College and Research Libraries


consumers purchase the A p e r f o r m a n c e r a t h e r 
t h a n the B p e r f o r m a n c e of the same work. 

British librarians, i n general, a n d M r . 
Bryant, in p a r t i c u l a r , seem to have o n e soul-
searching p r o b l e m a n d t h a t is the cataloging 
of the "recital" disc, f o r h e speaks of it o f t e n . 
American l i b r a r i a n s h a v e f o u n d a r a t h e r 
simple remedy f o r this a n d similar p r o b l e m s 
by using e x t e n d e d a d d e d entries. I a m sure 
that any A m e r i c a n l i b r a r i a n w o u l d have been 
only too h a p p y to h e l p with this solution if 
the i n v i t a t i o n h a d b e e n offered. T h e e n t i r e 
c h a p t e r o n recordings is g a r r u l o u s beyond 
e n d u r a n c e with overly d e t a i l e d comments o n 
all phases of the work f r o m selection to with-
drawal. I s n ' t it a b o u t time t h a t libraries, with 
the exception of the m a j o r archival types, 
face the fact t h a t recordings are e p h e m e r a l 
materials a n d treat t h e m as such? R e a d e r s ac-
customed to o u r generous l e n d i n g policies 
m i g h t be horrified to l e a r n t h a t o n e English 
library actually sends a staff m e m b e r to check 
t h e playing e q u i p m e n t in the borrower's 
h o m e before a record b o r r o w i n g p e r m i t is 
issued, a n d t h a t a f t e r a certain p e r i o d of time 
the b o r r o w e r m u s t show a receipt to prove 
that h e has purchased a r e p l a c e m e n t f o r his 
cartridge or stylus. 

Mr. B r y a n t has evidently p u t a great deal 
of t h o u g h t a n d effort i n t o this v o l u m e a n d 
the fact t h a t it has b e e n in progress f o r q u i t e 
some time is evident f r o m his s t a t e m e n t con-
c e r n i n g the Angel D e L u x e packaging, which 
has n o t been available f o r m o r e t h a n a year. 
H e also m e n t i o n s t h a t a study on the preser-
v a t i o n of recordings is " a b o u t to be u n d e r -
t a k e n " by the L i b r a r y of Congress. T h i s study 
was c o m p l e t e d a n d p u b l i s h e d as of O c t o b e r 
1959. 

Following the p a t t e r n of McColvin a n d 
Reeves a n d o t h e r a u t h o r s o n the subject, the 
second half comprises lists of r e c o m m e n d e d 
scores g r a d e d A to E a n d signifying m a t e r i a l s 
to be i n c l u d e d in A, the smallest i n d e p e n d -
e n t library, a n d m o v i n g progressively to E, 
the largest collection. T h e ideas expressed in 
these lists are r a t h e r strange in contrast to a n 
earlier r e m a r k t h a t only music h e a r d in con-
certs or available o n records should be the 
basis f o r purchasing. F u r t h e r m o r e , f o r the 
m o r e a d v e n t u r o u s there is the stern w a r n i n g 
to " w i t h d r a w or d o n o t buy works by com-
posers who r a t e b u t a few lines in Grove's 
Dictionary or d o n o t a p p e a r t h e r e . " Grove, in 
a d d i t i o n to b e i n g very pro-British, is slightly 

d a t e d at this p o i n t , h a v i n g been p u b l i s h e d 
i n 1954, a n d even t h e n was n o t entirely f r e e 
f r o m errors of omission! A r a n d o m s a m p l i n g 
of the o p e r a scores in the g r a d e d lists shows 
t h a t the smallest library w o u l d be likely to 
h a v e a fairly r e p r e s e n t a t i v e collection of the 
p o p u l a r r e p e r t o r y as well as B r i t t e n ' s Peter 
Grimes, G a y ' s Beggar's Opera, a n d t w o s c o r e s 
b y E d w a r d G e r m a n , Merrie England a n d 
Tom Jones, as well as all the G i l b e r t a n d 
Sullivan scores. O n l y the largest collection 
w o u l d be able to supply a r e a d e r with a copy 
of Wozzeck, Louise, Martha, Andrea Chenier, 
Parsifal, a n d Salome! 

M r . B r y a n t does give credit to America f o r 
"its musicals t h a t have f a r greater vitality 
t h a n the home-grown specimens. The King 
and I a n d My Fair Lady a r e m o r e r e c e n t 
examples of A m e r i c a n successes (though with 
some British collaboration)." 

Altogether, Mr. B r y a n t has w r i t t e n a book 
which should p r o v e h e l p f u l to the newer 
British libraries b e i n g f o r m e d as well as to 
those which are already in existence. T h e 
" m a t t e r s of interest a n d use t h a t l i b r a r i a n s 
overseas will find i n i t " will p r o b a b l y be re-
stricted m a i n l y to purposes of comparison, 
a n d w o n d e r m e n t over die extremely biased 
a n d chauvinistic a t t i t u d e displayed through-
o u t a n d w i t h o u t a p p a r e n t r e a s o n . — T h o m a s 
T. Watkins, Music Library, Columbia Uni-
versity. 

Cataloging Persian Books 
Cataloging of Persian Works; Including 

Rules for Transliteration, Entry and De-
scription. By Nasser Sharify. Chicago: 
ALA, 1959. 161p. $3.50. 

For centuries, libraries in the M i d d l e East 
were storehouses—safe-deposit buildings for 
books a n d manuscripts. T h e i r sole f u n c t i o n 
was to p r o t e c t t h e i r valuables b u t to dis-
courage their use. S t a n d a r d cataloging codes, 
u n i f o r m i t y in a u t h o r entries, a n d o t h e r ac-
cepted practices of present-day libraries were 
u n k n o w n . Every library h a d its own par-
ticular system for r e c o r d i n g the m a t e r i a l it 
housed, b u t t h a t system was n o t devised with 
service to the user p r i n c i p a l l y in view. 

W h e n libraries began to be used by the 
people, they ceased to f u n c t i o n merely as 

424 C O L L E G E A N D R E S E A R C H L I B R A R I E S 



safe-deposit b u i l d i n g s a n d became i n t e r e s t e d 
in a t t r a c t i n g readers a n d h a v i n g t h e i r ma-
terials easily accessible to all users. L i b r a r -
ians in t h e M i d d l e East c o n s e q u e n t l y be-
came aware of t h e necessity of a s t a n d a r d 
cataloging code a n d m o d e r n library practices. 
M a n y a t t e m p t s at s t a n d a r d i z a t i o n of cata-
loging m e t h o d s were m a d e , b u t n o t h i n g ap-
p e a r e d i n p r i n t except a n article by L a b i b 
Zuwiyya e n t i t l e d " A r a b i c C a t a l o g i n g : a 
Criticism of t h e P r e s e n t R u l e s " which dis-
cussed f o r m of e n t r y of A r a b i c p e r s o n a l au-
t h o r s (Library Resources and Technical 
Services, W i n t e r 1957). 

T h e p u b l i c a t i o n of D r . Sharify's book is 
t h e first c o m p l e t e work of this n a t u r e . Al-
t h o u g h it is l i m i t e d to I r a n i a n works, cata-
logers of A r a b i c m a t e r i a l will find it most 
useful a n d i n f o r m a t i v e . 

T h e n u m e r o u s p r o b l e m s involved in cata-
loging M i d d l e Eastern m a t e r i a l , especially in 
t h e v e r n a c u l a r , have b e e n a source of m a n y 
worries to libraries w i t h such collections. 
As D r . Sharify p o i n t s out, because of t h e 
lack of rules f o r descriptive cataloging of 
Persian m a t e r i a l , a n d a s t a n d a r d Persian 
t r a n s l i t e r a t i o n scheme, t h e r e are in t h e 
U n i t e d States m a n y libraries whose Persian 
collections have n o t yet b e e n cataloged at 
all. Now, w i t h t h e g r o w i n g interest in N e a r 
a n d M i d d l e Eastern Studies o n the p a r t of 
universities a n d o t h e r institutions, libraries 
can n o longer afford to ignore these collec-
tions. 

