College and Research Libraries 418 I College & Research Libraries • September 1972 service to children, growth of the library catalog, etc.). Introduced by a short intro- duction, these topic headings all end with a bibliography of suggested "Additional Readings." Due to the potential student audience for such a work, such frivolous study-impair- ments as text-illustrations or an index have been omitted. One may criticize the litho- graph cover illustration depicting an interi- or scene of an English library, drawn by ei- ther David Loggan (1635-1700?) or one of his contemporaries. This cover is stan- dard for all titles in this series. A seven- teenth century English library interior may be an appropriate cover for a Reader in Li- brary Administration or Reader in the Aca- demic Library, etc.; but as the single illus- tration for a book dealing with American library history, it is of questionable value. Other criticisms include misspelled words within the text, such as "Pennsylvaina" (p. 204), "farily" (p. 175) and "made" in the phrase "could made an exchange" (p. 66). An identical Justin Winsor quotation appears in two neighboring selections (p. 206 and p. 212). Unlike the earlier American Libmry His- tory Reader ( ed. by John David Marshall), no separate biographical essays on Ameri- can librarians are included. Marshall's book was compiled from papers delivered before the American Library History Roundtable; whereas Harris depends upon bibliographi- cal selection from among a multitude of widely scattered subject-related materials. On the whole, this is an excellent, thought- fully-constructed reader that can be heartily recommended for background study in American intellectual history or library sci- ence-oriented reserve collections.-Paul A. Snowman, III, form erly at Sullivan Coun- ty Community College, South Fallsburg, New York. Conference on Interlibrary Communica- tions and Information Networks Pro- ceedings. Joseph Becker, ed. (and con- ference director) . Chicago: ALA, 1971. $15.00 (Sponsored by the American Li- brary Association and the U.S. Office of Education, Bureau of Libraries and Edu- cational Technology held at Airlie House, Warrenton, Virginia, Sept. 28, 1970- 0ct. 2, 1970). These are the proceedings of what must be the most elaborate, expensive, and well- organized library conference yet held. A planning group, representing some seven- teen professional organizations, worked for over a year to plan the conference and to commission thirty-one studies that were distributed in advance to the 125 invited participants who were selected to represent all interested professional communities, all types of libraries and information centers, all geographic areas, and "new blood." The participants were then convened for five days to "identify and discuss the proposi- tions fundamental to the establishment and operation of a national network of libraries and information centers." They were given three tutorial sessions-one on telecommu- nications, one on librarianship and interli- brary cooperation, and one on computer concepts and the relationship of the com- puter to library automation-in order to provide a common basis for the terminology and concepts of the interdisciplinary groups represented; heard a keynote speech on "Federal Telecommunications Policy and Library Information Networks"; and then organized into five working groups-net- work needs and development, network ser- vices, network technology, network organi- zation, and network planning-which ex- amined in detail the commissioned papers, discussed the issues, and prepared written summary reports of discussions and recom- mendations. These recommendations, un- fortunately, consisted mainly of statements of sentiments that all can endorse but few can enforce. ("Personal privacy and other human considerations should be protected in the interface with technology, and free- dom of access to information without the constraints of censorship should be guaran- teed.") The conference passed two major resolu- tions. The first asked "That, as a matter of priority, the National Commission on Li- braries and Information Science devise a comprehensive plan to facilitate the coordi- nated development of the nation's libraries, information centers, and other knowledge resources." The second asked the Federal Communications Commission to allocate specific frequencies for space and terrestial noncommercial public and educational ser- vices, including library and information ser- vices. In his introduction to this volume the editor and conference director summarizes his personal observations of the conference as follows: ( 1) the papers represent the most comprehensive collection of material on networks available; ( 2) a national net- work of libraries and information centers appears to be a viable concept; ( 3) the in- dividual is the one to be served by a na- tional network; ( 4) the development of the network concept is an interdisciplinary task; ( 5) libraries and information centers will need to be "proactive" rather than reactive; and ( 6) new patterns of organization that will permit networks. to operate effectively must be developed, and meaningful net- work development cannot be imposed from the top down but must grow from grass- roots motivation and support. It is, inciden- tally, difficult to reconcile this observation with the conference resolution asking the National Commission to devise a compre- hensive plan. This publication presents the thirty-one commissioned papers, the five working group summary reports, a bibliography, and, as an epilogue, a poetic parody Hia- watha's Network. While the papers are un- even, contain much duplication (Gone With the Wind is constantly being trans- mitted by telefacsimile in two minutes but Ralph Shaw's slow messenger is nowhere to be seen), and too often consist of specu- lation about networks they do, in general, bear out Becker's conclusion that this is the most comprehensive source of information on networks available. In particular the papers by Casey, Hacker, Hayes, Kenney, Miller and Weber, and Lynden represent good summaries of the historical develop- ment of networks. On the other hand it is hard to believe that the network concepts of the future as described by Licklider and Samuelson will be attained by 1980, as Licklider suggests. The papers of most sig- nificance are those by Bunge ("Reference Service in the Information Network"), Chapin ("Limits of Local Self Sufficien- cy"), and Dennis ("The Relation of Social Science Data Archives to Libraries and Wider Information Networks") which rep- resent analyses of and commentaries upon present-day practices and problems. Recent Publications I 419 The rna jor value of the conference was probably the preparation and publication of this information. It is difficult to see how the conference otherwise advanced the cause of networks. There are now, and were at the time this conference was planned, many elements of a network in ex- istence. A major conference of those active- ly involved in those elements which dis- cussed ways of developing standards and practical bases of cooperation and inter- communication would certainly have been a more productive use of the grant funds than the discussions represented here. The most distressing element of this con- ference, however, is how little attention was paid to the major question of what it is libraries have to communicate and what the real purpose of a national network is. Only Chapin's paper seems to have directly addressed this problem and there is little evidence in the working group summaries that anyone at the conference paid much attention to it. His paper deserves further attention, especially the conclusion that "Elaborate schemes, at great expense, that do little more than make the last 3 or 4 per- cent of materials available are likely to be [and should be] rejected by librarians and the public."-Norman D. Stevens, Univm·- sity of Connecticut. OTHER BOOKS OF INTEREST TO ACADEMIC LIBRARIANS American Book Publishing Record Annual Cumulative 1971. New York: R. R. Bow- ker Co., 1972. 1087p. $35.00. (66-19741). (ISBN 0-3852-0531-2). Appleton, Marion B., ed. Index of Pacific Northwest Portraits. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1972, 210p. $7.50. (70-38982). (ISBN 0-295-95179-6). Bachman, Jerald G., Green, Swayzer and Wirtanen, Ilona D. Youth in Transition. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, 1971. 250p. (79-630045). (ISBN 87944-111- 9). Berlin, Charles, ed. Studies in Jewish Bibli- ography History and Literature; In Honor of I. Edward Kiev. New York: KTAV