College and Research Libraries


two volumes are similar. Both are general 
and theoretical in approach rather than 
practical and procedural and thus carry out 
the mission of explaining the theory and 
major policies in their fields. Advice on 
policy matters is comprehensive, useful, and 
judicious insofar as short volumes can go. 
Thus they should be useful in fulfilling 
U nes~o· s worldwide program of information 
service improvement. 

Unfortunately, because of this general 
and theoretical approach, the volumes lack 
specificity, practicality, and demonstrated 
evidence to support the policies recom-
mended. In addition, the writing is dry, 
dull, and abstract. Few examples are given, 
and most of those are from East Germany 
(Schlitz) or France (d'Olier and Delmas). 
The Schlitz volume is so divorced from 
reality that one must read to page 158 be-
fore finding the first mention of a specific 
documentation center in a developing coun-
try. Most references cited are either in 
German (Schlitz) or in French ( d'Olier and 
Delmas), and nothing is listed with a more 
recent publication date than 1972 (Schlitz) 
or 1973 (d'Olier and Delmas). 

Who will find these volumes helpful? 
Perhaps primarily non-librarians, such as 
government officials who are planning na-
tional documentation centers and informa-
tion "infrastructures." Those needing a 
comprehensive statement of theory and 
policy can review their own understanding 
with these books. Neither volume is essen-
tial in most American college and university 
libraries; however, for many academic and 
research libraries in developing countries 
and for agencies and individuals establish-
ing national, local, or subject-oriented docu-
mentation centers, these books will be 
useful and should be purchased and read 
carefully.-John F. Harvey, St. Johnsbury, 
Vermont. 

Budurowycz, Bohdan. Slavic and East 
European Resources in Canadian Aca-
demic and Research Libraries. Research 
Collections in Canadian Libraries. II. 
Special Studies. Vol. 4. Ottawa: Re-
sources Survey Division, Collections De-
velopment Branch, National Library of 
Canada, 1976. 595p. $5.00, Canada; 
$6.00, other countries. (Available from 

Recent Publications I 11 

Information Canada, 171 Slater Street, 
Ottawa, Ontario KIA OS9.) 
Professor Budurowycz has surveyed the 

holdings of some sixty-five Canadian li-
braries on Slavic and East European mat-
ters, providing for each of them a sub-
stantial description of strengths and 
weaknesses, together with a general statisti-
cal summary. All but seven of these ac-
counts are based upon information derived 
from his visits to the institutions, as well as 
upon extensive correspondence with librari-
ans and scholars. For one who, twenty-five 
years ago, had some acquaintance with the 
Canadian university scene, it is heartening 
to note the geographic and numerical ex-
pansion of library resources in these fields. 

As one might expect from a knowledge 
of Canadian ethnic history, there are sev-
eral significant collections devoted to 
Ukrainian topics; and, as the descriptions 
indicate, they often provide rare and valu-
able materials which cannot easily be found 
elsewhere. However, as Professor Budu-
rowycz also shows, access to two of the 
leading institutions, the Basilian Fathers' 
Library and Museum in Mundare, Alberta, 
and St. Andrews College in Winnipeg, 
Manitoba, is impeded by problems of cata-
loging and arrangement. 

Furthermore, as an examination of the 
names of the twenty-four institutions which 
are shown in the table on page 529 to have 
over 10,000 volumes of relevant materials 
will indicate, there is a heavy concentration 
of such libraries in the province of Ontario, 
a total absence of any location in the Mari-
time Provinces, and but one Francophone 
university, the Universite de Montreal. 
While the University of British Columbia 
and the University of Alberta rank second 
and third as individual organizations and 
while the Winnipeg area's strengths in 
Ukrainica are emphasized, there would 
seem to be a certain geographical over-
balancing of resources which may not be 
advantageous for the development of Ca-
nadian scholarship. 

