The Malan years, 1962–1967
8.3. Collections
[A] peculiarity of university libraries is that in many of them the financial allocation for books and journals is based on the number of students in each department. The basic stock for any given subject will cost the same whether it is to be used by 20 or 200 students... the present method ensures that the smaller university must be inferior to the bigger so far as the literature of research is concerned. 803
Kennedy’s recommendations for improving the book stock of the University of Natal Libraries included increasing the annual book vote to at least R45, 000 (in 1961 only R30, 106 had been expended on books and periodicals) as well as an ad hoc grant of R250, 000 to be spent over ten years, to “make good deficiencies”804 and to bring the collections up to the “required minimum.”805 This did not happen. In 1962 library expenditure on books and journals actually fell by 3% to R29,232. Even in 1967, expenditure on books and journals had not quite reached the R45,000 target recommended by Kennedy. At R42,883 it constituted just 2% of overall University expenditure, although total library expenditure constituted nearly 8% of the total (see Table 8.2 above). Needless to say, no ad hoc grant was forthcoming, either.
Pretoria on 5th and 6th November, 1962.808 Representatives of public, university and special libraries in South Africa attended. Representing the University of Natal were the Principal, Dr E.G. Malherbe, the chairs of the two Library Committees, Professors
Warren and Kelly and Malan, Director of Library Services. The recommendations of this conference were sent to the appropriate authorities for further action and, as mentioned above, a National Library Advisory Council was established in 1967.
Of these investigations, one of the most important was that undertaken by R.F. Kennedy
“to discover and report upon the strengths and weaknesses of the book-stock of six regions.”809 Kennedy built upon an earlier survey undertaken by H.C. van Rooy of Potchefstroom University in 1960 which measured the “numerical book-stock”810 of South African libraries. Kennedy’s investigation took the work a step further by “viewing the book-stock qualitatively.”811 Of particular interest to this study are Kennedy’s
findings on the holdings of South African university libraries and those of the University of Natal in particular.
For the purpose of the investigation Kennedy defined “basic book stock” as:
... a collection of the best books to satisfy the reasonable needs of all the people in a given area. It should include standard works on all subjects; be strong in encyclopædic works, general and special, such as dictionaries of national
biography; have available the world’s great literary classics in the original for the main Western European languages and in translation; have sets of the most important journals in wide subjects such as chemistry, economics and music; and include files of the most important newspapers, either in the original or on
microfilm. Each region should also have a sufficient number of books of a reasonable standard to satisfy the needs of general readers of recreational books.812
For purposes of comparison Kennedy compiled checklists of standard books and periodicals, against which book stock could be checked. There were four checklists:
• Reference books: he compiled a list of titles from Winchell’s Guide to reference books and Walford’s Guide to reference material and included a number of the titles used in a contemporary survey of rate-supported libraries in England and
808 R. Musiker, Companion to South African libraries, p. 140.
809 Kennedy, Books for study and research, p.1. The six regions were the Transvaal, the Orange Free State, Natal, the Eastern Cape, the South-western Cape, and the Northern Cape
810 Ibid. p. 2.
811 Ibid.
812 Ibid., p.1.
Wales. This list was sent out to national, city, provincial and university libraries;813
• Periodicals: Kennedy drew up a list from various sources such as the list of 327 scientific periodicals appended to a paper by D.J. Urquhart which was published in the Proceedings of the International Conference on Scientific Information (held in Washington, D.C., in 1958) and the Ulrich’s periodicals directory of 1959. He then compared this list to Periodicals in South African Libraries, a national union list of all periodicals holdings in the country;814
• A bibliography of a special subject: Kennedy called this the “Rhinoceros list.”815 He explained:
It was expected that most libraries would have a large proportion of the books on the main check-list of reference books...I wished to go a step further and demonstrate that ... [our libraries] are ill equipped to deal with a piece of research for which rare books are required.”816
His choice fell on a bibliography of rare books appended to an article by F.J. Cole,
“The history of Albrecht Dürer’s rhinoceros in zoological literature” from the monograph, Science, medicine and history (published by Oxford University Press in 1953). The result of the check was surprising; of the 56 items listed, 35 were held in South African libraries. He concluded that his hypothesis was wrong since he discovered that the research could have been carried out in South Africa!
Interestingly, four of the items were held in the University of Natal Libraries, two each in Durban and Pietermaritzburg;817
• His final check list was a list of both books and periodicals in the field of library science. He called this the “special subject” list.818 It was a list of recommended readings listed in SALA’s Study guide to classification and cataloguing for 1960.
