College and Research Libraries


562 I College & Research Libraries • November 1976 

in the literature of this field. The third ar-
ticle, "Cooperation in Information Activ-
ities through International Organizations," 
tells what is really happening: "Informa-
tion, in short, is being looked at as a source 
of power, and wherever power exists, po-
litical interest follows." 

The most extensive review in this vol-
ume, with 276 bibliographic citations and 
a length 50 percent longer than any other 
review, is "Design and Evaluation of Infor-
mation Systems" by Rowena W. Swanson. 
Swanson points out that evaluation of such 
systems is "still in a formative stage in 
which the focus is more on investigative 
procedures and instruments rather than on 
outcomes." But how she can conclude that 
"information organization skills and the 
type of understanding of users that infor-
mation scientists have acquired are sorely 
needed" is beyond the comprehension of 
this reviewer. 

In short, then, we have here a book that 
one may turn to if one is unfamiliar with 
information science and its practitioners 
and wants an annotated bibliography of 
what they contributed during 197 4. Some 
of the annotations are better than others, 
and there is an uneven quality to the en-
tire volume.-Stephen M. Silberstein, Li-
brary Systems Office, University of Califor-
nia, Berkeley. 

The Library of Congress as the National 
Bibliographic Center. Report of a Pro-
gram Sponsored by the Association of 
Research Libraries, October 16, 1975. 
Washington: Association of Research Li-
braries, 1976. 58p. $4.00. 
The substance of this booklet is taken 

from the minutes of the October 1975 
meeting of the Association of Research Li-
braries. It has been published separately in 
order to reach a wider audience; and for 
good reasons. The papers and discussion 
have great interest for the entire library 
community, spelling out as they do the ac-
tivities and intentions of the Library of 
Congress in serving as the de facto center 
of national enterprise in bibliographical 
control. 

The seventy-eighth meeting of ARL, held 
in Washington, D.C., featured a tour of the 

Library of Congress and a meeting at 
which its operations and plans in the area 
of bibliographical control were described 
and discussed. Following a summary of the 
history of LC-ARL relations in bibliograph-
ical activities delivered by Warren Haas, 
four LC staff members described the pres-
ent state of LC' s automated projects and 
plans for their future development: Wil-
liam Welsh and Henriette Avram on "Au-
tomation Activities at the Library of Con-
gress," Lucia Rather on "The Core Biblio-
graphic System," Henriette Avram on "The 
National Bibliographical System [or Ser-
vice]," and John Rather on "Transition to 
the Automated System." Discussion and 
questions followed. 

It is difficult to select high points in the 
very exciting picture that has been outlined 
for the future. Much of the report is con-
cerned with development of the "Core Bib-
liographical System" -the virtually com-
plete automation of LC processing activ-
ities. These are not only of interest per se 
but also because these developments will 
provide the basis for the "National Biblio-
graphical System." When this latter system 
is fully operational, the libraries of North 
America will have · remote access to virtual-
ly all parts of LC' s processing activities-
not only a much-expanded MARC (cover-
ing all languages by 1979) but also the LC 
internal process information file, the 
CONSER serials data base, the register of 
additional locations, LC authority files, etc. 
About the only area in which major de-
velopments are not planned is that of large-
scale revision and modernization of the 
present subject-heading structure. 

In his paper on transition, John Rather 
is candid but optimistic in detailing the 
problems to be faced and solved before 
both systems reach full development, ex-
pected before the end of the 1970s. When 
they are, however, the Library of Congress 
will clearly be the National Bibliographical 
Center, or, perhaps more accurately, the 
National Center for Bibliographical Con-
trol, if still not the National Library de jure. 
But it will be providing the services other 
libraries probably most want from a nation-
al library.-Georgg J'iternick, The Univer-
sity of British Columbia.