College and Research Libraries By F E L I X E . H I R S C H The Librarian Looks at the Publisher1 Dr. Hirsch is librarian and professor of history at Bard College. TH E R E L A T I O N S between the publisher and the librarian as g u a r d i a n of his readers' interests need constant re-emphasiz- ing, even though it is evident t h a t libraries are not the most i m p o r t a n t f a c t o r f o r the A m e r i c a n book business. T h e f o l l o w i n g re- marks, while not uncritical of the publishing trade, are m e a n t to help bridge the gap be- tween publisher an'd l i b r a r i a n . I n m a k i n g his comments, the a u t h o r is f u l l y a w a r e of the difficult situation in which the A m e r i c a n book t r a d e finds itself today. So able an analyst as J . K . Lasser has recently2 spoken of publishing as " a large, but ailing busi- ness" and has claimed t h a t those t r a d e book publishers w h o are clients of his accounting firm, have a n n u a l total earnings of less than 3 per cent a f t e r taxes have been paid. Also a n o t h e r unbiased observer, W i l l i a m M i l l e r , 3 has taken a r a t h e r gloomy view of this in- d u s t r y and its prospects. Libraries as Customers Before looking at the publisher, a quick glance at the librarian m a y be in order. F i r s t of all, how significant are libraries ac- tually as customers of the book t r a d e ? Ac- 1 Paper presented at the meeting of the A L A Book Acquisitions Committee, Cleveland, J u l y 19, 1950. 2 Lasser, J . K. " T h e Book Business—With and with- o u t P r o f i t . " Saturday Review of Literature, 3 2 : 9 , O c t . 29, 1949. 3 Miller, William. The Book Industry (A Report of the Public Library I n q u i r y ) . New York, Columbia University Press, 1950. Chapter V, " T r a d e Publish- ing and the Public Libraries," is especially relevant. See also the spirited criticism of Miller's book which John F a r r a r presented under the title "Publishing: In- dustry and Profession." American Scholar, 19:9, W i n t e r 1949-50; and the excellent earlier treatment of the whole subject by Frederic G. Melcher in The Practice of Book Selection, e d . b y L . R . W i l s o n . C h i - cago, University of Chicago Press, 1940, p. 272-87. OCTOBER, 1951 cording to W i l l i a m M i l l e r , 4 all A m e r i c a n libraries spent in 1948 about $ 3 2 , 0 0 0 , 0 0 0 f o r books and periodicals. P u b l i c libraries alone absorbed $ 8 , 4 0 0 , 0 0 0 w o r t h or nine per cent of the t r a d e publishing. College and university libraries may have a m o r e limited clientele, but are also i m p o r t a n t customers. A c c o r d i n g to the latest statis- tics,5 some o u t s t a n d i n g large institutions like H a r v a r d and Yale, but also some small ones, such as W e l l s and B a r d , spend an- nually about $ 3 0 . 0 0 or m o r e per capita f o r books, periodicals and binding. T h e s e are impressive figures, but librarians, and espe- cially academic librarians, should endeavor to raise their sights still more. T h e y should have no inhibitions w h e n it comes to lobby- ing f o r better book budgets, f o r the last $ 1 0 0 0 really decides w h e t h e r a librarian can buy only the " m u s t " books or also those which w o u l d help to improve the level of the collection. Secondly, librarians should ask them- selves w h e t h e r or not they always select books which combine timeliness w i t h e n d u r - ing value. I n choosing n e w titles, do they merely follow the t r e n d s of best sellerdom or are they striving to uphold the best stand- a r d s ? If librarians j u s t t r y to meet the average demands f o r the popular book— good, bad or i n d i f f e r e n t — t h e y will be of little help to t h a t publisher w h o aims to present u n u s u a l titles of high m e r i t . W i l - liam M i l l e r ' s contention " t h a t most li- braries {i.e. public libraries) do not and, indeed, cannot buy m a n y serious titles and 4 Ibid., p . 1 2 1 . 5 College and Research Libraries, 11:151-63, April 1950. 