Definition
Bibliography
V.
Vesper Collection
Management Librarian
Middle Tennessee State University
Murfreesboro, TN 37132
http://www.mtsu.edu/~vvesper/advise.html
Definition:
The name itself is defining, the Reader's Advisor or Advisory counsels
and guides readers or library patrons to needed information or just a
good book to read. The definition has, at times, included reference
service, but most often the term is used to describe a service for guiding
the reader to recreational reading. "The function of the Readers'
Advisor
in the college library is to relate the student's classroom reading to
appropriate readings, to guide his non-curricular reading, and thereby
to broaden his base of knowledge"(Lyle 243). History
The idea for a Readers' Advisor originated with public libraries in
the 1920's and spread to academic libraries, where the importance of
reading for intellectual development as well as for recreation was
recognized. The creation of a browsing area, complementing the Readers'
Advisor service became an important element of the academic library in
the 1930's. An excellent article by Janelle M. Zauha discusses the
early history of browsing rooms, particularly at the University of Iowa.
She quotes John B. Kaiser, Director of the University of Iowa Libraries
from 1924-27, about the importance of reading and a browsing room. "The
Library suggests to the student that he take time each week to read books
on some subject entirely outside his regular work: that he make the
acquaintance of some of the standard magazines never before
encountered....that, above all, he learn to know books as friends and to
experience the sheer joy of reading"(Zauha 57). Often these browsing
rooms were staffed by a librarian, a Readers' Advisor, whose function
was not only to select and maintain the collection, but to provide "the
right book to the right reader at the right time." The objective of
the
browsing collection has remained the same through the years, "to
stimulate, entertain, relax; to offer readers the newest attractive books
on hobbies, travel, and other personal recreational activities; to entice
people into subject areas as yet unexplored by them (Shelton 410).
Library literature of the 1930's includes numerous references to browsing
rooms in college libraries, dormitories and fraternity houses, as well as
articles encouraging Readers' Advisor services for both academic and
public libraries.In the 1940's the popularity of this service declined, at least as a formalized position or policy. For academic libraries, the death knell came from Harvie Branscomb, Director of Duke University Libraries who published a book in 1940 entitled, Teaching With Books: A Study of College Libraries, which was the result of a study investigating the role of the library in undergraduate education. Branscomb believed that for students "there will be little time for outside reading....The college library, it can be argued, needs to take its own task more seriously, not to attempt the role of the public library, the great concern of which with recreational reading is itself questionable"(qtd. in Farber 4). So, after a brief moment of glory in the 1930's the Readers' Advisor in academic libraries became only a memory. Browsing rooms continued to exist but without a librarian to assist students.
With some notable exceptions, the Browsing Room has been tolerated, but not usually encouraged, in academic libraries. At the University of Illinois, the Illini Union Browsing Room has survived, but even this collection only survived because external funding came to the rescue in 1991. Other exceptions are the University of Indiana and the University of Michigan which have residence halls that serve as learning centers, encouraging the expansion of intellectual and cultural development. Based on the premise that reading and libraries are vital to life-long learning, each residence hall has a library. These libraries have a variety of knowledge-based resources including reference as well as recreational titles, and at each library, a Head Librarian, a graduate student from the School of Information advises students with the help of a team of Library Assistants.
Browsing rooms, the "Cinderella" of academic library services have been virtually ignored for several decades. A survey done by Susan Marks in May, 1975 of the nations's thirty largest university libraries had 24 respondents. Only twelve of these responding libraries still had browsing collections (95). Possible reasons for the decline in this service include open stacks, shrinking funds for library resources, the information explosion, and the love affair with technology. Given the current financial crisis on most campuses, the emphasis on accountability, and the constant struggle to meet the curricular needs of the academic community, spending funds for recreational reading seems like buying cut flowers for a dinner table centerpiece when you don't have enough money for the entree. Time, money and staff have been in short supply for a text-based service deemed marginal or non-essential to the college community.
Pros/Cons
Many librarians, who are readers and bibliophiles, see the
advantages of "encouraging recreational reading, which in turn can
increase general and specific reading interests. At a time when
headlines
warn of the decline in college students' ability and desire to read, the
existence of browsing rooms should not be jeopardized, but
encouraged"(Marks 95). Alan Bloom in the Closing of American Mind laments
"our students have lost the practice of and taste for reading.
