College and Research Libraries Recent Publications COLLEGE 6o RESEARCH LIBRARIES Guide to the Research Collections of the New York Public Library, reviewed by Roscoe Rouse . 373 1' Salmon, Stephen R. Library Automation Systems, reviewed by Eleanor Montague 37 4 Cole, John Y., ed. Ainsworth Rand Spofford: Bookman and Librarian, reviewed by Judy H. Fair 375 Martin, Susan K., and Butler, Brett, eds. Library Automation: The State of the Art II, reviewed by Teresa Strozik 375 Schlipf, Frederick A., ed. Collective Bargaining in Libraries, reviewed by Lo- thar Spang . 377 Rath, Frederick L., Jr., and O'Connell, Merrilyn Rogers, eds. Historic Preservation, reviewed by Gay Walker . 378 Lewanski, Richard C., comp. Guide to Polish Libraries and Archives, reviewed by Peter Kudrik 378 Lunati, Rinaldo. Book Selection: Principles and Procedures, reviewed by Robert Broadus 379 Lowell, Mildred Hawksworth. Library Management Cases, reviewed by G. A. Rudolph 380 Other Publications of Interest to Academic Librarians 380 Abstracts . 384 BOOK REVIEWS Guide to the Research Collections of the New York Public Library. Compiled by Sam P. Williams, under the direction of William Vernon Jackson and James W. Henderson, with the editorial assistance of Harvey Simmonds, Rowe Portis, and William L. Coakley. Chicago: American Library Assn., 1975. 336p. $35.00. (LC 75-15878) (ISBN 0-8389-0125-5) "A universe of libraries" is the apt term used by Director James W. Henderson to describe the Research Collections of the New York Public Library, which have been carefully viewed, evaluated, and presented in this new research tool. A ten-year en- deavor, it will be heralded as a successful one by researchers, by cooperative library groups, by networks, and others. Since last described in a 1941 volume compiled by Karl Brown, the Research Li- braries collections have doubled in size, now comprising over four million volumes. The team of scholars chose to write a new edition of the Brown work rather than to issue a supplement to it. One does not find it necessary, therefore, to refer back to Brown's Guide to the Reference Collections of the New York Public Library. The new Guide is formatted in the same style as the original work and, indeed, some of Brown's phrasing is retained here and there. Whereas the first Guide was arranged by the old Billings Classification Schedule, the new one is arranged by major disciplines and broken down under smaller subjects. There is a very good subject index as well as a relative index which leave us no cause for quarrel with the compiler insofar as ac- cess to topics is concerned. Not every category of material owned by the library is included in the book; only the most noted and extensive collections are represented here. They are described in narrative form under the heading of the subject with which they are concerned. "Woman," for example,.is a subheading un- der "Sociology, Statistics, Political Science," which is a subheading under the larger sub- I 373 374 I College & Research Libraries • July 1976 ject "Sociology." This collection is described in a half page as a "strong subject in the Research Libraries," with a _few details given about the personal papers in the col- lection of some outstanding women, com- mentary on donors to the collection, and figures given for the number of entries (12,000) in the catalog under "Woman." Reference is made to holdings in the cate- gory concerned with the feminist move- ment. To inform the readers of this review what the volume is not seems also to be in order. It is not a checklist, a bibliography, a union list, a catalog. Few specific titles are mentioned except to make reference to manuscripts, outstanding works, or extreme- ly rare items. The volume is not a history of the Research Libraries of the New York Public Library. For historical treatises on the great NYPL, please be referred to works by Harry M. Lydenberg and Phyllis Dain. It is oot, as previously stated, an ab- solutely complete reflection of every collec- tion held by the Research Libraries. The guide is a needed new addition to library research tools so important today when computers, TWX lines, and other rapid communication media bind us ever closer and make an immediate response al- most necessary instead of only desirable. But one wonders why ALA put such a high price tag on the volume, particularly since philanthropy played a large part in bring- ing it into being. Perhaps there is some reason not known to us. But, nevertheless, a vote of thanks to Williams, Jackson, Hen- derson, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Emily E. F. Skeel, et al.-Roscoe Rouse, University Librarian, Oklahoma State Uni- versity, Stillwater. Salmon, Stephen R. Library Automation Systems. Books in Library ,and Informa- tion Science, vol. 15. New York: Marcel Dekker, 1975. 291p. $24.50. (LC 75- 25168) (ISBN 0-8247-6358-0) The author's purpose for this bo~ is to present "a reasonably comprehensive dis- cussion of library automation systems for the librarian without previous knowledge or experience in the field, and for the in- telligent layman." The approach is histori- cal; systems covered range from the pio- neering ones to those in production at the moment the manuscript was submitted. Only systems that were implemented (even if they failed or were discontinued) or are in operation are included. Projects or sys- tems not operational are omitted from both the discussion and the bibliography. The discussion is limited to automated technical services and circulation activities. Comput- er-supported reference and information ser- vices are not discussed. This is not a book on how to automate a library. Each type of system is "discussed from a general historical viewpoint" so as to show "the implications of various devel- opments in each category." Thus, the lesson for the reader is in the examination of what has been implemented, what has failed, what has become obsolete, and what has succeeded. The book is divided into ten chapters: (1) Background and Beginnings; (2) Ac- quisition Systems; (3) Cataloging Systems before MARC; (4) MARC and Off-line Systems after MARC; (5) On-line Catalog- ing Systems; (6) The Effect of Automation on Cataloging Practice; (7) Serials Sys- tems; (8) Circulation Systems; (9) The Problems of Library Automation Systems; and, (10) The Prospects of Library Auto- mation Systems. Each chapter on systems begins with a list of general characteristics: typical activi- ties, functions, outputs, and limitations. Specific systems are discussed in roughly chronological order, beginning with unit record-based systems and ending with on- line systems. Commercially produced and marketed systems are also included. The discussion of most · systems is necessarily brief, but usually covers: type of equip- ment used (including terminals), cost of development, per-unit operating costs (when available), outputs, programming language, method of producing outputs (e.g., COM for book catalogs), filing rules used, successes, and failures. By intention, the author does not explore how data pro- cessing equipment works, just 'what equip- ment is used in each system. Each chapter ends with an extensive list of notes that comprise a helpful bibliog- raphy for further reading on each system. At the end of the book, there is a bibliog-