San Jose State University SJSU ScholarWorks Special Libraries, 1922 Special Libraries, 1920s 3-1-1922 Special Libraries, March 1922 Special Libraries Association Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/sla_sl_1922 Part of the Cataloging and Metadata Commons, Collection Development and Management Commons, Information Literacy Commons, and the Scholarly Communication Commons Recommended Citation Special Libraries Association, "Special Libraries, March 1922" (1922). Special Libraries, 1922. 3. https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/sla_sl_1922/3 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Special Libraries, 1920s at SJSU ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Special Libraries, 1922 by an authorized administrator of SJSU ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Special Libraries A ADELAIDE R. EIASSE, Editor, Office of the Assistant Secretary of War Washington D. C. Vol. 13 March, 1922 No. 3 Washington, the Rendezvous of Commerce and Industry DONALD WILHELM, Asslstant to Mr. Hoover, Secruetary of Commerce. As reorganized by Mr. Hoover, the De- Juli~lsI&in of Harvard has entirely re- partment of Commerce is designed to serve vised its methods of interpreting and dis- as the center point-the Secretary's phrase tributing the data that it gathers. It is -of industry and commerce on one hand, publishing a Weekly Commerce Report at and the Government and its agencies on the rate of $2.00 a year, which is a com- the othcr hand. Mr. Hoover's frank desire pendiuiil of facts which no business man is to make the Department of the fullest can atiord to br: without. But nluch of the possible hdpfnlness to all of American in- Bureau's data is transmitted pronlptly up- dustry and commerce, especially in the on receipt to trzde associations and the busi- midst of the present depression. ness public by long distance telephone, tele- Some of those who are in close touch with 61-aph or confidential lctter. The result the Secretaisy's efforls say that the De- 1s that one of the trade attaches of the partment promiscs to evolve as a kind of Bi-itish Government told the writer that rendezvous reflecting all the major inter- the fwrcign trade service now being given ests and aspirations of the American busi- to the business public of the United States ness public. In the Bureau of the Census is unexcelled. A further and interesting an etiort is being made to revise and ex- cheek upon the increasing valne of the Bu- pedite its handling of statistics, especially reau lies in the fact that it is now receiv- of production and consumption, in such ing inquiries n~ostlyfrom prospective ex- a way that the business men of the country porters at the rate of well above a half shall have the fullest possible helpfulness milbbon a year. in dealing with their respective problems. The Bureau of Standards mag be viewed It is felt that adequate statisti,cal service as isepresenting another large group of by the Federal Government-such as is activities of direct and growng interest now being published in its Monthly Review to the American business publ~c. It is --would go a long way toward anticipating doing fundamental research on more than and checking the peaks of booin and the a hundred problems, whose solutions are of valleys of depression, in other words, the direct pronlisc to the Government, as well operations of the business cycle which has as to business. In many cases the indus- probably cost the Unitecl States more than tries share the cost of the investilrations that all its wars. the Bureau is malting. Mr. Hoover has The Secretary's purpose is also to make stated that the solution of any one. of. a the Burea~~of Foreign and Domestic Com- hundred problems that the Bureau IS In- merce a thorough-going clearing house of vestigating would, in its return in national information about everything that has to wealth, more than pay for the $10,000,000 do with foreign trade. To accomplish this equipnlcnt of the Bureau. end thc Secretary set up in the Bureau a As may be imagined, a Departnient that score of Comniod~tyDivisions, each of which reflects and cooperates with the business is mannccl by experts, usually selected by public in the three major directions indi- the trades they represent. Thus there is an cated above, as well as in other ways, is Automotive Division, a Textile Division, a by its very nature a gathering point for Rubber Division, etc. This Bureau may be almost--~.