College and Research Libraries ing. Les Sources du Travail Bibliographique, Vol. I (1950), by L. N . Maides, is mentioned as a source of information on foreign encyclo- pedias, but not, surprisingly, as a source on general and national bibliographies. That boon in questions of scientific bibliography, Poggendorff's biographisch literarisches Handworterbuch (1863-) is absent, though the Royal Society of London Catalogue of Scientific Papers is included. T h e very popular Rider Television Manual ( 1 9 4 8 - ) is omitted while the same publisher's Perpetual Trouble Shooter's Manual is mentioned, though this is possibly taken care of by a statement that there are manuals for television. T h e Oxford Companion to the Theatre ( 1 9 5 1 ) is con- spicuously absent, though the other "Com- panions" are included. In the reading lists at the end of the chapters, every teacher will undoubtedly want to add a few favorites in lieu of some of those chosen, but on the whole these readings bring a sampling of stimulating professional literature into the student's orbit of work. T o do justice to all the strong points and special features of this notable work is im- possible within the compass of this review. The information given about the various titles is remarkably clear, helpful, and accurate for the editions described. Although the titles included are generally popular and readily available, yet a fair number of the basic scholarly tools, even a few in foreign lan- guages, are presented. Dr. Shores, to his credit, has not acceded to the plea, voiced sometimes in library circles, to reduce the titles included in a basic reference course, to the lowest common denominator of availability and popularity. Among other commendable features—to mention only a few—are: the excellent, clear treatment of government pub- lications; the discussion of subscription books in the chapter on encyclopedias; and the simple but excellent instruction in bibliographic form given in Chapter I. As a textbook in a basic reference or infor- mation services course—whatever its title— this work should meet a genuine need, as did its predecessor. Every word in the text, laden with common sense advice culled from practi- cal experience, should be helpful and stimu- lating to beginners in the field. The very existence of many of these titles will be a reve- lation to the student. For those students who find themselves, as many will, in school and small college or public libraries where subject departmentalization exists, if at all, to a very small degree, this introduction to some of the more generally useful reference sources both general and in subject fields, will form an excellent minimum basis or springboard from which to build and extend this knowledge. For those who intend to specialize immedi- ately in a subject area or in the general bibliographical services offered in general reference departments of certain large public and university libraries, this synthesis of in- formation about general and specialized sources will form an indispensable back- ground and adjunct to further intensified con- centration in the chosen field—either on the job or through additional courses. As Dr. Shores points out, the chapters in Part II may well be used, also, as a supplementary text in the bibliographic courses now offered in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Li- brary school students equipped with this text, together with Constance Winchell's Guide to Reference Books for reference use, and M a r - garet Hutchins' fine Introduction to Reference Work, cited frequently in the reading lists, for a much more extended treatment of the principles and methods of reference work, are fortunate indeed. Although its primary use will, of course, be as a textbook in library schools, the usefulness of Basic Reference Sources to reference librarians on the job and to library inquirers who want to know some- thing about reference materials, should not be overlooked.—M a r y N. Barton, Enoch Pratt Free Library. M o d e r n Bibliography Notes on Modern Bibliography. By Ronald Staveley. London, T h e Library Association, 1954. viii, 1 u p . 10 s. This is a good book. It contains nothing new, but makes a major contribution through synthesis. It is readable and informative, and expresses more fully than any other single source the evolving concept of bibliography as a combination of what might be termed conventional bibliography and what many have termed documentation. In its early phase bibliography was the study of production of manuscripts and books, which is now termed 108 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES analytical or critical bibliography. For a period its definition swelled, rather than grew, until one bibliographer, Peignot, said: "Since bibliography is the most inclusive and most general of all human disciplines, anything ap- pears to fall into the field of work of the bibliographer." In the return to reason, bibliography was deflated, so that by the time of Georg Schneider it could be defined in a narrow sense as the study of lists of litera- ture. About the turn of the century, or perhaps around World War I, new forces in the form of the bibliography of ideas came to the fore, and these brought with them the need for better handling and transmission of information in recorded form, and the field of documentation was born. While the au- thor would be the first to disclaim exhaustive treatment of any one or all of the component parts of this broader field, he does an excel- lent job of introducing the student to postwar trends in the recording, handling, organizing and transmission of recorded knowledge. Starting, as is customary, with the "argu- ment from mass," the author discusses the programs and plans for universal recording of literature, the breakdown in various im- portant services owing to wars, the efforts by users and librarians alike to develop plans and programs for more orderly organization of literature and of its intellectual content; the development of publishing and of bibliogra- phy in the sciences and the social sciences; inadequacies of publication attributable to costs of printing, to unsystematic publication, to publication in too-small editions or too late, and the possible solutions to these prob- lems in mechanical methods for first publica- tion and single copy services. H e goes on to discuss difficulties in transmission of knowl- edge attributable to copyright systems and to language and translation problems. The prin- cipal subjects discussed under inadequate rec- ords are: incompleteness of coverage; place of periodical indexes in providing coverage; union catalogs and union lists; abstracting services; guides to academic research and to general research; and the possibilities of as- sistance from the machines. On the question of accessibility the author treats levels of ac- cessibility and of interlibrary cooperation. It is probably impossible to compress so broad a field as this into 106 text pages without some oversimplifications and even, possibly, some minor errors. Also, some of the state- ments which are probably true with respect to the United Kingdom are not applicable to other parts of the world. Nevertheless, bear- ing in mind the fact that this book represents a series of lectures for library school stu- dents at the London School of Librarianship and Archives, the possible oversimplifications and the differences of practice are understand- able. The author does point repeatedly to inadequacies of conventional classification for modern bibliographic purposes, but does not include much information about the experi- mental work being done in this field. Whether that is by accident or design, this reviewer does not know, but the only area in which the treatment of evolving methods and sys- tems seems to be slighted appears to be this one of classification. All in all, Mr. Staveley and The Library Association are to be congratulated. They present here a large amount of information about trends in bibliography, readably and in brief compass. It is a stimulating and thought provoking summary.—Ralph R. Shaw, Gradu- ate School of Library Service, Rutgers Uni- versity. Public Relations Financial Public Relations: For the Business Corporation. By Herman S. Hettinger. N e w York, Harper, 1954. 204P. $3.50. Because a library may be judged as su- perior or mediocre by its success or deficiency in public relations policies, and because the literature on this subject is found only oc- casionally in the form of journal articles or among the closing pages of books on library administration, it is necessary for those seek- ing enlightenment in this vital area to reach out to other fields and to their experts. Mr. Hettinger is vice president of D. M . S. Hegarty & Associates; and this is the most recent title in Harper's American Series of Public Relations Books. Industry has been the leader in recognizing the value of effective public relations pro- grams. Since World War II, the business corporation has been giving increasing at- tention to this aspect of administration, di- recting its attention to two principal groups —stockholders and the financial community. Although Mr. Hettinger's counsel is based on JANUARY, 1955 109