College and Research Libraries


I 

effective organization of bibliographical opera-
tions and the more adequate indexing and 
abstracting of scientific and technical litera-
ture. His central library would coordinate 
the acquisition program of the system, func-
tion as a clearing house for all phases of 
interlibrary cooperation and promote central-
ized cataloging and indexing. This appeal 
for the expansion of traditional library func-
tions and the greater concern on the part of 
librarians with the bibliographic organization 
of their resources may well be considered with 
profit by American librarians, who have all 
too long been indifferent to an area in which 
they should be assuming the initiative. 

Confronted by this chaotic state of British 
documentation, and urging a coordinated sys-
tem of special libraries in science and tech-
nology, Mr. Bradford reaches the climax of 
his argument in his proposals for a plan for 
complete scientific documentation throughout 
the scholarly world. This program urges the 
development of an international network of 
existing agencies concerned with indexing and 
abstracting of scientific literature, each agency 
operating in its own clearly defined area and 
transferring to the others all materials rele-
vant to their particular fields. Though it 
would rely solely upon voluntary cooperation 
for the control of its constituent parts, the 
failure of any one of which might seriously 
endanger the success of the whole, the author 
believes that the results of such effort would 
bring to the bibliographic organization of 
scientific literature a thoroughness of coverage 
and a directed effort that are now conspic-
uously lacking. The objective is certainly 
meritorious, but voluntary cooperation on an 
international level is at best an uncertain 

foundation stone upon which to rest so impor-
tant an undertaking. One can hope that Mr. 
Bradford is right, but past experience and 
present realities engender skepticism. 

Perhaps enough has been said to indicate 
that the constructive proposals of this book 
are less successful than the picture it presents 
of the present state of documentation and its 
criticisms of the existing situation. The chaos 
of documentation, especially in the field of the 
social sciences, in this country is even greater 
than that found by Mr. Bradford in his 
native England. If the book will serve no 
other purpose , at least it should focus the 
attention of American librarians upon the 
importance of the problems which it raises, 
the need for much greater attention to the 
promotion of more adequate bibliographical 
controls, and the desirability of effective ex-
ploration and original investigation in the 
field. It is to be hoped that the newly re-
vived American Documentation Institute may 
eventually achieve at least some of Mr. 
Bradford's desired goals. Already there is 
considerable evidence that workers in medi-
cine, pure science, and technology . are grow-
ing increasingly concerned over the inade-
quacy of their bibliographical services and 
classification systems, and even the social sci-
entists are beginning to think seriously about 
an effective abstracting medium to fill the need 
left by the demise of Social S ci'ence A b-. 
stracts. To such activity librarians can ill 
afford to be indifferent, and if Mr. Brad-
ford's book should arouse some stirring in 
the library world, its results may well be the 
author's best memorial.-] esse H. Shera , 
Graduate Library School, University of Chi-
cago. 

Literature of Mathematics and Physics 
Guide to the Literature of Mathematics and 

Physics, Including Related Wo ,rks· in Engi-
neering Science. By Nathan Grier Parke, 
III. New York, McGraw-Hill, 1947, 205p. 
$5.00. 
Here is a welcome companion piece to 

those subject guides which already exist m 
chemistry and engineering. As the first of 
its kind in this specific field, this book is "in-
tended to be of most help to those who do 
not necessarily have a detailed knowledge of 

mathematics and physics." It provides the 
reader-be he scientist, student or librarian 
-with a general orientation in the literature 
available and indicates landmark books as well 
as further sources of information. 

The author has divided his presentation 
into two parts of somewhat varying quality. 
The first part is concerned chiefly with general 
information on methods of study and reading, 
the use of the library and the technique of the 
literature search. One cannot help but feel 

277 



that such information could probably have 
been very well omitted, due to its availability 
elsewhere. Interwoven throughout this dis-
cussion, however, are references to certain 
basic tools and publications of particular 
relevance to the area of mathematics and 
physics. It is precisely this portion of the 
presentation which, though probably adequate, 
could have been profitably expanded in view 
of the previously uncharted nature of the 
field. The section on periodicals is notably 
anl lamentably brief. 

The second and more valuable part of this 
guide consists of a bibliography of more than 
2000 titles, including books and some peri-
odical articles. The latter consist mainly of 
references to Reviews of Modern Physics, of 
which the first 17 articles are said to be in-
dexed here. The content of the bibliography 
falls predominantly within the area indicated 
by- · the title of the volume, with emphasis on 
basic and fundamental-though by no means 
elementary-publications, which can serve as 
starting points for further reading. Related 
engineering and general scientific literature 
is well represented, though with an occasional 
unevenness and incompleteness due probably to 
limitations of space and time. The material 
is arranged under 150 carefully chosen and 

specific subject headings, most of which are 
described or defined briefly with an occasional 
indication of the kind of literature available 
in the specific area. Unfortunately there are 
only a few brief annotations of individual 
titles and even these are sometimes as short 
as three or four words. The annotations 
given are suprisingly helpful and meaningful 
despite their brevity. The usefulness of the 
bibliography is increased by the inclusion of a 
good author index, but is decreased by the 
lack of a sufficiently detailed index. 

Reference librarians will find the bibliogra-
phy of particular value as it affords a more 
direct and convenient approach to some of the 
material than does the library catalog. Some 
use could also be made of this volume in the · 
building up of a basic collection in the areas 
covered, though prices are not given and many 
of the books listed are not readily available. 
It should always be remembered that the 
value of a subject guide is limited somewhat 
due to the rapidly changing nature of the 
field, and hence continuous supplementary 
use must be made of current periodical litera-
ture. As a guide to important material 
which exists today, this is a valuable and 
helpful work.-Robert E. M aizell, New York 
Public Library. 

Engineering Information 
Sources of Engineering Information. By 

Blanche H. Dalton. Berkeley and Los 
Angeles, University of California Press, 
1948, IOgp. $4.00. 
This is an excellent beginning for a much-

. needed work in engineering and technology. It 
is a manual on the reference sources of the 
field; a field whose wealth of material be-
wilders even the experienced. It is also a 
pioneer work in that it is virtually · the first 
of its kind to cover technology and engineer-
ing from the American point of view. It 
leaves much to be desired, but the author is 
to be congratulated on her enterprise and 
courage in undertaking this formidable pro-
ject. 

In the preface, the author refers briefly to 
two works: A. D . Robert's Guide to Techni-
cal Literature ( 1939) and Dr. J. Edwin 
Holmstrom's Records and Research in En-

ginee:ring and Industrial Science (1940). 1 

Neither of these is competitive. The former 
is better organized and written but empha-
sizes European material. The latter is a 
work of description and constructive discus-
sion written by a scientist and engineer in his 
own right. In content and literary merit, it 
will delight and fascinate both the practical 
technologist and engineer as well as the most 
erudite scholar. It is not, however, a refer-
ence manual in the sense that Mrs. Dalton's 
book is. 

Sources of Engineering Information is a 
classified guide to titles accompanied usually 
by a one-line annotation. Unquestionably 
the best section in the entire work is number 
II on "Abstracts," 2 p. 4-15. To begin with 

1 The second edition, revised and enlarged, came out 
in 1947. 

2 For a fine survey and review on this subject, see 

278 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES