College and Research Libraries a member of a team .... It is clear that available evidence points to a limited and circumscribed role for the subject catalog in the team play, and that a definition of this role is essential to a determination of func- tion, the prescription of rules and tech- niques, and an evaluation of effectiveness." Further, the subject catalog appears to satisfy about 75 percent of its users, despite its im- perfections, and it "is likely to continue to be an essential feature in effective library service. The evidence suggests further that there is an excellent chance that a highly ef- fective subject catalog can be perfected." The author maps out a major t:ampaign to achieve this effectiveness; and it includes the necessity to understand classification, bibliog- raphy, and indexes at the very least. The seven proposed studies are monumental in scope, but they are fundamental to real ad- vancement in the techniques of subject ac- cess. This is a sound and scholarly piece of work. Professors Tauber and Frarey show clear evidence of the complexity of what is both an art and a science. Cataloging is the back- bone of librarianship and its effectiveness is today challenged by larger and more spe- cialized book collections. There are innum- erable areas of librarianship needing study; some of these are worthy of foundation sup- port and a few will prove fruitful. It takes wisdom to select the significant few, and the Rutgers Library School is to be commended on commissioning such superior products.- David C. Weber, Harvard University Li- brary. A Librarian About Books Books in My Baggage. By Lawrence Clark Powell. Cleveland: World Publishing Company, 1960. 255 p. $4.50. This most recent book by Lawrence Powell collects and revises essays previousely pub- lished in limited editions entitled: Islands of Books, The Alchemy of Books, and Books TVest Southwest, and moreover includes half a dozen new pieces. Therefore this book makes available more Powell speeches and NOVEMBER 1960 essays, thus performing a real service. Lawrence Powell is one of the very few librarians who can write well and enthusi- astically about books. Most librarians write about the physical book-some on methods of classification and processing while others have the bibliographical approach. Powell writes unashamedly about the contents of books without hesitating to commit himself by praising them. He wastes no time ex- coriating those he does not like-those have been rejected prior to writing. He does not pass as a literary critic; he is a librarian writing about books. His purpose is to in- duce people to read those books he en joys. The literary world is indebted to him for his early discovery and championship of Lawrence Durrell. He has had continuing ardor and support for Robinson Jeffers, Frank Dobie, and Henry Miller. His long- time enjoyment of D. H. Lawrence is ex- pected by those who know of his catalog of the Lawrence manuscripts and of his long friendship with Frieda Lawrence. His en- thusiasm for James Joyce follows naturally this taste as discerned in these articles on his favorite liter::tture of the 20's and 30's. Lawrence Powell acquires books with zeal and discrimination, in spite of dealing in large figures. He has done the West Coast a service of magnitude and permanence in building up the UCLA collections by more than a million volumes during his seventeen years as University Librarian. Tales of some of his adventures in this process, found in the section "Bookman in Britain" make fas- cinating reading. Many people associate the circumstances of their first reading of a particular book with their appreciation . of the text. Not always does this added experience add en- joyment or deeper understanding for an- other reader. As a critical device it is ex- traneous and cannot shed much new en- lightenment on classics already extensively treated by eminent scholars. One of the least successful sections of this collection recounts the time and place of Powell's own introduc- tion to some very good books. Mor~ useful are some of his "bookscapes," brief essays about American writers identified with a particular area, such as Jeffers in Carmel, Norris and Sterling in Northern California, Steinbeck in Southern California, and Dobie in Texas. 499 Librarians are indebted to him for he is a real propagandist for the profession. He as- sumes that librarians like books and like to read. This attitude is contagious, for nearly everyone likes reminiscenses from former li- brarians who guided parched and avid youth to succulent pasture. Librarians, booksellers, publishers, and patrons generally get this in- fection from these essays. The profession needs more who read and write as does Lawrence Powell.-Wyman W. Parker, W es- leyan University Library. Reference Books Guide to Reference Books (7th ed.) Third Supplement, 1956-1958. By Constance M. Winchell, assisted by John N. Waddell and Eleanor Buist. Chicago: American Li- brary Association, I 960. 145p. $3. 75. This supplement lists about 1,230 books and brings to approximately 8,930 the num- ber of reference works or different editions of those works included in the seventh edi- tion and its supplements. The third supple- ment lists mainly books published in the three years 1956 to 1958, but some publica- tions of 1955 and some received before March 31, 1959, have been included. Special emphasis has been given to Russian and East European materials, reflecting the current interest in the Slavic world. In many sec- tions, such as National Bibliography, Pe- riodicals, Literature, and History, the em- phasis on Russia, which seems to me justi- fied, is particularly obvious. Mudge-Winchell is a selective guide to reference books, and there is perhaps little point in cavilling at omissions or inclusions. It is nevertheless surprising to me that not a single !Jusiness service is listed (although a discussion of these important reference works is included and reference made to Hausdor- fer's guide) and that none of the increasingly important Annual Review or Advances in or Progress in series in the natural and physical sciences is mentioned. Although coverage in 500 science and technology and the social sci- ences has been notoriously weak in the Guide from its inception, yet one wonders why Nuclear Science Abstracts and Singer's History of Technology were omitted. There are some strange omissions in other fields, for example, Wallace's Dictionary of North American Authors Deceased before 1950 (1951) and Vance's Illustration Index (1956). I can see no reason for excluding Schmieder's Bibliographie des Musikschrifttums, a com- prehensive and excellent bibliography in a field in which bibliographies are sparse. Why is the Checklist of Hearings prepared by the Library of .Congress not included? The an- swers to these questions, I am sure, all go back to the same difficulty: there is no such thing as a complete bibliography or a book free from error. Most reference books of im- portance are included in Mudge-Winchell, and the Guide's entries are remarkably ac- curate. There are now three supplements to the seventh edition of Mudge-,V"inchell, and a fourth supplement is scheduled before a new eighth edition will be published. To find all the reference works listed in this invaluable guide, it is now necessary to consult four separate volumes; to purchase a set requires the outlay of $20.50 plus sales tax. The sup- plements already cost more than the original volume, and the complete set is priced be- yond the reach of most beginning librarians or library school students. At least one li- brary school has decided not to continue to require it as a text in reference courses be- cause it is becoming too cumbersome to use and more expensive as its usefulness as a text decreases. The annotations in the new sup- plement are as welcome when present and as uneven in helpfulness and as mysteriously absent frequently as in the previous volumes of the seventh edition. If there is one valid criticism of this work as a guide, it is that there should be an annotation for every work listed and that the annotations should be fuller. Every reference class I have taught has complained about Mudge-Winchell as a textbook for this reason. A proper guide to reference books should be completely anno- tated, no matter what the cost. Reference librarians will welcome this new supplement and will check their collections against it. If they have done a reasonably good job of current acquisition, they will COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES