College and Research Libraries review of the Canadian library scene over the last twenty years. It is, in fact, the best book on contemporary Canadian li- brarianship-which praise is, however, somewhat lessened by virtue of the fact that it is almost the only book on the sub- ject, too. Space does not permit much commen- tary on individual papers, but three or four of special interest deserve note. Mar- ion Gilroy's "Regional Libraries in Retro- spect" gives the inside story on a library development which Canada pioneered and which has claimed international attention. Jean-Charles Bonenfant, in "Progri~s des bibliotheques au Canada franc;ais," offers an unusually candid appraisal of public li- braries in French Canada. Laurent Denis' "La formation des bibliothecaires de langue franc;aise du Quebec" describes the evolu- tion of a distinctive library school which manages to be both broadly North Ameri- can and peculiarly "quebecois" in outlook. And, perhaps best of all, Robert Black- burn's aforementioned "cautionary tale" of- fers a delightful example (with a happy ending, for once) of the eternal battle be- tween university librarian and professor. It should be added that the appearance of this volume-printed by Charles Mor- riss of Victoria-is first-rate. It is a pleasure to look at and handle. At $7.50, this book is a very good value.-Samuel Roth- stein, University of British Columbia. The Mirror of Brass; the Compensation and Working Conditions of College and University Administrators. By Mark H. Ingraham with the collaboration of Fran- cis P. King. Madison: University of Wis- consin Press, 1968. 336 pp. $7.00 ( 68-98321). Those who found Professor Ingraham's earlier work (The Outer Fringe, Univ. of Wise. Pr., 1965) of value will surely want to investigate his latest volume, a study for the Commission on College Administration of the Association of American Colleges. This work, as the subtitle indicates, is con- cerned with the compensation and work- ing conditions of college and university ad- ministrators, and Ingraham once again has rendered a valuable and interesting com- Recent Publications I 275 pilation of comparative data. Over six thousand responses were received to ques- tionnaires sent to ·877 institutions, both public and private, and a splendid synthe- sis of the data is presented in twenty-two chapters. Ingraham's book is divided into two parts, the first of which deals with the various compensations and fringe benefits which were investigated. Among the topics included are salaries, vacations and leaves, life insurance, travel provisions, and retire- ment programs. In addition to a report and an analysis of the data obtained, space is allotted within the individual chapters for opinions voiced by various administrators with regard to the benefits discussed. The second part of the book is com- posed of chapters devoted to particular administrative positions, and includes that of the president, the academic vice-presi- dent, dean of the liberal arts college, dean of the graduate school, director of libraries, the chief business officer, the dean of stu- dents, director of admissions, registrar, and the director of development. Again, a brief summarization of data is given, and with- in each chapter one finds a section en- titled "Reflections" which consists of anony- mous quotations gleaned from the ques- tionnaires. Of particular interest is the chapter which is devoted to the director of libraries. The information here, as else- where, is condensed, but indicates per- centages of men and women directors, median age, and percentages holding the PhD and other degrees. Further comments are directed to the topics of staff, authority, communication and status, and relations to government. The Reflections are with re- gard to various characteristics and respon- sibilities of a director's position, and the comments which are voiced are those which are frequently heard. Perhaps the portion of Mr. Ingraham's study which will be perused most by li- brarians· is the appendix which consists of a photocopy of the questionnaire used, and a set of sixty-three tables which sum- mm·ize the questionnaire results. To be found here are data by which one can compare benefits and compensations for the different administrative positions which were included in the investigation. 276 I College & Research Libraries • May 1969 Reviewers of Ingraham's Outer Ft·inge commented favorably on his ability to maintain rigor and scholarship while oc- casionally engaging in humor. The same characteristic is to be found in the Mirror of Brass, which was chosen as a title, as explained in the preface, because the use of quotations suggested a mirror.-Lester ]. Pourciau, ] r., Indiana Univ ersity. The Latin American Cooperative Acqui- sitions Program . . . an Imaginative Venture. By M. J. Savary. New York: Hafner Publishing Co., Inc., 1968. 144 p. $6.50 ( 68-19791). As the subtitle indicates, this is the his- tory of an imaginative venture into the entire field of book publishing in Latin America, and the myriad difficulties in ob- taining some of these books. It is really a history of the growth of interest in what is being published in Latin America and the growing efforts to acquire these publi- cations. It is not only the history of a book- dealer's commercial gamble to try to ob- tain these publications and supply them at a profit to libraries (principally university libraries in the United States), but more importantly it is the history of a marriage. It is a marriage between many libraries trying under difficult circumstances to ac- quire materials for their Latin American collections and the Stechert-Hafner firm which offered a possible solution to this phase of the library problem. In Mrs. Savary's book, which was written as a master's thesis for the Graduate Li- brary School of Long Island University, she has very interestingly depicted the difficul- ties of acquiring books from south of our border. She discusses briefly the publishing field and indicates the variety of problems encountered in each country. In order to review these problems and to discuss pos- sible solutions, several of the leading li- brarians concerned with Latin America met in 1956 and began the first of the annual seminars known as SALALM (Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials) under the aegis of UNESCO and the Pan American Union. This book deals primarily with the work of these seminars in convincing the Stechert-Haf- ner Company of the need for an increas- ing effort in supplying books from Latin America and the difficulties faced by Stechert-Hafner in answering this request. The book also describes the efforts made by the Library of Congress, the Association of Research Libraries, the Organization of American States, and UNESCO to procure current publications produced in Latin America. Mrs. Savary points out the problems in publishing and marketing books in Latin America. In general books are privately published in limited editions of 500-1,000 copies only, and the author pays all the costs and handles his own distribution. He frequently gives away all copies to his friends so that copies do not get into the book trade. By the time anyone hears about the book, copies are no longer available. The book dealers are often not concerned with, or adept at, merchandising and building a market, so that even books ac- quired by dealers are seldom publicized. The end result is that neither the book dealer nor the author realize any incen- tive to publish more copies so as to make books more readily available. As Mrs. Sav- ary indicates, the task of finding out what has been published, and then trying to obtain copies, at times is almost an impos- sibility. The author follows the adventures of many of the people who b·avelled to the various countries in Latin America to es- tablish contacts with local book agents and also to purchase copies of the most recent books published in each country. She cap- tures the adventures of Nettie Lee Benson (University of Texas Library), Dominic Coppola ( Stechert-Hafner, Inc.), Wallace Bork (S.I.U. Latin American Institute), and of Guillermo Baraya Borda ( Stechert- Hafner) as each travels through Latin America setting up dealer arrangements and purchasing the more important titles. As Mrs. Savary states in the preface, it is difficult not to be enthusiastic about this imaginative scheme which is a real break- through in Latin American acquisitions. The author has included several tables in the appendix. One table gives a com- parison of prices under LACAP with prices by an Argentine agent, Fernando Garcia