College and Research Libraries


58 I College & Research Libraries • January 1974 

tics ( 0) the price of admission to their con-
tent (C); and lend themselves to uses (U) 
determined by content (C) and/or physi-
cal characteristics (0 ). Maintenance of a 
library collection clearly requires control of 
these circumstances, internally ( c1 ), per-
taining to the documents available within 
the collection, and externally ( c2 ), pertain-
ing to documents available elsewhere. . . . 
The bibliothecal situation permits access to 
the documents it controls in terms of these 
documents, i.e., in terms of the 0-C-U 
syndrome symptomatic of the documents. 
Its indigenous concept of use is that gen-
erated in and by the documents." (Rawski, 
"The Interdisciplinarity of Librarianship," 
p.129) 

None of the individual articles are out-
standing and many (e.g., Tauber on book 
catalogs) are primarily restatements of 
views expressed previously, and often bet-
ter, by the same authors in other papers. 
Only Fairthorne on "The Symmetries of 
Ignorance" and Mountford on "Writing-
System: A Datum in Bibliographical De-
scription" seem to be of real merit. 

Mterthought: Select which of the fol-
lowing quotations by Shera from reviews 
of Scarecrow Press books applies to this 
book: 

(a) "assuming the hordes will buy it at 
such an exorbitant price" ( 354); 

(b) "at seven [fifteen] 'bucks' for a 
typescript format" ( 373); or 

(c) "there is the price of $10 [$15] for 
a book of some 400 [ 500] pages, repro-
duced by photocopy from unjustified type-
written texts" ( 381) .-Norman Stevens, 
University of Connecticut Library, Storrs, 
Connecticut. 

Pearson, Neville P. and Butler, Lucius A. , 
eds. Learning Resources Centers: Select-
ed Readings. Minneapolis, Minn.: Bur-
gess Publishing Company, 1973. $4.95. 

As the subtitles indicate, this paperback 
volume is an anthology. The broad topic is 
subdivided into five areas: "Concept and 
Theory," ~'Learning Resource Centers in 
the Elementary School," "Secondary-School 
Learning Resource Centers," "Higher Edu-
cation Learning Resource Centers," and 
"Applications of Learning Resource Centers 
in Special Areas." 

To quantify the evaluation of fifty-five 
of these readings, here are two tables: 

JoURNAL OF ORIGINAL PuBLICATION 

Library 
Education, General 
Education, Specialized, 

e.g. School Shop, 
junior college, etc. 

Audiovisual 

Nation,al Regional 
3 1 

14 8 

19 
10 

DATES OF ORIGINAL PUBLICATION 

1963 
1964 
1965 
1966 
1967 
1968 
1969 
1970 

1 
0 
2 
9 

13 
12 
11 
7 

At a time such as this when library bud.: 
gets are being slashed and librarians' roles 
and values seriously questioned, the review-
er harbors several reservations about this 
book. One of these the editors identify in 
their Preface when they write: "For years 
our schools have had libraries-collections 
of mostly print-type material. ... The addi-
tion of audio-visual materials has resulted 
sometimes in a happy marriage into the 
new instructional material centers. . . ~ 
There has been a widespread development 
of IMC's in concept and operation, but 
there is still less than 100 percent use of 
these collections. . . . So, the Learning R~ 
source Center, immediately adjacent to the 
Science Department, or the Math Depart-
ment, or whatever subject area, came into· 
being." Mter these professors of education· 
tell us that libraries in schools, whatever 
their current name, have failed to justify 
their existence, what is recommended as a 
remedy? Jack Tanzman, in his article in 
LRC, p.95, writes: .. Despite the fancy 
name, the resource center is nothing more 
than the old study hall, outfitted with some 
new equipment and materials." By accept-
ing learning resource centers as if they were 
a new program of education, librarians join 
the educator's game of musical chairs. In-
stead of redefining program, we librarians 
continue to concentrate on the design of li-
brary quarters and the development of ma-
terials. These tools, however, are not pur-
pose. By thus . asking only the technical 
questions, school and college librarians are 



freed from having to live the gut question, 
"What are librarians partners in education 
for?" 