32 7 t h a t those t h a t buy a f e w cannot buy m a n y copies of t h e m , " 6 if correct, w o u l d be a grave reflection on the situation of present- day libraries. T h i r d l y , and above all, do librarians w o r k hard enough to convince their clien- tele t h a t there is no g r e a t e r joy t h a n to build up a collection of one's o w n ? T h i s w r i t e r concurs w i t h the Swiss librarian M a r c e l G o d e t w h o s a i d : " I t cannot be doubted t h a t the book one has b o u g h t and owns, has, intellectually speaking, g r e a t e r value t h a n the book one b o r r o w s . " 7 T h e r e - fore, it is one of the l i b r a r i a n ' s noblest f u n c - tions to promote the development of private collections, be they small or large. N o li- brarian active along these lines need f e a r t h a t he is e n d a n g e r i n g the business of his library thereby. B e r n a r d Berelson has j u s t presented statistical evidence t h a t " t h e larger the home collection, the more use is made of the public l i b r a r y . " 8 L i b r a r i a n s w o r k i n g in educational institutions o f t e n make the same observation. T h e s t u d e n t s w h o m they help i n f o r m a l l y in g e t t i n g started on a collection of their own do not cease to be good library customers f o r t h a t reason. T h e r e are m a n y effective ways of p r o m o t i n g this w o r t h y cause.9 I n a small institution like B a r d the library staff can do this job in f r i e n d l y conversations; in larger places more elaborate methods of encourage- m e n t are desirable. Some college libraries a w a r d cash prizes to the s t u d e n t s whose private collections are o u t s t a n d i n g in a cam- pus-wide contest. I n R o c k f o r d College the librarian a r r a n g e s a " r e p r i n t t e a " in the early f a l l . She says: " I t m u s t be a d m i t t e d 6 Miller, of. cit., p. 124. 7 Godet, Marcel. Biblioth&ques Americaines. Berne, I93S> P- 21, as quoted in Munthe, William. American Librarianship from a European Angle. C h i c a g o , 1 9 3 9 . Munthe offers in his second chapter some very pertinent comments on books and reading in America and in Europe. 8 Berelson, Bernard. The Library Public (A Report of the Public Library Inquiry). New York, Columbia University Press, 1949, p. 16. 9 L y l e , G u y R . The Administration of the College Library. 2d ed. New York, Wilson, 1949, p. 239-41. t h a t the l u r e of tea and cookies o f t e n brings a bigger c r o w d t h a n w o u l d a library talk alone, but f r e q u e n t l y those w h o come to enjoy the tea, are k n o w n to leave w i t h an interest in the w h a t and w h e r e of bookbuy- ing." 1 0 I n a w a y librarians shoulder here, as an h o n o r a r y task, w h a t is in E u r o p e the r e g u l a r f u n c t i o n of the bookseller, and I wish t h a t A m e r i c a n bookstores w o u l d see in them only their unselfish friends, not their competitors. What Kind of Reprintsf T h e topic of r e p r i n t s leads directly to the first suggestion which is offered here to A m e r i c a n publishers. T h e y are at present t h i n k i n g of n e w ways to w i d e n their m a r - kets, f o r it is evident t h a t some of them may not survive if their business does not expand considerably. T h i s w r i t e r g r e w up in G e r m a n y w h e r e some publishers realized, long before the first W o r l d W a r , t h a t y o u n g people of modest means could buy only inexpensive books, but t h a t these should be so w e l l m a n u f a c t u r e d t h a t they could become p a r t of a lifetime library. F o r the equivalent of a q u a r t e r , the Inselbuch w a s available w i t h a t t r a c t i v e h a r d covers; its contents w e r e invariably of high literary or artistic merit. O f t e n an Inselbuch w o u l d consist only of a r t reproductions, woodcuts, etchings, and later on also of paintings in multicolors. H o w m a n y of us received our first i n t r o d u c t i o n to D i i r e r and H o l b e i n f r o m these w o n d e r f u l little books! I t is encouraging to see t h a t Pocket Books are n o w e x p e r i m e n t i n g w i t h very well-done a r t volumes. I t should be possible to sell such books by the h u n d r e d s of thousands to a generation t h a t is so m u c h more art-con- scious t h a n its f o r e f a t h e r s w e r e . O t h e r - wise, the experiences w i t h 25-cent books have not always been g r a t i f y i n g to librar- Sharpe, Jean MacNeill. "Student Libraries." Wilson Library Bulletin, 2 3 : 7 0 - 7 1 , S e p t e m b e r 1 9 4 8 . 