College and Research Libraries


444 / College 6- Research Libraries • September 1968 

Bookmaking, but British colleagues espe-
cially might well opt for either Jennett or 
Williamson. Libraries, needless to say, will 
purchase all four whenever the budget will 
allow, but Mr. Wilson's book is first among 
equals.—William_ R. Eshelman, Wilson Li-
brary Bulletin. 

University Libraries for Developing 
Countries. By M. A. Gelfand. Paris: 
Unesco, 1968. 162p. $3. 
The primary purpose of this simply writ-

ten handbook is to acquaint college and 
university presidents, deans, rectors, and 
other academic officials in the developing 
countries with the full meaning and value 
of their institutions' libraries. Such a book 
has been much needed, because, second 
perhaps only to poor faculty attitude, lack 
of strong administrative support and un-
derstanding has probably been the major 
impediment in the way of improving li-
brary service in such institutions—often a 
more effective barrier even than the ab-
sence of adequate funds. 

In his admirable effort to educate these 
laymen who are so important to academic 
libraries, Dr. Gelfand addresses himself lu-
cidly and cogently to all of the major and 
many of the minor problems that have so 
long and so miserably plagued libraries in 
the developing countries. He points to the 
critical need for adequate status for librar-
ians; he demonstrates the great benefits 
that can derive from centralized library 
administration; he presents the rationale 
for open stacks; he deplores the pernicious 
results of too great librarian accountabil-
ity; he explains the need for intra- as well 
as inter-institutional library cooperation. 
These and many other similar little essays 
make the book almost an extended position 
paper on modern academic library man-
agement theory and practice—a kind of 
professional apologia pro vita sua. 

Dr. Gelfand draws widely for illustra-
tive examples, first upon his own extensive 
experience working with libraries in the 
"have-not" countries, second upon the lit-
erature and work of librarianship in the 
developing countries, third upon the ex-
periences of the libraries of Europe, and 
finally and unobtrusively upon American 

librarianship. Appropriately for a Unesco 
Manual, the resulting amalgam reads like 
the professional travelogue of a bibliothe-
cal cosmopolite, as the floor plans of the 
library of Ahmadu Bello University follow 
discussion of the cooperative acquisitions 
program of the Deutsche Forschungsge-
meinschaft; as an explanation of the Li-
brary Board of Ghana and a description of 
the Regional Seminar on the Development 
of University Libraries in Latin America 
precede an account of fungicides devel-
oped by the Lenin State Library and a 
picture of a reading room in Douglass Col-
lege library at Rutgers University. Perhaps 
in no other treatise has the world confra-
ternity of academic librarianship been 
more dramatically displayed. 

Although college and university admin-
istrators are the primary audience to whom 
Dr. Gelfand is speaking, there is much in 
the book that is of value to librarians as 
well. This is a good small textbook for 
courses in university library administration, 
discussing as it does both simply and well 
such diverse but important topics as uni-
versity libraries in national development; 
the role of the university library; govern-
ment and control of the university library; 
its organization and administration; staff 
and collection development; organizing the 
collections; reader's services; auxiliary and 
supplementary services; cooperative activi-
ties; library buildings and equipment; fi-
nancial administration; and evaluating li-
brary services. 

Morris A. Gelfand's University Libraries 
for Developing Countries is an important 
addition to the growing series of "Unesco 
Manuals for Librarians."—D.K. 
Canadian Provincial Libraries. By John 

Robert Beard. (Centennial Series: CLA-
ACB Occasional Paper No. 54.) Ottawa: 
Canadian Library Association/1'Associa-
tion Canadienne des Bibliotheques, 1967. 
X I X , 3 0 3 p . 

This doctoral dissertation, prepared for 
the school of library service at Columbia 
University with financial assistance from 
the Canada Council, is a valuable addition 
to the collection of surveys of Canadian 
libraries that have been published during