College and Research Libraries


232 j College & Research Libraries • May 1975 

unobtrusive measures, such as citation 
studies and more refined methods yet to be 
discovered, will indicate both the inBu-
ence of Tauber upon his contemporaries 
and the status of library operations of vari-
ous types in the period covered. 

Finally, one trusts that his biobibliogra-
phy will not mean that Tauber's work has 
come to an end. There is still much to be 
done, particularly in the improvement of 
survey methods towards more objectivity, 
better measurement activity, and less ob-
trusiveness in the surveyors. Tauber's 
unique experience makes him an extremely 
valuable asset in aiding such future devel-
opment.-Phyllis A. Richmond, School of 
Library Science, Case Western Reserve 
University, Cleveland, Ohio. 

Maxwell, Margaret. Shaping a Library: 
William L. Clements as Collector. Am-
sterdam: Nico Israel, 1973. 364p. 
After reading Shaping a Library: William 

L. Clements as Collector by Margaret Max-
well, I decided to set it aside for a couple 
of weeks and see what came through after. 
I am afraid not a great deal, although I re-
call the physical format (and I am not look-
ing at it here) as rather ugly: the first part 
of the title in white not very clear against 
a light-tan jacket, the covers in a nonde-
script dark green, and the stitching showing 
in the pages throughout. So much for aes-
thetics. 

The book itself reads like a doctoral dis-
sertation, which I believe it was-with the 
usual earnest stance, mishmosh of purpose, 
etc. I think the problem here is a falling be-
tween several stools: biography, antiquarian 
book collecting, and room-at-the-top aca-
demic hanky-panky. I was interested to 
note that Clements was an all-American 
boy who sprouted via his father's firm and 
his own admitted industrial talent, into the 
manufacturing big-time of heavy machin-
ery. At the beginning of the book, biogra-
phy is heavy; thereafter it is spattered 
throughout, but with little relation to its 
subject as collector. 

To me, the academic jockeying over the 
true research value of the library-the col-
lector of Americana versus the "what-can-
it-do-for-my-research?'' boys in history and 

the trustee versus the university librarian 
(a very unfair match indeed) -was of con-
siderable interest. I am myself ambivalent 
in the matter of the obvious monetary and 
bibliographical value of rare books and 
manuscripts as contrasted to the evident re-
search worth of aesthetically drab and rela-
tively inexpensive photographic reproduc-
tions of such material. My own feeling is 
that any collector, and Clements was indis-
putably one of the greats, has the absolute 
right to spend his money as he pleases, just 
as he has a right to build what he fancies 
to house his collection. What the value of 
a collection of rare Americana as source 
material for research may be over the long 
haul is another matter. Maxwell speaks of 
rivers, I believe, of written research pour-
ing forth from the Clements Library, and 
I would have liked to see some current use, 
research, and acquisitions figures. That the 
Clements Library structure provides shelter 
and its contents titillation for visiting lu-
minaries and, I presume, eminent Michi-
ganders seems largely unrelated to scholar-
ly endeavor and perhaps a sign of the de-
cay of the times. 

I think Clements' insistence upon the 
proper use and treatment of his library is 
admirable, as is his creation of the kind of 
library housing that appears less and less 
frequently in this age of multimedia and 
hardware. But, then, I am not sure that the 
tone and ardor of his collecting really live 
in the book in hand. However, few great 
bookmen have been so fortunate in mem-
ory as Dr. Rosenbach, who buys, plots, and 
lives in every page of Wolf and Fleming's 
fine biography. 

What do we have if we ask the following 
routine questions: ( 1) What is the author 
trying to do? ( 2) How well does she do it? 
( 3) Is it worth doing? Certainly Clements 
as a collector and, really, librarian is worth 
study; and this is done passably. All in all, 
then, the book seems a not unworthwhile 
effort to treat a subject that commands 
some attention. Bibliographically, the pre-
sentation is not very sturdy; but the book 
itself is well researched. Biographically, the 
strokes at portrayal are determined but not 
particularly effective. However, the aca-
demic background which sets off collector 



and library is sketched rather well. It is in-
teresting to pursue the fortuitous dance of 
atoms that led Clements to Randolph 
Adams, a noted librarian.-Ted Grieder, 
Fales Library, Elmer Bobst Library, New 
York University. 

