College and Research Libraries


Books Are Being Read, published as a 
U C L A Library Occasional Paper, reports 
the "summary results" of this study. T h e 
report is, indeed, summary—so summary, in 
fact, that it is difficult to see how the find-
ings could have been very useful in library 
planning. T h e results of the questionnaire, 
presented in eight pages and interpreted in 
three more, are necessarily generalized. 
Sometimes they are confusing. For example, 
it is explained that the number of books 
borrowed was coded in units between one 
and nine, and in tens between ten and one 
hundred. T h e n it is stated that ". . . the 
pattern for assigned reading shows that the 
most usual amount borrowed was from 10 
to 19 books, the next most usual is one 
book, and the third most usual is 20 to 29," 
without any notation of the number of stu-
dents represented in any of these "most 
usual" categories. T h e "most usual" amount 
of pleasure reading from the university li-
braries is reported as two books. And yet, 
in another place it is noted that ". . . pleas-
ure reading fell far behind, well over half 
the sample canvassed reporting no books 
borrowed for this purpose in the course of 
this semester." T h e final question asked the 
student to comment briefly on the U C L A 
Library. These comments were classified by 
topic, and seventeen pages of pro and con 
samples for each topic are presented in the 
appendix. Again it is hard to see how com-
ments such as " I appreciate the ease with 
which I can get almost any book I want 
to read" and " I t takes too long to get the 
books and after waiting they're usually not 
i n " can be of much help in planning library 
facilities or services. But, with original 
phrasing and spelling carefully preserved, 
some of the comments are delightful. My 
favorite is this: "Quite reading rooms should 
be quite." 

T h e somewhat defensive title of the paper 
is perhaps justified by some indication of a 
bit more pleasure reading than reported in 
earlier studies of this type. T h e evidence 
here, too, however, is very limited. In short, 
this report is neither full enough to provide 
a clear picture of U C L A students' reading 
and their use of the library, nor is it pre-
cise enough to serve as a helpful example 
of research methodology.—Patricia B. Knapp, 
Monteith College, Wayne State University. 

History of Microfilm 
Microfilm: A History, 1839-1900. By Frederic 

Luther. Annapolis, Md.: T h e National 
Microfilm Association, ^ 1 9 5 9 ] . 195p. illus. 
$7.50. 

T h e theme for the April meeting of the 
National Microfilm Association in Washing-
ton was: "A Centennial of Progress." T h e r e 
were papers on the historical aspects of the 
craft and two displays in the exhibit were 
on the history of microphotography. Fred-
eric Luther, the vice president of the associ-
ation, pulled together the results of about 
twenty-five years of study on the early years 
of the art so that his book could be pub-
lished in connection with this meeting. 

T h e greater part of this book deals with 
the activities of two men: J o h n B e n j a m i n 
Dancer (1812-1887) of England and Ren£ 
Prudent Dagron (1819-1900) of France. 
Dancer was a scientist, inventor, and opti-
cal manufacturer of Liverpool and Man-
chester. In 1839, as soon as he learned about 
the process, he began to manufacture da-
guerreotype cameras for which he offered 
processing service. T h a t same year he made 
a daguerreotype microphotograph at a re-
duction ratio of 160:1. When we remember 
what a stir Eastman Kodak caused less than 
five years ago with their Minicard made at 
60:1, we can fully appreciate Dancer's first 
venture into microrecording. After 1851, 
with the advent of the wet-collodion process, 
he experimented with microphotographs 
made on this more suitable medium. T h o u g h 
he solved many of the basic problems and 
produced creditable images, he did not go 
further than preliminary experiments with 
the process. 

Dagron, however, brought the art out 
of the laboratory and into the market place. 
On J u n e 12, 1859, he received the first 
microfilm patent, and in thirty months he 
was doing a business in microphotographic 
novelties that required a staff of 150 work-
men. None of the independent microfilm 
service agencies today can boast such a 
number of employees. In 1870-71 he flew 
out of besieged Paris in a balloon and set 
up the famous pigeon-post airmail micro-
film service in Tours. Mr. Luther's account 
of the balloon trip is as exciting as Carlyle's 

SEPTEMBER 1959 417 



description o f Marie A n t o i n e t t e ' s flight to 
Varennes, a n d has the advantage o f a h a p p y 
e n d i n g . I n 1873 D a g r o n p a t e n t e d a m i c r o -
film viewer designed f o r use by the French 
A r m y f o r m i c r o p h o t o g r a p h i c maps, a n d he 
was active in the field till after 1889 w h e n 
he e x h i b i t e d in the Paris W o r l d ' s Fair. 

