This is a transcription of the 1956-1957 University of Buffalo Library annual report. To view a facsimile of the report, click on the picture to the right:

To the Chancellor:

I have the honor to submit this report on the condition and activities of
the University Libraries during the academic year 1956-57.

Since this is the first time, for a full period of twelve months, that the
Libraries have had an Assistant Director; since he has been given an
almost completely "free" hand to administer the general affairs of the
Libraries; since, out of his knowledge and energy, he has instituted
important changes and furthered others which had begun before his
arrival; and since he brings a fresh and , "outside" mind to our problem, I
have asked him to prepare a statement concerning the current
circumstances of the Libraries.  With all that he says, I am in complete
agreement.  And I would like to underline, to give the fullest possible
prominence to his three basic requests:  1) that our present and future
employment policy be to acquire in all key positions, fully trained
librarians; 2) that salaries for clerical assistants be realistically
adjusted to the present demands of competition,  a program of annual
increments be put into operation; and 3) that measures be taken as speedily
as possible to remedy the space shortages under which we now suffer.  This
third request is immediately and imperatively important.  We need  to know
at once how we are physically to expand, in order that we plan wisely to take
the best advantage of what opportunities are offered, and not slip into
expediencies that will be costly because they are temporary.  We ought,
within the coming year, definitely to know the details of how we are to
increase our space for readers and for work-room.  Then we can move
accordingly, and work toward the practical goal which will assure 
the University of having the facilities which it will require.

       The Assistant Director's statement is as follows:

General Administration.  In recognition of the growing size of the library
staff a concerted effort was made to introduce formal procedures of
personnel administration.  A complete personnel file for each employee was
set up in the office of the Assistant Director.  This file includes
Information about the staff member's qualifications, his library employment
history, a complete record of his absences for any reason, and a month-by-
month accounting of time due him for vacation and sick leave.  In March 1957
each staff member was given a copy of a fifteen-page mimeographed manual
describing personnel policies of the University and the Library. 
Memoranda, a bimonthly newsletter (UB Libraries) and occasional general
meetings served to keep staff members aware of the latest developments.

To achieve proper coordination among working units the Supervising
Librarians Committee, consisting of the Assistant Director and all unit
heads, was created in January 1957.  The group met monthly to discuss
problem and policies that affect more than one unit. In studying these
problems each committee member considered the aims of the Library as a
whole as well as those of his own unit.


Order Division.  To equalize pressure of a heavy flow of acquisitions,
certain processing procedures formerly carried out in the Order Division
were assigned to the Cataloging Division, Circulation Department, and the
newly created Gift and Exchange Division during the year.  These changes
helped the Order Division to operate effectively with less than its usual
number of staff members.

Gift and Exchange Division.  Need for a single unit with full responsibility
for handling the large volume of material received by gift and exchange led
to creation of the Gift and Exchange Division on March 1. 1957.  Combining
processing procedures formerly scattered among other library units
permits more efficient handling of gift and exchange materials.  These
materials are scrutinized more carefully under a now selection policy.  The
apparent drop in the number of gifts added to the collection was due partly
to greater selectivity.  A temporary suspension of gift processing prior to
formation of the now division was another contributing factor.  Two book
sales open to faculty and students were held to dispose of books not
needed for the collection.  This novel library activity attracted favorable
attention.

Cataloging Division.  Although the output of the Cataloging Division kept
pace with new acquisitions, lack of adequate professional help prevented
work on essential cataloging projects.  Most important of these are
thorough editing of the card catalog and systematic re-cataloging of the
Library's serial holdings.  If the new cataloging position in the 1957-58
budget is suitably filled, these long overdue projects can be started.

Circulation Department.  Changes in circulation policies and procedures and
an increase in staff reduced pressure on the Circulation Department. 
Introduction of student identification cards, planned jointly by the IBM
office and the library administration, made possible elimination of the
registration file and the time consumed in checking It.  The most notable
innovation was the installation of McBee Keysort charge card system.  Use
of McBee cards permits the Circulation Department to maintain a single
record of all books not on the shelves.  Thus, more prompt and accurate
service can be given when servicing reader requests. Extending the
student loan period from one week to three weeks has reduced the clerical
work of renewals by more than 80 per cent.  Systematic efforts to retrieve
books from delinquent borrowers and faculty members who keep books for
long periods has considerably increased the number of library books
readily available for use.

