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Pagina principale Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science,
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hello,congrats for your special e-library!allthough there is one book missing..encyclopedia of software engineering,by j marciniak!also i dont have it!bye
09 December 2015 (21:00)
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Abstracts and Abstracting A Charles L. Bernier State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, U.S.A. INTRODUCTION Downloaded By: [Wayne State University Library System] At: 00:03 17 March 2009 Abstracts are useful in at least nine ways: 1. Papers in science and technology are published in more than 50 languages. Most users of technical publications can read only a few languages, and abstracts in one language help them to select documents for translation. The user needs, at most, two languages; at best, he needs only one language. 2. The technical literature is too large for an individual to acquire or scan. There are estimated to be 35,000 or more technical periodicals. More than 200,000 papers are published per year, with some overlap, in each of the fields of chemistry, biology, and biomedicine. Abstracts facilitate the selection of papers to be read. 3. Informative abstracts substitute for the original literature in many cases. 4. The reading or scanning of abstracts for selection of data or for deciding to read the original articles saves time over that required for selection from original documents. 5. Abstracts are more convenient to arrange into related groups than is the original literature. Adjacent technical papers bound in journals may often be unrelated. The same abstract can be placed in several categories less expensively than can originals. Many articles and reports fall into several classes of useful classification systems. Classified abstracts in a published journal bring together guides into a large field of knowledge—one several to many times larger than the user can read. 6. Retrospective searches are greatly aided by classified, indexed abstracts. Searching through reports or journals for any large field of knowledge is now impractical. 7. By the use of abstracts, accuracy of selection of literature to be read or translated is increased over that of selection from titles or titles plus annotations. The additional information in the abstract increases the accuracy. 8. Abstracts facilitate indexing in two ways: 1) The abstract concentrates the indexable subjects so that indexing proceeds at two to four times the rate required for original documents. 2) Elimination of the lan- Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science DOI: 10.1081/E-ELIS 120008960 Copyright D 2003 by Marcel Dekker, Inc. All rights reserved. guage problem enables assignment of abstracts for indexing by subject only. This specialization improves both the quality and the rate of indexing, because the subject specialist is not also required to read another language. 9. The preparation of articles, bibliographies, reviews, and talks requires organization of the material used; so do acquisition and searching. Abstracts can be used to facilitate this organization. For this purpose they can be copied, cut, and pasted. Organized abstracts also facilitate the indexing of bibliographies and reviews. KINDS OF ABSTRACTS Abstracts can be classified in several different ways. Informative abstracts include salient data from the original. Indicative or descriptive abstracts indicate that such data and other information can be found in the original. For example (see Fig. 1), an indicative abstract might have the sentence, ''The octane number of benzene was determined and reported''; an informative abstract (see Fig. 2) might read, in part, ''The octane number of benzene is 100.'' Abstracts can also be classified by the kind of abstractor. Authors of documents are preparing more abstracts than in the past; more editors require abstracts with articles for publication. Author abstracts are prompt and are prepared by the person who knows most about the document. However, they do show undesirable variations in quality. It is difficult, if not impossible, to have all authors become experienced abstractors. Sometimes authors write ''pseudo abstracts'' to meet deadlines for articles or for talks to be delivered. Abstracts written by those actively working in subject fields have been called ''subject-authority abstracts.'' Such abstracts have the advantage of being prepared by a person trained in abstracting and with comprehensive knowledge of a field. The inexperience of authors as abstractors is avoided. Owing to the fact that the abstractor prepares abstracts in addition to his regular work, promptness of abstracting may suffer. The quality of subject-authority abstracts, usually high, can be controlled by a central organization (see Figs. 3 and 4). 1 2 Abstracts and Abstracting Downloaded By: [Wayne State University Library System] At: 00:03 17 March 2009 Fig. 1 Indicative abstract. Professional abstractors earn their living by abstracting. They accept assignments to abstract as they come along and may not have subject knowledge so extensive as that of the author or subject-authority abstractors. When they reject abstracting assignments, they lose income, and perhaps, prestige. Their abstracts are usually prompt, easily controlled, and of variable quality. They may be the most expensive kind. Increased language coverage and promptness are the principal reasons for employing professional abstractors. Large abstracting services customarily use the product of all three kinds of abstractors. Author abstracts are used for promptness. They are also used when the subject-authority abstractor agrees that they are adequate. Professional-abstractor abstracts are used to cover documents too numerous for the subject-authority abstractors available. ABSTRACTORS Subject-authority abstractors prepare abstracts for reasons that include the following: 1. Altruism; the thought of working for the common good powerfully inspires many of us. Abstractors believe that they can contribute to the welfare of mankind by assisting communication over the barriers of language and through the flood of documents. They realize that uncommunicated technical information represents waste and a slowing of progress toward a better world. 2. A realization of the importance of cooperation in providing guidance to the literature is another factor. The thought is, ''If we all contribute what we are able, using the language ability we have and subjects we know best, then all of us will be able to keep up with what is going on better than if we do not cooperate in this way.'' 3. Many subject-authority abstractors list keeping up with the literature of their field in an especially effective way as one of the principal benefits of abstracting. The processes of reading, digesting, and condensing, in a uniform way, a part of the literature of their chosen fields are especially effective in making this literature of greater use to them. Requirements of the abstracting organization effectively help the abstractor to avoid technological obsolescence. Some abstractors make copies of their abstracts for their personal information systems. 4. Improvement in the ability to read, understand, condense, and evaluate are felt by abstractors to be important benefits of abstracting. The requirements of the abstracting organization promote this ability, and feedback to abstractors is often provided upon request. 5. Skill with foreign languages, often attained at considerable investment of time, is gradually lost if not put to use. Many abstractors report abstracting to be useful in helping them to keep up on their German, French, Russian, and the like. 6. Preparation of an excellent abstract gives a sense of worthwhile accomplishment—a piece of literary art has been produced; a valuable contribution has been made. This sense of accomplishment is strong among abstractors, especially those who have retired from Fig. 2 Informative abstract from Chemical Abstracts. (Reproduced by permission of the Chemical Abstracts Service.) Abstracts and Abstracting 3 A Downloaded By: [Wayne State University Library System] At: 00:03 17 March 2009 Fig. 3 Author abstract. active work. Abstracting enables them to continue making important contributions in their chosen field. 7. The prestige of working for a world-renowned abstracting organization and of having one's name carried in its publications is also motivating. Abstractors of good abstracting organizations are said to enjoy preference in employment and promotions. 8. Remuneration for abstracting is not a principal motivating factor, since many abstractors work for nothing. However, token recognition of service in this way helps to pay for reference works, supplies, and postage. Motivations of author abstractors and professional abstractors are included in those listed above. The requirement of an abstract before the acceptance of an article or a talk is a motivating factor for author abstractors. For professional abstractors remuneration is the principal factor. The recruitment of abstractors (usually subject-authority abstractors) is a necessary function of organizations publishing abstracts. Recruiters emphasize the above motivating factors. Professional societies are a common channel for recruitment. House organs can carry the appeals. Loyalty to a professional society or other organization is another motivating factor. The society or organization sponsoring an abstracting service is interested in its success and invests resources to promote or support the service. Colleagues of an abstractors may take up abstracting. Campaigns for recruitment based on the concept of ''each one reach one'' have been successful. Sometimes the recruitment of colleagues follows unusual workloads or comes during planning for a vacation. Some abstractors, however, continue abstracting through vacations and trips. Advertising in technical journals is used for recruitment. House organs of professional societies and, especially, of abstracting organizations may carry appeals for more abstractors. The motivating factors for abstracting are so effective that gift copies of the abstracting journal have not been used for recruitment. Another method of recruitment that has not as yet been extensively used is the education of students and their guidance into abstracting. In the future this may become the method of choice. Learning to abstract and index is also important in establishing external memories (per- sonal collections) that will become more necessary in our complex civilization. Maintaining a staff of abstractors is of concern to abstracting-indexing organizations. One of the principal ways to hold subject-authority abstractors is through adequate communication with them. Among the most effective media are the house organs, e.g., The Little CA of Chemical Abstracts that effectively promotes the feeling of ''belonging to the CA Family.'' Abstractors want to know about the organization for which they are working and about other abstractors. Meetings and dinners also bring a sense of belonging. Symposia on the organization and on documentation and information science are also useful. Prompt feedback of editorial changes in abstracts is interesting. Changes challenge abstractors to improve and show the way. Feedback shows interest in the abstractor and in the quality of his product. Another kind of communication useful in holding abstractors is justified praise. Encomiums for abstractors are appropriate. Another effective means of holding abstractors and their interest is insistence on standards of excellence. Also, many people, especially in science and engineering, enjoy working for the best organization. It is a challenge to stay on the team. Once an abstractor has been recruited and started into abstracting, he usually appreciates receiving additional work on a fairly regular schedule that he has helped to establish. Delayed assignments of additional work may make him apprehensive as to his ability as an abstractor and may cause him to wonder about the need for his services or about the competence of management in the abstracting organization. The schedule of assignments to a subject-authority abstractor can be made flexible enough to take care of vacations, special assignments of work from the place where the abstractor is employed and from the abstracting organization, and changes of interests. Remuneration, often as honoraria, is another way of holding abstractors. It does not seem to be a principal way, since some abstractors reject honoraria; also, many find that abstracting yields