A p p e n d e d to accounts of the w o r k of 
D a n c e r , D a g r o n , a n d other n i n e t e e n t h cen-
tury m i c r o p h o t o g r a p h e r s , are translations of 
D a g r o n ' s two p r i n c i p a l p u b l i c a t i o n s a n d an 
a c c o u n t of the b a l l o o n service d u r i n g the 
siege o f Paris. T h e r e are b i o g r a p h i c a l notes 
o n many persons c o n n e c t e d with the art a n d 
a c h r o n o l o g y of m i c r o f i l m d e v e l o p m e n t s . 
T h i s b o o k is b e i n g p u b l i s h e d in an e d i t i o n 
o f 500 p r i n t e d copies a n d will b e k e p t per-
manently in print in m i c r o f i l m a n d m i c r o -
p a p e r . T h e c o m p l e t e b i b l i o g r a p h y of sources 
consulted is n o t i n c l u d e d in the p r i n t e d 
version, but will b e given in the m i c r o f o r -
mat editions.—Hubbard W. Ballou, Photo-
graphic Services, Columbia University Li-
braries. 

Library Resources in the 

Southeast 

The Humanities, the Sciences, and the Li-
brary in the Southeast: Proceedings of the 
First Southern College and Research Li-
brary Workshop, June 26, 1958. Talla-
hassee: Florida State University Library 
School, 1958. 67p. $1.00. Paper. 

T h e first Southern C o l l e g e a n d Research 
Library W o r k s h o p , s p o n s o r e d by the Library 
School of the Florida State University in the 
summer o f 1958, p r o v i d e d scholars a n d li-
brarians with the o p p o r t u n i t y to consider 
a n d to discuss the library resources available 
f o r research in the South, o r m o r e specifical-
ly the Southeast. W i t h the p u b l i c a t i o n o f 
The Humanities, the Sciences, and the Li-
brary in the Southeast, the papers presented 
at this w o r k s h o p are n o w available in an at-
tractive format. 

Eight o f the papers presented at the w o r k -
shop are i n c l u d e d in the p r o c e e d i n g s here 
u n d e r review. In the keynote address, " R e -
search, Resources, a n d Librarianship in the 

Southeast," B e n j a m i n E. Powell, D u k e U n i -
versity librarian, presents with skill a n d 
u n d e r s t a n d i n g the b a c k g r o u n d against w h i c h 
the strengths a n d weaknesses of the r e g i o n ' s 
libraries may b e v i e w e d . T h e f o u r papers 
w h i c h f o l l o w Dr. Powell's describe a n d c o m -
m e n t u p o n in some detail trends a n d direc-
tions in research in the humanities a n d the 
sciences. Dr. Sarah H e r n d o n o f the Florida 
State University English faculty and D e a n 
W e r n e r A . B a u m o f the FSU Graduate 
School, representing respectively the h u m a n -
ities a n d the sciences, present the scholar's 
view o f Southeastern libraries, their resources 
a n d their p r o b l e m s . W . Stanley H o o l e , U n i -
versity o f A l a b a m a librarian, a n d D o r o t h y 
M . Crosland, G e o r g i a Institute o f T e c h n o l -
ogy director o f libraries, describe some o f the 
difficulties librarians face in attempting to 
meet the needs o f scholars o n c e they have 
b e e n d e t e r m i n e d . W i l l a r d O . Mishoff, for-
merly specialist f o r college a n d research li-
braries in the U n i t e d States Office o f Educa-
tion and n o w librarian o f the Mississippi 
State C o l l e g e f o r W o m e n ; R o b e r t B. D o w n s , 
dean o f library administration, University 
of Illinois; a n d Graham R o b e r t s , library con-
sultant, Southern R e g i o n a l E d u c a t i o n B o a r d , 
consider in their papers the resources of 
Southeastern libraries a n d the p r o g r a m of 
and plans f o r interlibrary c o o p e r a t i o n in the 
r e g i o n . 

Librarians f r o m n i n e Southeastern states 
(Alabama, Florida, G e o r g i a , Kentucky, Mis-

sissippi, N o r t h Carolina, South Carolina, 
T e n n e s s e e , V i r g i n i a ) r e p o r t e d o n the re-
search collections available in the libraries 
o f their respective states. T h e i r reports are 
p u b l i s h e d as an a p p e n d i x to the w o r k s h o p 
proceedings, a n d they should p r o v e useful to 
scholar a n d librarian alike. 

W h i l e m u c h remains to b e d o n e to 
strengthen Southeastern libraries, even a 
cursory r e a d i n g of these papers a n d reports 
will reveal that great progress has b e e n m a d e 
a n d that there are distinguished library col-
lections in the South. 

T h e c o m m i t t e e w h i c h p l a n n e d the work-
shop is to be c o m m e n d e d highly f o r its selec-
tion o f speakers a n d discussants. T h e papers 
here p u b l i s h e d are b o t h i n f o r m a t i v e a n d 
well w r i t t e n . — J o h n David Marshall, Uni-
versity of Georgia Library. 

,418 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES