College and Research Libraries


budgeting, operations research, participa-
tory management, management informa-
tion or unions. The material on coopera-
tion~Reynolds' own report on intralibrary 
cooperation at Indiana University-seems 
especially inappropriate, automation and its 
impact on library administration and ser-
vice to users are weak. 

Academic library administration today is, 
if nothing else, in a state of rapid change 
and development. To capture that in a 
reader and to present a picture of the real 
problems that are now facing academic li-
brary administrators would be an extremely 
difficult task. Perhaps Mr. Reynolds man-
ages to do that in his teaching but this 
reader falls short of doing so.-N orrnan D. 
Stevens, University of Connecticut. 

American and British Genealogy and 
Heraldry: A Selected List of Books. By 
P. William Filby. Chicago, Ill.: American 
Library Association, 1970. 208p. $10.00. 

Mr. Filby's compilation attempts to cov-
er genealogical sources in the United States 
generally and by individual state, with the 
exception of Alaska. Other countries includ-
ed are Canada, England, Ireland, Scotland, 
and Wales. A general coverage of heraldry 
is also presented. 

The book is extremely general in most 
cases and therefore is not much help to the 
advanced researcher. Too much area is cov-
ered to enable more than a very basic list-
ing of references; nor is it particularly con-
clusive for any particular area or state. As 
ancestors tend to hide in specific local rec-
ords, i.e. church records, land records, court 
records, and so forth, this book could not 
possibly attempt to list all of these sources. 

The compilation could be used as a basic 
reference item for libraries and as far as the 
references listed are concerned, the follow-
ing are notable: 

1. There is an excellent index, both by au-
thor and title, making it easy to locate 
any given book. 

2. There are three or four lines of descrip-
tion for each book and the publisher is 
listed, which makes it helpful to identify 
and purchase any entry if one so desires. 

3. Many of the books are "how to" books 

Recent Publications I 151 

which would help the amateur or begin-
ner in the field of genealogy. 

In the preface the author states that he 
is not a professional genealogist and that 
his book is an outgrowth of some years of 
working with genealogists and the books 
they frequently request. In this light, his 
book has merit as a beginning source list-
ing those general records that are available. 
Since the Peabody Institute Library, where 
he conducted most of his research, was en-
dowed with books about genealogy particu-
larly of English origin, his present list leans 
more heavily in this geographic direction. 
The book achieves no more and no less 
than the title indicates.-Ted F. Powell, 
Genealogical Society, Salt Lake City, Utah. 

Computer-Based Library and Information 
Systems. By J. P. Henley. New York: 
American Elsevier, 84p. $5.75. 

A book of well under one hundred pages 
covering the subject of computer-based li-
brary and information systems cannot be 
expected to be more than a superficial treat-
ment of the subject. The book is essentially 
a survey of the field drawn almost entirely 
from the cited literature. It may prove valu-
able as a basic introduction to the field, but 
will provide little for those already working 
with automated library or information sys-
tems. 

The book begins with an introduction to 
computers for those unfamiliar with them. 
In eight pages the author does a creditable 
job of indicating the basic functions of a 
computer, and describing different types 
of storage media, input/output devices and 
some recent advances in computer tech-
nology. The objectives of an automated li-
brary system are discussed. The author ad-
vocates a cctotal system" approach rather 
than a step-by-step conversion of existing 
tasks. He then goes on to describe specific 
tasks suitable for conversion to an automat-
ed system, e.g., serial records control. In a 
discussion of computer requirements, pro-
gramming languages are considered. The 
denciences of FORTRAN, ALGOL, and 
COBOL as character manipulating lan-
guages are mentioned. LISP and COIVIIT 
are cited as two examples of languages pos-