REQUIREMENTS OF THE NATIONAL ARCHITECTURAL ACCREDITING BOARD RELATING TOLIBRARY SERVICE FOR ACCREDITED SCHOOLS OF ARCHITECTURE—A LIBRARIAN'SINTERPRETATIONAuthor(s): Jane C. HenningSource: ARLIS/NA Newsletter, Vol. 4, No. 2 (FEBRUARY 1976), pp. 58-59Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Art Libraries Society of NorthAmericaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27945592 .

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REQUIREMENTS OF THE NATIONAL ARCHITEC TURAL ACCREDITING BOARD RELATING TO LIBRARY SERVICE FOR ACCREDITED SCHOOLS OF ARCHITECTURE?A LIBRARIAN'S INTERPRE TATION

THE FACTS

To clarify the position of the National Architectural

Accrediting Board (NAAB) on architectural libraries, I quote from a paper which was delivered in May 1974 at the American Institute of Architects' Workshop for Architectural Librarians.! Prior to submission for

publication, this paper was read for confirmation of facts in the fall of 1974 by H.G. Blasdell, Executive Director of NAAB and William J. Burke, a member of the Board of Directors of that same organization.

Over the past 30 years, existence of the 1945 (unrevised) NAAB policy relating to libraries has led to the widespread

misunderstanding and misinterpretation by school adminis

trators, faculty, librarians, and accrediting teams concerning the requirements for a library in an accredited school of architecture. Frequently, faculty and school administrators have interpreted the aforementioned policy to support their demand for a branch library devoted solely to the subject of architecture. However, NAAB policy does not specifically require a school to have its own library. "If the main univer

sity library or a branch is located nearby, the architectural materials may be.housed there. The NAAB only wants the materials to be easily accessible to the students and the

faculty." 2

On March 25, 1975, the National Architectural Accredi

ting Board issued the Review Draft of Educational De

velopment Plan/Se If Evaluation Study Guidelines (Wash ington, D.C., NAAB). On page 61 of this document, reporting procedures are given for: 1) a combined mul

tidisdpline library; 2) a "monolithic" general university library; and 3) a separate single-purpose library. There fore, the representation of these three different types of libraries within this document would seem to further affirm the acceptance by NAAB of library service ren dered outside the physical site of the school of archi tecture.

During my research travel (summer 1975) to study architectural libraries in the United States (funded by the Council on Library Resources), I visited two uni versities having accredited schools of architecture where there exist no separate architectural libraries housed within the school of architecture (University of New Mexico and Rice University). And as far as I am able to ascertain from other information which I have

gathered, there are other such institutions.

THE SHADY AREA

In an interview with me in Washington, D.C. on

August 1, 1975, Dr. Blasdell, Executive Director of

NAAB, stated that he did not think that accreditation would ever be held up solely over an inadequacy in

library facilities or services?for the library and its resources are only one aspect of the totality of the school's programs and goals.

However, this does not coincide with what I have

been hearing from architectural librarians in the field. The threat of losing accreditation?or not getting it due to the library is still lurking. I would venture to

identify two causes. Firstly, there is a dilemma of communication which faces most organizations. In this case, the channel must run from the agencies which formulated and control NAAB (American Institute of Architects, Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, and National Council of Architectural Registration Boards) to the Board of

Directors, to the individual accrediting teams, and

finally to the individual schools. The second cause for

inconsistency very possibly may be due to the "black

mailing powers," as one Oklahoma educator called

them, of many accrediting agencies in higher education. The fact is that an accrediting agency will tend to sup port the demands of a school if such demands seem

legitimate?to the agency.

With this in mind, let me refer again to my recent interview with Dr. Blasdell. When questioned again concerning the need for a separate architectural library, he stated that he supposed that if a school of architec ture actually could prove that such a library was ab

lutely the only means of support for the school's pro grams and goals, NAAB would back the demand. But in our ensuing conversation, neither of us could think of an actual existing example of any architectural pro gram that is so intimately tied to library research. (This, of course, does not mean that one does not exist.)

HOW TO COPE

The NAAB is presently rewriting its standards for accre ditation and devising a creditable evaluation tool for the

process. In relation to libraries, it specifically is interested in evaluating the relevance of the library's participation in support of the school's programs and aims. The Self Evaluation Study Guidelines, cited pre viously, identified on page 60 three specific facets of

pertinent library service in the following statement: "The primary NAAB interests are the actual use of the resources by students and faculty, the balance between

parts of the collection, and the extent of resources available in the library."

The NAAB asks a school which is up for accredita tion to "describe its intentions, goals, objectives and

expectations" and to "provide evidence of resources

and their application or use sufficient to fulfill its intentions" (page V of the aforementioned NAAB

document). Therefore to ascertain what specific type of library service is needed, one must examine the individual school.

