College and Research Libraries


74 I College & Research Libraries • january 1976 

for College Libraries: Approximately 14,000 
Titles Selected on the Recommendation of 200 
College Teachers, Librarians and Other Ad-
visers, prepared by Charles B. Shaw, 2d pre-
liminary ed. ( Chicago: American Library Asso-
ciation, 1931. 810p.) A supplement covering 
1931-1938 material still in print appeared in 
1940. Books for College Libraries: A Selected 
List of Approximately 53,400 Titles Based on 
the Initial Selection Made for the University of 
California's New Campuses Program and Se-
lected with the Assistance of College Teachers, 
Librarians, and Other Advisers, prepared under 
the direction of Melvin J. Voigt and Joseph H. 
Treyz ( Chicago: American Library Association, 
1967. 1056p. ). 

2. The makeup of the set is as follows: Vol. I 
(Humanities: classes A-BD, BH-BX, M-N. 250 
p.) .-Vol. II (Language and Literature: 
classes P-PZ, 452p. )-Vol. III (History: 
classes C-F. 349p.) .-Vol. IV (Social Sci-
ences: classes G-L. 372p. ) .-Vol. V ( Psy-
chology. Science. Technology. Bibliography: 
classes BF, Q-Z. 257p.).-Vol. VI (Index: 
Author Index, p.1-144; Title Index, p.l45-
388; Subject Index, p.389-402). Fiction in 
English is classed, not in LC's PZ, but by 
national origin. 

Myers, Margaret, and Scarborough, Mayra, 
eds. Women in Librarianship: Melvil's 
Rib Symposium. Proceedings of the Elev-
enth Annual Symposium Sponsored by 
the Alumni and the Faculty of the Rut-
gers University Graduate School of Li-
brary Service. (Issues in the Library and 
Information Sciences, no.2) New Bruns-
wick, N.J.: Bureau of Library and Infor-
mation Science Research, Rutgers Uni-
versity Graduate School of Library 
Service, 1975. 112p. $4.95. (ISBN 0-
8135-0807-X) 

Sellen, Betty-Carol, and Marshall, Joan K., 
eds. Women in a Woman's Profession: 
Strategies. Proceedings of the Preconfer-
ence on the Status of Women in Librari-
anship Sponsored by the American Li-
brary Association Social Responsibilities 
Round Table Task Force on the Status 
of Women, Douglass College, Rutgers 
University, July 1974. 90p. $3.50. 
(Available from Betty-Carol Sellen, 
Brooklyn College Library, Brooklyn, NY 
11210.) 

The urgent need to develop specific strat-
egies to end sex discrimination in librarian-
ship is underscored by the concurrent pub-

lication of proceedings of two conferences 
concerning the status of women in the pro-
fession. 

The Rutgers symposium, more traditional 
in format, included delivery of papers with 
audience discussion. Harold Wooster's fa-
ble, "How the Library Changed Its Spots-
An Ain't So Story," is followed by Anita R. 
Schiller's "Sex and Library Careers," a his-
torical and statistical review of occupational 
inequality between the sexes: 

Whatever occupation we examine ... very 
consistently . . . women earn lower salaries 
than men . . . are concentrated in the low-
er level jobs, and ... tend to be segregated 
into those positions that are typed for the 
female sex. . . . It is not due simply to the 
willful discrimination of prejudiced males 
[but] ... institutional conditions-social, 
economic and cultural ( p.l4). 

Especially pertinent for academic librari-
ans is her analysis of varying career pat-
terns of men and women librarians: 

Women librarians are more likely to work 
in school libraries, where about nine out of 
every ten librarians are women, than in li-
braries of other types, and least so in aca-
demic libraries, where the corresponding 
figure is just over six out of ten. However, 
if work in each type of library is ranked by 
the level of esteem it is accorded, the rank-
ing is ordered precisely in reverse ... aca-
demic libraries are at the top and school 
libraries at the bottom ( p.15). 
Psychologist Carol W. Sherif's "Dreams 

and Dilemmas of Being a Woman Today" 
pokes holes in sociological and psychologi-
cal argumei}tS about women's competence, 
sexuality, and mental health which are ad-
vanced to maintain the status quo. Herman 
Greenberg, personnel officer for The Free 
Library of Philadelphia, finds "Sex Discrim-
ination Again.st Women in Libraries" to be 
largely non-existent. Lively rebuttal to his 
remarks is included in the text of the dis-
cussion. 

