College and Research Libraries factors common in the life of the business corporation, his theories and resolutions would appear to be generally applicable to most college and research libraries as well. When the author states, for example, that there is a growing relationship between com- pany profitability and understanding, with a subsequent increase in public relations think- ing, the librarian need only substitute "In- creased Appropriations" for "Profitability" and add "Cooperation" to "Understanding" to feel affected by the discussion of that sub- ject. Similarly, for the "Financial Com- munity" one might substitute "Friends of the Library," the "Library Profession and Other Interested Persons"; for "Stockholders," "Ad- ministration, Staff (for 'Family'), and Readers." The error made most frequently is to as- sume that public relations need only be used for matters warranting a newspaper story. Planned continuity is emphasized in this book as the most significant tenet of a sound con- ceptual design. Ultimately it is more im- portant than any single constituent in the program. Information is disseminated by three chief methods: i ) financial publicity, general and special, 2) specially prepared ma- terial directed to specific groups, and 3) personal contact activities. A basic report, the annual report, interim reports, special bulletins (including survey reports), article reprints and reprints of speeches comprise the standard media for written information, supplemented by prompt releases to the press, when new information is announced. The organization's story, with regard to history and progress, services, prospects, etc. should be available in the basic report, which is, ideally, something of a readable reference manual about the institution. Although the annual report is important, it tends to be poorly used; its presentation often lacks imagination, and there is too large a reliance on it to serve when a continuing program in public relations is, in fact, needed. The re- port should be attractively prepared, with attention given to size, format, color, ( ! ) typography and paper. It should be easily identifiable with the institution; and the information it contains should be pertinent, frank, concise—and interesting. Personal contact in public relations is seen in organization tours, regional and other forms of committee meetings, press and indi- vidual interviews, in general correspondence, and in the administrator's availability for reasonable requests of his time. It has been suggested elsewhere that good library public relations is good library service, publicly ap- preciated. This presupposes a comprehensive collection, a comfortable and efficient physical operation, and an able and affable staff. An institution should know the traits which designate it a public character, and these qualities should be employed to advantage when public relations plans are being con- ceived. Continued position in the community is a likely point of emphasis; also the im- portance of research in the field served by the group; special services and materials avail- able; institution history as a means of reflec- ting progress; management and directors— that shadow of an individual or group whose efforts have distinguished it. Being vastly experienced in the field of business, Mr. Hettinger does not write an original book about a practical subject. H e defines, explains and proposes, and this is done with clarity and verbal economy. Parts of his book are applicable only to the business cor- poration; and there are potential areas for effective public relations in libraries which have no equivalent in the considerations of a business corporation, particularly in the large category of personal contact, and to a lesser extent in the use of motion pictures, radio, television and exhibits. Nevertheless, this book would be useful to the library adminis- trator as an advanced general review of prin- ciples and ideas.—Ervin Eatenson, Columbia University Libraries. Medical Bibliography The Development of Medical Bibliography. By Estelle Brodman. Baltimore, Waverly Press, 1954. ix, 226 p. $5.00. (Medical Library Association, Publication No. 1.) Miss Brodman in her monograph limits her discussion to lists of books or periodicals, relating to medicine in general, but not to the specialities in particular. T h e important definite medical bibliographies of a general character of the sixteenth century, including Champier, 1506, Brunfels, Fuchs, Gesner, Gallus and Spach, 1591, are discussed in de- 110 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES tail. Like treatment is accorded those of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the "Golden Age" of the individual bibliographer. The 1600s were notable for the works of van der Linden, Lipenius, and Cornelius a Beug- hem, and the following century brought forth the works of Boerhave, Haller, who compiled several bibliographies besides the one on general medicine, Ploucquet and Callisen, whose monumental compilations ended the reign of the individual as a bibliographer. Before Champier, dependence had to be placed on personal lists of writings such as Ficinus,1 and the general bibliographies of Trithemius2 on the writings of the Church Fathers and illustrious men. The rate of increase of publications, books and periodical articles, had become so rapid that the era of cooperative effort had to be inaugurated. The first in a series of such works w a s the Catalogue of Scientific Papers of the Royal Society, London, followed by the monumental work, the Index Medicus and the Index Catalogue of the Medical Library of the Surgeon General's Office of the United States, initiated and compiled under the di- rection of Dr. John Shaw Billings. Miss Brodman devotes considerable space to a de- scription and evaluation of these publications now deceased from over-feeding. Tables are presented of the rapid growth of periodicals from 1800 to 1908, showing in the last year a total of 71,248 periodicals. The modern situation is reviewed, outlining the history of the International Catalogue of Scientific Papers, the Current List of Medical Literature, the efforts of U N E S C O , and the use of punched cards by machine methods. The great problem of the present centers on the limitation of publications on selective cataloging. Incidentally, through the text, there is a steady flow of material relating to the history of medicine, making the book of double value to interested persons. Appended to the text, there is a list of 250 medical bibliographies published since 1500 A.D. There are author and subject indexes, 1 F i c i n u s , M a r s i l i u s . Liber dc sole et lumine. Flo- rence, 1493. C o n t a i n s a list of the personal w o r k s of F i c i n u s . 2 T r i t h e m i u s , J o h a n n e s . De scriptoribus ecclesiasticis. B a s e l , 1494. C a t a l o g u s i l l u s t r i u m v i r o r i u m . | M a i n z , 1 4 9 5 . 1 T r i t h e m i u s , w h i l e abbot at S p o n h e i m , d e v e l o p e d a b u s i n e s s f o r t h e c o p y i n g of m a n u s c r i p t s and as- s e m b l e d a l a r g e library. and the Medical Library Association is to be congratulated on the selection of this book for its Publication No. I. This invaluable reference volume should be a "bed-side" book for medical librarians and also is recommended to bibliographers and medical historians.—James F. Ballard, di- rector, Boston Medical Library. Columbia's Library School A History of the School of Library Service, Columbia University. By Ray T r a u t m a n . N e w York, Columbia University Press, x954- 85p. $2.00. Professor Trautman's history of the School of Library Service forms part of the series of studies issued in honor of Columbia's two hundredth anniversary. As might be expected of such a unit, this volume is published in attractive format, deals briefly with the vari- ous eras of the school and looks forward to the future. The two photographs that consti- tute the only illustrations, however, seem inadequate selections. Portraits of distin- guished leaders of the school and exteriors of important buildings are not shown, though these might have proved more fitting than the contrasting views of teaching facilities in Melvil Dewey's time and of the type of classroom in use today. The account of the school proceeds chrono- logically from the time of founding up to the present. The first chapter is devoted to organization under Dewey and the transfer to Albany two years later. The next two chapters deal with the immediate predecessors of the present School of Library Service: the N e w York State School and that of the N e w York Public Library. Chapters IV and V cover the administrations of Deans William- son and White of the present school. The final chapter, "The Program for Advanced Degrees," seems the poorest of the six. M a - terial here, in condensed, reorganized form, properly belongs with the preceding chapter which is decidedly thin as to content. Were it not for the Bicentennial Celebra- tion of Columbia, this volume would probably not have appeared in 1954. As a full history, it has lamentable shortcomings. Much more time and effort ought to be expended on the amalgamation of earlier, published ac- counts of the school under Dewey, and on the JANUARY, 1955 111