much less than the minimum wage. Once a subject-authority or professional abstractor has been recruited, training as an abstractor is the next step. Thousands of subject-authority abstractors have been trained through use of published instructions. The abstractor learns by reading, studying, and doing. Directions for Abstractors of Chemical Abstracts is an example of 4 Abstracts and Abstracting published instructions. Professional abstractors in organizations can be trained by coaching. The person assigned as coach goes over the work of the new abstractor, makes editorial changes, and discusses these changes with the new hire. This feedback can be used with subject-authority abstractors functioning at a distance. First, abstracts are checked, edited, and copied; then they are returned to the abstractor with a covering letter to explain that the purpose of the feedback is not to find fault but to share improvements. Downloaded By: [Wayne State University Library System] At: 00:03 17 March 2009 RULES FOR ABSTRACTING Fig. 4 Subject-authority abstractor abstract. (Reproduced by permission of the Chemical Abstracts Service.) Organizations publishing abstracts have rules for abstracting to promote uniformity. Most of the rules are highly specific for the subject field abstracted. The following rules are widespread and are used for both indicative and informative abstracts. Material that is novel, emphasized by the author, or extensively reviewed needs to be represented in the abstract. Conversely, material that is old or well known to the reader of the abstract should be omitted. Bringing to the attention of the reader what he already knows, besides being irritating, wastes time. In general, subjects on which authors have invested effort should be saved in abstracts. Subjects copied by the author from earlier work can generally be omitted entirely from abstracts if the earlier work has already been abstracted. Reference to earlier abstracts of importance is useful. The lengths of abstracts are extremely variable. For example, for an article entitled ''Buchner or Büchner?,'' the body of the abstract might be the one word, ''Büchner.'' If the original article is highly condensed, the abstract may approach it in length. If the article described were, for example, ''Synthesis of Twenty New Chemical Compounds,'' it would seem unwise to condense the abstract by omission of reference to several of the compounds reported. Limitation of the length of an abstract to 150 words or to a certain part of a page may force the abstractor to generalize. For example, he may report classes of compounds studied rather than the names of the specific chemical compounds. Generalization makes work for the indexer, or for the index user if the indexer also generalizes: The indexer or user is made to seek specific items concealed by generalizations. Proper instructions for abstracting save space. The lengths of abstracts take care of themselves without rules specifying the number of words, pages, and so forth. Of course, redundancy, repetition, and circumlocutions are avoided. This rule is more easily written than followed. The English language seems saturated with redundancy and circumlocutions. Examples of elimination of excess verbiage are omission of ''The author reported Abstracts and Abstracting 5 Table 1 Downloaded By: [Wayne State University Library System] At: 00:03 17 March 2009 Verbosese It appears that On the basis of As can be seen from formula I During the period of time that The compounds exhibited activity The fact that the reaction did not succeed was due to Led to the production of By means of In order to Owing to the fact that Proved to be The reaction of A and B, which is an exothermic process, is modified The redn. having been completed With reference to Serves the function of In a similar manner In a slow manner Takes place Used for fuel purposes In view of the fact that Was considered to be A yield of 80% of theoretical Abstractese Apparently From or by or because Formula I shows While The compounds were active The reaction failed because of Gave By or with To Since or because Was The exothermic reaction of A and B is modified After redn. About Is Similarly Slowly Occurs Used for fuel Since Was A yield of 80% Redundancy removal Redundant 0.5 N aq. NaOH soln. At 30-mm pressure Hg Dark blue in color Dust particles Fewer in number Heterogeneous in character An innumerable number of particles The material was cooled at 0° in an ice bath for 1 hr For a period of 3 hr Previous history At a temp. of 20° Throughout the entire expt. Two equal halves Deletion list Investigation showed that It was concluded (found, observed, shown, stated) that It may be said that The authors state that The statement may be made that Unbelabored 0.5 N NaOH At 30 mm Dark blue Dust Fewer Heterogeneous Innumerable particles The material was put in an ice bath for 1 hr For 3 hr History At 20° During the expt. Halves A Downloaded By: [Wayne State University Library System] At: 00:03 17 March 2009 6 Abstracts and Abstracting that'' and editing of ''dust particles'' to ''dust'' and of ''owing to the fact that'' to ''owing to.'' An example of the instructions provided to abstract editors as a guide to shortening abstracts is given in Table 1. Examples of edited abstracts are given in Fig. 5. Another important way in which abstracts are shortened is through the use of the abbreviations and symbols of certain fields. Abbreviations are defined in the introduction to the abstract publication or are limited to those in lists of abbreviations in dictionaries. In the field of chemistry, for example, the chemical elements can be symbolized to save space. Sometimes symbols become so commonly used, e.g., DNA and RNA, that it would seem strange to spell them out. Abstracts should be clear and unambiguous. An excellent abstractor can often improve the clarity of the original document. The abstract user's time should not be wasted in solving unnecessary puzzles. The abstract should clearly help the user to decide whether he wants to consult the original document; it can save the user from finding it necessary to consult the original. If, after reading the abstract, the user is still uncertain whether to consult the original, then the abstract has failed in one of its purposes. In answering the question, ''Do I want the original?,'' the user should be able to say ''yes'' or ''no,'' not ''maybe.'' Criticism is not normally a function of the abstractor, who is analogous to a reporter rather than to a commentator. One of the reasons for avoiding criticism— adverse or favorable—is that the authors of abstracted documents cannot be given space or time to reply. There is also cost and delay in linking criticism with reply. Sometimes abstractors are unaware of their limitations as critics; new ideas, especially the radically new ones, have an aura of absurdity about them that may attract unmerited criticism. One of the safest forms of criticism, should any be permitted, is the use of quotation marks to indicate sentences or paragraphs for which the abstractor Fig. 5 Examples of edited abstracts. Downloaded By: [Wayne State University Library System] At: 00:03 17 March 2009 Abstracts and Abstracting does not wish to take responsibility. Omission is another form of criticism. A fairly common rule for abstracting is that abstracts be signed. This practice gives control during processing and publication, gives credit to the abstractor for his efforts, places responsibility for the abstract, and may give the user some idea of the quality of the abstract. Published instructions for abstracting carry rules for format, organization desired, abbreviations permitted, content wanted, nomenclature allowed, and the like. Organizations producing abstracts may have instructions for their abstractors. Instructions greatly improve the quality of abstracts by standardizing the parts that can be made uniform. Users of abstracts may be disconcerted by unexplained and irregular variations in abstracts. They may waste time seeking reasons for such irregularities. The application of instructions for abstracting can be made uniform by the return of the edited abstract to the abstractor. This has been mentioned. To avoid delay in use of the abstracts, copies of edited abstracts are sent to the abstractor. Relatively few abstractors in the field of science indulge in polemics with editors about changes. Many abstractors regularly request that all their abstracts be returned to them after publication. It may or may not be the policy of the abstracting organization to do this. However, feedback, at least to beginning abstractors, is necessary if the quality of the publication is to be maintained. Feedback to experienced abstractors, often with a suitable covering letter, is useful in correcting deviations from practice or for introducing new rules. ASSIGNMENT OF DOCUMENTS TO ABSTRACTORS It is necessary for an abstracting organization that covers a field of knowledge to make definite assignments to abstractors to avoid gaps and overlaps and to secure the best abstracting available. Such assignment can be based on individual documents, e.g., technical articles or reports. A paper in a journal is assigned to the abstractor who is best suited to abstract it by reason of technical and language background. Since the number of different languages multiplied by the number of specific subject fields gives a large product, it is usually necessary to approximate the subject field of the abstractor. It is usually necessary to meet the language of the abstractor exactly, for abstractors are usually reluctant to learn strange languages. Assignment can be by journal. This is especially useful if the subject area of the journal is narrow. The abstractor can also be given the responsibility for the selection of articles from the journal according to explicit criteria. For example, one criterion might be that the article carry 7 original research. Whole-journal assignment saves the time of the assigner, the cost of mailing (if the abstractor subscribes), the cost of subscription, and delays of assignment of individual documents. Documents can be assigned by categories, e.g., those belonging to a series or from papers given at a symposium. There may be an advantage in having one abstractor take care of all documents of a category. In rare instances collaborative abstracting is desirable. The scope of a document may be broad. It may include two or more subject fields that are quite unrelated and that one abstractor has difficulty in handling. In general, assignment is best when specialized. Specialization by language is nearly always necessary. An abstractor rarely rises to the challenge of a new language and abstracts from it just for the fun of doing so, e.g., the abstractor who learned Turkish so that he might help. Specialization by subject is also desirable. Abstractors who do not know a subject field tend to make more errors than those who do know the field. The major errors are inadvertent omissions and unnecessary inclusions. Too frequently absurd errors creep past the abstractor who does not know the field. Assignment can be by class of document—as another form of specialization. For example, some abstractors may wish to handle patents, others papers, and still others both. The abstracting of patents differs considerably from the abstracting of papers. Specialization can also be geographical. For example, articles written in Japan can, perhaps, best be handled by Japanese abstractors organized as a group in Japan. They can have their own assignment organization and can function, to a large extent, autonomously. During wartime when sources of documents become blocked, it may become necessary to organize teams of abstractors in neutral countries. CONTROL OF ASSIGNMENTS, DOCUMENTS, AND ABSTRACTS Techniques for control of documents coming into an abstracting organization have been well developed. There is automation of acquisition and circulation. Assignments made to abstractors must be controlled, as mentioned, to avoid duplicate assignment and missed documents. One technique for control is the assignment card prepared on interleaf forms. Duplicates of the card sent to the abstractor' serve as records in the assignment file, as author-index cards, and for other purposes. The record in the assignment file helps to prevent the overloading of abstractors, as well as to keep track of the assignment. Assignment files are arranged by name of abstractor, languages, and subjects covered. Mechanized assignment has been investigated by the Chemical Abstracts Service. In A 8 the system studied, language, subject, abstractor load, and abstractor availability were to