College and Research Libraries


164 I College & Research Libraries • March 1973 

standable) determination to refrain from 
expressing opinion on the information re-
ceived through questionnaires, interviews, 
and correspondence. Presumably, the book 
before us is an edited and partly expanded 
version of the dissertation. It is, however, 
still very much the report on the specific 
survey complete with all annexes, and the 
question should be raised whether an ab-
stract in the form of a long article would not 
have served the purpose of the uninformed 
reader better. It seems the irony of ironies 
that the recently sharply increased publica-
tion, in book form, of surveys and disserta-
tions in the library field is taking place in 
a period when other learned disciplines are 
criticized by librarians for having done just 
that. 

Mter a description of the background and 
the design of the survey, Nemeyer gives a 
brief overview of the history of copying, 
ending with a fascinating chapter on the 
various government sponsored reprinting ef-
forts during World War II. The author then 
reports on the survey, viewing the many as-
pects of reprinting through the opinions of 
publishers and librarians, with a statistical 
analysis of published bibliographical tools. 
There are no specific conclusions other than 
the expressed need for more cooperation 
between the two identified market elements 
(where are the real consumers: the read-
ers??) and the recommendation that reprint 
publishers should join the A.A.P. A series 
of appendixes and indexes conclude this 
volume, of which we should mention the di-
rectory of reprint publishers. 

There is undoubtedly no task more diffi-
cult than writing history while it is happen-
ing and N em eyer deserves full credit for a 
courageous and largely successful effort. 

Many future studies will be needed be-
fore a clear economic and behavioral pic-
ture can be developed. The most intriguing 
question remains unanswered for the time 
being: Did the demand create the supply; 
was it the supply which led to the demand, 
or were both elements at work? 

Despite all previous comments, N e-
m eyer's book is required reading for all in-
terested in and concerned about the effect 
of modern publishing on the needs of the 
scholarly community.-Hendrik Edelman, 
Cornell University Libraries, Ithaca, New 
York. 

Patrick, Ruth J., Guidelines for Library 
Cooperation, California: System Develop-
ment Corporation, 1972, 200p. $12.00. 

This book accompanies the Directory of 
Academic Library Consortia as a joint 
product from a United States Office of Edu-
cation contract with the Systems Develop-
ment Corporation. The purpose of the study 
was to "develop a fund of descriptive and 
prescriptive information about activities of 
academic library consortia in the United 
States with the ultimate aim of providing 
guidance for libraries that are forming or 
planning to form consortia." 

The phase of the project reported herein 
was based on a case-study analysis of ££teen 
selected academic library consortia using 
field interviews. Although the information 
is slight in some respects, the book is de-
signed to be a handbook or "cookbook" for 
consortia design, and in that respect it will 
be very useful. Network definitions and 
structures are vague at best, and suggestions 
on making a start are welcome. There are 
so many little details that tend to get lost in 
the excitement of planning large cooperative 
projects-yet these details will suddenly be-
come obstacles in accomplishing the larger 
task. 

It has been stated that libraries cooperate 
more readily when they are poor. As the 
Guidelines properly point out, it takes mon-
ey to cooperate. The work involved is be-
yond the routines of normal operation; the 
funding of meetings and travel has to be 
supported. It is difficult to assemble people 
because the meetings are voluntary rather 
than required, and if monies are not avail-
able to support early efforts, contributed 
time may be difficult to obtain on a sus-
tained basis. 

The section on evaluation, though brief, 
is especially useful in that it outlines tech-
niques and purposes of this device which 
is too often neglected by network planners. 

In 1969, G. Flint Purdy outlined the 
range of cooperative activities that could be 
undertaken by library networks. This article, 
appearing in Library Quarterly, must by 
now be considered a seminal treatment in 
the organizational form of these functions. 
Several subsequent studies, including the 
Guidelines, have used his outline, although 
the inclusion of that network profile here is 

• 



merely to show and comment on the rela-
tionship of listed activities to the data gath-
ered from the survey results. 

