The Significance of the Junior College Library in the Education Program

Abstract

TH E JUNIOR COLLEGE LIBRARY is j u s t beginning to get the recognition which it deserves. Most junior colleges are the outgrowth of secondary education, and it is only natural that they have inherited the weaknesses as well as the virtues of secondary education. By and large, I am sure that one of the outstanding failures of secondary education even today is the lack of provision for the encouragement of selfdirected habits of study through adequate library service. T h e junior college, like any other member of the educational family, has particularized functions. Important as it is in high school, self-propelled intellectual activity becomes a compelling objective on the junior college level. This fact makes the library a vital part of any junior college organization. It has been stated that the library is the power plant of an educational institution. It is not merely a department, a single spoke in the educational wheel; it is more than that. Its influence transcends all departments. It is the hub of the instructional wheel. Because of the type of work the junior college is designed to do, the library plays just as significant a role in the success of this institution as it does in a four-year college or university. T h e chief yardstick of appraisal of any junior college organization is the quality of its library service. In the language of investment circles, this is the acid test. During the past several years, I have had the privilege of visiting many junior colleges in all sections of the country. In these visits, I have made a special point of spending considerable time in the various libraries. I have inquired about the number and training of librarians, about budgets, general policies, faculty and administrative relationships, student use, and about the facilities for special reading. Further, I have almost always asked to see the shelf of unaccessioned books in order to get some idea of the type of books added currently to the library. I have studied, too, certain departmental collections in fields which I have felt I should know more about than others. M y general observation is that there is widespread recognition of need for improved library service but also that junior college administrations as a rule have not met the library problem with the same firmness and determination with which other problems have been met. This observation applies to some of the betterknown junior colleges, as well as to those