College and Research Libraries .,. ... searchers need to know literature searching techniques, and the importance of inter- disciplinary developments on the effective- ness of bibliographical activities. Chapter one compares 665 general social science terms with those found in the Library of Congress Subject Heading List; chapter two relates the subject heading and inter- disciplinary social science terms; chapter three compares subject headings and terms in sociology; chapter four compares subdi- visions in social science with subject head- ings; chapter five compares the term "val- ue"; and chapters six and seven deal with the degree to which subject headings refer to books basic to the study of the field. The author draws both general and spe- cific conclusions. He finds that there is a wide conceptual gulf between social sci- ence and library science (or rather how li- brary science looks at social science) and that it seems evident that such a gulf only complicates research and teaching in social science. The results indicate a need for a philosophical change within library science to perhaps a more contemporary approach. The subject heading approach of library science does not meet the needs of social science. The author has made a relatively simple exploratory step into a much needed area of research. He has designed a methodology which is relatively sound and within a nar- rowly defined area is valid. There might be some question as to the validity of com- paring two schemes which are philosophi- cally opposed to start with, one designed as an index to an encyclopedia, and the other designed as a broad subject access to a gen- eral collection of books. This may be some- what incidental to the problem however. More fundamental is the question that aside from proving that library terminology is dated, is there evidence of a need for a philosophical change in approach? What is demonstrated beautifully in this study is the proverbial iceberg. The reader is presented with a picture much larger than what is actually explored, a whole se- ries of variable factors, implications, and generalizations which occasionally eclipse the basic objectives. This is perhaps a stylis- tic problem but it does detract somewhat from the palatability of the study. It should not detract however from the uniqueness Recent Publications I 319 of approach, the attempt to establish valid measures where none existed before, and the identification of many much more com- plex problems and needs for further re- search. In this sense the study could prove to be a cornerstone.-Ann F. Painter, As- sociate Professor, Drexel University, 'Phila- delphia. Mount, Ellis, ed. Planning the Special Li- brary. SLA Monograph No.4. N.Y.: Spe- cial Libraries Association, 1972. 128p. Congratulations to editor Ellis Mount for producing this attractive and well-designed volume of readings which is something of a landmark reference work in library plan- ning. Compiled from a series of papers pre- sented at a seminar entitled "Blueprint for the '70s," sponsored by the New York Chapter of SLA on April 23, 1971, this guide is, by the way, a sequel to the vol- ume edited by Chester M. Lewis in 1963 entitled Special Libraries: How to Plan and Equip Them, which grew out of a library planning seminar sponsored by SLA in 1958. It is gratifying to see so many familiar names among the contributors to this man- ual. Anything Liz Gibson writes might well be accepted as gospel even without reading it! We feel the same way about Gordon Randall, Jeanette Rockwell (nee Sledge) , Jean Flegal, Jean Deuss, and our other SLA author-colleagues. These people know their business and their essays prove it. The papers cover all aspects of the plan- ning process, from initial concepts through layout, interior design, and selection of fur- niture and equipment. Procedures for mov- ing and remodeling libraries are also dis- cussed. Each article is concise, .factual, practical, well-defined, and illustrated, if appropriate. "Space Utilization in a Special Library: Making Do with What You Get," by Gordon Randall, offers some particular- ly helpful formulae for estimating the col- lection area. In addition to the essays, special men- tion should be made of the two excellent checklists and the bibliography of selected literature contained in the manual. The RockwelljFlegal "Checklist with Guide- lines for Library Planning" is a remarkably thorough ready-reference for the library ad- 320 I College & Research Libraries • July 1973 ministrator to use in developing initial plan- ning concepts, in formulating the planned program, and in organizing the details of layout, construction, and moving. Loretta J. Kiersky's "Selection of a Microfilm Read- er: A Checklist" is noteworthy for offering a basis for examining new or updated equipment. Janice Kreider's "Bibliography on Library Planning" is useful, listing en- tries covering the period 1963-70, this up- dating Gertrude Schutze' s bibliography which surveys the literature through 1962. Seven well-selected examples of special library floor plans, six examples of new li- braries, and one example of a remodeling, are also included at the back of the manual. These examples of library planning repre- sent a variety of types, from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Library to the Metropolitan Museum of Art Slide Library. E ach example is appropriately annotated in order to be of maximum use to the read- er. Further features of the manual include a brief classified directory of manufacturers and suppliers of library equipment. A sec- tion entitled "Location of Manufacturers and Suppliers" provides addresses for the agents mentioned in the classified directory. This section is followed by a general index to the volume. We highly recommend this impressive manual. It can be used by anyone faced with the challenging prospect of planning a library-not just us "Specials" but any kind of librarian.-Charlotte Georgi and Judith Truelson, Graduate School of Man- agement, University of California, Los An- geles. Duncan, Elizabeth E. Current Awareness and the Chemist. Metuchen, N.J.: Scare- crow Press, 1972. 150p. This is the author's dissertation for the Information Science Ph.D. at Pittsburgh. A broad statement of its aims (they change in some important details as the book prog- resses) is (a) to study the effects of a new mechanized information service-SDI from CA-Condensates, the machine-readable ver- sion of Chemical Abstracts-upon existing library services, specifically the availability of those current chemical periodicals subse- quently requested by users of the search service, and (b) to try, from this, to con- struct a decision model for the acquisition of such periodicals. The first of these is a problem currently exercising almost every- one working in this area; realization of the second seems still some way off, but both are certainly reasonable topics for a doctor- al project. The usual dissertation format is followed; review of the literature, background to the investigation, method of operation, report of work, evaluation of results. However, it transpired that the first part of the work yielded no data on usage, because no usage could be observed; the second part was thus never even approached. It is a commonplace that some investiga- tions do turn out to be dead ends; that is in the nature of honest scientific inquiry, it need not render the effort valueless, and it is not the point at issue here. Unfortu- nately Ms. Duncan apparently neither saw nor was shown an appropriate means to ex- tricate herself, and the result is a confused and disappointing study. One example will suffice. Her data showing no discernible re- lationship between the CA-Condensates output sent to a chemist and that chemist's demand for current periodical literature, Ms. Duncan decided to observe in the Pitt Chemistry Library the use of the printed Chemical Abstracts, in hopes of discover- ing by field-work something of a chemist's information habits. She watched for one hour forty minutes at different times of day for five working weeks and she logged pre- cisely one usage, which was not, as ill-luck would have it, connected to the computer- ized information search service at all. We then get a table of complete (twenty-four- hour) usage of CA for those weeks, which the library was gathering anyway, followed by an imposing Poisson equation to calcu- late the precise probability of there being only that one usage in the more than forty hours poor Ms. Duncan was on the job. Ultimately more disturbing than these expected "sledgehammer and nut" situa- tions, or the desperate digressions such as the entire last chapter, are the failings which may fairly be regarded as indepen- dent of the direction the work took. First, the author's credentials as a researcher are questionable: in the opening of the preface we read that the data gathered in part (a) of the work "was to be used to develop and to test a decision model." Obviously, if one tests one's model using