College and Research Libraries


als , helped the library on the way to its 
present distinction. 

This absorbing volume is a fitting me-
morial for the ending of an era in Albany's 
library history as the State Library prepares 
to move again in the 1970s, this time to 
spectacular quarters in Governor Rockefel-
ler's controversial South Mall project. 

Some scholars (but not many) may be-
grudge Roseberry his decision to forego 
footnotes , and the magazine-size, double-
column format is probably unfortunate, but 
the illustrations are appropriate, generous, 
and contemporary, and the bibliography 
and index are adequate. The book is un-
copyrighted and is in a limited edition, so 
there is probably a reprint publisher count-
ing the pages right now. No library history 
collection anywhere can afford to miss this 
one, at any price.-]ohn Farley, State Uni-
v ersity of New York at Albany. 

The Function of the Library in a College 
of Advanced Education. Harrison Bryan 
and Evelyn Lorna Hean. Sydney, Aus-
tralia, 1970. 
Too often, and especially early in the 

planning stages, academic librarians in their 
zeal to establish new college or university 
libraries lose sight of the institution's pur-
pose and goals, frequently because they are 
misinformed or function exclusive of them. 
In their recent work, The Function of the 
Lib1·ary in a College of Advanced Educa-
tion, Harrison Bryan and Evelyn Lorna 
Hean have carefully presented a valuable 
and decidedly generic study which address-
es itself to the peculiar library needs of a 
college situation in Australia. The colleges 
of advanced education in Australia most 
nearly approximate American four-year col-
leges, such as normal schools and four-year 
state colleges, but are given over to more 
innovation in the preparation of graduates 
for employment in business, government, 
and the social services. 

This work is filled with statistical infor-
mation and is scrupulously documented, 
serving two important purposes. First, it 
provides, in somewhat lengthy detail, an 
account of the educational purposes, learn-
ing-teaching concepts, and other pedagogi-
cal methods that the colleges of advanced 
education must consider with regard to the 
development and use of appropriate library 

Recent Publications I 487 

resources and services. Second, the library 
attitudes, standards, and other evaluative 
devices employed by academic librarians 
in such a formative venture are cogently 
presented and critically discussed. While 
the work is basically a report that provides 
recommendations for the development of 
library resources and services, the investiga-
tions and careful thinking on the included 
topics provide several innovative approach-
es toward the role of a library in an aca-
demic setting. 

This combination of institutional goals, 
aggregation of quantified standards, and 
the interpretation of other planning ele-
ments contributes to a well-organized re-
port that should serve as a guide for either 
the development of a new academic library 
or the upgrading and/or evaluation of an 
existing one. While the study may be highly 
localized and peculiar to the Australian aca-
demic scene, the use and modification of 
standards such as the Clapp-Jordan ones, 
coupled to a very careful analysis and dis-
cussion of strengths and weaknesses related 
to these standards, provides a highly worth-
while applied approach too often lacking 
in the professional literature. Furthermore, 
the discussions on modified formulas, par-
ticularly with regard to staff size, presents 
some highly original thinking about the 
role and importance of librarians, especially 
in the reader services areas, that it would 
behoove many academic library administra-
tors to carefully consider. 

I would recommend that most academic 
libraries purchase this work, even though 
it may soon be dated, or its recommenda-
tions ignored. There are a few caveats how-
ever that should be known, such as some 
minor typographical errors, the format be-
ing less than inspiring and the writing often 
pedestrian and overdone in places; but es-
sentially, these minor irritants do not de-
tract from what is a highly interesting and 
valuable study. This work should serve to 
enlighten academic librarians about the 
planning process in developing appropriate 
academic library resources and services for 
institutions of higher learning dedicated to 
the preparation of a new breed of college 
graduate.-Robert J'. Haro, University of 
Maryland. 

Black Writing in the U.S.A., a Biblio-