One is also struck by the fact that the 
name and subject index has no entry for the 
Arctic or the Polar regions. At least super-
ficially the problems of the Canadian North 
would seem so close as to make it desirable 
to learn of the Russian involvement in their 



78 I College & Research Libraries • January 1977 

taiga and tundra. Or is this perhaps a topic 
to which Professor Budurowycz has not 
given attention? 

Yet, as each of the individual descrip-
tions and the general recapitulations and 
suggestions show, the author is cognizant 
of the needs of Canadian libraries, and he 
has provided an admirably detailed guide 
which can be used both by the scholar and 
by the librarian. He has, it may be, gone 
somewhat further than absolutely necessary 
in providing lists of specific titles, but this 
does lend a useful amount of information 
that is likely to be of value to those who 
consult this volume. In a final forty-some 
pages of conclusions and evaluations, Pro-
fessor Budurowycz examines the general 
state of library holdings for each of the ma-
jor countries and subject fields and offers 
recommendations as to the future develop-
ment of Canadian information resources for 
these topics. A set of statistical tables pro-
vides summaries of the size of the major 
Canadian collections both overall and by 
country or subject. 

In summation, one may say that, despite 
the preceding reservations, Professor Budu-
rowycz has both diligently and successfully 
compiled a solidly based and worthwhile 
guide to Canadian repositories of Slavic and 
East European materials, one which will be 
of value not only in Canada itself but also 
particularly to the scholar who is interested 
in Ukrainica and in other facets of the 
Slavic experience with Canada.-Robert V. 
Allen, Library of Congress, Washington, 
D.C. 

Bird, Viola A. Law Library Resources in 
Canada. Research Collections in Canadi-
an Libraries. II. Special Studies. Vol. 3. 
Ottawa: Resources Survey Division, Col-
lection Development Branch, National 
Library of Canada, 1976. 32lp. $7.50, 
Canada; $9.00, ·other countries. (Avail-
able from Information Canada, 171 Sla-
ter Street, Ottawa, Ontario KIA OS9.) 
A wealth of information about Canadian 

law libraries is offered in this report of a 
survey funded and conducted by the Re-
sources Survey Division of the National Li-
brary in close cooperation with the Canadi-
an Association of Law Libraries (CALL). 
The objectives of the. survey were to col-

lect, present, and analyze descriptive data 
regarding Canadian law libraries, and serve 
as a basis for recommendations concerning 
the general needs of law libraries. 

A more specific objective was to provide 
data for the determination of which of two 
alternative remedies-a centralized national 
legal collection or a subsidized law library 
network coordinated by technical services 
in the National Library-would solve the 
problem of inadequate legal resources in 
many areas of the country. Poor law library 
facilities and inadequate staffing were cited 
in 1956 by the Committee on Legal Re-
search of the Canadian Bar Association as 
the primary reasons for the inadequacy of 
legal research in Canada. 

The methodology used included a com-
bination of mailed questionnaires and visi-
tations by the survey team. All law school 
libraries and major law society libraries 
were visited. Smaller libraries were visited 
on a selective basis. The major characteris-
tics reported in this book are those of the 
libraries, not those of the legal collections. 
Data concerning representative holdings 
will be published later as a supplement to 
this book, but this information is discussed 
to some extent in the analysis section. 

Although one section is titled "Descrip-
tions of Libraries" and another is titled 
"Results of Investigations," both sections 
are descriptive. The former presents data 
concerning each library participating in the 
survey; the latter presents a descriptive 
analysis of the information under the head-
ings of collections, staff, budget, space, ser-
vices, facilities , administration, access to 
collections, and cooperative programs. The 
appendixes contain all the data collected, 
the questionnaire used, a list of the partici-
pating libraries arranged by type of library, 
a listing of statutory provisions regarding 
law society libraries and law foundations, 
and a bibliography. 

Because the analysis of various aspects 
tends to be superficial, the major value of 
this book is the display of data collected. 
The analytical treatment of public services 
is an example of the superficiality. In the 
descriptions of law libraries, little mention 
is made of circulation policies. On the other 
hand, in the results section the statement 
is made in the discussion of space available