Scheduling of staff time was made easier in November 1956 by adding two
circulation positions to the 1956-57 budget.  Even so, the Circulation
Department staff was not large enough to permit evening assignments.  As
in the past, night hours had to be covered by part-time help, usually
students.  To insure proper supervision and interpretation of library
policy, the two professional librarians in the department and a
professional librarian engaged on a part-time basis were scheduled to work
four nights a week, starting In February 1957.  As a result, professional
reference help was available to Millard Fillmore students for the first
time.

Reference service was more sharply focused to help students use the
Library's resources effectively.  A special reference desk near the card
catalog was covered from 10:00 A. M. - 12 noon and 2:00 - 5:OO P. M. each
weekday.  The Assistant Circulation Director initiated a series of lectures
for students to attend on a voluntary basis. Orientation talks for groups
of Graduate and professional school students were given on request
throughout the year.

Clerical costs of interlibrary loans were reduced by charging standard
fees instead of issuing individual bills.  Fees for faculty
were waived as an encouragement to their research and writing.

Special collections.  Members of Buffalo's Polish community continued
active interest in the Polish Room.  Many gifts both of money and books
enriched the collection during the year. Members of the Polish Arts Club
are planning a campaign to stimulate additional interest.

Departmental and School Libraries.    During the year each of the
departmental and school libraries operated under some difficulty.  The
Engineering Library suffered from the poor physical arrangement of its
reading room and stack space.  A suggested move to the third floor of the
Engineering Building was rejected because the proposed location does not
offer sufficient advantage to justify the expense involved.  Nevertheless,
the present quarters are undesirable.  A possible remedy would be to
create a combined Engineering-Physical sciences library in a separate
structure between the Engineering Building and the proposed Chemistry
Building.

The Science Library in Foster Hall suffered the disadvantages of its one-
woman staff. Several disabilities kept Miss Cheplowits from her work
intermittently during the year.  Although members of the Circulation
Department kept the Science Library open, the quality of service was lower
than might be provided by someone familiar with the collection.

The Medical-Dental Library encountered persistent staffing problems.  Low
salaries as well as look of suitable candidates contributed to the fact that
during a good part of the year the Library operated with two instead of
four regular staff members. Mrs.  Hilda Peters and Miss Sandra Anderson
deserve high praise for maintaining basic services under difficult
conditions.

Although the Law Library is autonomous, the inherent shortcoming of its
having only one regular staff member must be mentioned. During any
extended absence of Miss Crinsey, student assistants could not manage the
lib in a satisfactory fashion.  At least one full-time clerical position
should be allocated to the Law Library.  The salary for this position should
be large enough to attract a desirable candidate.

Problems. As in years past the principal library problem was obtaining
satisfactory candidates for staff vacancies.  In the case of the
professional position in the Medical-Dental Library this lack of success
was largely due to strong competition for trained librarians.  The
proportion of library school graduates to the number of vacancies is
steadily decreasing.  Professional librarians seeking jobs have a wide
choice in salary, type of institution, geographical location and working
conditions.  With no local library school, the Library must attract
applicants from other areas.  The Niagara Frontier is not a favored
geographical location and our salaries do not compare favorably with those
of other institutions.  Further increases in salary levels will be
necessary before the Library can compete for professional librarians.

The disparity between salaries offered by the University and those
offered by local firms create similar difficulties in hiring suitable
clerical workers.  The general increase in University salaries and
attractive fringe benefits were highly beneficial, but they did not
eliminate the problem.  A carefully developed job classification with an
appropriate salary scale (including automatic increments) is needed to put
the University on a sound competitive footing in the labor market.  In the
1957-58 budget the Library took the first stop by raising its minimum
salary to $2300 a year.

A second major problem is lack of suitable library facilities.  With the
exception of the Capen Hall installation, all of the libraries suffer from a
shortage of reading room space and suitable work areas.  Lockwood Memorial
Library was not planned for use by some 10,000 students.  Lack of space for
open shelf collections and absence of stack communication saddle the
Circulation Department with an antiquated system of "running for books". 
This is time consuming and a real obstacle to a student's chance to learn
from books.  The offices of the Order, Gift and Exchange, and Catalog
Divisions are so widely separated that the flow of materials is extremely
devious.  Disjointed procedures are time-cosuming and (in the final
analysis) expensive.  Need for more and better reading room and work space
is not a matter for the future, it is an insistent, immediate demand. 
Considering the consequences of growth in the enrollment, the University
administration should bear in mind that, even on present terms, the
facilities of the libraries are seriously inadequate.  Steps to remedy the
situation cannot be taken too soon.

End of Assistant Director's statement.