~ all~ investi~ators- and other habitues likened to the editorial rooms of a publica- of libraries. tion which has a staff of sixty specialists The Library of the Department of Com- and a reporting force of more than 600 merce, which is directed by Miss Anne G. trade and' consular regresentatives scat- Cross, is, like the Bureau of Foreign and tered al,l over the world whcrevcr track is Domestic Commerce, in a sense, a kind of to be had. The Bureau now headed by Dr. rendwvous of all manner of trade and tech- 40 SPECIAL LIBRARIES March, 1922 nical periodicals, books, statr'stical data, etc. kept circulating, to the Commodity Divi- having to do with the widest range of in- sions, and to the different agencies and in- dustrial, commercial, import, export and dividuals of the Department interested, or other information. The Library is, in fact, likely to be intcrested in thoir content. In the Department's central filing place for all such material. It is in a word, a coordinat- that respcct, and in other ways, the Depart- ing library. It is filicd, to the point of over- ment of Comlnerce Library is the link be- flowing, with reports and studies innumer- tween the Department on onc hand, and the able in kind. Th~oughit the trade and enor~nousrange of investigators and con- other special periodicals are cleared, and tributors who supply these periodicals. Influence of the Business Depression on Business Libraries J. H. FRIEDEL, National Industrial Conference Board. The prescnt business depression has had and distributing agencies. Intelligence rose a salient effect on the business llbrary to the front not only in government offices movement. In a number of cases business but in private business and especially in information departments, statistical bu- industrial establishments. reaus, research departments-what we may In the mushroom grawth that followed, designate broadly as business library ser- certain results were inevitable. Neither the vice-has been inaugurated where it did library scl~ool~snor the library ranks could not exist before. In a relatively large nnm- All the demand for positions. Many poorly ber of instanccs business libraries have qualified and untrained persons were called been ten~porarily or permanentIy discm- upon to fill positions beyond their capacity. tinued. In a still tnuch larger number of Generally, however, the service was good. cases their activities and personnel have The demand on the libraries, information, been curtailed. Yct, viewed in a broad stntlstical and research departments was way, the business depression has exerted for practical information and practical re- a salutary effect on the business llbyary sults. This, in itself, was a powerful spur. movement. The question in~n~ediately Whatever its immediate effect, the unusual arises, How can it be said that the depres- expansion was follmved by a rapid con- sion has had a good effect when it has re- traction at the war's ~uddentermination. sulted in reduction and even cliscontinu- It was the old story of "up like a rocket ance of library wodr. The answer to this and down like a stick." question has in it ~omethingworthy of the In the economic field, a slight reachion set attention and serious thought of all inter- in following the armistice. The beginning of ested in library service and library develop- 1919 saw, however, the beginning of a period ment. of unusual activity which lasted through Tho war saw an unu~ual exppnsion of the spring and early summer of 1920. Be- information and research agenclcs. The ginning with July, 1920 R period of depres- immediate obicct of the war was a concen- sion be~anto set in, first in the industrinl tration of all our national resources and sections of New England, then, sweeping agencies in such a way that a desired goal south and west to the manufacturing cen- wouId be attained; that goal was tho de- ters of thc Middle Atlantic and North Cen- feat of our enemies. Such a task ct~lledfor tral states, it spread first to the southern mobilization of men, money, niatcrials, ma- and then to the middle western agricultural chinery and management on a scale and in states, and finally to the mining, stoclcrais- a may hcrctofore unthought of. Big men ing anc! lumbering regions in the Rocky were placed in responsible positions and Mountain sect~ons and on to the Paclfic were exl~cctedto pet results no ~nntterwhat Coast. The downward course continued the cost. Necessity forcccl quick, efficient until about September, 1921, when a slight and result-getting xtim~. upturn set in which continued until the But while action became n first considera- passage of the Christmas season. Febru- tion, it soon bccanle evident that the best ary 15, 1922, finds us again on a downward action was predicated on the bcst thought. trend with a general pessimistic mood as The man of action could attain what was the outstanding factor. Impz'ovement con. expected of him and fufill it in the des~red tinues rather as a factor to be anticipated manner, by being guided and depending on but not yet realized.