Appendix I — The Nomenclature of Library Positions18
564
564. It will be difficult but it is desirable to attempt to resolve some order out of the terminological chaos at present existing.
The British Government has many library positions in its control, but the term librarian is only sparingly recognized. There are “librarians” of the two Houses of Parliament, the British Museum, the Board of Education, Admiralty, Patent Office and other Government departments, but only in the Houses of Parliament are there any assistant-librarians so-named. The heads of departments in the British Museum are called “keepers,” a traditional term, and the assistant librarians “Assistants in the Department of Printed Books” or “Manuscripts,” as the case may be, which as a term in no way connects them with librarianship. In the Patent Office the term “Custodian” was formerly employed, but was dropped some eight years ago for “Assistant in the Library.” In the other Government or Civil Service libraries the assistant librarian is usually rated and named as a first- or second-class clerk, as the case may be. It would be greatly to the advantage of librarianship if a proper Government recognition of the term librarian as representing a specially trained type of man rather than the occupant of a certain position could be obtained. At present it seems that clerks in any Government office possessing a library can be moved from the office proper to the library, and vice versa.
565
565. In municipal and similar public libraries the chaos is even more pronounced. The principal officer calls himself Chief, Principal, Head, Borough or City Librarian, or merely Librarian. Often the term Chief Librarian is adopted where the owner of the name is the only librarian on the staff, and the term “Chief” in these circumstances is meaningless.
567
567. In the nomenclature of assistant librarians the confusion is worse still. The principal assistant to the librarian is called the Deputy, Chief Assistant, Assistant- or Sub-Librarian in large libraries; but the terminology is imitated by the smaller libraries, and it is no uncommon matter to hear of an assistant with a salary of £30 per annum called a “sub-librarian,” and “chief assistant” and similar terms are used very loosely to the bewilderment of library authorities, who find that the Deputy Librarian of a great library like Birmingham holds apparently the same position as the untrained lad in a village library.
568
568. It is undoubtedly desirable to formulate a series of definitions which should govern the application of names to library positions. The resulting nomenclature if generally adopted would prevent the anomalies referred to. No librarian should call himself a chief librarian unless he directs the work of librarians; the adjective is distinctly a relative term. Similarly a deputy- or a sub-librarian should be clearly a librarian of some technical equipment and training though he does not happen to hold an independent position. To apply this name to a young or boy assistant is undignified and is bound to cause confusion.
Notes
18 A report contributed by L. Stanley Jast and W. C. Berwick Sayers to the Congrès International des Archivistes et des Bibliothécaires, Bruxelles, 1910.