be matched. Display of potential abstractors as names on a cathode-ray tube (CRT) screen was desired. Assignment then updated the computer record so that the CRT display would be affected if an abstractor became overloaded. Downloaded By: [Wayne State University Library System] At: 00:03 17 March 2009 EDITING OF ABSTRACTS Nearly all abstracts, as they come in from abstractors, are unsuitable for publication. Deviations from rules occur. There are some omissions. A few serious errors in the references and in data occur. Many abbreviations are missed. Some abstracts have poor grammar and diction. The abstract may not be categorized or may be categorized incorrectly (see Fig. 6[a] and [b]). Cross references to other categories are frequently omitted. References to related abstracts may be needed. Punctuation can often be improved. It has been found desirable to check the reference with the original document for correctness. Transposition of digits in a number is usually invisible to editors. Author names and sometimes names of journals are sources of trouble. Parts of the title may be omitted. The issue or series number of a journal may be needed. The editor is responsible for everything not assigned to the preeditorial checker. Standardization of terminology and nomenclature to conform with rules given to abstractors may be required. Words or terms are abbreviated. Grammar defects, such as singular verbs with plural subjects, are eliminated. Diction is frequently improved. Consultating the original document is sometimes necessary to resolve ambiguities and add missing information. Editors seemingly develop a sixth sense for the consultation of originals. The production of an abstract journal often seems to be a continuing fight against error. Much of the cost of production comes from preventing or eliminating errors that nobody could make—but did. There are errors in references, subjects selected or omitted, spelling, punctuation, format, symbols directing the printer, and so forth. Typewritten abstracts may be requested; the poorly legible longhand ones may be typed to avoid errors in editing and keyboarding. It is the primary responsibility of the editor to eliminate these errors and prepare the copy for the printer. If abstracts for the printer are not retyped, so-called ''penalty copy'' may be involved. However, penalty copy may be less expensive than retyping and rechecking for error. As mentioned, the editor sees to it that references are made to earlier abstracts and documents, to abstracts in the same issue, and to other categories of abstracts of Abstracts and Abstracting interest to the one at hand. Cross references are made specifically from other categories to the abstract. Abstracts can be categorized to aid in current awareness and browsing. The editor places or corrects the placing of abstracts into categories and can indicate subcategorization. Alternatively subcategorization can be delegated to another individual experienced in the subject field. This person also prepares the abstracts for shipment to the printer. The printer may not be in the same location as the abstracting organization. The abstracting organization can be protected against loss by automatic microfilm cameras. Should a shipment be lost, the edited manuscript can be recreated from the microfilm. Abstracts in manuscript form, returned by the printer for checking and proofreading, are often stored for a few years to answer questions and to correct errors that may have been missed. Shipment of abstracts to the printer may be periodical. A schedule of shipment, keyboarding, composing, proofchecking, proofreading, and printing times is established. Maintenance of schedules requires collaboration with the printer. Contingencies to be met include mail delays, strikes, and innovations by the publisher as well as the printer. The printer normally supplies galley proof. This proof is first checked for those items that the proofreader cannot discover. Transposed digits are examples. Checking is carried out by comparison of the galley proof against the manuscript. Reference to the original document may be required. Proofreading comes next. The proofreader is responsible for everything else. Extensive editing on proof is costly and time consuming. It can be avoided by withdrawing the abstract and holding it for reprinting. The proofreader can refer to the original document. Often he may be the editor during another phase of the publication schedule. Such metamorphosis promotes good proofreading and editing. Feedback shows things to avoid in the future. Proofreader's marks are standardized. Special symbols may be developed to meet the needs of certain subject fields. Since proof changes are charged to the publisher, all changes are made with an eye on economies. Rules for proofreading can be developed and disseminated. Proofreaders are trained by coaching, as are editors. The coach goes over the work and shows the changes he has made to the new reader and discusses the changes. Page proofs are checked to determine if the changes on the galleys have been made correctly in type. Very few changes are made on page proofs. This type of checking can be delegated to the printer to speed publication of the abstract journal. The storage of abstracts on computer tape, aperture cards, microforms, or unpunched cards will include some Abstracts and Abstracting 9 Downloaded By: [Wayne State University Library System] At: 00:03 17 March 2009 A Fig. 6 (a) Example of an abstract before editing; (b) example of an abstract after editing. Downloaded By: [Wayne State University Library System] At: 00:03 17 March 2009 10 Abstracts and Abstracting Fig. 7 Example of an abstract from Chemical Abstracts. (Reproduced by permission of the Chemical Abstracts Service.) of the processes described above, which are mainly concerned with the publication of informative abstracts prepared by subject-authority abstractors. INDEXING Classification and subclassification of abstracts into categories, while effective for current awareness, does not meet the needs of retrospective searching. As the issues of an abstract publication accumulate and as abstract cards accumulate in a tub file or drawers, searches become too long. Indexes take care of this problem. Author indexes published annually or in each issue of an abstract journal are especially effective in answering questions of recall in which reference to a remembered document or abstract is required. Also, since authors specialize, author indexes can be made to function roughly as subject indexes. Successful author indexes for issues of abstract journals can be prepared by the printer to speed publication. Keyword indexing of varying degrees of quality can also be prepared for such issues. Preparation of subject indexes of high quality is now too slow for publication in issues of abstract journals, although techniques for doing this are being developed (see Figs. 7, 8, and 9). The general pattern for abstract publications is the provision of (in addition to issue indexes) annual, semiannual, quinquennial, or decennial subject and author indexes of good quality—plus other specialized indexes such as formula, organic-ring, patent-number, taxonomy, and citation indexes. QUALITIES OF ABSTRACTS From the above description it is obvious that qualities of abstracts and their publications vary greatly. One of the more serious defects in abstract publications is the omission of abstracts clearly within the defined scope of the publication. Such losses come about through inadvertent omission of documents or journals. More frequently such Fig. 8 Work sheet for the abstract shown in Fig. 7. Abstracts and Abstracting 11 Downloaded By: [Wayne State University Library System] At: 00:03 17 March 2009 A Fig. 9 Examples of index cards for the abstract shown in Fig. 7. omissions occur for economic reasons. The budget for the organization does not permit inclusion of all the documents and periodicals within its scope. Often entire classes of documents are omitted for security and other reasons. Examples are documents related to ongoing research—work that is being carried on as these lines are read—and unpublished reports. Proprietary documents are omitted, as a rule, from a published abstract journal. Besides omissions of abstracts, there are omissions from abstracts. Such omissions include subjects reported by authors, data from informative abstracts, references to other closely related abstracts or to original articles, complete references required to locate the original document unambiguously, or signature of the abstractor. Reliability of abstracts, as indicated by consistency in following rules, is another measure of quality. Such reliability requires thorough knowledge of techniques. Promptness in the publication of abstracts is often measured by the time elapsed between the appearance of the original article and of the abstract to it. The potential effects of delays in agriculture, medicine, and weaponry may be spectacular. In all fields delays cause economic loss. Delays may amount to several months to a year. Some organizations pride themselves on delays of only one month. Abstracts prepared from the page proofs of articles in journals may appear before the articles. Abstracting from page proofs is subject to the hazard of cancellation of the original article in proof. The price of an abstracting journal is a quality factor too. High price limits access to the abstracts. Use is affected whether the journal is in a library a few doors down the hall or in a building 10 miles away. Issues and indexes should be on the desks of the users for greatest efficiency. Indexes, or a lack of them, greatly affect the use of abstracts, especially for retrospective searching. Indexes, whether stored in a computer or in book form, increase the ease and effectiveness of access to abstracts. The most common indexes are to subjects and authors. In certain fields, such as chemistry, there may be other kinds, such Downloaded By: [Wayne State University Library System] At: 00:03 17 March 2009 12 as molecular-formula, organic-ring, and patent-number indexes, that are useful. The authoritativeness of abstracts is another quality. It is related to the reputation of the abstract journal, which, in turn, is a product of the care with which abstracts are prepared, edited, checked, and printed. Abstractors recognized as authorities in the field also increase the authoritativeness of abstracts. Section editors, who oversee quality, lend authoritativeness. The classification system (including subclassification) used for the abstracts is a factor in quality. The appropriateness of the system to current needs is relevant. Classification systems become obsolete if not given continuing attention. Changes that are too frequent may confuse the user and make the process of classifying abstracts more costly. Categorization, the process of placing abstracts into the structure of the classification system adopted, is another factor affecting quality. Uniformity in categorization requires training and definition of the categories. Perhaps the most frequently emphasized quality of abstracts is brevity. This factor can be measured by reediting the published abstracts and comparing lengths before and after. Abstracts that are too brief omit important information. The formats of abstracts affect their usefulness. There is evidence to show that abstracts with a carefully selected lead-in sentence and with the reference to the original article at the end are preferred to abstracts starting with the title or other part of the reference. Other items of format, including a standard order for components of the body of the abstract, are also factors to be considered. There is evidence to show that the kind of typeface used affects the ease of reading and the legibility. Printing gives wide choice in this matter and computer outputs are beginning to have this variety also. Printing, besides having the qualities of compactness and improved legibility over composition with all capitals or from typewriters, has intangible qualities. ECONOMICS The cost of classified, published, indexed abstracts varies considerably. The cost per abstract can be obtained by dividing the budget of the service, including research expenditures, by the number of different abstracts published. Values for Chemical Abstracts, for example, have ranged near $23 –25, including research budgets. Indexing costs may amount to more than half of the cost of publishing classified, indexed abstracts. For example, for Chemical Abstracts, indexing cost includes salaries of subject-authority indexers who have received extensive training in indexing. Abstracts and Abstracting