College and Research Libraries


that: "a larger percentage of law library 
materials are noncirculating or circulate 
only on a short term basis than is the case 
with materials in other kinds of libraries" 
(p.l73). This indicates the possibility of 
some variation in circulation policies. Since, 
throughout the book, emphasis is placed on 
the dependency of the legal profession on 
law b_ooks, more attention should have been 
given to this element of service. 

In the discussion of services offered by 
law school libraries, it is asserted that the 
number of staff members correlates to the 
range of services provided; Table III is 
cited. There is no Table III, per se, but ap-
parently by using the "eyeball" method of 
comparing Tables Ilia, IIIc, and IIIe a cor-
relation was determined. Since these, and 
some other tables, display only columns of 
"Y" and "N ," representing the actual yes 
and no responses to each question by each 
library, any attempt to study the tables pro-
duces a blur of Ys and Ns. A reader must 
count and produce a total for each horizon-
tal and vertical row. 

The twenty-four recommendations based 
on the data obtained should present some 
guidelines to Canadian law librarians in 
structuring priorities, particularly the rec-
ommendation that CALL develop standards 
for Canadian law libraries. The recommen-
dation of a national network of law li-
braries, rather than a centralized national 
legal collection, as the better of the two 
choices is based on the data presented. But, 
as law school libraries and law society li-
braries become more developed, the need 
for either alternative may become less 
acutely perceived. Perhaps, armed with the 
data presented in this report, law librarians 
and other administrators can seek and gain 
the needed support of their publics.-
]oyce Shapiro Beene, formerly Assistant 
Law Librarian/ Technical Services, The U ni-
versity of Tennessee, Knoxville; presently 
student, Memphis State University School 
of Law, Memphis, Tennessee. 

Clinic on Library Applications of Data Pro-
cessing, 12th, Champaign, Ill., 1975. The 
Use of Computers in Literature Search-
ing and Related Reference Activities in 
Libraries. Papers Presented at the 1975 
Clinic on Library Applications of Data 

Recent Publications I 79 

Processing, April 27-30, 1975. Edited by 
F. Wilfrid Lancaster. Urbana, Ill.: Uni-
versity of Illinois Graduate School of 
Library Science, 1976. 159p. $8.00. (LC 
76-1790) (ISBN 0-87845-043-2) (Avail-
able from Publications Office, Graduate 
School of Library Science, 249 Armory 
Building, Champaign, IL 61820.) 

Wax, David M. A Handbook for the Intro-
duction of On-Line Bibliographic Search 
Services into Academic Libraries. Of-
fice of University Library Management 
Studies, Occasional Papers, Number 
Four, June 1976. Washington, D.C.: As-
sociation of Research Libraries, Office of 
University Library Management Studies, 
1976. 62p. $5.00. 
The Use of Computers in Literature 

Searching and Related Reference Activities 
in Libraries attempts to "cover a wide 
range of applications of machine-readable 
data bases in support of the. reference ac-
tivities of libraries." The eleven papers in-
cluded, indeed, deal with a wide range of 
applications, with the degree to which they 
are directly related to actual reference 
activities varying considerably. If the em-
phasis was intended to be on variety of 
applications, the criterion has been met by 
several of the papers, which represent view-
points from not only academic, special, and 
public librarians but also data base proces-
sors, vendors, and other intermediaries. Va-
riety is also represented by discussion of 
numerous steps in the process of getting 
data from the producer to the end user. 
However, it seems as though some of the 
variety and range could, perhaps, have 
been justifiably sacrificed in order to focus 
more clearly on what is or could be hap-
pening in reference departments. 

Individually, the majority of the papers 
are quite worthwhile reading. The first, on 
evaluating data bases, is both a good intro-
duction and a review of a topic which 
merits considerable attention. The remain-
ing articles generally fall into three cate-
gories: views from a user's standpoint; 
descriptions of systems in specific environ-
ments, such as public and special libraries; 
and views from regional and national levels. 
Not fitting into any of these three cate-
gories, but certainly relevant to the future 
of computers as related to reference work. 



