College and Research Libraries York Academy of Medicine Library. It is a monument to her wisdom, her enthusiasm, her organizational skill, and her unflagging zeal for the improvement of medical li- brarianship. T o Miss Doe, to her co-editor, Mary Louise Marshall, and to their talented collaborators, all medical librarians are in- debted. This edition is a considerable im- provement over its predecessor, and that is high praise i n d e e d . — L t . Col. Frank B. Rogers, Armed Forces Medical Library. Medical Catalog Armed Forces Medical Library Catalog; a Cumulative List of Works Represented by Armed Forces Medical Library Cards, 1950- 1954. Ann Arbor: J. W . Edwards, 1955. Authors: v. 1-3; subjects: v. 4-6. $64 a set. In 1946 the Armed Forces Medical Library established a new cataloging program, and in order to make its cataloging records readily available to as many libraries and individuals as possible it was decided to publish the cards in a variety of ways. T o quote M. Ruth MacDonald, Assistant Librarian for Catalog- ing at the Armed Forces Medical Library: From October 1946-March 1948, the cards were published by the Library of Congress in a medical series (MED) and reproduced in A Catalog of Books Represented by Library of Congress Printed Cards, Supplement 1942-1947, and in the LC Cumulative Catalog, 1948. From April 1948 to December 1949, t h e cards were mimeographed and retyped copies were p u b - lished u n d e r t h e titles Army Medical Library Catalog Cards (April-December 1948) a n d t h e Army Medical Library Author Catalog 1949. T h e former was issued as a supplement to the Cumu- lative Catalog of Library of Congress Printed Cards and the latter as a supplement to the LC Author Catalog. This edition of the catalog covers the five- year period 1950-1954 and supersedes the an- nual volumes for 1950-1953 (i.e., the Army Medical Library Catalog 1951, and the Armed Forces Medical Library Catalog, 1952- 1953). T h e work is divided into two parts, an author catalog and a subject catalog. In both parts the cards are completely repro- duced, giving the author entry, his dates, the title, place of publication, publisher, date, pagination, notes, tracings, Armed Forces Medical Library Classification, and card number. T h e 1950 and 1951 volumes included only medical titles; all succeeding volumes have included material of medical interest. This edition not only contains current material, but lists under Part I, Authors, material pub- lished before 1801 and American titles through 1820. Additional titles published during this period will be listed in future issues of the catalog. Part T w o , Subjects, is limited by the li- brary's policy of assigning subject headings only to titles published since 1925, with the following exceptions: (1) important refer- ence and historical materials; (2) biographies and bibliographies; (3) periodicals; (4) con- gresses; (5) statistical documents; (6) works about institutions, such as hospitals, clinics, etc. Altogether about 75,000 titles are listed. Because the Armed Forces Medical Library has an acquisition policy which is interna- tional in scope and nearly complete in cov- erage, this catalog becomes an indispensable bibliographical tool for the world's medical literature published in book or pamphlet form. It is essential for active reference and research libraries; all libraries serving medi- cine and the allied sciences will find it neces- sary in the performance of their readers serv- ices and technical services.—G. / . Clausman, New York University—Bellevue Medical Cen- ter Library. N o Ordinary Year Annual Report of the Librarian of Congress for the Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 1954. Washington, D.C.: T h e Library of Con- gress, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1955. 178 p. T h e Report for fiscal 1954 records as lead- ing events the appointment of a new Librar- ian of Congress and the accessioning of the ten-millionth book. T h e list of officers begins with a roll-call of distinction: Luther Harris Evans, Librarian (to July 3, 1953), Verner W . Clapp, Acting Librarian (July 4, 1953-Sep- tember 1, 1954), L. Quincy Mumford, Librar- ian of Congress and the accessioning of the Librarian Emeritus—all the names since 1899 but Archibald MacLeish. T h e guard changed, 520 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES and changed again. Six weeks after the close of the fiscal year the Librarian Emeritus was dead. It would be grandiose to say this Report marks the end of an era—daily some era ends —but there was a concatenation of events that made it no ordinary year. The ten-mil- lionth book was unceremoniously received. Although appropriations were $43,000 greater than the previous year, failure to appropriate for certain within-grade increases, and other causes, led to a net loss: instead of fourteen more positions, fourteen less; the small divi- sions of European Affairs and Aeronautics were abandoned. Book funds were 26 per cent less than in 1951, but cataloging still fell be- hind. Mrs. Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, ini- tiator of the library's system of gifts and en- dowments, died; and Dr. Hummel, for 22 years chief of the Orientalia Division, retired. It would be easy, by selection of events, to construct a picture of decline and incipient decay. Such was not the case. Rather, the post- war cycle had run its course: indeed, the changing of the guard seems natural in retro- spect. The great collection (33 million books, maps, pictures, etc., etc.) was there, silently growing; the staff (2,402) was no more than normally changed; the budget ($13,000,000 expended) was still impressive. The Library of Congress swung quietly at dead-center awaiting the appointment of a new librarian. In recent years the Reports have been nota- ble for some special feature as in 1953, a summation of Luther Evans' work at the Li- brary. The 1954 Report reviews the collection in its enormous variety on the occasion of the ten-millionth book through the twin lenses of history and mode of acquisition. As though in preparation for later action, the varied bibliographic and reference services provided under contract with the Department of De- fense are described in a 15-page chapter im- portant to an understanding of the role played by the federal government in scientific research during the post-war period.—Donald Coney, University of California Library (Ber- keley ). Audio -Visual Instruction Audio-Visual Instruction in Library Educa- tion. By Irving Lieberman. New York: School of Library Service, Columbia Uni- versity, 1955. 213 p. Mimeographed. $2. This doctoral research study is based on an analysis of literature in the field, a survey of current practice, and an experimental pro- gram of audio-visual education at the School of Librarianship of the University of Cali- fornia, and is presented primarily as a report to library schools. The report has as much significance, however, for libraries as for training institutions, both in its survey of current opinion and practice and in its rec- ommendations. Lieberman summarizes the 1952 ACRL study of "Audio-Visual Services in Colleges and Universities in the United States," as well as reporting his own questionnaire study of the audio-visual programs in 29 aca- demic institutions. The ACRL study builds a good picture of the possibilities in an Audio- Visual Service Center in an academic institu- tion. At the same time, this study underscores the fact that the strong academic library A-V program still must surmount a high philo- sophic hurdle to reach general acceptance. Lieberman does not discuss the alternatives to the academic library A-V service, and this re- mains for future analysis elsewhere. Lieberman's opinion canvass among aca- demic librarians centers on the qualifications in the A-V area which library schools should develop in the inexperienced library school student. Significant here is the stress the 29 (unnamed) academic librarians have placed on the staff's knowledge of sources of ma- terials, ability to select and evaluate, organ- ize and administer collections of films, film- strips, slides, and phonograph recordings. Marked as this emphasis is in the "profile of demand for training," the demand by aca- demic librarians is reported here as consistent- ly weaker than the similar demands by school librarians, whose faculty members are skilled in the use of A-V materials for classroom use. The close link between curriculum methods and library functions underscores the chal- lenge to academic librarians to interpret to faculty the potential value of A-V materials, Lieberman says. Analysis of library education in the A-V field finds only four library schools in 1953-54 doing a "good" or "excellent" program. The overwhelming number of schools, by Lieber- man's standards, have a "fair" or "poor" pro- gram that includes an introductory course available on campus and provision of "some NOVEMBER, 1956 521