THE OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN TECHNICAL LIBRARY WORK

Many of the discoveries of modern scientific research have depended upon the library as well as the laboratory. At least part of the research behind most recent discoveries has taken place in a special library where the literature on a particular technical or scientific field appearing in all types of scientific and technical publications, periodicals, and trade journals is collected and classified. The librarian in charge is usually a technical librarian although, in her own organization, she may be called a chemical librarian, an engineering librarian, a special librarian, or even a library chemist.

Whatever her title, the technical librarian is usually a person trained in both science and library work. Unlike the general librarian who works primarily with books, her work is mostly with pamphlets, articles, unpublished treatises, and indices to such sources on scientific topics. In addition to locating, assembling, cataloging, and indexing these materials, and answering numerous reference questions on science or technology each day, the technical librarian is equipped to make exhaustive searches of the literature on particular scientific topics and to summarize her findings in special reports. Unless the library is one of the few large enough to have one or more translators, she is often required to translate scientific articles published in a foreign language, and to assist laboratory and other staff members by routing to them new articles relating to the problems on which they are working. Such service to a research staff saves time and reduces duplication by making available information on previous work done in a particular field. Its value to the laboratory scientist was well described some years ago by a member of the staff of the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research (1).

The scope of the services rendered in a technical library is revealed in a manual for the libraries of research laboratories prepared by a woman who serves as technical librarian of a large industrial company. Among the topics listed in the manual's index are: Overthe-counter service, literature searches, abstracts and bibliographies, translations, circulation of periodicals and reproduction literature (photographs, blueprints, etc.), interlibrary loan service, editing the library bulletin, special assignments, classification and cataloging, photostats and pamphlet files, orders and subscriptions, processing incoming literature, binding, microfilms, library notebook and printed forms, correspondence and library statistics, location of library hold

ings, equipment, and budget (4). An idea of the clientele served and the variety of problems handled may be gleaned from a description by 2 women librarians in the chemical industry based on 20 libraries in that industry (27). The work of technical librarians employed in public and university libraries is similar in nature, although less concentrated on a particular industry.

A high percent of the membership of the Special Libraries Association in the Science-Technology Group are women, although the percent of men is higher in this group than in any other subject group in the Association..

The rapid growth of technical librarianship is evident as we look back to the prewar period.

Prewar Distribution

In 1940, about 900 technical librarians were active members of the Science-Technology Group of the Special Libraries Association. They comprised about two-fifths of the total membership of the Association, which included some 2,350 librarians (25).

Of the 765 special libraries of all types covering subjects ranging from accounting and acoustics to zinc and zoology and operated by a variety of organizations including industries, universities, museums, government agencies, and foundations, about two-fifths were in the field of science and technology (21). But all the special libraries taken together employed only about 7 percent of the 36,000 librarians reported by the Census in 1940, most of whom were employed in unspecialized services in public and school libraries.

Unlike other scientific fields, technical library work appeared to be a field in which women were in the majority. Nineteen of the 78 industrial research laboratories visited by the Women's Bureau in the course of this study employed women as technical librarians or literature searchers before the war; only a few of these and of the others had men employed in this work.

In one chemical manufacturing plant, the only woman employed in scientific work before the war was a technical librarian who did library searches, abstracting, and translating. In addition to a B. S. in chemistry she had had training in technical library work. In another chemical manufacturing plant a woman with a Ph. D. in chemistry had been in charge of the technical library for 15 years. Her assistant, who had been employed there for 3 years, also had a Ph. D. in chemistry. Most of the librarians had had technical library training, although occasionally, as in other libraries, the librarian had entered, often many years ago, as a subject specialist. In only a few laboratories

were the women librarians graduates of library schools who had acquired a knowledge of science on the job.

Before the war, many of the 365 women employed as librarians in the Federal Government (29) were undoubtedly working in specialized libraries, such as the Army Medical Library and the Patent Office Scientific Library. Technical librarians were also employed in chemistry, engineering, and other special departments of college and university libraries, in public libraries having technical departments, in museums, and in the highly specialized libraries maintained by some of the professional and scientific societies and associations.

Annual Addition to the Supply

Since those who enter this field come from two principal sources, schools offering degrees in science and library schools (for the graduates of both of which there are many other outlets), there is no way of estimating the number who normally became available each year for this work before World War II. There was, however, evidence of a scarcity of librarians qualified to fill positions requiring scientific backgrounds (18). Of the 1,400 librarians graduated from schools of library science each year before the war, few were subject-matter specialists, and fewer still had a background in science (31).