322 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES ians. F o r every good book available in such inexpensive editions there are too m a n y t h a t are plain tripe, while Inselbiicherei, Rec- lam's Universal-Bibliothek and similar col- lections avoided concessions to vulgar tastes. Good Books for a Dollar! T h e second series w i t h w h i c h this w r i t e r g r e w up and whose slender volumes, bound solidly in light b r o w n cloth, he still treas- ures a f t e r 3 0 years or more, is the Samm- l u n g Goschen. I t consists of about 1000 volumes, priced at the equivalent of 6o0 or 7O0, covering almost all fields of knowledge and w r i t t e n by experts, but as a rule in nontechnical language. T h e r e can be little doubt t h a t w e have an enormous potential m a r k e t f o r books of this kind in the U . S . A . T h e English have developed similar large- scale enterprises which serve the purposes of a d u l t education and help to introduce stu- dents elegantly to i m p o r t a n t subjects. T h e H o m e U n i v e r s i t y L i b r a r y , which contains some first-rate volumes contributed by w o r l d - r e n o w n e d British scholars, is one of these series. M o r e recently the T e a c h Yourself H i s t o r y L i b r a r y , ably edited by A . L . Rowse, has made its a p p e a r a n c e ; its vol- umes are excellent f o r the beginner, w h e t h e r a d u l t or of college age. T h i s series is published in E n g l a n d , according to the Cumulative Book Index, at 5s, i.e. 70^ per volume, but sells in this c o u n t r y at $ 2 . 0 0 — ( t h o u g h actually printed in G r e a t B r i t a i n ) . W o u l d not a wise publisher, anxious to approach a w i d e r m a r k e t , pass on such cur- rency difference to his customers? T h i s splendid series certainly w o u l d enjoy much w i d e r sales if the price w e r e d o w n to $1.00. I n the r e p r i n t field some series have been very effective along these lines, a l t h o u g h at times the selection might benefit f r o m a m o r e catholic taste. T h e n e w A m e r i c a n edition of E v e r y m a n ' s L i b r a r y looks perhaps most appealing f r o m the point of view of the private reader. Binding, p r i n t i n g and paper seem a t t r a c t i v e ; to o w n St. A u g u s t i n e ' s Confessions or H o b b e s ' Leviathan in this edition is n o t h i n g to be ashamed of. T h i s American edition of E v e r y m a n ' s suits also the needs of libraries f o r additional copies of great books. T h i s collection is eventually to g r o w to 2 5 0 titles. I t is too early to com- pare its s t a n d a r d s of selection w i t h those of the M o d e r n L i b r a r y , whose binding and paper have not always been pleasing. M a n y instructors and librarians have great expec- tations f o r the n e w college edition of the M o d e r n L i b r a r y . A n o t h e r excellent series, the V i k i n g P o r t a b l e L i b r a r y , u n f o r t u n a t e l y has j u s t gone up in price. T h i s may affect its popularity a m o n g the less well-to-do. W i l l i a m M i l l e r , by the way, offers a n u m - ber of suggestions in the r e p r i n t field which might be applied also by college and univer- sity librarians. F o r instance, he mentions the possibility t h a t a large n u m b e r of li- braries or the A L A might " r e n t plates f r o m publishers at the same low rates given commercial clubs, then produce their o w n books and distribute them almost at cost to member libraries." 1 1 H e also thinks of groups of libraries or the A L A g u a r a n t e e i n g to publishers a considerable m i n i m u m of sales f o r n e w books w i t h uncertain m a r k e t appeal and, finally, of purchasing r e p r i n t rights to books in great demand at libraries and issuing them in pocket-size paper-bound editions. Inexpensive Art Books A m e r i c a n publishing has not yet caught up w i t h E u r o p e in still another area, t h a t of a r t books. T h e r e is potentially an enor- mous demand f o r good medium-priced a r t books in this country. T h e f a c t t h a t h u n - dreds of thousands w e n t to see the exhibi- tions of the G e r m a n and A u s t r i a n master- 11 Miller, op. cit., p. 129. OCTOBER, 1951 32 7 pieces, to the V a n G o g h show and m a n y similar events, demonstrates beyond a rea- sonable doubt t h a t the h u n g e r f o r good a r t is ever g r o w i n g in the U S A . B u t our pub- lishers, w i t h a f e w