Chapter 29. With the Abolishment of the Reference Department I Become Special Assistant in the Research Department

AS Special Assistant for Planning Management in the abolished Reference Department I was given the choice of continuing in that position either in the Research Department or the Reader Services Department. I opted for the Research Department and became Dr. Fern’s Special Assistant for Planning Management in the Research Department.

Up until this time, The Reference Department had been the second largest department of the Library in staff size, second only to the Processing Department, which was impacted by the reorganization when Dr. Boorstin chose that department’s Director Mr. William Welsh to replace Mr. John Lorenz as Deputy Librarian of Congress. The breakup of the Reference Department also made a change in the chain of command of the of the Library. Until Mr. Mumford’s retirement as the Librarian of Congress, when he and Mr. Lorenz were away, Mr. Paul Berry as the Director of the Reference Department served as the Acting Librarian of Congress. On those occasions when the three of them might be away at the same time the remaining officers of the former Reference Department (all of whom had had many years of experience in library service, administrative and otherwise) would be asked to serve in that capacity in the following order:

This arrangement naturally- changed when Dr. Boorstin became Librarian of Congress and with his appointment of Mr. Welsh as Deputy Librarian.

As Special Assistant for Planning Management in The Research Department I was to do studies and surveys of department and division organizations and operations, and deal with and solve space and a myriad of other problems of the divisions of the department. By the end of 1977, plans for the physical rearrangement of the Rare Book, Music, and Motion Picture Reading Rooms I had completed had been approved and work was about to begin on those projects When completed, the rearrangement of space in each case was to provide for more efficient service to readers and improved staff working areas.