The cost per abstract impression is obtained by dividing the cost per abstract by the circulation. For the example shown, the cost per abstract impression was twotenths of a cent. The price of indexed abstracts is minute when compared with the cost of research and development that made the abstracts possible. The value of research and development (R&D) to the society in which we live is even greater than its cost. Such comparisons enable one to discuss the economics of abstracts in view of the total picture of R&D and its communication. It has been pointed out that R&D without communication of the results is not worth the investment. Indexed abstracts have turned out to be one of the more effective intermediaries in such communication for the reasons listed at the beginning of this article. PROBLEMS OF ABSTRACTS There are a number of problems in connection with abstracts that are unsolved or that do not have entirely satisfactory solutions. One problem is concerned with bringing to the user only those abstracts of greatest potential concern. It is a problem in raising the relevance percentage. For example, it would take a chemist, reading at the rate of three research papers per hour, about 32 years to cover the original R&D papers published each year. It is obvious that most of the abstracts of the 97% of the papers that the chemist would not have time to read need not be brought to the chemist's attention. How does one select from the 200,000 abstracts of chemical papers per year only those abstracts that should be brought to the attention of each chemist? Probably the chemist should be a party to this selection, since chemists presumably, knows their interests and wants (if not needs) better than others. This seems to be a problem of repackaging and selective dissemination of abstracts. The pricing of an abstract service for survival with quality, yet widest useful distribution, is a problem that remains unsolved. It is related to the problem of repackaging. Logically it would seem desirable to include most of the cost of an abstract service in the cost of research and development, in line with the belief that communication of research results is a part of research. However, the technique or will for doing this has not been established. The support of abstract services by their users is possible if the number of abstracts supplied to them is within their range of interests (the repackaging problem) and if there are enough users, which is a part of the pricing problem. Subsidy by societies, industry, government, and advertising has been tried. Downloaded By: [Wayne State University Library System] At: 00:03 17 March 2009 Abstracts and Abstracting Another serious problem is the delay between appearance of the original document and the indexed abstract. Delays affect health, safety, economics, and so forth. The life of an abstracting service is a continuing battle against delays. Quality control for indexed abstracts is largely a problem of bringing understanding and an appreciation of quality. Many of the qualities of abstracts and indexes are invisible to the user, who is generally able to detect omission only of his own papers. Qualities other than omissions may be equally difficult to detect and appreciate. Quality control brings the continuing problem of justifying its expense to those who may not appreciate its necessity. Measures and measurements of the various quality factors are needed. Many of these factors exist independently of the users, although all of them affect the users. The problems of inadequate coverage and limited distribution of service exist for several classes of information and documents. A complete, up-to-date inventory of ongoing research is needed. Abstracts of descriptions of all work going on as these lines are read aid in avoiding duplication and in promoting earlier stimulation of new ideas. Classified (security) R&D presents another problem, as does proprietary R&D. The stimulation of the effective use of abstracts by those who could benefit from their increased use is a problem that seems amenable to formal and continuing education. Techniques for effective use need improvement, additions, and development—as well as teaching. There is evidence that features built into existing abstract services are not known, appreciated, or used so effectively as they might be. Such features include translation services, access to original documents, cross references to related documents and abstracts, nomenclature information, lists of abbreviations, special indexes, and lists of periodicals abstracted. PROBLEMS BEYOND ABSTRACTS The vast accumulating body of abstracts is searched repeatedly by different individuals for the same data and other information. Sometimes the same person repeats searches or parts of them. Better ways for sharing the results of searches are needed. One way is the evaluative (or critical) review; another way is tables of current data. Even more serious than loss of search time is loss of the critical evaluation that was invested in the searching and its product. There are not enough evaluative reviews to cover adequately all fields of knowledge. Those who are knowledgeable in the fields do not have the time to write re- 13 views. Annual evaluative reviews can help to save the time needed for repeated searches. Current tables of critical data are also urgently needed to save repeated search and evaluation. Perhaps the greatest problem of all is the development and maintenance of resources for information services. Such resources include financing, trained individuals, and facilities. Accurate understanding and presentation of the value of information services, including indexed abstracts, is required. Those who authorize resources may not have adequate, written justification for support or increase of such services. The solution to the problem of justifying communication of the results of R&D is, strangely, more difficult than justifying resources for R&D itself. MAJOR ABSTRACTING SERVICES The major abstracting services, such as Chemical Abstracts Service, in the physical sciences have grown with the literature to fill a need that has not been filled in any other way. The National Federation of Science Abstracting and Indexing Services has compiled ''A Guide to the World's Abstracting and Indexing Services in Science and Technology,'' Report No. 102, Washington, D.C., 1963. Another source is Abstracting Services in Science, Technology, Medicine, Agriculture, Social Sciences, and Humanities, International Federation for Documentation, 7 Hofweg, The Hague, Netherlands, FID372, August 1965. THE FUTURE OF ABSTRACTS In the light of the rapid development of information science, it is important to view the future of published, classified, indexed abstracts. As adjuncts for abstracting services are systems for providing copies of the abstracts. The Rapid Selector was one of the first developments along this line. Saving the time of users spent in copying abstracts or parts of them is important. Copies of abstracts are useful in personal libraries, literature research, preparation of bibliographies, writing papers, and generating reviews. Another service as adjunct to abstracts is prompt supply of original documents or their translations upon request. Such originals can be supplied in microform as microfiche, Microcards, microfilm, microprint, and MiniPrint. Microforms enable the user to have in the desk a library of several thousand documents. It is technically feasible, although perhaps not economically easily justifiable, to place indexed abstracts to a somewhat larger set of documents than the subset in A Downloaded By: [Wayne State University Library System] At: 00:03 17 March 2009 14 the desk. The user can have in the desk the hard copies of several hundred of the documents that are used most. Indexes have been used as substitutes for abstracts. Examples are Index Medicus and Engineering Index. Computer systems by which, in effect, tailor-made indexes are produced upon request are functional. Substitutes for abstracts may face the problem of the many languages in which documents are written; accurate selection; need for translations, hard copy, and microforms; and functioning as a substitute for the original if the latter is unavailable promptly. One of the most interesting developments is the avoidance of abstracts altogether by use of an automated encyclopedia that is continually upto-date from data supplied either from the originals or from the laboratory. Machine-assisted evaluation of the data would be a valuable adjunct to such a service. Automation of abstracting has, except for a few studies, largely been a process of extracting. Usually sentences are extracted from the original. Practical systems for the automatic generation of abstracts identical with abstracts produced by subject-authority abstractors are for the future. Automatically produced extracts have not, in general, been considered to be the equivalents of abstracts produced in the usual way. The problem posed by the increasing number of documents may be solved, if abstracts continue to be successful, by repacking them photographically into smaller categories of the major disciplines in such a way that each category is complete. Such repackaging does not seem to be especially formidable economically; the economics of distribution and indexing are not so favorable. The new techniques of computer-aided printing offer ways of repackaging indexes for the small categories, and even to repackaging the abstracts themselves. It does not seem too much to ask that someday every scientist, engineer, and scholar be supplied with a tailor-made (not ready-made) indexed abstract journal that follows the user's interests throughout the user's career and provides a guide to hard copy and microforms in the user's desk or files. Such an indexed abstract journal could be tailored to be somewhat broader than the current interests through citations, authors read, authors who read these authors, as well as subject interests. Proper feedback should keep the personal abstract journal tracking the user's career. The question has been raised as to the manpower required to produce the ever-increasing number of abstracts. Since abstracts are prepared from documents whose number increases largely in proportion to the number of authors and since a certain percentage of authors are also willing to serve as abstractors, the continuing supply of human abstractors seems assured. The percentage of authors who have been willing to serve as abstractors seems to have remained fairly constant through the decades. However, the assurance of supply of abstractors should Abstracts and Abstracting not prevent search for automated abstracting. As a result of this opinion, considerable effort has gone into automatic extracting and abstracting and into finding surrogates for abstracts. The use of authors to abstract their own documents has received continuing, enthusiastic support through the years. The success of a comprehensive program for producing author abstracts depends on insistence by all publishers, adequate instructions, and editing. The economics of the publication of classified, indexed abstracts had been a serious concern of many organizations for years. Sources of support for published abstracts are users and authors, their organizations, professional societies, industry, government, and advertising. Combinations of these can be used. The users of abstracts may be able to charge part of the cost to their project or organization. Page charges levied on authors or their organizations would seem to require a clearinghouse that would place the cost of the communication of the results of R&D through indexed abstracts on the R&D budgets. Professional societies for very large disciplines have found that abstract publications cannot be supported by dues. Also, advertising has not provided adequate support, because those who use abstracts generally are not the ones who authorize the purchase of the items advertised. The understandable concern for the cost of published abstracts has sometimes obscured proper concern for the relationship between the price of communication of the results of R&D, the cost of R&D, and the value of R&D to the society in which we live. The value of abstracts in the communication of the results of R&D has been established by the experience of the past century. The value of R&D to the society in which we live is perhaps one or two orders of magnitude greater than the cost of R&D. And the cost of R&D is about two to three orders of magnitude greater than the price of the best classified, indexed, published abstracts. For example, if the price of a