College and Research Libraries


316 / College b- Research Libraries • March 1968 

solution calls for over ten times the correct 
amount of paranitrophenol; it is little won-
der that Cunha has trouble with staining, 
as he mentions earlier. On the basis of this 
the reviewer would hesitate to use any of 
these formulae without checking them in 
their source, but the sources are not given. 
The glossary which comprises Appendix I 
is reprinted from ALA's 1951 Library Bind-
ing Manual and has little to do with conser-
vation. 

The organization of the bibliography is 
almost incomprehensible; it purports to 
follow the chapter arrangement of the text, 
but does not exactly do so. For a bibliogra-
phy with seventy-eight headings and ap-
proximately two thousand entries, an index 
of authors would be useful, and a table of 
contents is indispensible. Within the classi-
fication scheme, catalogs of exhibitions of 
bindings are listed under "History—Gen-
eral," "History—Bindings" and "Repair and 
Restoration—Binding—General." An article 
on a device for testing library bindings is 
listed under "Material—General" and "Con-
servation—General," but not under "Bind-
ing—General" or "Library Binding." 

The principles of selection are difficult to 
deduce. Haslam's virtually worthless pam-
phlet on cleaning books and prints is listed 
twice (once anonymously), but I could not 
find the TAPPI Standards which includes 
widely cited procedures for the testing of 
paper. Storm and Peckham's useful Intro-
duction to Book Collecting is listed, but 
Glaister's Encyclopedia of the Book is not. 
One of the most puzzling omissions is 
Herbst's supplement to Mejer's major bib-
liography on bookbinding. 

The bibliography (as well as references 
in the text) is a veritable jungle of incon-
sistencies, misconstructions, and obscurities. 
Titles in foreign languages are sometimes 
but not always given in English; accents 
are used or ignored at random; titles of 
journals are cited in widely varying form. 
Some entries are annotated, most are not. 
Joannis Guigard and Jacques Guignard both 
emerge as J. Guigard. Warren Jenney be-
comes Jenney Warren. Keyes D. Metcalf is 
cited as D. M. Keyes. Or take Mr. Smith. 
He is cited four times, as Hermann Smith, 
Herman Smith, L. Herman Smith (correct-
ly!), and as Herman L. Smith. His article 

is cited once in the bibliography without 
his name at all. 

There are a number of cases of the same 
items being listed twice under different 
main entries. For example, the catalogue 
of the 1957 Baltimore bookbinding exhibi-
tion is listed in the same section of the 
bibliography under both its title and the 
name of its (unstated) compiler. (The 
publication date in one entry is given as 
1950.) 

The Conservation of Library Materials, 
then, no matter how inaccurately, obscure-
ly, or indirectly, will provide access to vir-
tually all knowledge on book conservation 
in the Western world. It is unfortunate 
that so much patience will be required of 
the reader to find the information that he 
wants, and that there is so much misin-
formation in the text and appendixes, and 
cited in the bibliography. That such a key 
to the field as this has been so desperately 
needed cannot, however, absolve the pub-
lisher from blame for such an incredibly 
bad job of editing, if indeed the manu-
script was edited at all. It is particularly 
distressing that the "publisher to the li-
brary profession" is responsible for so totally 
careless an example of publishing.—Paul 
N. Banks—The Newberry Library. 

Developing a Computer-Based Informa-
tion System. By R. E. Rosone et al. New 
York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1967. 
384p. $14.95 (67-21331). 

The term "information system" is an 
elusive one since it encompasses such a 
broad range of specific kinds of systems. 
The techniques, methodology, and philoso-
phy of system design are in principle ap-
plicable to all of them. However, there are 
differences in detail which result from the 
need to focus attention on the problems of 
particular importance in a specific type of 
system. Since any author attempting to. 
present methods for system design must 
use realistic examples to illustrate them, 
his book will show an emphasis on the 
problems significant in those examples. 

Such is the case with this very useful 
introduction to techniques for development 
of information systems. The examples cho-
sen are generally representative of "man-
agement" information systems, but par-



Book Reviews / 317 

ticularly of those from a military environ-
ment (SAGE, NORAD, Strategic Air Com-
mand, etc.), generally called "command and 
control" systems. Such an emphasis is a 
natural one, since it has represented the 
major concern of the authors in their pro-
fessional work at System Development 
Corporation, but it means that readers with 
different kinds of information systems in 
mind must be prepared to translate and 
interpret what is said in the light of their 
own concerns. 

For example, Chapter 1 presents the basic 
definitions of "information," "system analy-
sis," and the "development process." The 
concept of an "information system" is de-
fined as "the formal or rationally planned 
means whereby managers receive and 
transmit information." The author goes on 
to say, "It may include automatic data 
processing as one aspect of the informa-
tion-handling apparatus assisting manage-
ment, but it may also include oral briefings." 
The emphasis is clear, proper, and very 
descriptive of the book. But the reader 
whose concern is, say, "scientific and tech-
nical information systems" will need to 
translate "managers" into "researchers" and 
"oral briefings" into "journals, printed re-
ports, and Colleagues." 

Chapter 2, in discussing some of the 
problems in over-all management of the 
development process, draws an illuminat-
ing contrast between "hardware systems" 
and "information systems" in order to em-
phasize the extent to which agencies pro-
curing the latter may be using irrelevant 
criteria for decision concerning their utility. 
The reader will want to consider just as 
carefully the extent of differences between 
his information system and that represented 
by military command and control. 

Chapter 3, which discusses "The Sys-
tem Requirements Phase," raises some is-
sues of special importance. It contrasts sev-
eral approaches to the transition from 
present operations—including "totally inte-
grated system design" and "planned evo-
lution." The latter seems to have particular 
relevance to those, such as libraries, whose 
"information system" is not simply a man-
agement tool but their very reason for ex-
istence. 

Chapter 4 discusses the steps in the 

"design process," again with emphasis on 
the military command and control system. 
As a result, "retrieval" is given scant atten-
tion and yet, in a library, it is likely to be 
the most significant technical problem. 

Chapter 5 discusses the design and pro-
duction of computer programs. The ex-
perience on which it is based is particularly 
illuminating and well presented. The esti-
mates of time and manpower should be 
read with care, since the programming of 
any kind of computer-based information 
system is a complex, expensive task. 

Chapters 6, 7, 8, and 10 present the 
issues in development of the operating or-
ganization, in design of procedures, in 
training of personnel, and in system evalua-
tion. These are particularly subject to 
change from one type of system to another 
since they affect the organization itself 
and not simply the computer. The reader 
will need to examine them closely. On the 
other hand, Chapter 9 discusses "installa-
tion" and raises issues of universal concern. 

In summary, this book is a well con-
ceived, well written, and highly readable 
presentation of the issues in the develop-
ment of "military command and control sys-
tems." As examples of information systems, 
they have many features in common with 
libraries and technical information centers, 
but there are also some significant differ-
ences, and the reader will need to keep his 
own situation continually in mind.—Robert 
M. Hayes—UCLA. 

Bibliography, Current State and Future 
Trends. By Robert B. Downs and Frances 
B. Jenkins, eds. Urbana: Illinois Uni-
versity Press, 1967. 61 lp. $8.95. (67-
21851). 

The volume under review is a reissue 
of the January and April 1967 issues 
of Library Trends. The two well known 
and highly respected editors were obviously 
of the opinion, and probably rightly so, that 
a republication in book form would be a 
welcome addition to our professional litera-
ture. I doubt that reference librarians will 
prefer this book to their well established 
tools such as Winchell, Walford, and Totok. 
I am certain that the subject specialist 
will hardly profit by it, but teachers and