Evening star., 1947-04-21

OF hts admtnistration ration Of the sre.test biblio-
OF all the circumstances which were
present when assumed the Librarian
ship, one was paramount: The knowl-
edge that henceforth we would live and
work In = new world. And for me and
my associates it meant that we must
revise and rebuild and reconstitute the
library to resolve for its own part and
within the terms of its own duties, the
problems which this new world would
encounter. It was a time for planning;
for planning SO intense. % searching, so
responsible and SCI realistic that the re-
suit would be persuasive, unpretentious
and perfectly practicable. More than
that 1t must be reducible to the stark,
unlovely and rigid prescription Of
governmental budget.
This much was certain: The library
had reached = turning point in its
affairs. It could 60 forward and fulfill
the purposes which 1t was so uniquely
designed and equipped to serve; or it
could, merely by holding to its present
course, Subside into q sterility from
which it could never quite recover. If
these things that needed doing were
not done here they would be done else
where at greater cost in efficiency and
competence and public benefit, as well
as at greater cost in money to the
Nations citizens.
When became Librarian Of Congress
one day before the start of the fiscal
year 1916, found that the institution
intrusted to my care was 'big busi-
fyau cfy,ao nf
3105, ,000, 600; its annual appropriations
for salaries, for the increase of its coll
lections, ETC., exceeded IS, 900 900, and q
total of $5,750,O00 had been received as
private or corporate gifts and endow-
ments. The library was shareholder
in great industrial enterprises: it was a
landlord and a merchant. It was 4
source as well as an object of revenue;
from copyright fees, from the sale of
printed catalogue cards. and from other
services 1t was returning approximately
$750,000 to the Treasury every year.
New Times Bring New Problems.
However, there was no time for COM
placency. The library had emerged
from war which had tested its un-
equalled resources to the fullest. Danger
GUS deficiencies, previously unforeseen
and unsuspected, had been discovered.
TO remedy these deficiencies. the library
throughout the war had sent its repre-
sentatives, often at personal hazard,
into the zones where the missing records
were most likely to be found and there
they succeeded beyond the expectations
Of reason and requirement"
But the library could not afford to
sentimentalize situation. War was
grim; and the period which followed
would be hard and filled with complex
ities.' We had come to realize that the
media Of psychological warfare, news
print, broadcasts, juveniles, textbooks,
would be the media OF peaceful govern
ment, too. Meteorological data; the
themes Of imaginative literature,
whether distinguished or only earnest
and accepted; the form and formulae
of public documents; translations and
commentaries which reflected the i'm
pact of one people upon another: the
published progress of the scientists; all
Of these were important If we were to
enjoy, or even to survive, the hours that
lay ahead.
Wise and creative and continuing
concentration would have to be applied
by the library to fields which before
had been intrusted to chance. Moreover,
the end Of the war meant still more
service demands upon the library's re-
sources and personnel, which through