College and Research Libraries


222 I College & Research Libraries • May, 1967 

targets in this particular review. Reference 
to the history of classification systems is 
certainly appropriate in several of the in-
dividual essays but the reader might tire 
(and be tempted to skip) reading about 
Dewey and his classification system, par-
ticularly when the explanation is intended 
for nonlibrarians. There is perhaps too much 
optimism about machine-searched indexes 
in one essay written in 1961. Shera lists 
examples of searches on pages 90 and 91 
that can be done by machine "as child's 
play" (his words) and it may be just such a 
fantasy unless we learn to overcome prob-
lems in the selection of documents to be 
indexed, in indexing, in formulation of 
search strategy, and in evaluation of search 
results. But this particular essay was writ-
ten during our years of innocence in ma-
chine searching; we can point to other ex-
amples of machine literature searching with 
few documents included in the index and 
with extrapolation of results based on too 
small a sample. 

It is interesting to speculate why most of 
Shera's essays are still fresh and to the point. 
Is it because of his wisdom in choice and/ or 
treatment of topic, or is it because librarian-
ship has been slow in changing? My guess 
is that it is a combination of these factors. 
Jesse Shera has suggested a number of 
changes that made sense at the time of 
writing and make sense now . There is still 
much to be done to achieve standardization 
among bibliographic services, there is still 
insufficient cooperation among professional 
societies in our field, and there is still need 
for an increased pace of fundamental and 
applied research in librarianship. Shera's 
words on automation in the library deserve 
special attention. He warns us not to close 
our eyes to automation-it will not go away. 
Automation has stimulated systematic analy-
sis of library operations and offers the hope 
of a better understanding of what we are 
doing. Automation also offers the promise 
of library service on a higher level to be 
provided by librarians, if we are prepared 
to meet the challenge. 

Dean Shera writes wisely and well, and, 
what is rare in our field, with considerable 
humor. Librarians in research libraries 
should read or reread what he has to say.-
G. ]ahoda, Florida State University. 

Resources of Missouri Libraries. Ed. by 
Robert B. Downs. Jefferson City: Mis-
souri State Library, 1966. 190p. 

~ 

The origins of this study lie in the de-
sire of college librarians for a study com-
plementary to the survey of Missouri pub-
lic library resources made by Gretchen 
Schenk in 1962. This study, however, re-
ports again on public libraries and on school 
and special libraries as well as two-year, 
four-year, and graduate institutions of high-

1 
er learning. It, like the Schenk report and 
the Community Studies, Inc., survey of ~ .. 
public library service in metropolitan St. 
Louis and Kansas City released a year 
ago, has been sponsored by the Missouri 
State Library. 

Although Robert Downs lists a survey ~ 
staff of ten librarians, the materials for 
this study seem to have come primarily 
from a lengthy questionnaire submitted to 
approximately one hundred and twenty-five 
libraries. Librarians submitted a quantita-
tive breakdown of collections in various sub-
ject areas along with the kind of informa-
tion submitted recently to HEW. They also 
checked their holdings against a list of one 
hundred currently published periodicals and 
Choice's "Opening Day Collection" of basic ' 
reference books. There were opportunities 
in the questionnaire also for librarians to 
make qualitative judgments on their own 
libraries. 

The over-all picture shows that while 1 
Missouri librarians have been working for 
a long time to establish county-and, now 
in more recent years, regional-library sys-
tems, there are still far too many small li-
braries with inadequate tax bases. Most of 
the private institutions of higher education 
have financial problems which are shown in 
the support of their libraries. Its public in-
stitutions reflect the fact that Missouri, in 
terms of its per capita income, has not sup-
ported higher education well. A Robert 
Downs is needed to show Missouri how 
its libraries look to an experienced eye from 
the outside. ' 

Wisely, the work begins with his "Goals 
for the Future: Summary of Recommenda- ~ 
tions" because much of the subsequent 
chapters comprise raw material from the 
questionnaires analyzed by means of cur-



rent library standards. These chapters will 
go into matters, however, not always sum-
marized in the "Goals." Downs does not 
see the university libraries as having respon-
sibility for "statewide library service, except 
for highly specialized titles unavailable else-
where." He recommends, therefore, that the 
state library should develop a strong refer-
ence library along with becoming a state 
bibliographic center. He considers efforts in 
the state toward library cooperation as being 
impressive, but sharing wealth works only if 
there is wealth to be shared. Missouri will 

.1 continue to be dependent upon seven li-
braries in particular (the three university, 
the two large public, the state, and Linda 
Hall libraries) . These libraries should be 
compensated financially for their extramural 
services. Here, we get into matters in which 
the recent surveys do not always agree in 
their recommendations. 

Perhaps Missouri has had enough surveys 
for awhile and its librarians had better 
thresh out what should be the master plan 
-if there is to be one. In the meantime, 
one hopes that in the future, professional 
talent and government money can be direct-
ed toward making the Library Services 
Division of the U.S. Office of Education a 
meaningful statistical reporting organiza-
tion so that librarians can spend less time 
gathering data and more time using it. 
Finally, librarians, especially Missourians, 
should remember that state lines in terms 
of library planning mean only one thing: 
political boundaries which constitute source 
or channel for funds. They are quite without 
meaning in terms of economic or cultural 
areas. Missouri's two great concentrations of 
libraries are found in interstate economic 
and cultural regions. The long look perhaps 
should see state planning as an intermediate 
step toward interstate or regional planning. 
-Kenneth ]. LaBudde, University of Mis-
souri at Kansas City. 

Scientific Management of Library Opera-
tions. By Richard M. Dougherty and 
Fred. J. Heinritz. New York and London: 
The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1966. 258p. 
$7. (66-13741) 

Those who consider the essential elements 
of librarianship to be books and bibliogra-

Book Reviews I 223 

phy will not find support for their conten-
tion in this book. Here are discussed such 
nonlibrary subjects as flow charting, time 
studies, cost analysis, and performance stan-
dards. The index contains no reference to a 
book, and the term is seldom used through-
out the work. This is a book about things-
books as things, people as things-and about 
methods for studying the manipulation of 
these things to achieve the most efficient fi-
nancial advantage. 

But no matter how much we may regret 
this approach to librarianship, library ad-
ministrators find that more and more of 
their time is devoted to management, and 
unless they are to be overwhelmed by this 
one aspect of librarianship they must be 
familiar with, and take advantage of, the 
methods which science can offer to lighten 
the management load. 

Dr. Dougherty and Dr. Heinritz have pre-
pared a beginners' manual describing some 
scientific management procedures applicable 
to library operations. There are descriptions 
of flow charting with examples and defini-
tions of the symbols commonly used. The 
design and use of forms is discussed, and 
a chapter is devoted to sampling techniques. 
Methods of performing time studies, deter-
mining unit costs, and establishing perform-
ance standards are outlined. The final chap-
ters present, as an example, a study of an 
actual public library circulation system illus-
trating some of the techniques previously 
described and outlining proposals for a new 
system based on the completed study. 

This is not a theoretical discussion of 
management, nor does it present any new 
techniques of scientific management. Vet-
eran library administrators will be familiar 
already with the procedures and techniques 
discussed. Library school students and be-
ginning librarians, however, can find much 
useful information in this book which can 
add to their awareness of the problems of 
administrators and increase their usefulness 
as librarians. 

The book is printed by an offset method 
from typed copy and is as attractive as this 
method will permit. It is well illustrated 
with appropriate charts and diagrams. It is 
both legible and readable.-Pau.Z H. Spence, 
University of Georgia. 

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