britain.

The discussion of relations with the national government is interesting in view of our desire for federal and state aid and our fear of federal control. The Council proposes a new national ministry to be concerned with libraries, broad- casting, museums, music, the drama, the cinema and literature; or, as second choice, "a new and

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