Periodicals listed were those under the entry “Library periodicals” in Ulrich’s periodicals directory as well as H.J. Aschenborn’s Library journals in South African libraries.819
813 Kennedy, Books for study and research, p.2.
814 Ibid., p.15.
815 Ibid., p. 26.
816 Ibid.
817 Ibid.
818 Ibid., p. 27.
819 Ibid.
The checklist of reference books was sent out to national, city, provincial and university libraries. Kennedy also visited libraries, examined inter-library loan records and checked the holdings of libraries as reported in the national catalogue of periodicals, Periodicals in South African Libraries (PISAL). It was a mammoth task and the results provide an in-depth insight into the state of the national book stock in the mid twentieth century. The libraries with the “most comprehensive stock,” Kennedy concluded, were
“the Johannesburg Public Library, the South African Public Library and the
universities.”820 He considered that all the universities were “centres for study and research” but added that it was “... clear from the schedules that all university libraries have serious deficiencies of stock ...”821
As far as the University of Natal was concerned, Kennedy observed that the policy of avoiding the duplication of books in order to conserve finances had resulted in serious lacunae in the collections. He observed that “many books that should be in both libraries are found in one or the other.”822 Echoing the criticism voiced by former Natal
University Librarian, J.W. Perry, Kennedy pointed out that “The subjects that suffer most are those that fall outside the regular syllabus.”823 That said, he found the University Library in Durban, in company with the University of Cape Town, to have good holdings in Architecture periodicals as well as in company histories, in Fabian “and other sociological pamphlets”824 and in Edmund Spenser. The Powell Collection of early works on technology and science also drew his attention, in particular a bibliography based on this collection drawn up by library staff. 825 He remarked that “Lists such as this is are very useful in making known the special subjects or fields in which a library is collecting.”826
On the negative side Kennedy considered that “Cape Town, Stellenbosch and Natal University allocate too little for the purchase of current medical journals.”827 The Medical Library subscribed to 300 current tiles in medicine but, commented Kennedy,
820 Kennedy, Books for study and research, p. 84.
821 Ibid.
822 Ibid., p. 61.
823 Ibid.
824 Ibid., p. 63.
825 University of Natal Library, A Short-title list of books printed before the year 1701, Durban:
University of Natal, 1961, 24 p.
826 Kennedy, Books for study and research, p. 63
827 Ibid., p. 25.
“the minimum number of journals essential in a medical school library is, I am informed, 600.”828 The Durban section of the University of Natal Library was also “very weak in general bibliographies and indexes and in runs of periodicals earlier than 1945.”829
To conclude, Kennedy’s findings echoed Malan’s contention that the University of Natal Library was underfunded. He pointed out that the Natal University Library was “a comparatively new library, still in process of being built up,”830 and stated that he considered the financial allocation “quite inadequate.”831
8.3.1. Microforms
In order to fill the serious gaps highlighted by Kennedy’s survey, the Library began to purchase out-of-print scholarly texts and back runs of journals in microform “on a large scale832 in 1966. Malan was enthusiastic about the new medium, pointing out that
“microforms cost about a third of the price of the originals and save a tremendous amount of storage space.”833 These tiny images had, over the years, become increasingly important as a cost-effective way for university libraries to expand their collections.
Microforms were first created in 1839 by J.B. Dancer who had managed to reduce photographic images and at the same time produce a translucent image.834 “This early microform,” says Hamlin, “achieved fame in 1870 from its use to transmit messages, via carrier pigeon, to and from Paris, then under siege in the Franco-Prussian War.”835 The medium first received “serious attention from the library profession”836 at the American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter Meeting of 1936 and was soon generally accepted as a convenient medium for the storage of large volumes of scholarly information.837 South African libraries were slower on the uptake although it is interesting to note that
828 Kennedy, Books for study and research, p. 64.
829 Ibid., p. 63
830 Ibid.
831 Ibid.
832 University of Natal Library, Annual report, 1966, p. 7.
833 Ibid., p. 8.
834 A.T. Hamlin, The university library in the United States, Philadelphia, Pa.: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1981, p. 212.
835 Ibid.
836 Ibid.
837 Ibid., p. 213.
an article on microforms by Coblans appeared in South African libraries in 1952838 in which he cautions that “the future of microcopy for us depends essentially on whether the users of libraries … will adapt themselves to these ‘gadgets.’”839
The University invested in two microfiche/microfilm readers, one for Pietermaritzburg and the other for Durban in 1966. Malan noted that “the buying of the lesser used materials in microform”840 was one way of attaining “the ideal.”841 At the same time it was a way of saving both money and space, both important considerations for the University of Natal Libraries.
8.3.2. Banned collections
Although 1950, the year in which the Suppression of Communism Act was promulgated, is regarded as the beginning of “widespread, systematic”842 censorship in South Africa and a consolidated list of over 4,000 publications banned in South Africa had been published in 1956,843 the question of banned books was discussed at the University of Natal for the first time in 1962. At a meeting of the Pietermaritzburg Library Committee on 16th May 1962 it was recorded that the Director had compiled a list of banned books which was to serve as an “Index.”844 Prior to this date no mention at all of banned books had been made either in the Library’s Annual reports or in the minutes of the library committees. It seems that Perry and the Library Committees had ignored the issue and banned books had been left on the libraries’ open shelves. In contrast, at the University of the Witwatersrand, the immediate withdrawal of all banned books from circulation had been ordered in 1954 by the chairman of the library committee, who had insisted that such books were to be stored “in such a manner that they are accessible to the Librarian only.”845 Fortunately, both for the University of the Witwatersrand and other
838 H. Coblans, Some recent developments in microcopy, South African libraries, vol. 19, no. 3, January 1952, p. 77-81.
839 Ibid., p. 80.
840 University of Natal Library, Annual report, 1966, p. 8.
841 Ibid.
842 C. Merrett, A culture of censorship, Cape Town: David Philip, 1994, p. 2.
843 Customs Act 1955: objectionable literature: revised list, South Africa, Government gazette, no.
5730, Government notice no. 1510, 17th August 1956.