laudable exceptions, have not yet mastered the technique of b r i n g i n g out a r t books t h a t could compare in quality and price, e.g., w i t h the o u t p u t of the P h a i d o n Press in L o n d o n . T h i s affiliate of the O x f o r d U n i v e r s i t y Press issues volumes containing m a n y first-rate reproductions in giant size, at $5.00, and pocket editions of some great w o r k s of a r t history at $2.50. I t is t r u e t h a t labor and m a t e r i a l s are m o r e costly in this c o u n t r y t h a n in E n g l a n d , F r a n c e ( w i t h her H y p e r i o n P r e s s ) , or G e r - many, but America surpasses all of them in production methods. If w e can b r i n g out on the assembly line millions of compara- tively inexpensive cars, r e f r i g e r a t o r s and television sets, w h y not also reasonably priced a r t books? I t is a record of f a i l u r e on the p a r t of publishers and p r i n t e r s t h a t only relatively f e w w o r t h - w h i l e A m e r i c a n a r t publications sell at less t h a n $ 8 . 0 0 or $ 1 0 . 0 0 ; t h e r e f o r e , m a n y of these a r t books never reach the people w h o w o u l d appre- ciate them most. A n o t h e r m a r k e t w i t h great potentialities has not yet been opened up either. E v e r y public l i b r a r i a n k n o w s t h a t there are m a n y millions of adults whose education has been so limited t h a t the books available on library shelves are f a r above their level of r e a d i n g comprehension. T h e s e people d o n ' t w a n t to read children's books. T h e y are m a t u r e citizens, merely underprivileged in their education and t h u s handicapped in their r e a d i n g abilities. If public libraries had enough books especially designed to meet their needs, they m i g h t become their loyal customers instead of bypassing the l i b r a r y buildings, but the publishing t r a d e has not yet seized this o p p o r t u n i t y . College li- b r a r i a n s and i n s t r u c t o r s are also f a m i l i a r w i t h f r e s h m e n w h o have r e a d i n g difficulties. A s this w r i t e r has f r e q u e n t l y observed, not all these s t u d e n t s are poor risks. A m o n g them are some w h o w i l l make the g r a d e if they receive proper guidance and if there are enough r a t h e r simply-written books a r o u n d f r o m which to get s t a r t e d . "Immediate Important Sales" C o u l d book prices come d o w n in general ? T h e publishers believe they cannot cut the prices; on the c o n t r a r y , they w i l l insist t h a t they have been too cautious in raising t h e m since the end of W o r l d W a r I I . P e r h a p s they are correct in their protestations, as long as certain pernicious tendencies in the book business cannot be arrested. T h e f a c t m u s t be faced t h a t many, if not most, t r a d e books in A m e r i c a are dead a f t e r one season. Everybody shares in the responsibility f o r this deplorable situation. T h e public is fickle in its tastes and follows fashions or f a d s to a considerable extent in its book p u r - chases. A w o r k like Worlds in Collision has enormous sales, a l t h o u g h experts w e r e highly critical of it f r o m the beginning, and at present w e observe w i t h dismay the equally a m a z i n g boom of Dianetics. Li- b r a r i a n s do not always aim at the proper s t a n d a r d s either, a l t h o u g h the previews in the Library Journal, w r i t t e n by their o w n colleagues, and various other n o n c o m m e r - cial reviewing tools could save them f r o m m a n y a misspent dollar. T h e publishers finally, k n o w i n g the m a r k e t situation w i t h all the risks of costly storage and excessive capital investments, aim too m u c h at "im- mediate i m p o r t a n t sales," as one of them put it to this w r i t e r sometime ago. All of us should w o r k together to find ways in which the life of those books w o u l d be prolonged t h a t have been w o r t h publish- ing. If his m e m o r y does not betray this 324 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES w r i t e r , books in E u r o p e , generally speaking, had a m u c h longer life in his time over there. T h i s w o u l d save librarians, f o r in- stance, f r o m m a n y of the headaches they have today w i t h o u t - o f - p r i n t books. A noted English expert, L . Stanley J a s t , f o r - m e r head of the M a n c h e s t e r P u b l i c L i b r a r y , has said so a p t l y : " T h e burial of a living person is a h o r r o r . T h e burial of a living book is a tragedy, made the deeper by the m a n y births of dead ones."1 2 Publishers probably w o u l d raise their s t a n d a r d s of se- lection and concern themselves less w i t h the sale of their rights to book clubs, to the movies, to periodicals f o r serialization, a n d to r e p r i n t houses, if the n o r m a l good book w o u l d have a longer life expectancy and if they could rely on more revenue f r o m their backlist. M a y b e librarians should help them, as W i l l i a m M i l l e r proposes,1 3 by g u a r a n t e e i n g a considerable m i n i m u m of sales f o r older items (needed f o r replace- m e n t s ) w h i c h w o u l d otherwise be allowed to go out of p r i n t . Vital Books from Abroad T h e r e could be quite a saving on over- editing. L e t the responsibility f o r the proper presentation of a book rest squarely w i t h the a u t h o r ! D o n ' t pad, d o n ' t r e w r i t e his books! L e t the editor gain more time f o r t a l e n t scouting, especially f o r canvassing the w h o l e range of good foreign books! A m e r i c a n publishers, excepting K n o p f , Vi- king, N o r t o n , a f e w others, and some uni- versity presses, have not made enough effort to b r i n g the most significant books f r o m abroad in adequate translations to the at- tention of the A m e r i c a n public. A f e w ex- amples, chosen at r a n d o m , m a y suffice to prove this point. W h e n the Swiss novelist H e r m a n n Hesse received the N o b e l P r i z e in 12 Jast, L. S. "Libraries and Publishers." Library Association Record, 4 1 : 8 , J a n u a r y 1 9 3 9 . 13 Miller, op. cit., p. 129. L i t e r a t u r e , even the learned editor of the New York Times expressed surprise about the choice: " T h e literary a w a r d . . . creates an i n t e r n a t i o n a l f a m e w h e r e none existed before." 1 4 T h i s w r i t e r took i h e liberty to correct the editor in a letter w h i c h was printed at once, s t a t i n g t h a t it w a s a re- flection on the A m e r i c a n publishing business, if Hesse w a s little k n o w n in this c o u n t r y ; only a f e w books f r o m his large oeuvre had been translated, w h e r e a s in E u r o p e all his w o r k s w e r e sold by the tens or h u n d r e d s of thousands. Is it not ridiculous t h a t most of M a x W e b e r ' s sociological w r i t i n g s w e r e made accessible to A m e r i c a n s t u d e n t s only a generation a f t e r his d e a t h ? Also t h a t the one m o n u m e n t a l Bismarck biography w r i t - ten in o u r time, t h a t by E r i c h Eyck (pub- lished in S w i t z e r l a n d d u r i n g W o r l d W a r I I ) , has been presented to the Anglo-Saxon w o r l d only now, in a terribly condensed version, while so m a n y recent light-weight biographies f r o m abroad appeared on the m a r k e t immediately and u n a b r i d g e d ? 1 5 A s to w o r l d affairs, are o u r publishers really doing all t h a t can be expected of t h e m in an era w h e n A m e r i c a has become a superpower and is s h o u l d e r i n g such heavy responsibilities abroad ? A g a i n a character- istic e x a m p l e : T w o , and only two, first-rate books w e r e published in G e r m a n y shortly a f t e r the T h i r d Reich collapsed; they re- vealed more about the G e r m a n f r a m e of mind t h a n loads of "quickies" w r i t t e n by self-styled A m e r i c a n experts on the subject. O n e was F r i e d r i c h Meinecke's German Catastrophe. I t w a s published, at last, in J a n u a r y 1950 by the H a r v a r d U n i v e r s i t y Press, w h e n it w a s already dated in spots. T h e other, E u g e n K o g o n ' s Theory and Practice of Hell ( G e r m a n t i t l e : Der S. S. Staat), w a s on the list of F a r r a r , Strauss 14 New York Times, N o v . 16 a n d 2 0 , 1 9 4 6 . 