                                * * * * * * * * * * 

The activities in and around the Poetry Collection have been many and
varied throughout the year.  Several books, based in part on the Library's
holdings, have appeared both in England and America, including Patricia
Hutchins's James Joyce's World, and Harry Moore's Poste Restante.  The
Library itself has published in a limited edition (of which all copies are not
as yet taken, though enough have been sold to defray expenses, and a new
volume is under way) Professor Silverman's Joyce's Epiphanies.  Graduate
theses at several other universities have been indebted to us for their
matter.  I strongly hope that, with the advent to the Poetry Room of David
Posner in the coming September and the expected appearance in the English
Department of Professor Townsend, we will see the beginning of a newly
vigorous liaison between the Poetry Collection and the English Department. 
There seems to me to be no reason why the English Department should not
gradually so strengthen itself in the field of modern letters that it could
take full advantage of the resources which the Poetry Collection has to
offer for graduate study.  Why shouldn't we have our own students using
these materials, instead of men and women who write their theses out of our
holdings and receive their degrees from other institutions.  All we need is
an English Department strong in contemporary literature, and, with
Professor Silverman's eager cooperation, I believe we should achieve just
that.

Meanwhile the slow and steady work of accumulation goes on.  This year's
"take" has been modestly impressive.  I would mention, n particular, some
important letters of Edward Thomas, a late worksheet of Dylan Thomas, and
some major Ezra Pound material. Mrs. Jean Starr Untermeyer has augmented
her already large contribution by further series of the letters of such
figures as Sylvia Townsend Warner, H. D., and Leonora Speyer.

This year we have had readings, open to the public, by six poets: Stephen
Spender, Richard Eberhart, Donald Hall, Ogden Nash (jointly with the Fenton 
Foundation).  Cecil Day Lewis, and Paul Engle.  These readings were financed
in part through a contribution from Mrs. James McCormick Mitchell whose
generosity I would like gratefully to acknowledge.  They have been decently
successful in a double way: first, the attendance (capacity-houses for
three of them) proves that they can be "public occasions" of considerable
import to the life and cultural activity of the University; second, the
reading poets become personally interested in the special projects that
motivate the Poetry Collection.  For example, immediately after their visits,
both Mr. Rash and Mr. Hall presented the Library with large portfolios of
their manuscripts.

Exhibitions of the work of each of the poet-visitors were mounted in the
Poetry Room at the time of their appearances. And in the Main Exhibition
Room two extensive shows were arranged, "Modern Private Press Books" and
"The Publishing of Novels in England 1740-1910", the latter of which will
remain on view during the summer.

One Library-University function, which has been (with one lapse a regular
and, communitywise, popular event in the year's calendar, took place for the
last time in its customary form.  This was the annual Christmas Carol
Concert in which Mrs. George Barrell has since 1937 led her band of singers
in a program that has been always well chosen, stirringly performed, and
consistently enjoyed by a large gathering.  Mrs. Barrell, believing that the
tradition of presenting such music under University auspices is now well,
established and that the University itself, through its Music Department,
can now more properly provide its own chorus, has decided to withdraw her
services.  It is expected that Mr. Baird and Mr. Beattie will now take over.  I
should like, however, to take this opportunity of expressing my personal
gratitude to Mrs. Barrell for the devotion which she lavished upon this
enterprise, for the persistence with which she kept it going for so many
years some of which were exceedingly difficult, and especially for the
indomitable enthusiasm with which she invariably managed each occasion.



                                                          Charles D. Abbott
                                                          Director of Libraries



                        REPORT OF UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

                    STATISTICS OF ATTENDANCE AND CIRCULATION

                           FISCAL YEARS 1956 and 1957


                         Attendance                    Circulation
                    1955-1956      1956-1957      1955-1956      1956-1957
Lockwood             280,240        284,550         91,322        109,808
Engineering           40,615         51,583         24,258         34,289
Science               30,552  [1]    34,458         22,145         18,992  [3]
Medical-Dental        57,213         62,490         26,402   [1]   27,038
Law                  (50,000) [2]   (62,000) [2]   (101,902) [2] (102,406) [2]

Total                408,621        433,081         164,127       190,127

     [1] Corrected figure
     [2] Estimate, not comparable to other figures 
         and not included in total
     [3] Reduction of circulation due to transfer
         of materials to other service units


                      VOLUMES ADDED TO THE COLLECTIONS
                                     AND
                       TOTAL CONTENTS OF THE LIBRARIES

                         FISCAL YEARS 1956 and 1957

     Additions                                Total Contents

1955-1956   1956-1957     April 30, 1956            April 30, 1957
 10,243      10,230          332,253                   342,483