College and Research Libraries 152 I College & Research Libraries • March 1972 In sum, Harris' book, while not felicitous in style, embodies suggestions for develop- ing a subject heading list, in machine-ma- nipulable form, which could stimulate con- siderable investigation into the theory un- derlying the construction of the headings. Any book with such potential, in these lean years for treatises on the subject, deserves to be taken seriously, even if only to prod the library world toward further research in the field.-Doralyn ]. Hickey, Associate Professor of Library Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Current Problems in Reference Service. Thomas J. Galvin. New York.: R. R. Bow- ker Company, 1971. 162p. $9.95. The new Bowker Series in .. Problem- Centered Approaches to Librarianship" is designed .. to make case studies available for instructional use in all major areas of the library school curriculum, as well as to demonstrate the value of the case study as a vehicle for presentation and analysis of professional problems." This inaugural vol- ume of the series includes thirty-five new case studies in general reference and may be used in conjunction with the thirty case studies published in Mr. Galvin's earlier collection, Problems in Reference Service: Case Studies in Method and Policy, also published by Bowker. Those unfamiliar with case study methods and objectives are referred to the "Introduction" to this earlier collection, or to any of several other works listed in a "Selected Bibliography" append- ed to the present volume. This new collection should be attractive to anyone engaged in the training of library personnel. The cases are drawn from actual library situations and have been specially selected to represent issues of current con- cern. One case, for example, poses a prob- lem in performance budgeting. Another deals with the borrower's right to privacy. Several cases involve services to the handi- capped or to minority groups. Many older problems are of perennial concern, and thus four cases contain variations on the theme of censorship. The situations presented sometimes go well beyond the usual con- cept of general reference. One of them re- quires the design of an acquisitions pro- gram for the reference collection of a new, two-year school of engineering technology, starting with an initial purchase of $35,000. As raw material, the cases vary in quali- ty. Some are much richer than others in the possibilities offered for investigation, inter- pretation, evaluation, and resolution. These possibilities seem greatest when the funda- mental issue or problem facing the student is one of administrative decision-making. These cases have many conflicting elements to consider and no .. right" answers. It is in the presentation of these kinds of problems that the case study method was developed and has demonstrated its value. Less successful are those cases primarily concerned with the identification of refer- ence sources and the location of specific in- formation. Such problems are more narrow- ly limited in scope and lacking in the kinds of conflicting alternatives so favorable for case presentation. One questions the rela- tive effectiveness of the case method with .. reference problems" since they appear to gain less by such presentation than do the administrative issues. It is doubtful that any substantial benefit is obtained by dressing up a reference question with dialog which often sounds contrived and with characteri- zation which tends to become caricature. The author suggests evaluating the refer- ence interview in these cases, but this de- vice wears thin after two or three uses. Despite this criticism, each of the cases has some value as a tool, and the use of a tool has much to do with its effectiveness. Presumably, the successful use of these cases in the classroom has justified their publication here. Another instructor may use them or not, in any way that is profita- ble and convenient for his purposes. That seems to be just what Galvin intended.- Larry N. Yarbrough, Northwestern Univer- sity, Evanston, Illinois. The Chinese in California: A Brief Bib- liographic History. Gladys C. Hansen, Annot. by William F. Heintz. Portland, Ore.: Richard Abel & Company, 1970. 140p. Was California discovered by a Buddhist monk in 458 A.D., or by the blown-off- course Chinese sailor-navigator Hee-Lai in 217 B.C.? Did the first Chinese laborers ar- rive in California in 1815, or in 1848, or at some date in between? Mr. Heintz' annota- tions, based primarily on Mrs. Hansen's compilations, speculate on these and other historical problems relative to Chinese im- migrant life in California in particular, and Chinese immigrant life in the western United States in general. Hansen selected appropriate books and pamphlets, published 1850-1968, from the California Room, San Francisco Public Library. All cited titles in English. This "systematic bibliographic" work utilizes nineteenth-century primary sources (for example, San Francisco Municipal Re- ports, 1884- 1885) and twentieth-century secondary sources. California county and local history sketches, travelers' narratives describing meetings with Chinese natives in California or in San Francisco's China- town, and both pro- and anti-Chinese propa- ganda tracts leading up to the Chinese tem- porary immigration exclusion of 1882 and the permanent embargo of 1902 are includ- ed. Two unusual entries stand out from among the 422 titles listed: ( 1) Chinese Criminal Photogmph Key, which was con- tained in a ledger book that survived the 1906 earthquake; and (2) a play, Ah Sin, written by Mark Twain and Bret Harte that had been lost and recently rediscovered. Titles cited are listed alphabetically by author. Entry data comprises author, title in capital letters, publisher, date of publi- cation, and a sometimes brief, sometimes long, descriptive annotation. The exclusion of data relating to illustrations, maps, in- dices, and bibliographies may be a handi- cap for some users. Sadly, the growing number of Ph.D. dis- sertations [cf. Walton Bean, California, An Interpretive History (McGraw-Hill, 1965, p.243, 513) ] and pertinent journal articles in this £eld of Chinese Americanization have also been omitted. Some proofreading needed ("and,and" on p.18). At least one reprint title not discovered: Hansen lists: "Coolidge, Mary R. CHINESE IMMIGRA- TION. Holt & Co., 1909."; whereas LC cites: "Coolidge, Mary Elizabeth Burroughs (Roberts) Smith, Chinese Immigration. ... Arno Press, 1969." A short foreword penned by Mr. Thomas W. Chinn, founder and past president of the Chinese Historical Society (San Fran- cisco) is quite informative. Ironically, Chinn's own edited work (A History of the Chinese in California: a Syllabus, Chinese Historical Society, 1969) goes unmen- Recent Publications I 153 tioned. Nor is any mention provided of Yung Wing, the fust Chinese student grad- uated from an American university (Yale, 1854, A.B.). Unfortunately, Yung Wing's autobiography, My Life in China and America, is not readily available in an En- glish translation. Nevertheless, the centen- nial book commemorating this accomplish- ment should have been included: A Survey of Chinese Students in American Universi- ties and Colleges in the Past One Hundred Years . . . , China Institute of America, 1954). A less glaring omission is the failure to mention Chinese employment and man- agement of institutions such as the Trader Vic Restaurants-which originated in Oak- land, California. . The most serious defect, however, is the narrow bibliographic scope of the work, con£ning itself to the subject holdings of one, and only one, public library. Perhaps the next step could be compilation of a un- ion book catalog that, coupled with this bibliography, would unite "Chinese in U.S." title-holdings in a multitude of libraries. An excellent pioneering effort, nevertheless, that is recommended as indispensable for collections concentrating on Chinese settle- ment in the United States, or as an addi- tional purchase for "American Minorities and Race Relations" collections.-Paul A. Snowman III, Formerly Assistant Librarian, Sullivan County Community College, South Fallsburg, New York. Evans, Frank D., The Administration of Modern Archives: A Select Biblio- graphic Guide. Office of the National Archives, Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Record Service, General Services Administration, 1970. Dr. Evans has brought together here the only comprehensive bibliography of archi- val literature in English in one volume since 1942, when Solon Buck and Ernst Posner compiled their Selected References on Phases of Archival Administration. In his words, "This guide is con£ned almost exclu- sively to writings in the English language, and its emphasis is upon archival theory and practice in the United States." This is a classi£ed bibliography, .. orga- nized according to archival functions." One weakness is that any individual writing that relates to more than one topic will not be cross-referenced for the topic ( s) under