80 I College & Research Libraries • January 1977 

is the paper on computer-aided instruction. 
The final contribution, by the editor, 

F. Wilfrid Lancaster, to a degree corrects 
a fault of the rest of the collection. Where-
as most of the other papers give interesting 
conclusions without discussion of the pros 
and cons of the issues involved, Lancaster 
brings out some of the points which should 
be debated if com·puterized library refer-
ence services are to be expected to move 
from the realm of "acceptable," which ad-
mittedly has only recently been reached, 
to a level of excellence. 

In spite of the rapidity of the develop-
ment of the field of on-line systems, with 
which most of the papers primarily deal, 
and the fact that the meeting at which they 
were presented took place over a year ago, 
the papers included in Lancaster's book are 
not yet dated, and much of the information 
contained in them will be relevant and use-
ful for some time to come. 

David M. Wax, who contributed one of 
the papers in Lancaster's collection, has re-
cently produced a book entitled, A Hand-
book for the Introduction of On-Line Bib-
liographic Search Services into Academic 
Libraries. Based on the experiences of the 
Northeast Academic Science Information 
Center (NASIC) over the past three years, 
this handbook is intended for "library ad-
ministrators who are planning to initiate the 
provision of commercially available on-line 
interactive search services." Topics covered 
in the brief but concentrated text include 
discussions of the staffing, training, organi-
zation, costs, and logistics of providing such 
services. Any library which is either plan-
ning or presently involved in on-line search 
services would be wise to pay close atten-
tion to this small but significant book. Both 
the Lancaster collection, from more of a 
theoretical viewpoint, and the Wax book, 
from a very practical perspective, are con-
tributions to their field.-Randolph E. 
Hock:~ University of Pennsylvania Libraries, 
Philadelphia. 

Ross, Murray G. The University: The Anat-
omy of Academe. New York: McGraw-
Hill, 1976. 310p. $11.95. (LC 75-43957) 
(ISBN 0-07-053876-X) 
Murray George Ross, President Emeritus 

of Canada's York University, who holds de-

grees from two universities in Canada 
(Acadia and Toronto) and two universities 
in the U.S. (Chicago and Columbia), has 
written an excellent study of the university 
in three English-speaking countries-Eng-
land, Canada, and the United States. In his 
preface Ross says, "This is a book for those 
who have a general interest in the growth 
and development of the university, the 
problems and issues it faces, the future it 
confronts." And so it is. But it is much 
more-it is a book that both recalls and in-
terprets events that have profoundly affect-
ed universities in the past and will continue 
to affect them in the future. It is a book 
that emphasizes certain basic issues in high-
er education and provides the historical 
context needed to evaluate these issues and 
to assess their meaning and importance. 

As Ross sees it, the principal issues fac-
ing the university are four: goals, govern-
ance, academic freedom, and the state. For 
each of these he provides a summary of 
key events and a careful review of the 
pertinent literature. Such an approach has 
its dangers of necessary but tiresome de-
tail, but the pace and vitality of Ross's writ-
ing and his graceful style circumvent all 
hazards. Perhaps Ross succeeds because he 
recognizes an element of narcissism in aca-
demic people and skillfully exploits the 
tendency of the university to take great in-
terest in itself. This is not to imply that the 
book is so specialized as to be of interest 
only to those in academic life. On the con-
trary the book will have broad appeal not 
only because it is well written, but because 
it is highly informative. 

Ross treats thoroughly the great changes 
that are reshaping the universities, and he 
does so by extensive quotation from many 
of the active participants in the academic 
drama as well as many of its most astute 
observers. Moreover, the book is marked 
by great freshness and contemporaneity. Al-
though it begins with a whole section de-
voted to the origin and evolution of the 
university and ends with a chapter on the 
future, in between it is laced with refer-
ences so current as to suggest something 
one might have read in last week's issue of 
The Chronicle of Higher Education. 

The author claims to have arranged the 
book for reference purposes, and indeed the