They have
not learned how to read, nor do they have the expectation of delight or
improvement from reading"(62). Three studies in the 1980's, reported
in
Zill's Who Reads Literature?, point to a decline in reading by young
adults in the United States (19). Two of these studies were sponsored by
the Book Industry Study Group and the third study, Survey of Public
Participation in the Arts was sponsored by the National Endowment for the
Arts. Studies site a variety of reasons for the decline in reading
interest and ability (Zill). In a presentation concerning the reading
habits and abilities of college students at the International Reading
Association meeting in 1988, Evan Farber hypothesized that two of the
possible reasons for the lack of reading among college students were that
academic libraries do not encourage recreational reading and that many
students suffer from "library anxiety" which causes them to avoid the
library unless absolutely necessary (2). The Browsing room seems an
obvious remedy to this situation, and in the past was recognized as
instrumental in encouraging reading.In 1936, Professors Randall and Goodrich writing about browsing rooms in the Principles of College Library Administration, stated, "The amount of free reading done in a college will be commensurate with the supply of material of a readable nature which is furnished and with the ease with which it may be secured. Any activities, therefore, which result in increasing the supply or the accessibility of readable and interesting books are likely to be useful in the encouragement of reading" (151-152). The influential author of The Administration of the College Library, Guy R. Lyle devotes a whole chapter to encouraging reading, especially recreational reading in the 1949 edition of this book. He includes a most impassioned plea and defense for recreational reading and a readers' advisor from a former president of Brown University, Henry M Wriston.
In a large and more genuine sense, however, recreational reading is often the most truly educational, even the most really intellectual, element in experiences with and through books. It may well furnish an intellectual project within which the student establishes his own goals and determines his own significant values. It is the place where his tastes, aptitudes, and skills find freest play. Individual differences, recognition of which is the keynote of modern education, here come to richest fulfilment. It is precisely through independent reading that the task of knotting together the raveled sleeve of information may best be achieved. Here the student's own philosophical structure takes form as a result of reading and reflection. A shrewd and wise person, who knows the student and has the gift for offering stimulating suggestions, makes as direct and profound an impact upon his development, as any professor, of whatever degree or distinction ( qtd. in Lyle 246).
Periodcally, an article or survey asks famous and not-so famous people," What book have you read, has had the most impact upon your life?" In reading the responses in these articles, hardly ever does someone refer to a book that they read as part of a course assignment. Almost always, the books that influence us most are books that we have read voluntarily or for "recreation." Although recreational reading can range from the purely escapist fiction to a classic of literature, who is to say where or when a reader may react to the written word. As stated by author, Paula Fox, "Literature is the province of the imagination, and stories, in whatever guise, are meditations on life. "
In the era of "information technology," the support of a text-based service may seem old-fashioned. But, the browsing room is not about information, it is about knowlege and self-discovery. Ursula Le Guin says it very well," We read books to find out who we are. What other people, real or imaginary , do and think and feel...It is an essential guide to our understanding of what we ourselves are and may become." In the browsing collection of an academic library lies the promise of a life-long learner, the true goal of an educational institution.
The benefits of a browsing collection of recreation reading far outweigh any objections. A primary objection is that money spent for this collection could be better spent on "academic resources." A recent survey on the Collection Development Listserve about Browsing collections had 33 respondents. A question concerning funding for the collection elicited a wide range of responses from one library which spent over $14,000 a year to most other libraries whose expenditures were minimal. Librarians have rationalized the existence of browsing collections, in times when expenditures on this type of material might be criticized, and have sought inexpensive and imaginative methods of supporting acquisitions to this collection by buying paperbacks, paperback exchanges, accepting donations, using book sale funds, leasing or rental plans, lost books from airports, etc. A common practice and solution for many libraries is to temporarily shelve selected new additions to the main collection in the browsing area. The lack of funding need not be an excuse for not having a browsing collection.
A corollary objection is "time is money" and that staff time will be wasted tending to this collection. Staff time is needed for selection, cataloging, weeding, shelving, etc., but this type of maintenance is relative to the browsing collection itself. A paperback collection, generated from either a paperback exchange or donations, will need a minimum of maintenance. Another collection that is selected by staff, fully cataloged, and will remain part of the library's permanent collection will be more time consuming. But, this is time that would have been spent for these books regardless of the fact that they are temporarily shelved in the browsing collection. A library can have a browsing collection that does not take up excessive amounts of staff time.
Another objection is sometimes voiced by faculty, who believe that students may be lured into reading "fluff" instead of their curriucular assignments. However, most studies, going back to the Mildred Harrington's summary of research in the 1930's indicate that students who read for recreation, usually are the best students.