College and Research Libraries


72 I College & Research Libraries • January 1977 

On balance, this is a useful addition to 
the literature of classification, which has 
been heavily weighted toward the hard sci-
ences, and provides the long needed com-
plement to the works on classification in the 
sciences of B. C. Vickery and social sciences 
of D. J. Foskett by the same publisher . . We 
still need, however, an approach to the hu-
manities storage and retrieval which recog-
nizes the advances in technology of the 
postwar period.-]ames H. Sweetland, Li-
brary Services Division, The Boys Town 
Center for the Study of Youth Develop-
ment, Omaha, Nebraska. 

Kilgour, Frederick G. The Library and In-
formation Science Cumlndex. The Infor-
mation Access Series, V.7. Los Altos, 
Calif.: The R&D Press, 1976. 722p. 
$55.00. (LC 72-86076) (ISBN 0-88274-
006-7) 
Immediate access through an interfiled 

cumulation of the back-of-book indexes of 
the basic sources in one's discipline would 
seem to be a boon for research among the 
ideas of the masters while also providing 
the quick reference for an immediate ques-
tion. In using such a tool, one would as-
sume that historical background as well as 
fairly current information could be located 
for important subjects although the newest 
information, understandably, would still be 
the purview of journal literature. 

In this case the theory has merit but, un-
fortunately, some basic assumptions about 
accuracy, editorial work, and data base se-
lection are questionable. The basis for this 
volume is a group of ninety-six library and 
information science works of which one 
(the newest) is a 1972 imprint. The 
sources have an average publication date 
of 1966. As might be expected, recent ideas 
are absent from the work. The one entry 
found .indexed under "Ohio College Library 
Center," for example, is located in a 1964 
library trustee's handbook. On the other 
hand, several descriptions are available for 
the older Union Library Catalogue of Penn-
sylvania. One can find the "Congressional 
Set" or the "Sheep Set" but not the "Serial 
Set." 

Without a doubt the editorial work and 
computer programs required to- merge nine-
ty-six different lists of index · terms repre-

sent a tremendous effort. The final product, 
however, is less than adequate. Entries on 
data processing are found under that term 
and under at least seven other terms but 
with cross references to only five of the 
seven. Under "ALA" the user is told to 
"see" and to "see also" the American Li-
brary Association (page 17) but under the 
"American Library Association" (page 24) 
there is no reference to "ALA" as a possible 
subject heading. 

In some cases the work is misleading. 
The Cumlndex entry "Smith, E.," for ex-
ample, yields upon inspection of the cited 
books, a Mrs. Eleanor Smith, a Eugene R. 
Smith, and a reference to S. E. Smith. 
Clearly these do not represent the same 
person and should not have been grouped 
together. There are some interesting list-
ings such as the "abandonment of place-
ment service" by ALA but no entry under 
"placement service" for the association. Are 
we to believe that ALA does not aid unem-
ployed librarians? There is the intriguing 
"pitty pat" and even the "Zmpact factor" 
(actually the impact factor). There are use-
less headings such as "Do's and don'ts of 
book repairing" (look under "Do") that 
have been inherited from less than ade-
quate original indexes. Such questionable 
entries appear in sufficient quantity to be-
come bothersome. 

The idea has potential. Because it groups 
together, in one easy-to-read listing, the 
topics of several basic texts, the Cumlndex 
might be considered for purchase by library 
school libraries. For other collections, how-
ever, it is not recommended.-Scott Brunt-
jen, Associate Professor · and Head, Refer-
ence-Circulation Departments, Library, 
Shippensburg State College, Shippensburg, 
Pennsylvania. · 

Schell, Hal B., ed. Reader on the Library 
Building. Reader Series in Library and 
Information Science. Englewood, Colo-
rado: Microcard Editions Books, 1975. 
359p. $18.95. (LC 73-93967) (ISBN 
0-910972-43-5) 
The library building boom in the United 

States has all but ended with only a trickle 
of projects still being planned or construct-
ed, albeit some of these are big ones-the 
James Madison Building of the Library of