Lubans, John, Jr., ed. Educating the Li-
brary User. New York: Bowker, 1974. 
435p. $14.50. 

All a reviewer's hoary cliches apply to 
Lubans' collection of essays-it is uneven, 
contains too much material, has rather 
fuzzily defined objectives, and even lacks 
an index. Nevertheless, Educating the Li-
brary User is one of the most useful and at 
times inspiring state-of-the-art books to 
come along in quite awhile. 

Lubans has brought together some forty 
original essays on every facet of library in-
struction, from the elementary school to the 
technological university and from the li-
brary tour to videotape. Essentially de-
scriptive, the work pretends to be a bit 
more; the first two sections, half the book, 
supposedly present a rationale for instruc-
tion and a discussion of faculty involvement 
in library-use education. In fact, however, 
the best essays in these sections are 
straight-forward descriptions of programs 
at specific schools or educational levels. A 
mention of rationale or faculty involvement 
seems incidental to the thrust of the essays. 
In any case, Farber's essay on library in-
struction at Earlham College is brilliant 
and humbling; equally good are essays on 
instruction in undergraduate libraries by 
Passarelli and Abell and in four-year-college 
libraries by Kirk. 

The second half of the book describes the 
implementation and evaluation of library 
instruction programs. Included are both 
overviews of particular instructional tech-
niques (tours, computer-assisted instruc-
tion, etc. ) and descriptions of particular 
programs. Many of the essays are excellent, 
espechilly so given the seeming dryness of 
the subject matter. Lynch .on library tours 
and McCormick on handbooks should be-
come required reading for those wanting 
to improve their library's approach to such 
orientation techniques. Rader's "helpful 
hints" are an accurate summary for those 

Recent Publications / 233 

planning credit courses in bibliography. 
The most noticeable failures in the book 

are the essays by teaching faculty, both 
from library schools and from outside · the 
field. The essay by Starkey ("Library-Use 
Instruction: A College Teacher's View-
point") unintentionally shows us how far 
we have to go in faculty relations. The au-
thor, a professor of education, mentions the 
word ''librarian" only once--and in the sen-
tence "Have one librarian escort each group 
of five people on a guided tour of the li-
brary." A history professor writes on the in-
triguing topic, "The Lecture-Textbook Syn-
drome and Library Use," but uses his space 
to offer a diatribe against "our ludicrous 
system of mass education," as he puts it. 
Wondering why Lubans included such ma-
terial, one supposes that having cajoled a 
faculty member into submitting an essay, 
it would take considerable temerity to leave 
it out. 

The two essays from library school deans 
are not much better. Goggin on library in-
struction at universities does only a super-
ficial survey. Breivik writes on library in-
struction and the library school, a worthy 
enough topic, but seems to have little con-
viction that library instruction has a place 
in the professional curriculum. She winds 
up plumping for her school's course on "the 
non-user in an urban setting" and for 
changing the name of library instruction to 
"Individualization of Communication Con-
trols" (I) 

One should not emphasize the book's 
failings, however, because it contairis so 
much that is useful. It should become the 
basic work for beginning research in li-
brary instruction; it includes both a biblio-
graphic essay and a nine-page selected bib-
liography, and most articles contain ex-
tensive notes. Every library instruction 
practitioner will want it nearby for its de-
scription of successful programs and lists 
of dos and don'ts. And it would be eye-
opening auxiliary reading for librarianship 
students taking reference courses. 

Lest we feel smug about American ac-
complishments, Earnshaw's essay on the co-
operative production of audiovisual biblio-
graphic aids in the United Kingdom shows 
how much could be done if our national or-
ganizations-and the directors of university