13 For further comments on this topic see Hirsch, Felix E. "Beyond All Frontiers." Current History, 14:90-94, February 1948. OCTOBER, 1951 32 7 f o r F a l l 1950, w h e n N a z i concentration camps had lost some of their timely interest f o r the general reader. A m e r i c a n publish- ing houses should be and could be m u c h m o r e alert in this respect. L o n g is the list of sins of omission regard- ing Slavic civilization. M a n y of the great Russian a u t h o r s have been available only in poor, if not abominable translations. O n l y recently have publishers begun to think of presenting T u r g e n e v and some other past masters in the dignified f o r m they deserve. I t needed the Russian t r a n s l a t i o n p r o j e c t of the A m e r i c a n Council of L e a r n e d Societies to b r i n g at least a taste of m o d e r n Russian scholarship to A m e r i c a n readers. U n i v e r s i t y presses, t h o u g h well-intentioned, are not always too effective w h e n it comes to w i d e n i n g the horizon of the A m e r i c a n public. A f a i r critic, the historian G e o f f r e y B r u u n , stated recently t h a t "in a year w h e n the history of other nations should a t t r a c t millions of A m e r i c a n readers, it is discour- aging to find the offerings of the university presses in this field a m a t t e r f o r m o r e re- grets t h a n c o n g r a t u l a t i o n s . " 1 6 A g a i n , here is a w i d e and constantly e x p a n d i n g m a r k e t f o r enterprising, far-sighted publishers. M a n y h u n d r e d s , if not some thousands, of A m e r i c a n libraries w o u l d buy up (possibly even g u a r a n t e e to b u y ) every single good, solid, unsensational book on i n t e r n a t i o n a l affairs t h a t publishers w o u l d have vision enough to b r i n g o u t . H o w u r g e n t l y are m o r e sound and up-to-date books on south- east Asia needed, not to speak of K o r e a ! Also at least one observer is convinced t h a t in the production of w o r l d atlases w e are still behind our ablest foreign competitors. B a r t h o l o m e w ' s Advanced Atlas of Modern Geography, in its latest revision, costs in E n g l a n d only the equivalent of $ 4 . 0 0 ; its maps of the non-American areas are vastly 16 B r u u n . Geoffrey. " T o the S u m of K n o w l e d g e . " Saturday Review of Literature, 33:22', M a y 6, 1 9 5 0 . superior to w h a t is offered in m o r e ex- pensive atlases m a d e in the U S A . More Truthful Publicity! If m o r e books are to be sold, w e need m o r e t r u t h f u l publicity for t h e m . L i b r a r - ians have become hesitant w h e n they see exaggerated praise of f o r t h c o m i n g books in publishers' advertisements or circulars. T h o s e librarians w h o , f o r geographic rea- sons, cannot always examine the books themselves in good stores before the orders go out, feel especially annoyed by the bally- hoo of promotion campaigns by w h i c h they are misled. T h e y dislike publishers' blurbs w h e n they d o n ' t describe book and a u t h o r accurately. T h e other day this w r i t e r perused w i t h a m u s e m e n t a n e w book whose a u t h o r w a s said to have been " l o n g recog- nized as A m e r i c a ' s leading s t u d e n t of the economic, social and political problems of our i n d u s t r i a l age." W h a t an exaggera- tion ! W o u l d it not have been so m u c h m o r e honest and, f o r m a n y people, m o r e appetizing, if the b l u r b had j u s t said t h a t the a u t h o r is a very able y o u n g economist? Since w e are on the subject of t r u t h , it may seem permissible to ask A m e r i c a n pub- lishers to be m o r e cautious w h e n using the t e r m "revised e d i t i o n . " O n l y too o f t e n the reader or l i b r a r i a n w h o has bought a revised edition on the s t r e n g t h of a publisher's ad- vertisement finds out to his distress t h a t actually j u s t some m i n o r flaws have been c o r r e c t e d ; at best, a f e w pages have been appended in the last chapter to b r i n g the text somehow up-to-date. I t should be clearly understood w h e t h e r a book has a n e w p r i n t i n g w i t h some m i n o r corrections or has been c a r e f u l l y revised t h r o u g h o u t . L i b r a r i a n s a r e entitled to precise biblio- graphic i n f o r m a t i o n , and the recent recom- mendations of the A L A Book Acquisitions C o m m i t t e e to the A m e r i c a n Book Publishers Council deserve emphatic endorsement. 