College and Research Libraries


172 I College & Research Libraries • March 1969 

States. Some contributors seem to have 
taken too literally the instructions to repre-
sent world library practice, as in the ar-
ticle "Abbreviations ," where nearly half of 
the titles cited are either in a language 
other than English or refer to practice in 
countries other than the United States. 
But in "Academic Status of Librarians" 
the international approach is well handled 
and appropriate. 

Within the intended scope of the work, 
the selection of articles appears to be, for 
the most part, adequate. Contributors, at 
least those whose names are known to this 
reviewer, are well suited to their assign-
ments. But a reference work of this kind 
is barely begun when decisions have been 
made on articles to be included and con-
tributors have been invited and have sub-
mitted their articles. There remains the 
long and painstaking job of editing the 
contributed pieces for length, style, level 
of information, and bibliographic form. 
This kind of editing is conspicuously ab-
sent in the work. No control seems to have 
been exercised on the length of articles 
commensurate with their importance. The 
article on "Airlie House Conferences" runs 
to nine pages, the one on "Abbreviations" 
more than eleven pages, and that on "Ab-
stracts and Abstracting" twenty-two pages; 
but the article on "Acquisitions" is given 
only nine pages, that on "Administration" 
only six pages. Further inequities in length 
are "Armed Forces Libraries" twenty-eight 
pages, and "Art Libraries and Collections" · 
fifty pages, but "Architectural Libraries and 
Collections" only five pages! Style differ-
ences are more difficult to control than 
those of length, and rigid standardization 
of style is not desirable. But the opening 
sentences of the article "Airlie House Con-
ferences" hardly seem appropriate to a 
work of this kind: "Airlie House is a 'U-
Haul' think-tank situated, very appropri-
ately for those who remember Oscar 
Wilde's definition, in the fox-hunting coun-
try of Virginia. The style is English coun-
try house; the menu is hearty, is unin-
spired." The desirable level of information 
and sophistication for the expected reader 
should also be sought and ensured by 
careful editing of each article. In this first 
volume most articles are written on a level 
that should provide helpful information to 

the average reader. But the opening para-
graphs of the first article, "Abbreviations," 
are almost meaninglessly elementary. Good 
editing would have eliminated some ar-
ticles like that on "Aden, Libraries in," 
the first sentence of which states that prac-
tically no information is available on the 
subject, with the remaining few sentences 
quoting matter from the yearbook, Mid-
dle East and North Africa. There need be 
no compulsion to include articles like this 
simply because articles on libraries of other 
countries are included. 

Mention has not been made of the many 
excellently written articles or of the quan-
tity of useful information in this volume. 
While it may be unfair and unnecessary 
to single out any articles for specimen 
mention, those on "Abstracts and Abstract-
ing," "Aldus Manutius," "Algorithms," "Al-
phabet," and "Ancient and Medieval Li-
braries" seem to this reviewer especially 
informative and well written. Despite any 
faults it has, the set will, when completed, 
serve a much felt need and be a useful ref-
erence work-Rolland E. Stevens, Univer-
sity of Illinois. 

Copyright in Historical Perspective. By 
Lyman Ray Patterson. Nashville: Van-
derbilt University Press, 1968. 264p. 
$8.50 ( 68-22415). 

The author of this book is a law profes-
sor at Vanderbilt University. As would be 
expected, therefore, it is written with an 
eye to its value to his colleagues in the 
legal profession as well as to those who 
have a more general interest in the history 
of copyright. 

It should · be of interest to any librarian 
who is concerned with protecting the re-
spective rights of users', authors, and the 
publishers of books. And at this point, 
there is hardly any librarian who is re-
sponsible for the copying policies of a re-
search library ·who should not be so con-
cerned. Whether we like it or not, librar-
ians are in the· middle of these conflicting 
interests which are becoming more com-
plicated by the day. 

The book presents a dispassionate legal 
history of the development of the idea and 
use of copyright from a device to protect 
the printer-publisher through its use b y the 



Crown as a censorship device-on to the 
concern with protection of the author's 
rights. Interwoven in its history through 
the centuries are the concern of. Parliament 
and the Congress of the United States 
with the problem of monopoly and with . 
the use of copyright as a device to pro-
mote learning. 

It is interesting and helpfpl to anyone 
concerned with the history of printing to 
see the roles of such institutions as the 
Stationers Company and the Star Chamber 
presented in their purely legal relation-
ship to printing and copyright and their 
use of each other to effect censorship and 
monopoly. The author also explains the in-
tent and purpose of the Statute of Anne 
in 1709 and its effect on -the American 
view of copyright. Indeed as is the case in 
so many of our legal concepts all of the 
ideas originated in the English history of 
copyright. The early state acts and the 
federal acts were based on the Statute of 
Anne. 

No place else have I seen presented so 
clearly the purpose of copyright as under-
stood at the time of the framing of the 
Constitution of the United States and the 
first Federal Copyright Act of 1790. As 
advanced in the constitutional provision, 
they are 1 ) to promote learning, 2) to se-
cure the author's right, 3) to provide order 
in the book trade by government grant, 
and 4) to prevent monopoly. These same 
ideas appear in the first Copyright Act 
and in the first important copyright . case 
to come before the United States Supreme 
Court, Wheaton vs. Peters, 33 U.S. (8 
Pet.) 591 ( 1834). 

Oddly enough, in view of its current 
importance, historically there seems to be 

Recent Publications I 173 

little evidence of any concern for the rights 
of the user. Perhaps this has become a 
problem only since the development of 
rapid copying devices. In this connection, 
however, the author raises the point of the 
potential danger to the user's right to free-
dom of expression if the author should be 
allowed to control the work completely. 

Perhaps the most intriguing and in a 
sense disturbing of the author's themes, 
however, is his concern with failures on 
the parts of the courts and the legislatures 
to understand the elements involved in 
literary property-and more especially the 
rights of the author which go beyond the 
present concept of copyright. He is con-
cerned with the author's creative interest 
in his work-"his right to protect the in-
tegrity of his work and his reputation in 
connection therewith." Most people are 
probably aware that these rights exist. But 
exactly what are they? How can they be 
identified? Do they differ with the nature 
of the work itself? Does the librarian have 
responsibilities in this area also? The so-
lution which he offers is that the courts 
take jurisdiction of many of these complex 
issues and that they distinguish them from 
the area controlled by statute and proceed 
to develop a common law of copyright 
which could case by case distinguish and 
preserve the rights of the various interests 
involved. 

This is a fine , carefully written book and 
within the limits imposed by the discipline 
of legal writing can be considered creative 
in its approach to some of the elements of 
copyright. I hope it will become part of 
the literature of librarianship.-Stanley 
West, University of Hawaii. 

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