College and Research Libraries 154 I College & Research Libraries • March 1972 which it is not classified. However, this is clearly a minor criticism and a small subject index does help. Its positive advantage as an introduction to any aspect of archival and manuscript work is of immense value, and indeed this is clearly the purpose. How much easier it is now to be able to refer to a single volume instead of combing through The American Archivist and Archivum. Some of the less common archival topics that librarians will find useful are chapters on: Cartographic and Related Records; Still Pictures and Other Pictorial Records; Mo- tion Pictures and Film Archives; Sound Re- cordings; Microphotography and Other Copying Methods; Oral History; Automa- tion and the Control of Archives and Man- uscripts. Librarians and archivists will benefit from this work. It is hoped that annual sup- plements and cumulations will follow so that maximum usefulness will be sustained. -Richard C. Berner, University of Wash- ington, Seattle. Book Catalogs. Maurice F. Tauber and Hilda Feinberg. Metuchen, N.J.: Scare- crow Press, 1971. 572p. $15.00. This collection of twenty-five papers con- stitutes a record of what has been develop- ing in the production and use of book cata- logs since the publication of Kingery and Tauber's Book Catalogs in 1963. The pa- pers cover the period 1964-1970; some pa- pers were written specifically for this vol- ume, while others are reprints of articles published in journals since 1963. The primary emphasis of the papers is on the comparison of book catalogs to card catalogs, now that technological develop- ments, particularly the computer, have made the production and updating of book catalogs feasible and economical. Coverage includes book catalogs as a substitute for or supplement to the card catalog, produc- tion costs, formats, production methods, and problems such as coding, computer fil- ing. and updating techniques. Experiences with book catalogs by specific college and university libraries, medical libraries, coun- ty library systems, public libraries, school libraries, and mail order library services are recounted. A lengthy article by Hilda Fein- berg, "Sample Book Catalogs and Their Characteristics," presents sample pages from thirty-two catalogs and gives the char- acteristics (page size, format, arrangement, general description), method of production, frequency of issue, costs, and person ( s) re- sponsible for each catalog. The one histori- cal article is John Cronin's "History of the National Union Catalog, Pre-1956 Im- prints." A lengthy, well-chosen chronologi- cal bibliography is provided for the years 1964-1970; and the editors have appended ALA's recent book catalog directory, "Book Form Catalogs: A Listing Compiled from Questionnaires Submitted to the Book Cata- logs Directory Subcommittee, ALA, 1968." There is considerable overlap and dupli- cation between papers in the collection, since many papers were not written with this volume in mind. The introduction pro- vides an overview which ties the separate papers to the main theme; the articles can- not be read separately if the reader is to get an overview of developments in the last fifteen years. Taken as a whole, however, the collection does a good job of describing new developments in and future directions of the production and use of book catalogs. On the basis of the articles, the editors pre- dict that "Recent technological advances in computer capabilities, along with de- creasing computer costs, increase the likeli- hood that librmies will venture in the fu- ture towards increased computer-aided book catalog production .... The need for card catalogs for current records and for special listings will no doubt continue." This volume is pertinent to any librarian interested in current library technology and its effects on bibliographic control and pa- tron usage of catalogs, and to any librarian contemplating the use of book catalogs in his library. It is a necessity for any library school collection.-Nancy L. Eaton, The University of Texas at Austin. Melcher on Acquisition. Daniel Melcher, with Margaret Saul. Chicago: American Library Association, 1971. ix, 169p. $8.00. This book doesn't have a subtitle-and probably doesn't need one since the three- word title says it all. But even so, I am tempted to paraphrase one, something like "Plain Language from Truthful Dan." It is the kind of book that many people would like to write but can't, because few have the ability to express themselves as suc- cinctly, as forcefully, and as engagingly as Melcher. For this is above all a personal book expressing the wise opinions and rea- sonable prejudices of a knowledgeable and rational man, one who employs wit instead of anger, and who prefers the rapier to the bludgeon as a weapon for scoring points. Of special interest and value is that Mel- cher is a publisher, so that while he is view- ing the common terrain, his perspective is 180° out of phase with that of the acquisi- tions librarian. Thus, for example, the in- credibly complicated discount structure that governs relations between publishers and wholesalers, and which the librarian is probably only aware of as a molehill on the horizon, appears close-up as the formidable mountain it is, capable of inhibiting the smooth How of books from source to ulti- mate consumer. This difference of perspec- tive does not mean that Melcher is insensi- tive or unsympathetic to the plight of the acquisitions librarian and the problems that confront the latter at his own end of the territory. If there is criticism of some tradi- tional library practices-and there is-it is not offered in shrill condemnation but as encouragement to change what is to what should be. Melcher not only wants us to take our dreams and pretentions at face val- ue, but takes it for granted that we have the capability of realizing them. Perhaps the true value of the book lies in this atmosphere of self-confidence that pervades it and in its open avowal of boot- strapism. This is not to suggest that it fa- vors exhortation over information; on the contrary, it contains a plethora of facts and figures on the operation of the book busi- ness, especially as it relates to libraries. Nor is it a how-to-do-it book in the usual sense. Rather, it offers information with the tacit assumption that a knowledgeable librarian is more capable of shrugging off the dead hand of conventional practice and of ful- filling his purpose than one who remains wholly ignorant or poorly informed. In this respect Melcher's book may appeal less to the neophyte than to the scarred veteran who still retains a spark that can be fanned into a flame of challenge to the status quo. Again and again the point is made, rein- Recent Publications I 155 forced by examples, that no situation or procedure has to be accepted or continued just because it is hallowed by tradition, that all aspects of an operation should be exam- ined and judged on how efficiently they contribute to the ultimate purpose of get- ting books to readers. And always Melcher advocates grass roots solutions, which he defines as ". . . solutions which grow out of the problems ... ," as opposed to " ... pre- packaged solutions imported from else- where." (The latter he feels " ... are about as satisfactory as mail order dentures.") It is hard not to want to respond to this kind of approach with a new surge of determi- nation to make things better and make them work. If some of the author's confi- dence in an individual's ability to dominate the institutional system he is a part of is ab- sorbed by the reader, librarianship in gen- eral and acquisitions work in particular can- not help but benefit. Earlier I alluded to Melcher's prejudices. (I called them reasonable ones and will stick with that despite the paradox.) Some of them are well known by now, but the reader should enjoy encountering these once more and others for the first time. Melcher is not one to stand mute before the sacred cows and begged questions of li- brarianship, but his observations are con- sh·uctive, not retaliatory, and he is practi- cally one of the family. While he may be a heretic, he is not an apostate. If I were to indulge myself in a minor disappointment, it would be that he allows to stand unchallenged the concept that a primary objective of an acquisitions depart- ment is speed in getting books to readers. Better is faster. It may well be true, but I would have enjoyed a hard-nosed Melcher appraisal of it so I could be sure. But on the other hand, I suppose a man who has lost his faith in computers and the Library of Congress has to retain belief in some- thing.-Howard A. Sullivan, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan. OTHER BOOKS OF INTEREST TO ACADEMIC LIBRARIANS Adamson, John William. Pioneers of Mad- ern Education in the Seventeenth Cen- tury. New York: Teachers College Press, 1971. 285p. $6.95. (79-165366).