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.