published abstract is about $25, the cost of R&D behind the document abstracted may be about $25,000, and the value of R&D to the society around us could possibly be $250,000 or more. As an illustration, cures for the many kinds of cancer could lift a burden of about $11.2 billion a year from the United States. The importance of the proper concern for value-cost-price relationships lies in its aid to adequate support for communication of the results of R&D. When faced with the problem of adequate support for communication, some have argued that abstracts really do not help very much in the process of bringing the right information to the right person at the right time. If this is true, then abandonment of abstracts would seem the most judicious course. Eventually one can picture the entering of processed or even raw data into a system that organizes it into an automated encyclopedia as current as the last quotation on the ticker tape. Such a system would eliminate not Abstracts and Abstracting only abstracts but also papers and their authors by the conversion of the latter into more efficient human data processors. Downloaded By: [Wayne State University Library System] At: 00:03 17 March 2009 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY Atherton, P.; Keenan, S. Overlap of Abstracting Services with Particular Reference to Physics Abstracts. In FID Congress, Washington, D.C., Oct. 10 – 15; 1965; 60, (abstract). Borko, H.; Chatman, S. Criteria for acceptable abstracts: A survey of abstractors' instructions. Am. Doc. 1963, 14, 149 – 160. Costello, J.C., Jr.; Liston, D.M., Jr.; Halliday, T.C. Operating Manual for Use in Abstracting and Coordinate Indexing; Battelle Memorial Institute: Columbus, OH, 1964. Crane, E.J. CA Today—The Production of Chemical Abstracts; American Chemical Society: Washington, D.C., 1958. Directions for Abstractors and Section Editors of Chemical Abstracts; Bernier, C.L., Ed.; American Chemical Society: Columbus, OH, 1960. Garfield, E.; Sher, I.H. Article-by-Article Coverage of Selected Abstracting Services; Institute for Scientific Information: Philadelphia, 1964; Vol. 1. Glass, B. A survey of biological abstracting. AIBS Bull. 1955, 5, 20 – 24. Guide to Abstracting and Indexing for Nuclear Science Abstracts; Atomic Energy Commission, Division of Technical Information: Washington, D.C., 1961, (TID-4576). Index Bibliographicus, 4th Ed.; Science and Technology: The Hague, 1959; Vol. 1FID. Jensen, R.A. A National Plan for Science Abstracting and Indexing Services. In Proceedings of the ADI Annual Meet- 15 ing; Automation and Scientific Communication, Part 2, ADI: Washington, D.C., 1963; 339 – 342. Klein, S. Automatic Paraphrasing in Essay Format; System Development Corp.: Santa Monica, July 21, 1964, (SP1602 001 00), AD 443,744. Klein, S. Mech. Transl. 1965, 8, 68 – 83. Lancaster, F.W.; Herner, S. Modular Content Analysis. In Proceedings of the ADI Annual Meeting; Parameters of Information Science, ADI: Washington, D.C., 1964; 403 – 405. Liebesny, F. International Cooperation in Abstracting. An Experiment. In Looking Forward in Documentation; Aslib: London, 1964; 4.19 – 4.21. McKinney, A.; Rees, A.M. Selecting and Training Abstractors and Indexers. In Information Retrieval in Action; Western Reserve Univ. Press: Cleveland, 1963; 231 – 240. Mooers, C.N.; Deutsch, L.P. TRAC, A Text Handling Language. In Proceedings of the 20th National ACM Conference; Cleveland, ACM, Lewis Winner: New York, 1965; 229 – 246. Neelameghan, A. Abstracting services in medical sciences. Ann. Libr. Sci. 1955, 2, 89 – 96. Orr, R.H.; Pings, V.M.; Leeds, A.A. Reference retrieval tools: Biomedical abstracting and indexing services. Fed. Proc. 1964, 23, 1164 – 1176. Overmyer, L. Test Program for Evaluating Procedures for the Exploitation of Literature of Interest to Metallugists. IV: A Cost Analysis of Abstract Preparation and Processing for an Operational Service. In Report No. 4, Dec. 1, 1959 – Dec. 31, 1960; Western Reserve Univ., Center for Documentation and Communication Research: Cleveland, 1961, (NSF G-10338) PB 156,867. Simmons, G.W. Centralized abstracting of petroleum literature and patents. J. Chem. Doc. 1965, 5, 166 – 169. Weil, B.H. Some reader reactions to abstract bulletin style. J. Chem. Doc. 1961, 1, 52 – 56. A Academic and Special Libraries in Romania Hermina G. B. Anghelescu Downloaded By: [Wayne State University Library System] At: 00:06 17 March 2009 Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A. INTRODUCTION ACADEMIC LIBRARIES The first academic libraries were established in Romania during the second half of the nineteenth century, when the political, economic, social, and cultural development of the three Romanian Principalities—Wallachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania—fostered the creation of the first universities, cultural associations, and scientific societies. The three most significant academic libraries in Romania are the Central University Library in Iasi (established in 1860), the Central University Library in Bucharest (established in 1864), and the Central University Library in Cluj-Napoca (established in 1872). In addition to these ''big three'' academic libraries in Romania, there are 48 other academic libraries that operate in conjunction with smaller government-funded universities throughout the country. In 1990, after the demise of the communist regime, the first private universities were founded in Romania. Most of them operate with no library whatsoever, whereas others have extremely modest libraries often located in one room. Government-sponsored academic libraries are under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education and Research. Special libraries like those that operate in the Anglo– Saxon world are nonexistent in Romania. Few institutions maintain collections that would equate the concept of a corporate library in the West. These are primarily research institutions that concentrate their holdings on a particular field of scientific research. In general, these libraries are affiliated with and funded by the parent institution whose employees and students they serve. The higher education system in Romania also comprises specialized schools (called institute, faculty, or academy) that operate as independent entities, overseen and funded by the Ministry of Education and Research. Each has subject-specific libraries. The Romanian Academy (established in 1879) oversees 47 research institutes in various fields such as history, ethnography, linguistics, and social sciences. Each institute is served by a library with a welldefined profile according to the research area it supports. The main branch in Bucharest, the Library of the Romanian Academy, hosts the largest and most valuable collection in the country. Many of the Romanian libraries are the result of generous gifts of local princes, scholars, professors, and teachers. These patriots donated their private collections of books, periodicals, and manuscripts, which constituted the nucleus of the first academic libraries in Romania's territory. The goal of these patriots was to contribute to the emancipation of the Romanian nation through higher education. After their establishment, most of the academic libraries in Romania were open to the general public. At the turn of the century, once the country's government assumed the responsibility of funding the creation of a national public library network, the academic libraries limited the access of the general public and began to provide services solely to the students and the faculty members affiliated with the parent institution, the university. The first university in Romania was established in 1860, in the city of Iasi, the capital of the province of Moldavia. At that point, the collections of the library of an institution of higher education that had operated in Iasi since the seventeenth century and had enjoyed legal deposit privileges since the late 1700s were transferred to the university and became the foundation of the Central University Library in Iasi (http://www.bcu-iasi.ro/). The library collections have grown through private gifts and donations, as well as through acquisitions supported both by private and government money. During the World War I period, the collections of the Iasi Central University Library amounted to 125,000 volumes of books and bound periodicals. By World War II, the collections had reached 155,000 volumes. The communist takeover at the end of World War II represented a radical shift in Romania's political, social, economic, and cultural life. Mass production of MarxistLeninist literature led to a spectacular growth of library collections throughout the country. During the period from 1945 to 1964, the Iasi Central University Library reported a total of 1,053,000 volumes of books and bound periodicals, growth generated by the changes in publishing and editorial policies at the national level, changes that fostered massive translations into the Romanian 44 Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science DOI: 10.1081/E-ELIS 120008704 Copyright D 2003 by Marcel Dekker, Inc. All rights reserved. Downloaded By: [Wayne State University Library System] At: 00:06 17 March 2009 Academic and Special Libraries in Romania language of works published in the Soviet Union as well as in other countries of the Eastern bloc. In 2000, the collections reached a total of 2.5 million volumes. Because library collection growth was mostly quantitative, not qualitative, after the collapse of communism, in December 1989, Romanian libraries of all types underwent a process of thorough weeding of their collections, which resulted in the removal of most of the publications of the communist period. Romanian libraries in general relied on international exchanges to develop their collection of foreign publications. The government's allocation of hard currency for acquisition of foreign materials—books and periodicals—was minimal despite the government's claims of being engaged in unconditional support of higher education, research, and development. Today, more than a decade after the collapse of communism, with a few exceptions that are discussed later, international exchanges continue to remain the sole source of adding foreign books and periodicals to library collections in Romania. Needless to point out that a library cannot systematically develop a collection of foreign materials geared toward supporting academic research based only on international exchanges of publications. The postcommunist governments that followed the collapse of the Ceausescu regime, confronted with skyrocketing inflation, have paid little attention to this aspect of library development. They have continued the practices in place during the communist regime by not including hard currency funding in library budgets. Romanian academic libraries timidly embarked on the road of automation in the mid-1980s. The advent of automation of library services generated a change in the makeup of library staff. As everywhere else, library automation created the need for information scientists, system analysts, and system maintenance specialists. In the 1990s, Romanian libraries began hiring graduates of computer science schools. Meanwhile, the traditional library staff has become proficient in computer use through continuing education courses. The University of Bucharest was established in 1864. The royal family (Romania was a kingdom from 1866 to 1945) created a series of cultural foundations, among which is the King Carol I Royal Foundation. In 1891, this foundation established the Library of the Carol I Royal Foundation, which was built in the downtown area of the capital city. Inaugurated in 1895, the library's mission was to serve the students and the faculty members of the University of Bucharest, thus enabling them to promote, support, and foster scientific, cultural, and educational activities. The edifice of the library was inaugurated in 1914. Since its beginnings, the library received gifts and donations from private collectors and bibliophiles. In addition, it was granted legal deposit privileges that 45 contributed to the growth of its holdings. Today, its collections amount to 1.9 million volumes. The Central University Library in Bucharest (http:// www.bcub.ro/) became famous worldwide during the popular revolt of December 1989, which led to the demise of communism in Romania, when the building and 500,000 volumes of its collections—12,000 of them unique—were engulfed by fire. Through the joint efforts of international organizations, the Romanian government and private foundations, the edifice of the library has been restored, a new wing has been added to the original construction, and