After my talks with many architectural educators, I can only conclude that they are possessed with the urge to have their own in-house architectural library for the

purpose of satisfying territorial instinct and because that it is the only workable approach with which they are familiar. They can identify their proposed library in terms of a physical entity but not necessarily in terms of its functions. Consequently, they meet with consider able difficulty when presenting their case to university librarians and campus administrators. It would be far

more expedient in meeting the identifiable NAAB ac creditation demands to change the goal from having a

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separate library to having relevant library participation in the support of the school's programs. After the means of achieving this more realistic goal are identified, the decision can be made as to which locational alternative would be the best approach. It is time that architectural educators realize that their schools?and their students would benefit far more if they demanded good library service rather than only a separate library.

-Jane C. Henning Arizona State University

1. Henning, Jace C. "Accreditation Standards and Architectural Libraries

A Status Report," Special Libraries, v. 66, no. 11, November 1975,

p. 538-540.

2. Burke, William L: Personal interview with Author, January 10, 1974, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona.

CONTINUING EDUCATION The International Graduate Summer School in Libra

rianship and Information Science will be held at the

College of Librarianship, Aberystwyth, Wales from 1

July through 21 August, 1976. In collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Library and Information Sciences, once more this summer school offers a wide range of courses to librarians in the international and comparative aspects of the profession.

Applications stating name, address, library school, qualifications, telephone number, names of two re

ferees, and the course numbers and titles must be re ceived before 10 March 1976 to the Director, IGSS 1976, College of Librarianship Wales, Aberystwyth,

Wales, Great Britain.

A Workshop in Basic Training for Art Slide Curators, a non-credit course, offered by the University of Mis souri?Kansas City, is a one-week intensive workshop covering all aspects of managing an art slide collection.

Topics include administration, acquisition, classifica tion and cataloging, circulation and storage as well as the technical aspects of slide mounting and photogra phy. Sessions will be held all day, every day for the week. Preference will be given to those with a B.A. or M.A. in art history. The course is designed for those

beginning or new in a position as slide curator in an educational institution, museum, etc. Fee is $80.00 for 6 sessions, 21 June through 26 June 1976.

The instructor is Nancy DeLaurier, Curator of Slides and Photographs, Dept. of Art and Art His

tory, University of Missouri-Kansas City. For regis tration, information, etc., write to University of

Missouri-Kansas City, Office of Educational Services, Kansas City, MO 64110.

The School of Information Studies, Syracuse Uni

versity, announces its annual Seminar in Art and Mu seum Librarianship from June 1 through 12, 1976. The seminar is open to art librarians and students of

library science and art history, and it can be taken with or without academic credits. The program in cludes production and documentation of art publica tions and visual media, -as well as the organization and

management of art resources and services. For informa

tion and application forms, write to Professor Antje .

Lemke, School of Information Studies, Syracuse Uni

versity, 113 Euclid Avenue, Syracuse, NY 13210.

NEWS OF OUR MEMBERS

Arthur A. Cohen, author, editor, and rare book dealer, has been profiled in the January 19, 1976 issue of Pub lishers' Weekly. Although not mentioned in the article, he is also author of Sonia Delaunay, a recent publication of Abrams.

Eva Wisbar was featured in a short article in the "Media" section of PW for January 12, 1976. Her Art + Cinema was discussed and her firm called Visual Resources, Inc. was highlighted.

Elizabeth M. Lewis, Fine Arts Librarian at West Point, is the author of an exhibition catalog entitled Military

Medicine and the Wound Man, presented at the library at the United States Military Academy. Fully described and illustrated, and accompanied by an extensive bibli ography and checklist of books in the West Point library, this catalog is Usted as USMA Library Bulletin, no. 15.

Helen Belknap, Chief Librarian of the main library at Winterthur Museum, died on 11 December after a long illness. Leaving a great gap, her most fitting memorial and a lasting one is the Winterthur Library, which she organized and nurtured from its inception twenty-three years ago.

Eugenie Candau, librarian at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, is the author of "Philip Smith: Artist of the Book," an analysis of Philip Smith as contemporary bookbinder and artist in leather. Ms. Candau, herself a hand bookbinder, reviews Smith's techniques in this most beautifully illustrated article in Fine Print: A Newsletter for the Arts of the Book, January 1976, pp. 1-5.

Shirley Branner has joined the firm of Brown, Harris, Stevens, Inc. in New York City, and she will specialize in the sale of cooperative apartments and private houses. She says that it gets her "closer to architecture, rather than being head of Catalog Maintenance."

Stan Lewis of Queens College will marry Joan Daly at the Grolier Club in New York City on 10 April. This is the first time a wedding has ever been held in that noted

building.

Bernard Karpel will receive an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters on 26 May from the Maryland Institute

College of Art in Baltimore.

POSITION AVAILABLE: Head, Technical Services in Large Museum Library. Available 1 July 1976. Administer and plan a re-organizational program which will interface all areas of Technical

Services. MLS degree from ALA accredited institution, strong back

ground in art history, degree preferred. Five years experience in cata

loging with increasing supervisory responsibilities. Sound knowledge of Library of Congress system plus some knowledge of automation net

works. Salary negotiable. Applications and resumes should be sent to:

Ann Rice, Associate Director of Personnel, The Art Institute of Chicago,

Chicago, IL 60603.

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