College and Research Libraries


are up-to-date as of October 1952. T h e bibli-
ographies include books and articles published 
as late as 1 9 5 1 , although Kirchner does not 
seem to have access to complete files of all the 
more important American, English, and Scan-
dinavian books and journals published in the 
field of the book arts during the last decade 
and a half. 

T h e articles on libraries and librarianship 
have been restricted to a few comprehensive 
historical surveys, and the articles on palaeog-
raphy have been cut down considerably. Cer-
tain other fields such as journalism, library 
architecture and administration, and history 
of writing have been eliminated. T h e many 
entries under cities in the Lexikon des gesam-
ten Buchwesens have been largely eliminated 
and the information included in the articles 
under the names of countries and provinces 
(although there are no entries under any states 
of the American republics). Bibliographies, in 
general, are somewhat smaller; but in a work 
of this sort selection is the most important 
element in giving additional references. It is 
unfortunate that articles are not signed, but 
Kirchner states there are "important reasons" 
for omitting names of authors. T h e list of his 
collaborators in the preface is a sufficient 
guarantee of the reliability of the work. 

Kirchner has done very well by the world 
of the book in America and seems to have 
covered its most important aspects. His state-
ment that the John Carter Brown Library is 
"in the University Library in Providence" 
(p. 1 1 0 ) is misleading, and the Huntington 
Library was not given to the State of Cali-
fornia, (p. 3 3 7 ) . Kirchner is not always 
meticulously careful with his accents in such 
languages as Portuguese and Icelandic, and 
there are some misprints. For example, read 
Capella on p. 44 where the name Martianus 
Copella appears; 1820, not 1920, as the date 
of the founding of the University of Michigan 
(p. 18) ; and 1951, not 1 9 3 1 , as the date of 
publication of Dagher's directory of libraries 
in the Near East. 

Such criticism, however, is hardly justified 
from an English-speaking person. W e should 
reserve any critical comments until we have 
produced a work such as the Lexikon des 
Buchwesens or the great Nordisk Leksikon 
for Bogvaesen (now as f a r as " L i t o g r a f i " ) 
being published by the Nyt Nordisk Forlag 
Arnold Busck in Copenhagen. 

T h e second and concluding volume of the 

Lexikon des Buchwesens will be available 
later this year.—Lawrence S. Thompson, Uni-
versity of Kentucky. 

Government Information 
Government Information and the Research 

Worker: Lectures delivered at a Vacation 
Course of the University of London School 
of Librarianship and Archives in April, 1951. 
Ed. with an Introduction by Ronald Stave-
ley. B.A., F . L . A . London, Library Assoc., 
1952. vi, 228p. 24s. 
For a long time the users of British govern-

ment publications have found it easy to locate 
clearly written and accurate descriptions of 
Parliamentary Papers, Statutes, Gazettes, etc., 
but when it came to finding descriptions of 
the non-parliamentary publications of min-
istries and other administrative bodies very 
little satisfactory material seemed to be availa-
ble. Therefore this new book which is largely, 
though not exclusively, devoted to non-parlia-
mentary publications should be welcomed by 
students, librarians and research workers. 
Though not a systematic manual nor complete 
in its coverage, it will answer many of the 
questions concerning the functions of govern-
ment departments and the series they publish 
which naturally arise in the minds of readers 
and it makes an excellent addition to a small 
group of works1 which every general research 
library should contain. 

Five general lectures furnished an introduc-
tion to this series. The first by E. M . Nichol-
son, secretary, Office of the Lord President 
of the Council, was on " T h e Government and 
Research." In the second, D r . W . R. Francis 
of the Department of Scientific and Industrial 
Research described "the government agencies 
and departments in which scientific research 
is undertaken and sponsored." These first two 
lectures are not printed in this book because 
the information they contained is adequately 
treated in a 1951 Treasury publication en-
titled Government Scientific Organization in 
the Civilian Field: a Review Prepared For 
the Lord President of the Council by the 
Advisory Council on Scientific Policy. T h e 
third of these preliminary lectures was on 

1 E.g., Ford, Percy, and Ford, G. A Brcviate of 
Parliamentary Papers: 1917-1939. 1 9 5 1 ; Harrocks, 
Sidney. The State as a Publisher . . . 1952 (Li-
brary Association Pamphlet no. 1 0 ) ; Temperley, Harold, 
and Pinson, Lilliam M. A Century of Diplomatic 
Blue Books: 1814-1914. 1938. 