844 University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg Library Committee, Minutes of a meeting held on 16th May 1962, p. 3.
845 Murray, Wits, the open years, p. 165.
South African universities, his successor,846 Professor G. Thomas, took up the issue with the Committee of University Principals, requesting that universities be indemnified.847 Thomas’s plea was successful and although a bureaucratic and cumbersome system was put in place to manage banned collections in university libraries it did at least allow scholars access to banned literature.
Malan, an Afrikaner and most likely a supporter of the Nationalist government,848 took action at once and had a list drawn up by members of staff in the Periodicals Department in Durban, namely M.G. Morton and W.W.C. Brink. Malan had, however, said that he would be willing to take legal advice849 and the advice, provided by A.S. Matthews and Professor E. Burchell, makes interesting reading. Burchell, in a letter to the Principal, stated:
At the last Senex meeting you asked me to let you have a memorandum on the legal position in respect of banned books …In view of the remote danger of criminal prosecution, it seems to me that it is not necessary for the University to take any action at all in this matter… If universities are autonomous in the sense that they have the right to decide how and what to teach, I don’t think they should consider begging the Minister for permission to retain basic teaching material
…850
Nevertheless, Malan went ahead and gave instructions that the catalogue cards for banned books were to be removed from the catalogues.851 An objection lodged at the Pietermaritzburg Library Committee meeting of 13th March, 1963852 resulted in the referral of the matter to the Joint Library Committee for a decision. The Joint Library Committee ruled that “banned books cannot be kept on the open shelves ...”853 but sanctioned the retention of cards for banned books in the general catalogue so that library users would at least know that such books were in stock, although not easily available for use. The issue of the banned collections was to remain an extremely
846 Thomas is described by Murray as “a more liberal-minded” man. – Murray, Wits, the open years, p. 165.
847 Ibid.
848 Pugsley, Personal communication, 2nd April 2008.
849 University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg Library Committee, Minutes of a meeting held on 13th March 1963, p. 3.
850 E. Burchell, Re: Banned books in the University Library, Letter to E.G. Malherbe, 28th June 1962.
851 L. Milburn, Letter to S.P.M. O’Byrne, 11th December 1962, unpublished; S.I. Malan, Letter to R.A. Brown, 19th December 1962, unpublished.
852 University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg Library Committee, Minutes of a meeting held on 13th March 1963, p. 3.
853 University of Natal, Joint Library Committee, Minutes of a meeting held on 29th March 1963, p.3.
contentious matter at the University of Natal until their disbandment in 1990. It was to drive a wedge between the libraries, particularly the Durban Library under the
management of Mr F. Scholtz, and the academic staff at the University.
8.3.3. Notable donations
In 1963 the Hillier collection, consisting of approximately 5,000 “out-of-print books on history and English literature,”854 was donated outright by the Council of the Natal Technical College to the University. It had been on loan to the University for an unspecified period although it seems safe to assume that it was moved from the
Technical College Library to the Natal University College Library shortly after the latter moved to Howard College in Stellawood. In the same year Mrs F. Powell, whose Cancer Research Library was housed in the Medical Library and administered by library staff on her behalf, donated this collection outright to the University.
Powell also continued to donate monies annually for the upkeep and extension of the Powell collection of Early Science and Technology. Additions to this collection were purchased on a regular basis on the recommendation of a small committee, consisting of the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, the Vice-Principal (Durban), the Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Library Director.
In 1965 the Pietermaritzburg Library acquired, on permanent loan from the local Anglican cathedral, the St. Lawrence Library consisting of some 3,000 books. This library had been accumulating for over 100 years at St. Saviour’s Catherdral, for it had been “the tradition for every new member of the Cathedral chapter to donate a book to the library.”855 The University eagerly accepted the offer of this library on permanent loan for it contained some rare and valuable works, “volumes in Greek and Latin by the theologians of the second, third and fourth centuries”856 and also, as Brown said, it added
“to the University’s somewhat meagre collection of theological works.”857 In return, it was agreed that the University Library would “admit to honorary membership ... any
854 University of Natal Libraries, Annual report, 1963, p. 6.
855 P.E. Patrick, Natal Diocese transferred to University, University of Natal press release, 7th November 1966, unpublished.
856 Patrick, Natal Diocese transferred to University.
857 University of Natal Library, Pietermaritzburg, Librarian’s report, no. 8, 16th September 1964.
clergy of the Church of the Province of South Africa and ministers of other denominations who wish to come and study these theological works.”858
However, by far the most important and valuable donation to the University during this period was the bequest of the Africana library belonging to Dr M. R. “Killie” Campbell which passed into the hands of the University upon her death on 27th September 1965.
As “one of the largest private libraries of Africana in existence”859 it merits in-depth consideration.