College and Research Libraries


brary School, Indiana University, Blooming-
ton. 

Kenney, Brigitte L., and Esteves, Roberto. 
Video and Cable Communications: 
Guidelines for Librarians. Based on a 
Report of the ALA Video/ Cable Study 
Committee. Chicago: Information Sci-
ence and Automation Division, Video 
and ·Cable Communications Section, 
American Library Assn., 1975. 84p. 
$3.50. 
This publication, a rev1s10n of a formal 

report submitted to ALA, provides a useful 
compendium of general information on the 
present status and future prospects of video 
and cable technology in libraries. The first 
two of the six chapters deal with the in-
volvement of some 400 libraries. Chapter 
3 covers video hardware and software in 
fairly general terms. Chapter 4 touches on 
cable regulations and franchising, and 
Chapter 5 deals with community education, 
organization, and resources. The last chap-
ter is a checklist for librarians. The most 
useful section is Appendix A, providing per-
haps the most complete annolated bibliog-
raphy yet assembled in one publication. 

For the untutored, this publication will 
provide an excellent generalized overview 
of what is involved when libraries make use 
of the new technology. Unfortunately, it is 
so generalized that it might be misleading 
to some. For instance, the statement is 
made that the new low cost of video equip-
ment (a portable black-and-white camera-
recorder combination available for about 
$2,000) makes this equipment attractive 
to many libraries. One looks in vain, how-
ever, for any real data on staff time and 
training that must be expended to make the 
camera-recorder operational and effective. 
The items listed in the bibliography prob-
ably bring out the needed data; without 
such data in this publication, the impres-
sion is left that the use of video and cable 
technology in libraries is easy, inexpensive, 
and effective. We do not believe the editors 
intended such an impression. 

The more than a year delay in publica-
tion of the guidelines has had a serious im-
pact on its usefulness. It is considerably out 
of date in a very rapidly developing area. 
Librarians will do well to check the fine 

Recent Publications I 65 

bibliography for those items that will pro-
vide updated information in crucial areas, 
such as equipment specifications and costs, 
changes in FCC regulations, and technolog-
ical developments. 

This is an admirable first effort in a very 
new area. We can only hope that the guide-
lines will be updated regularly. Such effort 
would be most helpful to the profession.-
Gordon P. Mart in, University Librarian, 
California State University, Sacramento. 

Chen, Ching-chih. Applications of Opera-
tions Research Models to Libraries: A 
Case Study of the Use of Monographs 
in the Francis ·A. Countway Library of 
Medicine, Harvard University. Cam-
bridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 1976. 
212p. $17.50. (LC 75-28210) (ISBN 0-
262-03056-X) 
This work seems to confirm a widespread 

belief that excellent doctoral dissertations 
seldom translate into readable professional 
literature for the practitioner. Chen's work 
is admirable, the methodology and conclu-
sions are sound, but the narrow scope of 
the subject and the unavoidable reliance 
upon jargon to discuss it will severely limit 
her audience. 

The first of the book's three sections is 
basically a restatement and extension of the 
probabilistic models of circulation proposed 
by Morse. The theory is that while it is im-
possible to predict whether individual ti-
tles will or will not circulate, it is possible 
to predict the circulation behavior of sub-
ject classes of books on the basis of his-
torical data. The average librarian will 
probably have to accept this proposition as 
an article of faith. One who has not read 
and understood Morse's Library Effective-
ness, or who lacks a solid background in 
quantitative methods, will never make it 
through p.35. The models rest upon the as-
sumption that book circulation is a random 
process, but this by no means commands 
universal agreement among the profession. 

Section two reports in detail the author's 
successful attempt to apply the models, 
originally developed from a small data base 
at the MIT Science Library, to the Count-
way Library of Medicine. Sampling tech-
niques were used to obtain historical circu-
lation data for selected subject classes in