James R. Tanis, librarian of the Divinity School's Andover-Harvard Theological Library since 1957, has been named to succeed James T. Babb as librarian of Yale University when Babb retires in February.

The appointment will make Tanis, 36, the head of the second largest university library in America.

Tanis said that he wants to "develop cooperative programs with the Harvard library," especially in making the catalogues of the two collections mutually accessible by computer.

"It's like going back home after eight years as a missionary," said Tanis, a 1951 graduate of Yale, who has a B.D. from Union Theological Seminary and has served three years as a Presbyterian minister.

Yale President Kingman Brewster Jr., In announcing Tanis's appointment, said that "Yale is most fortunate to have attracted a new librarian who in a short time has developed the enthusiastic confidence of the faculty at Harvard and who has developed a library from meager beginnings to a modern collection."

At Yale, Tanis will oversee a collection of 5,000,000 volumes, a staff of 440 and a yearly budget of $2.3 million.