it has been equipped with state-of-the-art technology. The library was officially reopened in the fall of 2001. The sustained efforts of the managerial team, coupled with the dedication of the library staff, made possible the automated cataloging of the books and periodicals the library has received since 1990 through gifts, donations, and acquisitions. The building itself, the modern equipment, and the largest number of entries in the on-line catalog a Romanian library has ever produced constitute three major elements that make the Central University Library of Bucharest the country's premier library. The 1990s represented the unequivocal successful rising from ashes of this institution. The library is pursuing an aggressive collection development strategy focused on acquisition of foreign materials (it is the library that has the most substantial budget in hard currency in the entire country), as well as manuscripts and rare books from private collections. In addition, the library secures access to foreign databases to be used by faculty and students. The Central University Library in Bucharest also includes branches that serve individual schools, such as geology, geography, chemistry, physics, modern and classical languages, mathematics, history, biology, psychology, journalism, and Romanian language and literature. The library of the Law School operates as an independent unit. Cluj-Napoca is the largest city in Transylvania, a province that remained under the domination of the Austro – Hungarian Empire until the end of World War I, when it was incorporated into mainland Romania. In 1872, Emperor Francis Joseph II approved the establishment of a university in Cluj, which was named after him in 1897. The university began to function with no library. The imperial court in Vienna decided the transfer of the library of the Transylvanian Museum, established in the 1850s, into the locale of the university. The imperial court provided the funding for the construction of a library edifice, finished in 1909. The Central University Library in Cluj-Napoca is still located in the same building. In 1990, the library was named after the Transylvanian poet and philosopher Lucian Blaga and became the Lucian Blaga Central University Library (http://bcu.ubbcluj.ro/). Today, the library A Downloaded By: [Wayne State University Library System] At: 00:06 17 March 2009 46 collections amount to 3 million volumes available at its main branch and at various departments. In addition to the ''big three'' academic libraries in Romania—the Central University Libraries in Iasi, Cluj, and Bucharest—there are other academic libraries that operate in conjunction with smaller government-funded universities throughout the country. There are 48 government-supported universities in Romania, and they are located in cities such as Baia Mare (http://www.ubm. ro/), Bacau (http://www.ub.ro/), Brasov (http://www. unitbv.ro/), Constanta (http://www.imc.ro/), Craiova (http://www.central.ucv.ro/), Galati (http://www.ugal.ro/), Ploiesti (http://www.upg-ploiesti.ro/), Oradea (http:// www.uoradea.ro/), Sibiu (http://www.sibiu.ro/), Suceava (http://www2.usv.ro/), Targu Mures (http://www.uttgm. ro/), and Timisoara (http://www.uvt.ro/). The process of sustained industrialization of the country begun in the 1950s created the need for a highly educated workforce in the engineering and technical field. This led to the establishment of several polytechnic institutes, all served by libraries with collections focused on certain scientific areas. These academic centers concentrate on certain disciplines often related to a certain geographic area. For instance, Ploiesti is situated in an oil field; therefore, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Institute is located there. Constanta, the main harbor on the Black Sea coast, hosts the Faculty of Navigation Studies and Maritime Transportation. Brasov, an industrial city, is the site of several schools of engineering and machine building. Galati is situated at the mouth of the Danube, and hosts the Faculty of Ship Building and the Faculty of Food Industry, Aquaculture, and Fishing. The collections of these libraries include works of general interest, but they mainly specialize in the academic fields that meet the faculty profile. From this perspective, they can be considered special libraries that support higher education and research. Higher education in Romania was fully government supported until the collapse of communism in December 1989. Students were admitted into universities following a series of thorough examinations consisting of several written and oral tests. The transition to the market economy fostered the establishment of private universities in the early 1990s in cities that did not have an academic tradition, such as Alba Iulia (http://www.uab.ro/), Arad (http://arad.inext.ro/educatie/UAV/main_eng.htm), Bacau (http://www.ub.ro/), Giurgiu (http://lim.gr.edu.ro/), Pitesti (http://electron.upit.ro/), Targoviste (http://ns.valahia.ro/), Targu Jiu (http://www.utgjiu.ro/), and many others. Admission to private universities is not based on any kind of examination. In 1990, there were 48 universities with 186 schools and a student body of 192,810; since then, the number of institutions has been on a continuing ascending curve. In 2000, Romania reported a total of 126 Academic and Special Libraries in Romania universities with 696 schools and a student body of 533,152 (Romania's Statistical Yearbook, 2001). Government-funded higher education institutions and their libraries are overseen by the Ministry of Education and Research (http://www.edu.ro/). The accreditation of private higher education institutions is still unclear in the absence of uniform criteria and standards. One of the conditions for accreditation ought to be the existence of a library and the services it offers to the student body and the faculty members. For the time being, none of the private universities has a library capable of offering basic services. A few of these universities have book collections consisting of dated materials, collections that occupy no more than one room. These more-than-modest libraries have no professional librarian, and the services are reduced to book lending. These libraries operate with reduced budgets and have no consistent collection development policies. Because students enrolled at private universities are not allowed to use academic libraries that are government funded, they make extensive use of the collections and services provided by local public libraries. However, the mission of public libraries is not to support academic curricula; therefore, their collections cannot meet the expectations of an ever-increasing student body enrolled in private universities. Some academic libraries (e.g., the Central University Library in Bucharest) allow students at private universities to use their collections for a fee. Statistical data for 1990 indicate that the number of academic libraries (48) equaled that of universities in Romania (48). Statistical data for 2000 indicate that only 91 academic centers (out of a total of 126) are served by a library. Therefore, 35 universities operate with no library support whatsoever (Romania's Statistical Yearbook, 2001). In addition to books and periodicals, the collections of Romanian academic libraries include manuscripts of works by Romanian and foreign authors, old and rare books, incunabula, maps, atlases, musical scores, imprints, engravings, and extensive archival collections consisting of correspondence, historical and literary documents, and works of art such as paintings and sculptures. On certain occasions, these unique items constitute the focus of exhibitions commemorating various events in the development of the university or the library. Romanian libraries use the Universal Decimal Classification system. Cataloging departments use International Standard Bibliographic Description (ISBD) norms. International bibliographic standards are complemented with national standards established by committees within library associations. Romanian academic libraries are at various stages with the retrospective conversion of their catalogs. With a few exceptions of libraries whose online catalogs are accessible via the Internet, the online catalogs of many academic libraries in Romania are accessible on Downloaded By: [Wayne State University Library System] At: 00:06 17 March 2009 Academic and Special Libraries in Romania site only. Many home pages of Romanian universities do not provide links to the home page of their library. Most academic libraries are closed stacks; therefore, users cannot browse. Reference services and bibliographic instruction as they are provided in the Anglo – Saxon world are nonexistent. Students need to find their way in the library on their own, and they need to know in advance what they need and request that particular material once they enter a reading room where the custodian assigns a seat to every patron. Library materials can be consulted only on site and are not loaned to patrons. Only branch/departmental libraries practice lending. Interlibrary loan is not well developed and is slow. Romanian libraries do not allow self-service photocopying. A staff member is in charge of the photocopier. Internet access for users is limited. It is important to point out the fact that from 1970 to 1990 library education was discontinued in Romania. Within the context of a heavily controlled and centralized social and political system, the communist authorities assumed that anybody with a graduate degree could perform the duties of a librarian. Therefore, the library staff in Romanian libraries of all types consisted mostly of philologists (graduates of departments of foreign languages), historians, and sociologists who acquired library skills through on-the-job training with senior librarians. In 1990, library education at college and graduate levels was reinstated. However, the recently established departments of library science lack faculty capable of teaching the latest trends in the library and information science field to adequately prepare the future generation of Romanian librarians. After the collapse of communism, the United States Information Agency, through the Fulbright program, and the American Library Association (ALA), through the ALA Fellows Program, have assisted libraries and library schools by sending American librarians and information scientists to teach and share expertise with their Romanian counterparts. Professional help also came from Western European librarians who conducted needs assessments in Romanian libraries, followed by significant shipments of books, periodicals, and equipment. All these efforts culminated with visits of various durations of Romanian librarians to libraries and library schools in Western Europe and North America. A few Romanian librarians received scholarships from foreign governments to pursue master's degrees in library and information science abroad. SPECIAL LIBRARIES Special libraries, such as the ones that operate in the Anglo –Saxon world, are nonexistent in Romania. Few 47 institutions maintain collections that would equate the concept of a corporate library in the West. These are primarily research institutions that concentrate their holdings on a particular field of scientific research, such as agriculture, animal breeding, machine building, civil engineering, oil drilling, etc. In general, these libraries are affiliated with and funded by the parent institution whose employees they serve. Statistical data indicate that in 1990 there were 2128 special libraries in Romania. Their number has been visibly declining in the past decade. In 2000, their number was reduced to 1052 (Romania's Statistical Yearbook, 2001). This 50% decline is due to the skyrocketing inflation that the country has been facing after the collapse of communism. The transition to a market economy brought about the disappearance of numerous research institutions and consequently the dismantling of their libraries. As mentioned, academic libraries, in addition to the main branch, maintain off-site libraries situated in the building where special departments are located. These collections are subject specific, and are open to faculty members and students who can borrow items for determined periods of time. Student dorms are also endowed with small libraries. These collections are of general interest. The higher education system in Romania also comprises specialized schools (called institute, faculty, or academy) that operate as independent entities, overseen and funded by the Ministry of Education and Research. All have subject-specific libraries. A