College and Research Libraries prices, values of old and rare books (includ- ing another printed form describing the limits of service in this connection), bibliographical data about books, quotations, biographical reference questions, addresses of persons and organizations, and book review questions. T h e pattern followed with most of these is to give some general advice about handling such questions, and then to provide a selected bibliography of useful tools for starting the search. Subsequent parts of the manual concern service to readers, w o r k at the information desk (staffed by, but physically separate from the G e n e r a l Reference D e p a r t m e n t ) , w o r k of the clerical assistant and the page, and a final section on routines connected with cer- tain special kinds of materials. Generously illustrated with reproductions of form cards and form sheets, these later chapters of the manual give even an outsider quite a clear picture of the department's w o r k . In spite of their specific application to the w o r k of an individual library, these final sections are worth at least perusal by other reference li- brarians both for ideas on ways of handling such common problems as interlibrary loans, photographic copying, special indexes, clip- pings, maps, documents and the like, as w e l l as for presenting an example of a way these activities can be clearly described. Eight double-column pages of index pro- vide quick access to all topics discussed or described in the manual. W i t h o u t more familiarity than this re- viewer has with the library this manual is intended to serve, it is impossible for an out- sider to point to omissions of coverage, though in view of the careful planning shown throughout the w o r k it seems unlikely that there can be serious ones. T h e reviewer's attention, in passing, w a s caught by the ab- sence of reference to P a r k e r W o r l e y ' s lists of " C u r r e n t National Bibliographies" which began appearing in the A u g u s t 1949 issue of the Library of Congress Journal of Current Acquisitions. O n page 68 where the H e y l list of " C u r r e n t National Bibliographies" is cited, some mention of the newer list would have seemed appropriate, but this is a minor matter indeed. Because of its inclusion of material that should prove of interest to reference workers in many libraries, and as an excellent ex- ample of w h a t a reference staff manual can be, it is a pleasure to call the attention of C . R . L . readers to this new publication.— Oliver L. Lilley, School of Library Service, Columbia University. German Publications, 1939-50 Bibliographien zum Deutschen Schriftturn der Jahre 1939-1950, von Hans W i d m a n n . Tubingen, M a x Niemeyer, c 1951, 284P. 33.00 D M . Joris Vorstius, in his lucid and comprehen- sive Ergebnisse und Fortschritte der Biblio- graphic in Deutschland seit dem ersten Welt- krieg ( B e i h e f t 74 of Z e i t s : h r i f t f u r Biblio- tekswesen, 1948) produced an excellent and adequate summarization of G e r m a n bibliog- raphy and documentation, from both a theo- retical and a practical viewpoint. H e suc- ceeded in going beyond G e o r g Schneider in either way, not only quantitatively but also deliberately clearing the ground for detailed descriptive publication later. O n l y two years after this valiant effort w e are presented by H a n s Widmann, one of the able men from Tubingen, with just such a record of biblio- graphical titles. T h o u g h there is no refer- ence, in the volume under discussion, to cooperation between Vorstius and Widmann, one can only express the wish that the author of this new, painstaking, difficult and in many ways thankless, albeit so necessary w o r k may have been enabled to benefit by the unpub- lished manuscript of a Study of Bibliography and Librarianship in Germany since 1933, already prepared by his colleague in Berlin (Vorstius, op. cit. p . l ) . A t any rate W i d m a n n builds upon V o r - stius's Ergebnisse in at least two important w a y s : his starting point was determined as w e l l as the scope of his compilation, which later leads both Vorstius and W i d m a n n beyond G e o r g Schneider, who excluded spe- cial subject bibliography from his Handbuch. Both men thus endorse the aims of inclusive- ness, though on a national or cultural basis, applied on a much more comprehensive scale by Bestermann and Bohatta-Hodes (see V o r - stius's article on " P e t z h o l d t Redivivus" in ZfB 1950:413-37). W i d m a n n has defined his geographic scope in much the same w a y as had Vorstius, but the latter limited himself to "bibliographies JULY, 1951 29 7 in G e r m a n y , " while W i d m a n n tried to an- swer the question, " W h e r e can bibliographi- cal evidence be found concerning G e r m a n publications issued from 1939 to 1950?" ( p . 1 6 ) , which allowed him to include much material published outside of G e r m a n y . In the introductory chapter, on the scope of his "Uberblick," the author discusses and illustrates the difficulties of his u n d e r t a k i n g — questionnaires and personal visits played an important role, publishers rather than li- braries often had the answers—and again a f t e r the 216 pages of bibliographical listing proper, in a "Riickblick und U m b l i c k , " he analyzes once more the plight of the scholar and scientist resulting from the political and social disruption of the period. V i e w s and data as published by the author elsewhere (e.g. in Libri, 1950) as w e l l as by other authorities, notably G e o r g Leyh ( B e r i c h t : 1947, supplemented in the Deutschland- Jahrbuch, 1949), G u s t a v H o f m a n n and Heinrich Middendorf (in v. 34, 1950, of the Jahrbuch der Deutschen Bibliotheken) and by the dean of G e r m a n bibliographers, Joris Vorstius, in his forementioned Ergebnisse, are further elaborated and extended. W i d m a n n then summarizes the state of G e r m a n bibliography and succeeds in show- ing, how on this background of necessity, G e r m a n librarians and bibliographers have tried and are trying valiantly to do their part in building anew their shattered world. T h e necessary threads are established for the r e a d e r : the present degree of coverage of an area is shown, gaps are indicated, prospects of future publication discussed, whether it be in the complicated f r a m e w o r k of the Deut- sche Allgemeine Bibliographie (p.16-22), especially a f t e r 1940, the date of the last Fiinfjahreskatalog, or in any of the subject fields, such as Germanistics (p.79-86). A special chapter is devoted to an extensive review of foreign effort and success in cover- ing G e r m a n publications of the period under consideration. In some areas the G e r m a n s have not succeeded as yet in reestablishing systematic bibliography (e.g. Oriental Studies, p.88-93, an