Datedness is another criticism of this 
book. These journal articles which were 
originally current comments have become 
historical documents after six to nine years. 
They are presented out of their initial con-
text and without follow-up. The drying up 
of the Hood of federal spending serves to 
make prose that explains operations that 
were projected or prototype in 1966-69 just 
empty rhetoric in 1973. 

Two 1966 pieces by John E. Tirrell offer 
another example of the gulf between librar-
ian and educational administrator implicit 
in LRC. The program he reports at Oak-
land Community College, Oakland, Michi-
gan is a combination of programmed learn-
ing (curriculum materials) and indepen-
dent study (time factor required by each 
individual to cover material), supported by 
a tutor. No word is offered as to what has 
happened to these "Tutorial Laboratories" 
in the ensuing six years. Tirrell seems to 
think that Oakland Community College in-
vented the functions of Reference, Reader's 
Adviser, and Instruction in Use of Library 
Materials, when as we all know, these are 
traditional library services. The tutorial lab-
oratory of O.C.C. employs library materials 
as the heart of the instructional program; 
in doing so, it practices what library text-
books steadfastly preach. Tirrell's situation 
is unusual in that it makes a success of li-
brary service when most educational li-
braries are failing. 

Two factors of bookmaking limit the vol-
ume's usefulness. The editors included no 
identification of the authors beyond their 
names. This lack makes a thorough knowl-
edge of the literature in all the fields in-
cluded necessary in order to independently 
evaluate the authority of the writings in 
LRC. 

The emphasis of this book should not be 
a surprise to those who know Drs. Butler 
and Pearson. For those who do not, a part 
of their biographical entries from Leaders 
in Education, 4th edition, 1971 is included 
in this review. Under the heading of "Pro-
fessional Interest" is found for Butler: 
"Training of professional media personnel 
for integrated instructional materials cen-
ters," for Pearson: , "The field of education-

Recent Publications I 59 

al technology, audiovisual education in all 
its ramifications." 

There is a spate of new titles on this spe-
cific subject, though not all of them define 
it as does LRC. A few minutes spent with 
the 1972 Subject Guide to Books in Print 
reveals these figures in areas where subject-
matter overlap is certain to exist: There are 
fifteen titles under "Individualized Instruc-
tion," eight under "Instructional Materials 
Centers," forty-three on "Libraries, High 
School," thirty-eight on "College and U Di-
versity Libraries," etc. There does not seem 
to be a void waiting to be filled by this vol-
ume. Especially so since the projects report-
ed in it herald the good news of federal 
funding at the moment in time of its cruci-
fixion. Do, then, consider its place in your 
collection with these grains of salt before 
you purchase.-Carolyn C. Leopold, for-
merly librarian, American Council on Edu-
cation, Washington, D.C. 

Stimson, Catharine R., ed. (in conjunction 
with the Congressional Information Ser-
vice, Washington, D.C.) Discrimination 
against Women; Congressional Hearings 
on Equal Rights in Education and Em-
ployment. New York: Bowker, 1973. 
558p. 

In June and July 1970, the Special Sub-
committee on Education of the House Com-
mittee on Education and Labor, chaired by 
Representative Edith Green (Oregon), held 
hearings on Section 805 of House Resolu-
tion 16098, the Omnibus Post-Secondary 
Education Act of 1970. The intent of Sec-
tion 805 was to eliminate sex discrimina-
tion in employment by federal government 
contractors and by educational institutions, 
to bring matters relating to sex discrimina-
tion under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Civil 
Rights Commission, and to bring executive, 
admini~trative, and professional employees 
under the equal pay for equal work provi-
sion of the Fair Labor Standards Act. 

The Government Printing Office in 1971 
issued the oral testimony and written docu-
ments that were placed in the record of the 
hearings, plus some prepared statements 
and supplemental materials in a two vol-
ume set titled, Discrimination against 
Women. Hearings . ... The work reviewed 
here is an edited version of the GPO edition