College and Research Libraries


64 I College & Research Libraries • january, 1965 

Anthony Thompson writes as a librarian 
who, after varied experience in university 
and special libraries and after much pre-
liminary study of the planning and design 
of library buildings, spent five years at in-
tensive documentation at the library of the 
Royal Institute of British Architects. From 
his point of view, Wheeler and Githens pro-
duced the only systematic, comprehensive, 
and well illustrated book on library build-
ings, The American Public Library Build-
ing, 1941. Mr. Thompson frequently refers 
to this volume and in his introduction he 
expresses regret that he did not have a 
full-time architect-collaborator. 

In a brief review of this monumental 
work attention can best be called to the 
original form of documentation adopted by 
the author by giving an outline of the con-
tents of the volume. 

Part I is a summary of the problems and 
tasks of creating a library. It is a definite 
statement of nine subjects: ( 1) functions 
and services of libraries; ( 2) the planning 
process; ( 3) the site; ( 4) the plan; ( 5) ex-
terior and construction; ( 6) interior finishes 
and decoration; ( 7) equipment and furni -
ture; (8) accommodation and capacity; (9) 
cost. Selected general references are includ-
ed. 

Part II is devoted to an analysis of exist-
ing buildings. Section A contains a brief 
history of library buildings. It is introduced 
with summaries of libraries: in Classical An-
tiquity, in the Dark Ages, and in the Mid-
dle Ages. Then follow brief sketches of 
separate libraries in chronological order. 

Section B consists of examples of modern 
buildings since about 1920. These are de-
scribed systematically using the outline 
shown as Part I above. Many of these de-
scriptions are in detail, with photographs 
and plans on two uniform scales, 1: 300 
or 1:600. They are divided into four types: 
(a) six national libraries and the Library of 
Congress Annex; (b) twenty-seven public 
libraries-seven branch, thirteen central, 
and seven county-including the Enoch 
Pratt free library and the public library of 
Cincinnati and Hamilton County; (c) twen-
ty-six libraries of educational institutions-
four · school, six college, and sixteen univer-
sity libraries. The college group includes the 
libraries of Georgia Institute of Technology, 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and 

Rice Institute. The group of university li-
braries includes Harvard's Lamont library, 
the undergraduate library of the University 
of Michigan, and the libraries of the U ni-
versity of Iowa, Wayne State, and Mary-
land; (d) five storage libraries are described, 
one of which is the Midwest Inter-Library 
Center. 

Thus, Anthony Thompson has made an 
original contribution to knowledge in per-
fecting a new form of documentation for li-
braries. He has produced a truly systematic, 
comprehensive, and well illustrated work 
with international coverage. His work mer-
its intensive study by every type of library 
building consultant, by librarians who are 
to plan a building, and by architects who 
are interested in qualifying as library archi-
tects.-A. F. Kuhlman, ]oint University Li-
braries. 

Microcopying Methods. By H. R. V€rry. 
London: Focal Press, 1964. 175p. $10.50. 

H. R. Verry is a well known British con-
sultant on documentation and reproduction 
and the writer of a column on the subject 
in the Revue Internationale de Documen-
tation, but his latest book is a disappointing-
ly shoddy production. Billed (in Verry's 
own column) as "a comprehensive survey," 
it is incomprehensive, incomprehensible in 
spots, seriously out-of-date, and carelessly 
edited. The chapter called "The History of 
Microfilm," for example, is devoted almost 
exclusively to a retelling of the familiar 
story of Rene Dagron and the pigeons; the 
section on "Tests for Permanence" makes 
no mention of the widely used ASA stan-
dard test; and the only consideration given 
to copyright problems is a reprinting (as 
Appendix II) of the Royal Society Decla-
ration of 1949. The publication date is July 
1964, but much of the material has not been 
updated since 1961 or 1962. No mention is 
made in the chapter on "Rapid Selector 
Devices" of systems developed since 1961, 
such as Walnut, CRIS or Miracode, and the 
chapter on "Microfiche" describes it as "a 
sheet of film generally 7.5 em. x 12.5 em. 
( 3 x 5 inches) in size." The section on 
"Standards" lists ASA standard Z38. 7.17-
1946 (which was replaced in 1961 by 
PH5.6-1961), and PH5.2-1957 (which has 
been replaced by PH5.2-1963), and it omits 
entirely a number of other pertinent stan-



dards in the PH1 and PH4 series. Editorial 
faults are in places gravely misleading. 
Xerox Copyflo is described by reference to a 
"£gure 29," but what this £gure actually 
shows is the Electrofax method; nowhere is 
there a drawing illustrating Copyflo, nor a 
reference to an illustration of Electrofax. 
Worse, no mention is made of the essential 
fact that the paper used in the Electrofax 
process must be specially coated and that 
ordinary paper cannot be used. 

But by all means the most remarkable 
part of this unfortunate production is the 
"full bibliography." It contains nothing later 
than June 1962, and it is riddled with errors. 
An article from American Documentation is 
listed as 1957 when it was actually October 
1950, and another from the same journal is 
given as "Americ. Doc. 1, 3" when it was 
actually volume II, pages 167-70. The same 
page mentions a publication by "Rutjers" 
and cites another article negligently as "Of-
Bee, 1961." R. W. Hale's Guide to Photo-
copied Historical Materials is listed under 
"Bale," and an article by Charles G. La-
Hood is listeEI under "Hood." Included in a 
list of sixteen "Recommended Books" at the 
end is a novel by Georges Blond and a 
book by Rider, Fremont called (believe it 
or not) "Scholar of the Future Research Li-
brary." 

The £nal fillip is a one-page "Subject In-
dex" filled with useless headings such as 
"Accommodation" and "Activity" (to take 
the first two) and, to top it all off, an entry 
for "Fremount Rider" under the F's! 

Recommended only for the most compre-
hensive collections.-Stephen R. Salmon, 
Washington University. 

Prospects for Library Cooperation in New 
York City. Planning for More Effective 
Utilization of Reference and Research 
Resources. Nelson Associates, Inc. New 
York: The Firm, 1963. Unpaged. 

This study, which was prepared for "an 
ad hoc committee of leading librarians of 
New York City and State," was obviously 
designed to set the groundwork so that the 
research libraries of New York City might 
participate at the outset in any program 
of state support to research and reference 
libraries. It is, therefore, a testament to the 
foresight and acumen of the pd hoc com-
mittee and particularly to the organizers of 

Book Reviews I 65 

that committee. The sponsoring group and 
the nature of the study guarantee the im-
portance of the work, and it is disheartening 
that in such circumstances the report itself 
is so poor an achievement. 

The city study is interwoven in recent 
history of library efforts in regard to re-
search and reference libraries in the state, 
and it cannot be understood fully apart from 
that record. It is unnecessary to rehearse the 
multitudinous problems which have beset 
the larger reference and research libraries 
in recent years. However, in March 1960 
the New York State Commissioner of Edu-
cation appointed a committee to examine 
and recommend some solutions to these 
growing difficulties. In December 1961 the 
committee's findings were published in The 
Report of the Com missioner's Committee 
on Reference and Research Library Re-
sources, which soon came to be known as 
"the 3 R's"-how significantly the 3 R's 
have changed. 

The Report called for a state-supported 
system of regional library associations which 
by utilizing large libraries within each re-
gion, could provide for the reference and 
research needs of the st1,1dent and research 
personnel of that area. It recommended the 
creation of a central state board which at 
the outset would aid in the development 
of regional associations and later would 
provide the administrative corps to carry on 
the work of coordinating the seven regional 
associations into a flexible cooperative net-
work. 

In 1962 the State Education department 
hired Nelson Associates, Inc., to do a pilot 
study "to determine how the proposed legis-
lation ... could be implemented in and 

.how it would affect a specific area of the 
State." Their report of the seven-county 
area around Rochester was published as 
A Reference and Research Plan for the 
Rochester Area. The publication recom-
mended a research center at the University 
of Rochester and a reference center at the 
Rochester public library. With generous 
support from the state and with true co-
operation, not a one-way street, the plan 
was deemed practical and essential. 

An area of specialized research needs of 
the state was studied in Ralph T. Ester-
quest's Strengthening Medical Library Re-
sources in New York State (1963), and in