Both this volume and Women in a W om-
an's Profession include the bibliography 
Women in Librarianship, 1920-1973, an ex-
cellent comprehensive chronological listing 
of English-language materials. (It should 
be noted that Ms. Myers has recently is-
sued an 'Updated edition.) 

The appendix to Women in Librarianship 
also includes the useful reference chart, 



"Federal Laws and Regulations Concerning 
Sex Discrimination in Educational Institu~ 
tions, October 1972." 

The first Preconference on the Status of 
Women in Librarianship was planned as an 
action-oriented feminist experience: 

The direction was always to consider spe-
cific problem areas and potential strategies 
for solution. . . . From the beginning it 
was intended that the preconference would 
utilize talents and abilities already present 
among women librarians and not call upon 
experts or big names outside the profession 
(Introduction). 

The brief history of how female librari-
ans have organized themselves since 1969, 
in the introduction, points up the need for 
a definitive history of the role of women in 
libraries. 

The first general session was opened by 
Anita Schiller with "Librarians and the Do-
mestication of the Consciousness," explor~ 
ing why librarianship is a woman's profes-
sion. The second general session consisted 
of reports by rank-and-file librarians, "re~ 
source people," on self-image, education, 
affirmative action, career development, un~ 
ions, regiomtl and local organizing, and tac~ 
tics. These served as a starting point for the 
next day's workshops, whose form and con~ 
tent were determined by participants. The 
final action session consisted of workshop 
reports and the strategies formulated. 

The preconference was meant to be a 
base for future actions and organization of 
female librarians. (A second preconference 
was held in 1975.) 

Personal reactions to the preconference, 
lists of participants' names and addresses, 
and films shown appear at the end. Photo-
graphs enliven the text. Unfortunately, the 
volume was poorly edited, containing nu-
merous glaring typographical and gram~ 
matical errors. This shortcoming becomes 
understandable when it is realized that the 
editors commendably managed to publish 
the proceedings less than one year after the 
conference. 

Hopefully, the two volumes, more inter~ 
esting than most proceedings, will have a 
consciousness-raising effect on both female 
and male librarians (not just decision-mak~ 
ing administrators, but staff members un-
happy with low salaries and unequal bene-

Recent Publications I 75 

Automated Circulation Control 
Systems: An Overview of Com-
mercially Vended Systems 
An extensive discussion by Barbara 
Evans Markuson of the characteristics 
of five circulation control systems , 
including CLSI, Checkpoint/Piessey, 
and Check-A-Book. In the July & 
September 1975 issues of LTR. $35. 

Microform Catalog Data 
Retrieval Systems 
A comparison of Information Design, 
Information Dynamics, and Library 
Processing Systems . In the May 1975 
issue of LTR. $20~ 

Theft Detection Systems 
for Libraries 
A revealing and valuable 98-page 
survey of manufacturers and users. In 
the May 197 4 issue of LTR. $20. 

Library Technology Reports (LTR) 
is a unique bimonthly publication of 
the American Library Association that 
provides critical evaluations of 
products used in libraries, media 
centers, schools, and other educational 
institutions. Its purpose is twofold: 
to enable librarians and educators to 
make economical purchase decisions 
and to alert manufacturers of library 
needs and standards of performance 
expected. 

To order any of the above individual 
issues or for additional information on 
the complete subscription service, 
write to: 

LIBRARY TECHNOLOGY REPORTS 
American Library Association 
50 East Huron Street 
Chicago, Illinois 60611 



76 I College & Research Libraries • January 1976 

fits) to examine the personnel, salary, and 
staff situations in their libraries and to de-
fine possible actions for amelioration of ex-
isting inequalities. 

Both of these volumes should be pur-
chased for the professional collections of all 
libraries. They present a challenge to our 
profession to assume leadership with the 
other ranking female professions of educa-
tion and nursing in the nationwide battle 
to end discrimination.-Sherrie S. Berg-
man, College Librarian, Wheaton College, 
Norton, Massachusetts. 

Christian, Roger W. The Electronic Li-
brary: Bibliographic Data Bases 1975-
76. White Plains, N.Y.: Knowledge In-
dustry Publications, Inc., 1975. 118p. 
$24.50 (copyrighted pub.; reprod. pro-
hibited); $60.00 (single copy plus li-
cense to reproduce). (LC 75~ 7724) 
(ISBN 0-914236-02-4) 

Library· Networks '74-'75. General editor: 
Seth Goldstein. Report editor: Martin R. 
Miller. White Plains, N.Y.: Knowledge 
Industry Publications, Inc., 1974. 110p. 
$24.50 (copyrighted pub.; reprod. pro-
hibited); $60.00 (single copy plus li-
cense to reproduce). (LC 74-82906) 
(ISBN 0-914236-01-6) 
The impact of on-line retrieval systems 

permitting interactive communication be-
. tween the computer and the user may well 
be reflected in the recent upsurge in the 
use of machine-readable data bases and 
may result in an even greater proliferation 
of library networks in the future. However, 
even with the off-line capability, the data-
base industry and library networks have 
been growing so rapidly since 1970 that it 
has been a problem to keep up with devel-
opments in both areas. Both of the reports 
here reviewed fall short of the goal when 
they attempt to project the state of the art 
in the growth of bibliographic data bases 
through 1976 and in the development of 
library networks through 1975. 

For the price of these two publications, 
and even in spite of the price of these pub-
lications, they can in no way compare with 
the excellent chapters on machine-readable 
data bases by Gechman (Annual Review 
of Information Science and Technology 
[ ARIST ], 1972) and Williams (ARIST, 

1974) or on library networks by Miller and 
Tighe (ARIST, 1975). Of the two works 
issued by Knowledge Industry Publications, 
however, my reaction to The Electronic Li-
brary, by Roger W. Christian, was far more 
positive than to Library Networks, with 
Seth Goldstein as its general editor. The 
latter would profit immeasurably by being 
returned to the editing board. In fairness 
to both authors, however, I should indicate 
that neither attempts to be comprehensive, 
but each tries to be selective in his respec-
tive presentation. It is to Christian's credit 
that he does not attempt an in-depth analy-
sis of the data-base industry, but focuses 
instead on the structure of the industry. He 
presents a "brief sampling of the wares and 
modus operandi of representative data base 
publishers, indicating not only their scope 
and variations, but their similarities." 

Christian discusses three aspects of the 
industry: {the role of the publisher or pro-
ducer of machine-readable data bases; the 
role of the distributors or vendors who pro-
vide access to published data bases, includ-
ing the purveyors of the communication 
facilities that link on-line data-base vendors 
to their subscribers; and, finally, the role 
of the users (libraries, research and devel-
opment, and the general public). With a 
series of effective brush strokes he sketches 
the contributions of such major nonprofit 
and commercial publishers as the National 
Technical Information Service, the Ameri-
can Chemical Society, the United Engineer-
ing Center, INSPEC, and the Institute of 
Scientific Information. He discusses the 
marketing techniques and services of the 
major vendors such as Systems Develop-
ment Corporation and Lockheed, as well 
as provides a brief insight into the opera-
tions of the smaller vendors or the third-tier 
retailers. Christian points out that the struc-
ture of the industry is confusing, and that 
a chaotic competition app~ars to exist be-
tween private enterprise, the federal gov-
ernment, and government-subsidized ser-
vices. 

In his final chapters, Christian reviews 
the effect of the industry on libraries and 
those problems confronting the user relative 
to cost of the service, charging of fees for 
information, the redundant coverage of the 
literature, and the problem of training the