few examples of such institutions of higher education are the Polytechnic Institutes in Bucharest (http://www.cs.pub.ro/), Iasi (http://www.tuiasi.ro/), Cluj (http://www.utcluj.ro/), and Timisoara (http://www.utt.ro/); the Construction Institute in Bucharest (http://www.utcb.ro/); the Architecture Institute in Bucharest (http://www.iaim.ro/); the Fine Arts Institute in Bucharest (http://www.edu.ro/puab.htm), the Institute of Drama and Cinematography in Bucharest (http://www.atf.ro/); the Academy of Economic Sciences in Bucharest (http://infocib.ase.ro/); the Faculty of Ship Building and Electrical Engineering in Galati (http:// www.fnie.ugal.ro/); the Faculty of Metallurgy and Materials Science in Galati; the Faculty of Food Industry, Aquaculture, and Fishing in Galati (http://www.iaap. ugal.ro/); the Institute of Agriculture and Veterinary Science in Bucharest (http://www.usab.ro/); the National School of Political Studies and Management in Bucharest (http://www.snspa.ro/); and the Faculties of Sports and Physical Education and Sport in Bucharest (http:// sport.ubbcluj.ro/), Galati (http://www.fefs.ugal.ro/), and Bacau (http://www.ub.ro/fefs/). The libraries that serve these institutions are at various stages of implementing automated systems, if at all. Due to the sustained support and expertise of the computer science departments they A Downloaded By: [Wayne State University Library System] At: 00:06 17 March 2009 48 serve, the first ones to introduce automation were the polytechnic institutes. The medical and pharmaceutical libraries affiliated with higher education institutions in Bucharest (http:// www.univermed-cdgm.ro/), Cluj-Napoca (http://www. umfcluj.ro/), Craiova (http://www.umfcv.ro/ro/index. html), Iasi (http://www.umfiasi.ro/), Sibiu (http://www. sibiu.ro/ro/facultati/medicina/index.htm), Targu Mures (http://www.umftgm.ro/), and Timisoara (http://www. umft.ro/newpage/) are also under the supervision of the Ministry of Education and Research. The Central Medical Library in Bucharest is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Health and with reduced staff, collections, and equipment strives to serve the information needs of the members of the medical profession throughout the country. The use of modern technologies in medical libraries in Romania varies from one institution to another due not only to the infrastructure available locally, but also to the level of expertise of the librarians who work in these libraries. The premier medical library in Romania is the Medical Library of the Cluj University (http:// www.bib.umfcluj.ro/). The dedication and expertise of the staff made it a model worth emulating by other medical centers in Romania. The Romanian Academy (http://www.academiaromana. ro/) was founded in Bucharest in 1879. Its mission resembled that of the Académie française, that is, to establish orthographic norms, to regulate the Romanian language, and to compile a dictionary of the Romanian language. From 1901 to 1955, when the National Library was established, the Library of the Romanian Academy acted as the national library of the country. After the communist takeover, the mission of the Romanian Academy was modified following a Soviet model to support scientific research aimed at sustaining the country's economic progress. Throughout the years, the Library of the Romanian Academy has preserved an elitist character as a research library open only to the members of the academy and well-established scholars. The Romanian Academy oversees 47 research institutes in various fields such as history, ethnography, linguistics, social sciences, and others. In addition, the Romanian Academy has branches situated in major cities of the country. Each research institute is served by a library with a well-defined profile, according to the research area it supports. The main branch in Bucharest hosts the largest and most valuable collection in the country, consisting of more than 7 million books, nearly 50,000 titles of periodicals, and 4,500,000 microfilms and microfiches, as well as manuscripts, incunabula, old and rare books, old periodicals, engravings, stamp and coin collections. In 2001, it opened a new locale in the proximity of the old building. If in terms of facilities the Library of the Romanian Academy is now Academic and Special Libraries in Romania adequately endowed, the institution is far behind regarding the implementation of new technologies. Currently, the access to electronic databases is limited and the creation of an online catalog is at a very incipient stage. The National Institute for Information and Documentation situated in Bucharest (http://www.inid.ro/) issues a series of subject-specific bulletins consisting of abstracts of articles published in Romanian and foreign periodicals. The library of this institute maintains subscriptions to print periodicals. Access to full-text electronic databases is limited. The library continues to provide access to its collections through a card catalog. The National Statistics Institute (http://www.insse.ro) is in the process of developing its own library. The Library of the Romanian Parliament (http://www. cdep.ro/pls/dic/cd.show?cpage=biblio2) serves the needs of the members of the Parliament and the Senate. One of its responsibilities is to maintain the website of the Romanian government (http://www.guv.ro/). Another specialized collection that is centered on military issues is that of the Central Military Library in Bucharest, which has the rank of national library, along with the National Library of Romania and the Library of the Romanian Academy. It is overseen by the Ministry of Defense and access is restricted to military personnel. The card catalog is the only means of accessing the collections. Currently, the library does not maintain a website. The national broadcasting agencies—the Romanian Radio and the Romanian Television stations—are also served by libraries. These libraries are combined with the archives of these institutions. Unfortunately, there are insignificant efforts to promote electronic access to these collections to the news broadcast and mass media specialists. Cultural institutions such as museums, theaters, philharmonics, and opera houses maintain small subjectspecific collections to serve the needs of their employees—museum curators, actors, and musicians. Usually, the library is also the place that hosts the institution's archives. Often, these small libraries hide treasures that remain unknown even to researchers and the general public. Reduced funding from the parent institution and the policies that restrict access to these collections limit the capabilities of these special holdings to become visible and examined for scholarly research. One of the major drawbacks in the development of academic and special libraries in Romania, in addition to insufficient funding, is the lack of cooperation among librarians, libraries, and overseeing bodies. If efforts are being made by some, but not all, academic libraries to develop communication protocols and common standards, special libraries still have a long way to go to establish a common ground and to further strategies to step into the modern world of computers. They continue Downloaded By: [Wayne State University Library System] At: 00:06 17 March 2009 Academic and Special Libraries in Romania to operate as separate entities and anachronic enclaves in a world that requires communication and initiative. The absence of a library network at the national level hinders all uncoordinated local efforts. The unwillingness to embark on cooperative efforts like shared cataloging severely affect the performance of Romanian librarians. The nonexistence of a national bibliographic database represents a serious impediment in making library resources available to potential users. The reluctance of many Romanian librarians to embrace practices commonly used in Western European and North American librarianship results in the continuation of dated practices that perpetuate their isolation from their counterparts worldwide. The integration of new technologies into Romanian academic library activities, and the emergence of a new generation of library and information science specialists, will constitute major factors to contribute to the diversification and modernization of the services currently provided by these institutions to their constituencies. It is hoped that the increasing demands of the users of special library collections and services will create the awareness of the imperative need for financial support to foster the modernization of these agencies so far severely neglected in this country, and to the creation of new ones capable of meeting the information needs of a citizenry on the road to creating a civil and democratic society. 49 FURTHER READING Anghelescu, H.G.B. Romanian Libraries Recover after the Cold War: The Communist Legacy and the Road Ahead. In Books, Libraries, Reading and Publishing in the Cold War; Anghelescu, H.G.B., Martine, P., Eds.; Library of Congress, The Center for the Book: Washington, DC, 2001; 233 – 252. Anuarul Statistic al României, 2000 [Romania's Statistical Yearbook, 2000]; National Institute for Statistics: Bucharest, 2001. Barbul, E. Biblioteca Universitatii Regale Ferdinand I din Cluj [The King Ferdinand I University Library in Cluj]; Cartea Româneasca: Cluj, 1935. Biblioteca Centrala Universitara din Bucuresti, 1891 – 2001: O bibliografie a existentei [The Central University Library in Bucharest, 1891 – 2001: A Bibliography of Its Existence]; Biblioteca Centrala Universitara: Bucharest, 2001. Dragulanescu, N. Emerging information society and history of information science in Romania. J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci. Technol. 2002, 53 (1), 41 – 46. Lamont, S.W.; Ioana, R. Self-financing services in libraries: A method of increasing limited library budgets in postCommunist Romania. INSPEL 1997, 31 (2), 95 – 102. Popescu, N.; Liviu, P.; Radu, T. Biblioteca Centrala Universitara Mihai Eminescu-Iasi: Monografie [The Mihai Eminescu Central University Library-Iasi: Monograph]; Biblioteca Centrala Universitara Mihai Eminescu: Iasi, 1989. Tzigara-Samurcas, A. Fundatiunea Universitara Carol I, 1891 – 1931 [The Carol I University Foundation, 1891 – 1931]; s.n.: Bucharest, 1933. A Academic Branch Librarians Brad Short Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A. Downloaded By: [Wayne State University Library System] At: 00:08 17 March 2009 INTRODUCTION Branch librarians in academic libraries occupy multifaceted positions within the organizational structure of the libraries where they work and are found on the campuses of both large and small institutions. Branch librarians on today's college and university campuses inhabit various types of facilities that focus collections and services on a select clientele. These facilities can be dedicated to a specific subject (such as a music or biology library), group of disciplines (such as a humanities library), class of users (undergraduate library), or even function (storage library). Therefore, the role of the branch librarian in academic libraries is significant by virtue of its flexibility. Branch librarians are the academic library's ''Jacks and Jills of all trades.'' The role of the branch librarian in academic libraries is also significant because of the sheer numbers of branch libraries in existence. Of the reporting Association of Research Libraries (ARL) to the Spec Kit for Branch Libraries (1999), 94% report having branch libraries on their campuses.[1] The American Library Directory ''Library Count'' statistics for the past 20 years show that there are some 2500 branch libraries on junior college, college, and university campuses throughout North America.