College and Research Libraries Review Articles The University Library The University Library; the Organization, Administration, and Functions of Academ- ic Libraries. By Louis R o u n d Wilson and Maurice F. Tauber. 2d ed. N e w York: Co- lumbia University Press, 1956. xiv, 641 p. $7.50. T h e redoubtable team of Wilson and Tau- ber, surveyors extraordinary, have undertaken to bring u p to date their encyclopedic text- book on modern American university library practice. T h e approach is primarily by way of a systematic review of the pertinent lit- erature, with frequent notes and extensive chapter bibliographies. Obviously the authors have drawn on their own uncommonly rich experience in surveying particular libraries during the last two decades or so, but basical- ly this work is carefully, perhaps overzealous- ly, documented. From this point of view the authors have done a thorough and current job of revisions; the chapter bibliographies appear to be completely rebuilt. T h e purpose of the volume is indicated as being "to review the changes which have taken place in the university library in re- sponse to the demands made u p o n it by uni- versity growth; to consider systematically the principles and methods of university and li- brary administration; and to formulate gen- eralizations concerning the organization, ad- ministration, and functions of the university library." Toward this end there are discussions be- ginning with the functions of the university and its library and ranging through several aspects of library administration and organ- ization, personnel matters, the book collec- tions—what they comprise and how they are developed—the teaching function of the li- brary, cooperation and specialization, build- ings and equipment, off-campus relations of the librarian, and public relations. A final chapter raises a number of university library problems that require further investigation and research. As this final chapter has been revised, one finds that in the years since the first edition of 1940 the problem of finance has raised its ugly head to become a major problem today. Other quite new problems relate to bibliography and documentation. In this new edition the undergraduate library appears for the first time as a significant trend in academic libraries, and on the dismal side, we hear seriously for the first time about the problem of "labeling." It appears from the authors' final summary that since 1940 li- brarians have become "more introspective and have not been as willing as they have been in the past to accept the status quo or the opinion of the leaders in the profession." T h i s is indeed heartening praise. One would be hard put to find an aspect of the subject not reported in some degree. If one is concerned with the recreational value of afternoon tea for the staff or with programs of cooperative specialization in col- lection building, Wilson and Tauber will state the issues, describe the general trends in current practice, and give some good hints on further reading. Throughout the book the authors find and state the need for further research, for more systematic scrutiny, and for the accumulation of better and more consistent data in the whole field of academic librarianship. T o o frequently, they find, the university librarian must base his judgment on subjective impres- sions rather than on factual evidence. Even while recognizing that many administrative problems are perhaps best answered by sub- jective conclusions based in rich experience, one can only agree heartily with the authors that the amount of illuminating research in- to library problems is distressingly low. T h i s serious shortcoming is the strongest argument for bringing into the profession, particularly into our library school faculties, people who have both a capacity and a desire for sig- nificant research. Related to this matter of research is the au- thors' open-minded attitude toward major problems under discussion. Almost consistent- ly they present a variety of approaches, leav- ing it to the individual proponent of one pat- tern, such as the divisional plan, to live or die by that pattern. Related also is their strong emphasis on the need for more thorough his- 266 C( . L E G E AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES torical studies into American university li- brarianship. T o o frequently, it seems, we are making decisions without concern for the fact that the same problems have been faced many times before. In this regard it may be well to note that no historical or compar- ative look at academic libraries can avoid ex- perience in other countries than our own. Even Wilson and Tauber look toward Eu- rope only briefly when discussing trends in library education. T h a t rich History of the Bodleian Library by Sir Edmund Craster, for example, ought to be read carefully by every American university librarian. As a profes- sional group we are curiously non-historical and monolingual. Another difficulty, it seems to this reviewer, that we face in discussing the university li- brary in this country stems from inadequate information about the university that it serves. Wilson and Tauber touch on this in an early chapter, and they wisely recognize that local university administrative experience will bas- ically effect the tendency in the local library. Discussions of the varying relationship of professional school libraries to the central li- brary administration, for example, might be more fruitful if considered openly in the light of the varying relationship of profes- sional schools and their deans to the central university administration. However, the aver- age librarian learns about university power politics only through experience. But where else to learn? Our American university pres- idents are generally reticent about discussing the theory and practice of university educa- tion and administration. Consequently, in this country we unfortunately have no jour- nal with the scope and dignity of the British Universities Quarterly. T h e literature of librarianship, is, however, becoming extensive. This, coupled with the variety of practice and the frequency which practice changes, makes occasional syntheses essential. Library Trends was born recently because of this need. Wilson and Tauber answer the need for the whole broad field of American academic librarianship. What they set out to do they have done with clarity and thoroughness as we would expect of them. —Robert Vosper, University of Kansas Librar- ies. Mass Communication The Process and Effects of Mass Communi- cation. Edited by Wilbur Schramm. Ur- bana: University of Illinois Press, 1954, 586 p. N o t long after beginning the reading of this volume a strong sense of having been over all of this ground before stimulated re- call of the fact that the same editor and the same press had produced two previous an- thologies of material in the general field of mass communication. A question about the need for a third one came naturally to mind and precipitated a re-examination of the two earlier volumes. T h e question proved to be not easily answered and led finally to a fairly detailed analysis of the content of all three volumes under four different criteria. A suc- cinct summary of that analysis proving elu- sive, it is presented here as possibly consti- tuting evidence of the extent of progress in the field of communication research and thinking during a six-year period. T h e first volume edited by Mr. Schramm, published in 1948 and entitled Communica- tion in Modern Society, differs from the other two in that the authors included came, to- gether and participated in the Illinois Insti- tute of Communications Research. "Out of this conference grew the papers" in the 1948 anthology. Those 15 papers were thus origi- nal writing at that particular point in time. T h e second of these florilegia edited by Mr. Schramm was entitled Mass Communi- cations and was published in 1949. It is a more conventional anthology of pieces pre- viously published in books and journals and brought together as "a book of readings se- lected and edited for the Institute of Com- munications Research in the University of Illinois," and tied together with a small amount of original connective tissue written by the editor. T h e volume presently under review follows this latter pattern with a some- what greater amount of connective tissue. Early writing in a new field quite normally and usually takes the form of the essay. It is made up of speculations as the result of thinking on the part of the author; all of this as opposed to the reporting of objective and empirical research. As a field develops the essay type of writing tends to decrease MAY, 1956 267