For any planner deciding on the menu 
of activities for a network and needing sug-
gestions on how to get there, Guidelines 
will be a useful tool. The ingredients will 
not all be applicable, and there will be a 
pinch more of this and a teaspoon less of 
that, but it will serve as a point of departure 
from which adjustments can be made to re-
flect local goals, resources, and needs. That 
is, after all, what library cooperation is all 
about.-Donald D. Hendricks, Director of 
the Library, The University of Texas Health 
Science Center, Dallas, Texas. 

Lancaster, F. W. Vocabulary Control for 
Information R·etrieval, Information Re-
sources Press, 1972. 
This is an exceptionally well done cover-

age of a topic vital to library practice as well 
as computer-based reference retrieval. It fo-
cuses its attention on vocabulary control and 
presents virtually every relevant aspect in 
a lucid, well organized, thoroughly illustrat-
ed, and technically informed manner. The 
professional in the field will find it as val-
uable as the student and teacher. 

The content can roughly be divided into 
three parts: 

( 1) A general classification of various 
kinds of vocabularies, with a more 
detailed description of each (Chap-
ters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 19). 

( 2) An analysis of the various steps in 
creating and maintaining a vocabu-
lary (Chapters 6, 17, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 
and 12). 

( 3) A discussion of the use of a vocabu-
lary (or set of them) (Chapters 13, 
24; 14, 15, 16; 20, 21, 22, 23; and 
18). 

The general classification is now a classic 
one: precoordinated vocabularies (subject 
headings and classifications) and postcoor-
dinated ones (thesauri and more restrictive 
word lists) . While making this division, 
Lancaster is careful to point out that the dis-
tinctions, although conceptually clear, are 
blurred in practice. The detailed discussions 
are richly illustrated with examples and 
thorough comparative analyses. 

The processing steps discussed include 
generating the vocabulary conceptually, 

Recent Publications I 165 

pragmatically, and mechanically (the latter 
as part of an excellent discussion of auto-
matic indexing and classification), org~niz­
ing and displaying it, establishing standards 
for it, providing reference structures for it, 
and updating it. A full chapter is devoted 
to a discussion of the use of computers in 
carrying out these processes. Again, a 
wealth of specific examples are presented, 
each with illustrations, analyses, and com-
parisons. 

To his discussion of the use of vocabu-
laries, especially in evaluation of their in-
fluence on system performance, Lancaster 
brings his own knowledge of this crucial is-
sue. Since he has previously written about 
the criteria and procedures for evaluating 
performance, he simply summarizes them 
here, but then pays specific attention to the 
causes of retrieval failure due to vocabulary. 
The discussions of forms of syntax and other 
rules for use of a vocabulary, of auxiliary de-
vices for reducing failures due to vocabulary 
(such as links, roles, and other relational in-
dicators), or "natural language" uses, and 
of compatibility between languages are all 
equally well informed and well illustrated. 
Special attention is paid to the uses of vo-
cabulary in "on-line" situations. 

In summary, this book is heartily recom-
mended to everyone concerned with the 
field of information retrievaL-Robert M. 
Hayes, Executive Vice-President, Becker & 
Hayes Inc., Los Angeles, California. 

West, Celeste, and Katz, Elizabeth, eds. 
Revolting Librarians. San Francisco: 
Booklegger Press, 1972. Distributed by 
the American Library Association, Chica-
go. 158p. $2.00 ppd. 
The pun in the title is intended, of 

course, for here is a collection of 30-odd 
poems, stories, and articles on revolting li-
brarians-those who revolt against the sys-
tem and those who are revolting because 
they are the system. Ms. Katz and Ms. 
West are well known around the San Fran-
cisco Bay Area as members of the former 
group. Celeste is currently editor of Syner-
gy, the graphically (and intellectually) ex-
citing publication of the Bay Area Reference 
Center; Elizabeth is part-time librarian in 
the San Francisco Public Library. 

Visually the book resembles Synergy. I 
recommend that you at least look at it even