ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

The Council on Library Resources and CHOICE: An Appreciation

Earlier this year the ACRL Board of Directors approved the following resolution, which was transmitted to the Council on Library Resources.

Whereas the Council on Library Resources has granted a second subsidy of $108,855 to provide for the continuing publication of CHOICE, be it resolved that the Board of Directors of the Association of College and Research Libraries expresses its deep gratitude to the Council on Library Resources for its generous and timely support.

The following is an extended statement of appreciation from the ACRL Board of Directors which also has been forwarded to the Council:

The first issue of CHOICE, the book review journal issued by ACRL, was published in March 1964 at Middletown, Conn., five years after the idea was first conceived. The elapsed time between conception and finished product was due to exhaustive planning, interviewing, and revising by two prime movers: Verner Clapp, president of the Council on Library Resources, and his colleague, Robert Jordan.

Mr. Clapp realized in 1959, along with many fellow librarians, that the “Shaw List” desperately needed updating. He was not satisfied merely to print a list of arbitrary titles. Such a list, although an easy task given sufficient financial support, would soon be out-of-date. One piece of evidence supporting this foresight is the fact that annual book production in the United States has more than doubled since 1959—from 14,000 to 30,000. More useful to academic libraries would be a periodical that reviewed and evaluated books as they were published, keeping in mind the need of the college library. Such a work would utilize subject specialists and would publish evaluations via a printing method that would permit storage and re-use of full information, namely, magnetic tapes. With these ideas in mind, two dependent operations followed: (1) interviewing of members of the library profession to elicit their opinions on a “New Shaw”; and (2) finding an organization willing to sponsor the operation on a continuing basis. The interviews developed into meetings, conferences, and idea sessions. This time-consuming assessment of opinion achieved its purpose in establishing the kind of book list college librarians wanted. Much pulling, pushing, and coordinating by the Council on Library Resources resulted in a detailed draft of the “New Shaw.” It was to be a book review periodical with consultants, managed by an editor with a permanent staff. Its purpose was to evaluate current books of a scholarly or academic nature. The entire operation of the proposed periodical was now down on paper. There remained the need to find an organization to sponsor the project.

The American Library Association, specifically its Association of College and Research Libraries, seemed to be the most appropriate publisher. A proposal for joint sponsorship by the Council and the American Library Association was wisely rejected by Mr. Clapp and David H. Clift, executive director of the American Library Association. After an agreement was reached between ACRL’s Board of Directors and ALA over the duties of the editor, the new periodical became a responsibility of the ACRL.

Considerable financial backing was needed to launch a periodical of this magnitude and the American Library Association applied to the Council on Library Resources for a grant with which to underwrite the project. In 1961, upon the recommendation of Mr. Clapp, the Council granted the new reviewing journal $150,000.

Two years passed before an editor was appointed, during which time academic libraries were faced with three forces of growth: book publishing, book budgets, and student enrollment. The patience and faith of the Council on Library Resources during this delay was admirable. In 1963, Richard K. Gardner became the first editor and a staff was assembled.

March 1964 saw the appearance of Volume I, Number 1, of CHOICE. In the three years that have passed Verner Clapp and the Council on Library Resources have seen their idea mature into a valuable aid in developing library collections. In three volumes, CHOICE, with its over two thousand subject specialists, has offered succinct, comparative reviews of scholarly books (5,400 in Volume III), has assisted in the selection of consultants for Books for College Libraries, has published subject-centered bibliographic articles, has contributed such selection aids as the “Opening Day Collection,” and, according to the response from subscribers, has filled a void in current reviewing of academic books. It has proved useful to public, junior college, secondary school, special, and foreign libraries.

CHOICEpromises to provide continuing evaluation of new books; but it is also considering the publication of supplements to Books for College Libraries, and is moving toward reviewing U.S. Government documents and foreign publications.

CHOICEis essentially the product of the intelligence, determination, and courage of Verner Clapp and members of the Council on Library Resources. Because of their support and advice, librarians and libraries are benefiting. Both the Council and Verner Clapp have eschewed interference with editorial policy, placing confidence in the Association of College and Research Libraries, which in turn, has intrusted the policy-making to an editorial board. The Association appreciates the Council’s further commitment to CHOICE in the form of a three-year grant renewal for $108,855. Such confidence merits increased service to libraries by the Association and the editorial staff of CHOICE.