326 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES Continuous Revision T h i s w r i t e r takes even s t r o n g e r exception t o a r e l a t e d t e r m , " c o n t i n u o u s r e v i s i o n , " as used by some h i g h l y - r e s p e c t a b l e encyclo- pedia m a k e r s . T h i s t e r m creates e x a g g e r - a t e d e x p e c t a t i o n s in t h e m i n d s of i n d i v i d u a l r e a d e r s , a n d also of m a n y l i b r a r i a n s . F o r instance, t h e Encyclopaedia Britannica claims t o have revised or added 4 2 , 0 7 4 a r - ticles in t h e period 1 9 3 2 - 1 9 5 0 . T h i s s o u n d s impressive. T h e r e a d e r w h o exam- ines the 1950 p r i n t i n g of t h e Britannica, w h i l e a d m i r i n g its e n d u r i n g qualities, finds t h a t m u c h r e m a i n s to be desired. M a n y topics of v i t a l i m p o r t a n c e h a v e n o t been p r o p e r l y revised a n d t h e bibliographies a r e in dire need of o v e r h a u l i n g . T h e articles on some of t h e w o r l d ' s g r e a t e s t d a n g e r - spots, such as A u s t r i a a n d K o r e a , a r e f a r f r o m u p - t o - d a t e . F r a n k l i n D . R o o s e v e l t ' s b i o g r a p h y devotes n i n e lines to his last n i n e years of office, a n d t h e article on him occu- pies only one t h i r d of the space a l l o t t e d t o T h e o d o r e R o o s e v e l t — c e r t a i n l y a lack of historical p r o p o r t i o n . T h e s e are b u t a f e w e x a m p l e s f r o m a l o n g list of d e s i d e r a t a . W a l t e r Y u s t , t h e e d i t o r of t h e Britannica, states e m p h a t i c a l l y in a c i r c u l a r : " T h e r e w i l l be n o 15th e d i t i o n . " L i b r a r i a n s can only r e p l y : " T h e 15th edition is n e e d e d . " C o m p l i m e n t s a r e deserved by m a n y A m e r i c a n p u b l i s h e r s f o r t h e i r e f f o r t s to im- p r o v e b o o k - m a k i n g in the n a r r o w e r sense of t h e w o r d . A steady t e n d e n c y t o w a r d m o r e legible a n d m o r e a t t r a c t i v e p r i n t i n g m a y be d e t e c t e d , t h a n k s to t h e e d u c a t i n g influence of such pioneers as F . W . G o u d y , B r u c e R o g e r s , etc. T h e a v e r a g e A m e r i c a n book of t o d a y has a m o r e pleasing a p p e a r a n c e t h a n did t h e o u t p u t of the p r i n t i n g presses a f e w decades ago. T h e e f f o r t s of p u b l i s h e r s like K n o p f , R a n d o m H o u s e , V i k i n g a n d some o t h e r s in this respect deserve t h e highest a d m i r a t i o n . E v e n books of t h e u n i - v e r s i t y presses, m a n y of w h i c h used to look r a t h e r d u l l , n o w m e a s u r e u p t o high s t a n d - a r d s of design. T h a t does n o t e x c l u d e occasional lapses, w h e n unsolid b i n d i n g , poor p a p e r a n d n a r r o w m a r g i n s a n n o y the l i b r a r i a n . A l s o i n d e x - m a k i n g a n d biblio- g r a p h i c i n f o r m a t i o n have i m p r o v e d . I n conclusion, it m a y be f a i r l y said t h a t as l i b r a r i a n s w e c a n n o t a l w a y s agree w i t h t h e policies a n d practices of A m e r i c a n pub- lishers. W e believe, h o w e v e r , t h a t most of o u r grievances can be c o r r e c t e d a n d t h a t the p u b l i s h i n g business in t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s w i l l be m o r e p r o s p e r o u s a n d e x e r t a m o r e salu- t a r y influence, if it w o r k s h a n d in h a n d w i t h its t r u e f r i e n d s , t h e l i b r a r i a n s . College and University Library Statistics T h e A C R L Statistics Committee hopes to complete its w o r k on the 1950-51 statistics (with salary and certain budget information f o r the year 1951-52) by Nov. 15, 1951. T h e involved task of typesetting and p r o o f r e a d i n g these figures will be pushed as fast as possible and the material should appear in the J a n u a r y issue of College and Research Libraries instead of April, as formerly. A C R L H e a d q u a r t e r s will order preprints or extra proofs of the statistics if there is sub- stantial demand f o r them. T h e s e preprints or proofs can probably be mailed out before J a n u a r y 1, several weeks before the J a n u a r y issue. A charge (not more than a dollar) will be made f o r this service. If f o r budget planning or other reasons you are eager to secure a preprint as soon as possible, please send a note to that effect to the A C R L Executive Secretary, 50 E. H u r o n St., Chicago 11, 111. OCTOBER, 1951 32 7