Wartime Changes

In spite of the increased number of opportunities available to men and women in technical library work during the war, the supply of new persons available each year for such work decreased. In 1943–44, there were only about 880 persons graduated with a degree in library science (30).

The other principal source of supply of technical librarians also was affected. Women just graduated from college with only the barest amount of training in chemistry, physics, or the biological sciences were hired for laboratory jobs, which most of them preferred to technical library work, where training in library science might become necessary. In some of the newer technical libraries, such as those in aviation and electronics, for example, it was almost impossible to secure librarians with adequate technical backgrounds (26) (20). Many positions of this type remained vacant. In 1943, the employment service of the Special Libraries Association was unable to fill 172 of the 413 openings reported to it. Although in some of these, low salaries were the principal deterrent, many were well-paid jobs vacant because of the lack of trained technical people (31).

The Special Libraries Association hesitated to encourage the formation of new libraries because of the lack of trained personnel (19). It concentrated its efforts in 1944 on an intensive recruiting program to attract properly qualified college students to the profession (14). That these recruiting efforts were successful in part is indicated by the fact that the number of technical librarians increased, while the library profession as a whole lost librarians during the war (31). In 1944, more than 1,100 librarians employed in some 800 technical libraries were members of the Science-Technology Group of the Special Libraries Association (5). In spite of this increase, the shortages became more acute as the demand grew faster than the supply (13).

More than one-third of the technical libraries registered in 1944 with the Special Libraries Association were maintained by industrial corporations (17). That such libraries were invariably small was revealed in the Women's Bureau study of industrial research laboratories, which showed at least 60 women employed during the war as technical librarians or literature searchers in 22 industrial concerns. Most of these employed only one or two women librarians; only a few had as many as four or five. However, one of the largest employed 30 to 40 women, with degrees in science, in technical libraries in widely scattered parts of its organization.

As in industry, the demand for technical librarians also increased in the Federal Government, in training institutions, and in research organizations working on war projects, although no statistics are available on the extent of the increase.

Earnings and Advancement

Until World War II, low salaries kept many women from entering this field. The salaries offered were almost invariably lower than those offered laboratory personnel of equivalent training (18). The range of salaries paid to all types of special librarians before the war was reported to be from $1,200 to $12,000. In New York, for example, the average salary for the heads of special libraries was said to be about $2,600 a year, and the average for assistants or beginners varied from $1,560 to $1,820 a year (3).

Differences in the duties and in the qualifications of special librarians in particular positions were reflected in the wide variation in their salary levels. According to one writer:

Special library positions are even less standardized than positions in other types of libraries. As a result, qualifications offered and demanded vary so much that salaries are determined more by individual bargaining than by the market level (7).

During the war, salaries rose. The Special Libraries Association in a 1945 survey found that the average (mean) salary for 310 librarians in the Science-Technology Group was $3,050 a year. The range was from $1,340 to a high of $12,000. For the middle 50 percent of the group, the range was from $2,287 to $3,684. For the 60 technical library assistants covered in the survey who were members of the Science-Technology Group but who had beginning positions, the average (mean) salary was reported to be $2,490 a year (7).

The technical librarian is usually advanced in salary as she becomes more experienced in her work and gains greater knowledge of the needs of the organization in which she is employed. She may become so expert in a particular field as to become almost indispensable to her employer (24). But because most technical libraries are small, opportunities for advancement in position are limited to the larger libraries in which one or more assistants are employed. Women as a rule, however, are more likely to be found as head librarians in a research organization than they are as group leaders in the laboratory. A head librarian in a petroleum refining corporation visited by a representative of the Women's Bureau, for example, supervised four assistants, all of whom had a bachelor's degree in chemistry. She herself had a master's degree in chemistry and had been with the company for 10 years.

According to one woman technical librarian, women have a much better chance of rising to well-paid administrative jobs through technical library work than through laboratory work, because of their opportunities to engage in both administrative and research work (23). In Federal Government service, for example, women have held positions of technical librarians at a salary of more than $8,000, which only a few women scientists attain.

Organizations

The American Library Association, to which a librarian may belong by virtue of her library training and experience, has a special section for agricultural libraries and another for engineering school libraries in its division for college and reference libraries. There is also a business and technology section in its division of public libraries. In addition to this and such scientific organizations as the technical librarian's training and experience in science may qualify her for, there is the Special Libraries Association already mentioned. This was organized in 1909 primarily for those who work in specialized libraries or library departments built around special subjects to serve a restricted clientele. Membership in this association is open to in

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