College Library Standards

THE.COLLEGE LIBRARIAN who must discharge his professional responsibilities within the framework of an academic institution is dependent upon the level of support he receives from the college administration for the implementation of the library programs he plans. The availability of clear and authoritative standards setting forth the specac limits of acceptable library practice and support may mean the difference to the librarian between professional fulfillment and frustration. It is not surprising that for more than forty years college librarians have shown a lively interest in the search for viable college library standards. In the late 1920s library practitioners in many small colleges desperately needed a clear goal of excellence toward which their institutions could strive and a statement of that goal and the means to achieve it in quantitative terms which they could use with their administrations. Until 1929 the statement of what a college library should ideally be, both in qualitative and quantitative