JULY, 1953 345 



" H i s Majesty's Stationery Office" given by 
M r . Cox, the deputy comptroller. It furnishes 
an excellent brief account of the policies and 
activities of this chief publisher and distributor 
of British official documents. T h e next dealt 
with the plans and publications of " T h e Inter-
departmental Committee on Social and Eco-
nomic Research." T h e concluding lecture of 
the general series by Sir Hilary Jenkinson on 
" T h e Problem of Elimination in the Records 
of Public Departments" bears a close relation-
ship to the information supplied by subsequent 
papers on the unpublished data in departmental 
files which may interest research workers. 

Twenty-two chapters, each dealing with the 
publications of a separate ministry, board, 
office or council, ^follow these preliminary 
chapters. N o two are exactly alike but most 
of them begin with a short history of the ad-
ministrative body, followed by an account of 
its functions and duties and the publications 
which grow out of these. Series, periodicals, 
reports and other outstanding separate publi-
cations are treated. Important "command 
papers" including the reports of royal com-
missions, select committees and annual reports 
are mentioned and sometimes described. Most 
of the authors who lectured on the works 
published by individual departments were li-
brarians, and in response to a request by the 
organizers of this course they tell whether 
their libraries are open to ordinary students 
and investigators and what unpublished rec-
ords, statistical material and other research 
data their departments contain which would 
be available for research purposes. This 
latter type of information would be more fre-
quently useful to the British than to the Ameri-
can student. 

While the above description is fairly ac-
curate, it represents the more informative and 
detailed report. T h e lectures given were some-
what uneven in quality, some giving a good 
deal of information on publications, others 
very little. Those on the Ministry of Agricul-
ture and Fisheries, the Medical Research 
Council, the Department of Scientific and In-

dustrial Research and the Ministry of Supply 
give less data on publications than one might 
desire. On the other hand several chapters, 
including those on the Ministries of Health, 
Fuel and Power, T o w n and Country Planning 
and that on the Colonial and Commonwealth 
Relations Offices, give excellent accounts of 
organization and publications and should be 
most helpful to investigators and students. 
Some of the newer agencies such as the Infor-
mation Division of the Treasury, the Social 
Survey and the Technical Information and 
Documents Unit of the Board of T r a d e are 
well described and their publications noted. 

Only civil departments are treated—none 
of the publications of the Admiralty, the W a r 
Office, the A i r Ministry or the Ministry of 
Civil Aviation receive attention. Not even the 
long series of the Aeronautical Research Coun-
cil are included. T h e only publications of the 
Geological Survey which are given are the 
new maps it is contributing to the National 
Atlas. No historical publications are treated 
and the 1951 Census, taken in the same month 
in which the Course convened, is not described. 

T h e blue cloth binding lettered in gold is 
attractive but the cover already shows signs 
of coming loose and will not stand up under 
continuous use. T h e print is readable except 
in the chapters in which detailed lists of publi-
cations have been added by the lecturers in 
the course of revision of their addresses. 
These lists are in very fine print and are not 
too easily read. 

In conclusion it may be stated that one of 
the strongest points in favor of the work is its 
unquestionable authority. Each author is an 
officer of the governmental unit for which he 
speaks and has an intimate, first-hand ac-
quaintance with its organization, activities and 
publications. No general compiler of a more 
systematic manual could possibly know all 
these bodies so well. For this reason the book 
would still continue to be valuable even if a 
more systematic manual should later become 
available.—Rose B. Phelps, University of 
Illinois Library School. 

346 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES