College and Research Libraries


Some thirty grants have b e e n made to im-
prove the administrative bases of library 
work, among them, i n t e r l i b r a r y c o o p e r a t i o n , 
the survey of federal libraries, p r o m o t i o n of 
the use o f library services, setting o f stand-
ards for school libraries, i m p r o v e m e n t of cir-
c u l a t i o n systems, the p l a n n i n g of library 
buildings, and the testing of supplies and 
e q u i p m e n t . 

O v e r twenty grants related to fact-finding 
a n d p l a n n i n g for research in library develop-
m e n t . T h e largest g r a n t went to the R u t g e r s 
University G r a d u a t e School o f L i b r a r y Serv-
ice f o r its " T a r g e t s for R e s e a r c h " series. Five 
volumes in eighteen parts have b e e n issued. 
T h e y t e n d to be anthologies o f library lit-
erature a n d are d i s a p p o i n t i n g in f o r m a t and 
too i n f r e q u e n t l y spell out the ways and 
means f o r future study. T h e final category 
of grants relates to the a p p l i c a t i o n of math-
ematics a n d m e c h a n i c a l a n d e l e c t r o n i c de-
vices to library work. 

T h e t e x t of the five year survey a n d the 
a n n u a l r e p o r t for 1960/61 merit close read-
ing a n d reflective t h i n k i n g . T h e young 
C o u n c i l has m a t u r e d in these five years. 
Some " c r i p p l i n g f r u s t r a t i o n s " may be eased 
as a result o f large and small grants. T h e 
m a j o r i t y o f the grants were for less than 
.$10,000—seed corn that is well worth while. 
T h e larger grants, n o t a b l y the L i b r a r y T e c h -
nology P r o j e c t , with all of its various facets, 
is to be c o n t i n u e d . Some of the frustrations 
r e m a i n with u s — t h e grants may n o t yield a 
final solution, b u t b e t t e r t e c h n i q u e s may 
result in gradual i m p r o v e m e n t . 

T h e second p o r t i o n of the fifth a n n u a l re-
port relates to the fiscal year 1960/61 with 
fifty-nine grants t o t a l i n g over a m i l l i o n a n d a 
h a l f dollars. Seven grants were extensions o f 
earlier ones. A n u m b e r o f projects were com-
pleted; notably, the mechanization o f biblio-
g r a p h i c o p e r a t i o n s which made possible the 
conversion of the Current List of Medical 
Literature to t h e Index Medicus, m a k i n g 
use of the m e c h a n i z a t i o n o f p r o d u c t i o n , al-
though f u r t h e r work needs to b e d o n e on 
retrieval o f i n f o r m a t i o n for subdisciplines o f 
m e d i c i n e . A r r a n g e m e n t s for the p r o c u r e m e n t 
of foreign p u b l i c a t i o n s u n d e r P u b l i c L a w 
4 8 0 are u n d e r way, and the study o f circu-
lation systems u n d e r t a k e n by G e o r g e Fry 
a n d Associates was published by the A L A in 
1961. 

I t is good to know that the C o u n c i l is un-

d a u n t e d and is still seeking solutions for 
problems n o t yet solved o r even identified, 
a n d is p r e p a r e d to receive suggestions a n d 
a p p l i c a t i o n s from individuals a n d organiza-
tions for future investigations. Doubtless 
there are more worthwhile a p p l i c a t i o n s than 
money to grant. Some proposals will n o t 
merit e n c o u r a g e m e n t , b u t j u d g i n g from the 
first five years, the b e g i n n i n g has b e e n good 
— t h e f u t u r e may be even b e t t e r . — F l o r a B. 
Ludington, Mount Holyoke College Library. 

Retrieval Systems 

The State of the Library Art—Volume 4, 
edited by R a l p h R . Shaw. P a r t 1, N o t c h e d 
Cards by F e l i x R e i c h m a n n ; P a r t 2, F e a t u r e 
Cards (Peek-a-Boo Cards) by L a w r e n c e S. 
T h o m p s o n ; P a r t 3, P u n c h e d Cards by 
R a l p h Blasingame, J r . ; P a r t 4, E l e c t r o n i c 
Searching by G e r a l d J a h o d a ; P a r t 5, Cod-
i n g in Yes-No F o r m by D o r a l y n J . Hickey. 
New Brunswick, N. J . : Rutgers, the State 
University, G r a d u a t e School of L i b r a r y 
Service, 1961. 3 7 3 p . $8.00. 

As the r u n n i n g head, b u t n o t the title 
page, shows, volume f o u r o f the State o f the 
L i b r a r y A r t is a b o u t retrieval systems. T h i s 
volume is a useful survey of some of the 
p e r i p h e r a l frontiers of l i b r a r i a n s h i p which 
e x t e n d i n t o d o c u m e n t a t i o n . T h e authors 
have worked hard on a difficult assignment 
a n d have produced a c r e d i t a b l e first a t t e m p t 
to describe their topics. T h e extensive refer-
ences are the nucleus o f a good bibliography. 
D r . J a h o d a has made the greatest contribu-
tion to the l i t e r a t u r e with his part, followed 
by Miss H i c k e y a n d Dr. T h o m p s o n , in my 
o p i n i o n . T h e c o n t e n t s o f the v o l u m e are o f 
such interest that the authors a n d t h e editor 
should m a k e every effort to publish a second, 
m u c h revised and improved edition w i t h i n a 
year. 

I t is difficult to review this volume with-
out b e i n g so critical as to distress the authors 
a n d e d i t o r if n o t to a l i e n a t e them from the 
reviewer. T h e value o f the b o o k is reduced 
by defects i n organization and p r e s e n t a t i o n 

MAY 1 9 6 2 2 6 9 



a n d by the lack of expository and critical 
evaluation o f the c u r r e n t situation. T h e book 
is virtually a l o n e in its field and as such 
merits detailed criticism. 

O n e o f the lessons l i b r a r i a n s can learn 
from this volume is that the state of the art 
o f retrieval systems c a n n o t be r e p o r t e d ade-
quately by authors who l i m i t themselves to a 
consideration o f the p u b l i s h e d literature. 
T h e published l i t e r a t u r e c o n t a i n s only 
accounts submitted v o l u n t a r i l y by their au-
thors; the actual state of the art must be 
uncovered by digging o u t the u n p u b l i s h e d 
literature, by personal visits to o u t s t a n d i n g 
activities, by questionnaires, a n d survey 
operations, a n d from careful analysis of the 
i n f o r m a t i o n g a t h e r e d this way. Unless a 
b r o a d e r and d e e p e r survey is made, any sur-
vey v o l u m e on retrieval systems is likely to 
have the substantive defects of this b o o k : 
1) summaries which are m i s i n t e r p r e t a t i o n s 
o f the articles; 2) exaggerated and u n t r u e 
statements; and 3) inclusion o f ideas and 
statements which will not themselves b e a r 
thoughtful and critical e x a m i n a t i o n . Most 
o f these deficiencies are presented without 
any w a r n i n g from the surveying authors, and 
deficiencies are sufficiently numerous that all 
readers must be p r e p a r e d to question nearly 
every sentence in the volume. A few exam-
ples are included at the end of this review 
to substantiate my observation; they also 
serve very well to show the difficulty of the 
authors' tasks. 

B l a s i n g a m e finds that machine-sorted 
p u n c h e d cards are used for 1) r o u t i n e , repeti-
tive tasks; 2) b i b l i o g r a p h i c control, i.e., lit-
e r a t u r e searching, and 3) p r e p a r i n g copy for 
published lists a n d catalogs; and he organizes 
the e x a m p l e s according to c o m m o n l y ac-
cepted administrative divisions in libraries. 
H e attempts to leave the impression that the 
l i t e r a t u r e shows n o record that p u n c h e d 
cards may be used efficiently for any purpose 
in libraries, p a r t i c u l a r l y c i t i n g the absence 
o f cost figures in support o f this view. Statis-
tical i n f o r m a t i o n , especially " b e f o r e a n d 
a f t e r " comparisons of operations, is also 
lacking. However, the c o n t i n u e d use o f 
p u n c h e d cards in libraries argues for the 
conclusion that there are criteria o t h e r than 
efficiency which persuade l i b r a r i a n s to con-
tinue t h e i r use. 

E d i t o r i a l deficiences are conspicuous, from 
the howler, " P e e k - a - B o o k C a r d s " on the title 

page to the meaningless entry, " T y p e V de 
v i c e " in the i n d e x on page 371. R e i c h m a n n 
devotes several pages (22-25, 31, 32,) to fea-
ture cards and subject-term files without ap-
parently realizing that the title of his part, 
" N o t c h e d C a r d s , " a n d the a r r a n g e m e n t of 
n o t c h e d cards by item entries, e l i m i n a t e s the 
need to discuss feature cards in his part; and 
the e d i t o r has ignored this overlap with 
T h o m p s o n ' s part on " F e a t u r e C a r d s . " R e i c h -
m a n n also treats of yes-no coding and related 
m a t h e m a t i c a l formulas (p. 14-20), and this 
overlap is also ignored by Hickey, the a u t h o r 
of part five on this s u b j e c t , and by the editor. 
T h e s e overlaps would not be so serious e x c e p t 
that the full t r e a t m e n t s are to be preferred 
in b o t h instances. 

All five parts suffer for lack of a full table 
of c o n t e n t s or a p r i n t e d o u t l i n e . 

T h o m p s o n has a t t e m p t e d to c o n f o r m to 
the organization indicated in the preface 
by dividing his text i n t o : 1) a summary with-
out his c o m m e n t s a n d 2) his own e x a m i n a -
tion o f the evidence provided in the liter-
ture, b u t the result is repetitious description 
a n d a failure to identify his effort, because 
the captions are n u m b e r e d 1 through 12 and 
then r e p e a t e d a second time with 1, 4 and 9 
o m i t t e d without e x p l a n a t i o n . T h e o t h e r au-
thors ignored this division but a p p e a r to 
have offered summaries and conclusions with-
out m a k i n g it clear which are their own 
c o m m e n t s a n d which are derived from the 
literature. 

T h e authors have failed to define techni-
cal terms, b o t h in t h e i r own t h i n k i n g and in 
the text. I f R e i c h m a n n had defined notched 
cards, he would have thereby e x c l u d e d 
slotted cards (p. 21), plain o r u n p u n c h e d 
c o o r d i n a t e i n d e x cards (p. 25), a n d pegboard 
ticket p o s t i n g — a n e x p e r i m e n t which has 
never b e e n a d o p t e d (p. 25), from his part of 
t h e b o o k . J a h o d a , in p r e p a r i n g the most dif-
ficult part, has separated i n f o r m a t i o n re-
trieval systems from data files w i t h o u t at-
t e m p t i n g to say that i n f o r m a t i o n is all kinds 
of text, numbers, formulas, etc., while data 
is essentially n o n l i t e r a r y t e x t — f o r m u l a s , 
values, etc., and that b o t h kinds are b e i n g 
retrieved. 

T h e r e are separate lists of references for 
each part. T h e y should be c o m b i n e d for the 
readers' c o n v e n i e n c e , to save space, a n d to 
d e m o n s t r a t e the actual size of the bibliog-
raphy; and should then be provided with an 

2 7 0 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 



a u t h o r i n d e x . T h e i n d e x provided in the 
book does not include a u t h o r entries for the 
references. T h e c o m p i l a t i o n of one list 
would have revealed that R e i c h m a n n , Blas-
ingame, a n d J a h o d a used the second edition 
o f R o b e r t S. Casey's Punched Cards, Their 
Applications to Science and Industry, and 
that T h o m p s o n a n d Hickey used the first edi-
tion. T h e c o m p i l a t i o n would have revealed 
interesting failures to cite f u n d a m e n t a l chap-
ters in Casey's book, such as that R e i c h -
m a n n does n o t refer to M a d e l i n e Berry's 
c h a p t e r ten, " A p p l i c a t i o n of P u n c h e d Cards 
to L i b r a r y R o u t i n e s " although T h o m p s o n 
does; T h o m p s o n missed W i l d h a c k and 
Stern's c h a p t e r six on the Peek-a-Boo Sys-
tem because he c o m p l e t e d his part before the 
second edition was published; n e i t h e r R e i c h -
m a n n , T h o m p s o n , nor B l a s i n g a m e cites R e e ' s 
extensive c h a p t e r three on commercial equip-
m e n t and supplies; and Miss Hickey's part 
would be improved had she seen my c h a p t e r 
n i n e t e e n on " H o l e s , Punches, Notches, Slots 
and L o g i c . " 

T h e book presents many examples o f de-
ficiencies. B l a s i n g a m e (p. 113) quotes one 
advantage of machine-sorted cards as " R a p i d 
sorting, even when there are very large num-
bers of cards." T h e o r i g i n a l article refers to 
o n e m a c h i n e only, the collator, for sorting 
on 16 characters, and states that it will re-
q u i r e 4 hours 16 m i n u t e s to search 100,000 
cards, using b o t h feeds together. L i b r a r i a n s 
will not be impressed by such speed! T h i s 
q u o t a t i o n a n d related discussion are given 
u n d e r the general account of punched cards 
in l i t e r a t u r e searching; they b e l o n g u n d e r 
the " S i n g l e C a r d — M u l t i Field M e t h o d " on 
pages 117-18. 

T h o m p s o n writes (p. 68) of " t h e rhom-
boid design of the squares" of D e l t a feature 
cards; this is geometrically impossible. I have 
checked these examples. R e i c h m a n n says (p. 
33): " I n the vast b i b l i o g r a p h i c a l organization 
o f the L i b r a r y o f Congress almost all known 
m e t h o d s of i n f o r m a t i o n retrieval are em-
ployed ( n o n - m e c h a n i c a l , semi-automatic and 
fully mechanized); the activities o f these in-
stallations are c o o r d i n a t e d by a C o m m i t t e e on 
Mechanized I n f o r m a t i o n R e t r i e v a l . " N e i t h e r 
part o f this sentence is true; there are no fully 
mechanized i n f o r m a t i o n retrieval systems 
anywhere. J a h o d a quotes Shaw in 1956 (p. 
193-94) to the effect that a c o m p l e t e Mini-
card installation should cost a b o u t $ 3 5 0 , 0 0 0 

for o n e unit o r $ 1 5 0 , 0 0 0 each if 100 sets were 
produced. T h e r e are several o p e r a t i o n a l 
M i n i c a r d systems now, b u t the cost o f o n e 
more is more nearly $2 m i l l i o n than the fig-
ures predicted. Hickey shows pictures of ma-
chine-sorted p u n c h e d cards on pages 324-26 
as " a c t u a l size," b u t they are reduced about 
26 per c e n t . 

T h e C O M A C a n d the I B M 9 9 0 0 Special 
I n d e x Analyzer are paper-tape machines with 
m e c h a n i c a l sensing, not photoelectric, as 
stated by J a h o d a (p. 167-71). Zatocards have 
plain n o t c h i n g positions, not h o l e s — R e i c h -
m a n n (p. 18). T h o m p s o n describes the Al-
p h a - M a t r e x m a c h i n e (p. 77-78) and quotes 
claims for it, without adding that only one 
e x p e r i m e n t a l model was constructed and that 
is now g a t h e r i n g dust because of cumber-
some i n p u t and o u t p u t features a n d an un-
a c c e p t a b l e n u m b e r of false drops on re-
trieval, perhaps because of poor i n d e x i n g . — 
C. D. Gull, General Electric Company. 

German Research Libraries 

Handbuch der Bibliotheksivissenschaft. 2d 
ed. V o l u m e I I . E d i t e d by G e o r g Leyh. 
W i e s b a d e n : Harrassowitz, 1961. 1025p. 

T h e second volume of the second edition 
of the Handbuch der Bibliotheksivissenschaft 
is the most comprehensive work on the ad-
m i n i s t r a t i o n o f research libraries in any lan-
guage. 

I t is especially v a l u a b l e to us for the con-
trasts it suggests between E u r o p e a n and 
American research library a d m i n i s t r a t i o n . 
T h e traditional doubts that American li-
brarians have for libraries which 1) shelve 
books by size a n d numerus currens and 2) 
offer delivery only in f o u r to twenty-four 
hours need f u r t h e r analysis. As for the 
" d o g m a of classified a r r a n g e m e n t " to which 
we are so devoted, it may o n l y be observed 
that no m a j o r research library will be able 

M A Y 1 9 6 2 271