Dr. Sharify's library e x p e r i e n c e a n d back-
g r o u n d have m a d e h i m t h o r o u g h l y knowl-
e d g e a b l e of p r o b l e m s c o n f r o n t i n g catalogers 
of Persian m a t e r i a l in t h e M i d d l e East a n d 
in t h e W e s t e r n w o r l d . I n I r a n , his h o m e 
country, he was d e p u t y d i r e c t o r of t h e Li-
b r a r y of t h e P a r l i a m e n t . I n t h e U n i t e d 
States h e s t u d i e d at t h e School of L i b r a r y 
Service of C o l u m b i a University a n d received 
his Master of Science degree a n d his doctoral 
degree f r o m t h a t i n s t i t u t i o n . H e also worked 
w i t h t h e L i b r a r y of Congress cataloging Per-
sian m a t e r i a l . 

T h e cataloger will find in D r . Sharify's 
book a d e t a i l e d a n d c o m p r e h e n s i v e tool. 
A f t e r discussing the existing systems of 
t r a n s l i t e r a t i o n a n d t h e i r shortcomings, he 
r e c o m m e n d s t h e system which h e h e l p e d to 
d e v e l o p w h e n he was o n t h e staff at the Li-
b r a r y of Congress. T h a t system—a table of 
t r a n s l i t e r a t i o n w i t h rules f o r a p p l i c a t i o n — 

is set f o r t h . H e also treats such controversial 
p r o b l e m s as I r a n i a n p e r s o n a l n a m e s (which 
p a r t of the n a m e s h o u l d be used as t h e 
e n t r y word?), giving in a n a p p e n d i x a list 
of aids to catalogers f o r the establishment 
of entries. T h e last two c h a p t e r s are devoted 
to a discussion of the c u r r e n t cataloging 
practices of a few N o r t h A m e r i c a n libraries 
— t h e i r sample cards a n d rules f o r descrip-
tions. Catalogers will find m a n y excellent 
p o i n t e r s . — F l o r a R. Jones, United Nations 
Library. 

Electronic Computers 
Electronic Computers: Principles and Appli-

cations. By T . E. Ivall. I^ew York: Philo-
sophical Library, 1960. 263p. $15.00. 

I n t h e relatively few years t h a t electronic 
c o m p u t e r s have b e e n loosed u p o n the l a n d 
they have h a d a r e v o l u t i o n a r y i m p a c t on 
m a n y p r o b l e m s of i n f o r m a t i o n processing. 
T h e i r i m p a c t u p o n libraries, which must be 
considered a m o n g t h e p r i m a r y i n f o r m a t i o n 
h a n d l i n g agencies of t h e world, has b e e n 
only slight, however. I n a few instances this 
slight d i s t u r b a n c e has b e e n m o r e of an un-
n e r v i n g f o r a short p e r i o d of time as a n 
occasional l i b r a r i a n has a p p r o a c h e d t h e 
p r o b l e m of l e a r n i n g m o r e a b o u t c o m p u t e r s 
a n d h o w they m i g h t be a p p l i e d to library 
o p e r a t i o n s . Most p r o b a b l y these l i b r a r i a n s 
h a v e b e e n t u r n e d away because of u n i n t e l l i -
gible technical p r e s e n t a t i o n s , or all-too-in-
telligible r e p o r t s of lack of economic justifi-
c a t i o n f o r the use of c o m p u t e r s in libraries. 
Most librarians, however, have p r o b a b l y ig-
n o r e d c o m p u t e r s as library e q u i p m e n t . 

C o m p u t e r s are finding some use in infor-
m a t i o n systems, as is shown in t h e recently 
p u b l i s h e d N a t i o n a l Science F o u n d a t i o n sur-
veys o n n o n c o n v e n t i o n a l technical i n f o r m a -
t i o n systems in c u r r e n t use. A glance at t h e 
array of i m p o s i n g n a m e s of scientific a n d in-
d u s t r i a l firms w h e r e i n most of these n o n c o n -
v e n t i o n a l systems have b e e n installed, a n d 
at t h e d e s c r i p t i o n of t h e c o n t e n t s of infor-
m a t i o n h a n d l e d by t h e system, has p r o b a b l y 
c o n f i r m e d m a n y l i b r a r i a n s ' beliefs t h a t , a f t e r 
all, c o m p u t e r s in i n f o r m a t i o n systems are 
limited to a few high-powered, n a t i o n a l l y ur-
gent, narrowly defined scientific a n d techni-

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