[2] The ARL Spec Kit also reports that 28% of ARL professional and support staff work in branch libraries. tal structure and are housed alongside of their academic department. Others are segregated collections housed within the main library building (perhaps on a separate wing or floor) and headed by a subject librarian. These internal branch libraries have much in common with the more typical branch facilities because of their focus on a well-defined clientele. Branch libraries in public library settings are ''fullservice'' collections in miniature. Although they may not have upper administration offices or technical service functions, they do usually provide a full range of collections and reference services within the smaller scale of the branch library. Often, branch librarianship for a public librarian is a stepping stone to another administrative position within the larger library organization. Academic branch or departmental libraries make no such attempt to provide collections or services outside of the specific focus of the collection. Likewise, academic departmental librarianship is not necessarily a proving ground for middle managers. To the casual patron, the branch librarian is anyone who works in that specific branch. Although this may or may not be true in reality, this perception is an important beginning point when looking at and trying to understand the development of the role of the branch librarian on an academic campus. HISTORY BEFORE WWII TERMINOLOGY The term branch librarian is most easily defined as the librarian who is in charge of a given branch, subject, or departmental collection, which is usually housed in a separate facility. Within the world of academe, terms like ''departmental'' or ''school'' are now used as often. The qualifier ''branch,'' ''departmental,'' or ''school'' have become less distinctive on college campuses in recent years. Now more often than not, the distinction is simply a reflection of the academic department's status (e.g., department vs. school) and the relationship of the smaller library unit to the larger main library administration. Most branch libraries are organized by subject areas that mirror academic departmen16 Seal and Shkolnik discuss how many branch libraries in the United States grew out of the Germanic seminar tradition that had become the model for graduate study in higher education in the latter part of the nineteenth century.[3,4] This tradition had at its core the academic seminar, in which small numbers of students met with professors and learned by combining the investigation of topics, the laboratory method, the historical method, and the comparative method of inquiry. The seminar rooms housed reference books and other important texts, which were often the private collections of professors in the department. These informal collections of materials resulted in the establishment of many departmental libraries. Sometimes, however, the seminar room itself was located in the main library, and similar collections Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science DOI: 10.1081/E-ELIS 120008736 Copyright D 2003 by Marcel Dekker, Inc. All rights reserved. Downloaded By: [Wayne State University Library System] At: 00:08 17 March 2009 Academic Branch Librarians of reference books were located within that seminar room for the use of specific students. Thus, whether as part of the academic department or located in the main library, specific collections of materials that focused on the particular needs of a given department became common, especially within the context of graduate level seminars. In general terms, departmental libraries started because of perceived ineffective central library services and collections. During the nineteenth century, American university libraries were not the resource for student and faculty research that they are today. Built from meager funds and donations, academic libraries could not meet the needs of growing university populations. Public library collections, especially in major metropolitan areas, were usually more extensive than their academic counterparts. Departmental librarians on university campuses, to the extent they existed, were little more than clerks or secretaries. Faculty members took full responsibility for building the collection and purchasing needed materials. Thus, it could be argued that the first ''branch librarians'' were, in fact, the collective faculty of a given department or school. Whether by policy or tradition, faculty involvement in branch library collections is historically much higher in branch libraries than in central libraries. Over time, these homegrown departmental collections grew into full-fledged branch library collections, offering an array of services and collections. With this growth came the need for trained librarians who were wholly assigned to the branch library, who could develop procedures to organize these collections and who could manage the ever-growing demand for service. GROWTH SINCE WWII After World War II, there was an increase in the numbers of students attending American universities, due in large part to the GI Bill. This influx of students caused many departments to grow rapidly. With that growth came the establishment of many branch libraries as a way to house burgeoning collections. These libraries were formed within the sphere of the academic departments themselves to meet the demands of rapidly expanding departments and schools. The efforts of faculty members who donated their collections, as well as those who went on ''book-buying'' trips, would have quickly overwhelmed the central library's ability to handle the infusion of materials if the materials had been destined for the main library. Branch libraries became a common way to deal with these quickly growing departmental collections, as well as offering the department the luxury of control over the materials. This split from the main library provided greater levels of autonomy for 17 branch librarians. The branch librarian was primarly a bibliographer specializing in the subject of the department whose role was to purchase scholarly material for the department's collection with little or no regard for the holdings in the main library. However, there is nothing ''standard'' about how these individual libraries were built and how they relate to their parent organizations. Branch libraries could be totally independent from the main library on campus and report to the academic department chairman or administrator, or the library could be formed on the request of the department and remain wholly part of the library system. Today, still many branch librarians hold joint appointments within the department they serve and in the main library on campus as well. Branch libraries exist in some cases as anomalies on campus when only one or two branches are found away from the main library. On other campuses (most notably Harvard University), branch libraries are the norm for almost every department. It is not surprising that the branch librarians have a variety of ways in which they relate to the central library administration on these campuses. Even within this organizational variation, there is also the variation of the physical library itself. Branch libraries can be found housed within the academic library building or in a separate building away from the main library and in close proximity to the academic department that they serve. Time and circumstances of continued growth have even created strange and somewhat awkward situations; collections formerly housed in one branch location are now split among several locations. These complexities only compound the job of the branch librarian. In some situations, the branch librarian becomes a bit of a ''circuit rider,'' moving from one location to another to fulfill responsibilities at various locations across the campus. Among the most common branch libraries on campuses are those for music, art, and science and technology. To some degree, each of these subject areas share the distinction of having specialized materials and of needing specialized services to use those materials. Music collections often have seminar rooms located in the branch, so that faculty members have easy access to the books, scores, pianos, recordings, and periodicals that are needed to present any given work of music. Likewise, art books containing reproductions can be extremely large, heavy, and too difficult to use in art studios. Science libraries are formed to meet the increasingly interdisciplinary needs of students and scholars from fields such as biology, chemistry, and physics, giving them all access to the same resources. This interdisciplinary approach facilitates research in relatively new fields as biomedicine, genetics, and environmental studies. A 18 Downloaded By: [Wayne State University Library System] At: 00:08 17 March 2009 MIDDLE MANAGERS Quintessentially, the role of the branch librarian is that of a middle manager. Branch librarians implement librarywide policy and decisions. They can also provide invaluable information concerning patron need and collection use that, in turn, influence librarywide policy. From the very beginning, branch librarianship, included elements of efficiency, specialized services, highly focused collections, and close relationships with the academic programs, which define the core of the branch libraries' mission. In the beginning, the roles that branch librarians played were largely determined by the department and its relationship to the main library and to the institution at large. Because departmental libraries were created to fulfill an unmet need, the relationship to the main library is one that has its roots in conflict. This antagonism was reflected in the policies of the branch library. Often branch librarians were asked to become protectors and defenders of their collections; not allowing anyone to use the materials other than those enrolled in the specific academic program. That role softened somewhat during in the last decades of the twentieth century, so that librarians became more caretakers of their collections and teachers of specialized bibliographic methods. The forces that led to those changes during the latter part of the twentieth century include the rise of cooperative activities among academic libraries, such as the growth of interlibrary loan and cooperative licensing agreements negotiated by parent institutions. These larger trends throughout the library field toward an interdependence and spirit of cooperation among academic libraries motivated a reevaluation of the branch librarian's role. Today, branch librarians are usually the first to form networks of support through organizations such as the Special Libraries Association, Art Libraries Society of North America, Music Library Association, and numerous other organizations, which foster the open sharing of information, expertise, and collections among once competing institutions. CENTRALIZATION VERSUS DECENTRALIZATION On the local campus there is often a struggle with how to manage branch libraries, otherwise known as ''outposts.'' Separating library collections by subject as a method of institutional organization first came to public libraries before WWII. It spread to the academic campus as branch libraries sprang up within academic departments and thus gave birth to the long-standing controversy ''centralization versus decentralization'' as an organizational option Academic Branch Librarians for academic libraries. Academic branch librarians are thrown into the center of the struggle because the issues often include reporting lines, budgets, communication, autonomy, and specialized services. This position can create some discomfort for library administrators in the main library. If branch librarians unduly side with their academic department, they can compromise and complicate library planning at the systemwide level. Admittedly, there are a number of problems with branch libraries on academic campuses. They include controlling acquisitions funds, ownership of and access to the materials and services, physical and computer security issues, bibliographic and processing inconsistencies, and staffing problems and personnel loyalties. The service implications created by requiring faculty and students on most university campuses to consult different branch libraries in different locations with different and even conflicting policies are obvious and sometimes become even embarrassing to library system administrators. In this case, size does matter. Larger and older institutions tend to have many branch libraries, while smaller institutions and community colleges tend toward centralized library systems. Desires to address some of these issues for coordination and planning purposes caused many faculty and university administrators to attempt to centralize library collections and standardize library services. Attempts were made to reduce the number of branch libraries on campuses by conflating individual departmental libraries into subject divisional libraries such as branch libraries for social sciences, humanities, and science and technology. These attempts were not necessarily received without challenges. It does seem at times as if some would suggest that branch libraries could be abolished and subsumed into the centralized collection. Although it might be administratively simpler to manage, it would create the need for massive renovations and reorganizations to accommodate all the services and collections presently offered in university branch libraries. With rare exception, this choice does not exist in reality but as only a phi