University Librarian to Retire From Harvard After 27 Years

Douglas W. Bryant, University Librarian and director of the University library, will retire next summer after 27 years of service.

Bryant directs the approximately 100 libraries that comprise the library system. Containing nearly ten million printed volumes, it is the largest university library system in the world.

As director, Bryant coordinates the various libraries, all of which have a high degree of autonomy. He also meets with the University Library Council, which is the policy-making body for the library system.

"The degree of coordination and collaboration has notably increased," Bryant said yesterday. "This collaboration has become increasingly important as the application of computer technology to library operations becomes more general."

To take advantage of new computer technology the University switched two years ago from a 19th century cataloguing scheme to the standardized Library of Congress (L.C.) scheme.

Harvard could "no longer afford the luxury of an idiosyncratic system," Bryant said, adding that two card catalogues remain because the task of changing systems is to large to undertake for every volume.

Broad Interests

Bryant also participates in the library's national and international undertakings. Preservation of books, a fundamental problem, "can only be effectively addressed on a national level," says Bryant, long-time chairman of a national committee to study this problem.

Bryant is also involved in the setting up of a National Lending Library, to centralize the lending of costly and voluminous periodicals.

Bryant has seen the library system change in three important ways: computer technology and its effects, new research programs such as the Russian Research Center, and an increasingly interdisciplinary approach to study and research.

Bryant's services will be missed. One librarian said yesterday that he inspires "leadership and cooperation without infringing upon the tradition of autonomy that each library within the system holds."

President Bok has not yet formed a search committee to find Bryant's replacement.