College and Research Libraries 536 I College & Research Libraries • November 1977 both its compliment and its complement. Besides the scholarly apparatus of foot- notes, illustration notes, select bibliography, and references, there is a "chronological list of Caxton' s editions . . . in accordance with the evidence and arguments brought for- ward in this book." We have the organizers of the Caxton Quincentenary to thank for focusing schol- arly attention on Caxton and for stimulat- ing such a lively and scholarly interchange on "one of the most famous yet least known of great Englishmen. "-John V. Richard- son, ]r., Graduate Library School, Indiana University. Welch, Theodore F. Toshokan: Libraries in Japanese Society. London: Clive Bing- ley; Chicago: American Library Assn., 1976. 306p. $15.00. ISBN 0-85157-220- 0 Bingley; 0-8389-0172-7 ALA. Since the end of World War II there has been a steady growth of interest in Japan, and the Western scholars have written on virtually every aspect of the Japanese so- ciety. Yet until now, no one has attempted to take a comprehensive look at the Jap- anese libraries. Toshokan by Theodore F. Welch is an excellent and well-researched compendium of the library world in Japan. For every kind of library, the author traces its history and legal backgrou~d and describes the present activities, providing an impressive array of statistics and other documentations. In twelve chapters he manages to provide rather penetrating de- scriptions of various libraries and the status of their librarians. The modern library concepts were transplanted in Japan by the Americans who brought many changes to Japan during the postwar occupation. In the past thirty years many of the Western ideas imposed on Japan have taken deep roots in the cultural milieu of the Japanese people, but the library has not found a sig- nificant place in the mainstream of Japa- nese life. What emerges from Welch's descriptions Announcing our OPEN ORDER 20% DISCOUNT SAVING PlAN to enable you to fill in the G-A-P-S in your files of BACK ISSUE PERIODICALS ~:~gt~~g~~~Es • TECHNICAL • SCIENTIFIC • MEDICAL • LIBERAL ARTS • We have an extensive stock & new material is always coming in. We need space. Send in your WANT LISTS marked 'OPEN ORDER'-Get a 20% DISCOUNT. WEBOTHSAVE- GUARANTEE- • TIME - You will receive faster service as orders can be processed faster than inquiries. • PAPER WORK - Sending quotations to you for your response with FORMAL PURCHASE ORDERS add to the burden of paper work. •COST -You earn 20% DISCOUNT, in addition to the above savings. PRICES - Every item will be competitively priced. If you are not entirely pleased, use the return privi- lege, without obligation. QUALITY -You must be 100% satisfied . RETURN PRIVILEGE - If any material we sup- ply on your OPEN ORDERS does not meet your requirements yo~ may return it to us within 30 days from invoice date. 817 SOUTH LA BREA • LOS ANGELES, CA 90036 Technical & Scientific • American & Foreign • Learned Society Publications is an image that this sophisticated society with a highly educated and literate popula- tion has not developed an appreciation for the library and librarians. For most of their information needs, the people bypass the librarians and even the library itself. Only in the science-technology fields, some sys- tematic services have been developed suc- cessfully. The overall quality. of his infor- mation is excellent if one keeps in mind the fact that six to ten years have elapsed since he has gathered them, and some things have changed for the better. There are, howev·er, a few questionable matters serious enough to be mentioned. First, Welch states that the University of Tokyo has revived its library science pro- gram and that it already has awarded doc- toral degrees in librarianship. To date, this univeTsity has not produced any graduates with degrees in librarianship, not even with a B.A. In the National University system, there is no program which offers a degree in librarianship. The Toshokan Tandai (the National Junior College of Library Science which offers two-year certificates) will be graded up to a four-year college in a few years when the college moves to a new site outside of Tokyo. The only Ph.D. program in library science in Japan began in 1975 at the Library School of Keio University, and none of its four candidates has re- ceived the degree as of April 1977, its sec- ond anniversary. Again, Welch mentions that there are more than 10,000 special clerks serving as school librarians and that they are paid a "mere 14 dollars a month." According to the Japanese Bureau of Statistics, the in- come of an average urban salaried family has tripled during the ten-year period from 1965-1975. It gives the monthly income of Y236,197 (about $840) for 1975. Even part-time student workers make $1.50 to $1.70 an hour in most places, including li- braries. To suggest that any regular em- ployee in Japanese libraries today earns a monthly salary of $14 is preposterous. Those who are ipterested in comparative librarianship may find this book very stim- ulating, and others will find it to be a val- uable handbook on Japanese libraries.- Eugene Carvalho, Librarian, East Asian Li- brary, Kansas University Libraries, Law- rence. Recent Publications I 537 Kunz, Werner; Rittel, Horst W. J.; and Schwuchow, Werner. Methods of Analy- sis and Evaluation of Infof'mation Needs: A Critical Review. Mtinchen: Ver- lag Dokumentation, 1977. 84p. $12.00. ISBN 3-7940-3450-3. (Available from Unipub, Box 433, Murray Hill Station, New York, NY 10016.) This work is a synopsis of a study per- formed under the auspices of the Federa- tion Internationale de Documentation en- titled Methods of Analysis and Evaluation of Information Needs to be Satisfied by N a- tional Documentation, Library and Archive Infrastructures. Although the frame of ref- erence throughout the work is the design of national and international information systems, the discussion is equally relevant to smaller constructs, such as local or re- gional networks or even individual librar- ies/ information centers. The authors' approach is conditioned by the basic assumption that "the effectiveness of such facilities depends upon the extent to which their system ·characteristics corre- spond with the situation of the user and on how much the potential user of these facil- ities is willing and able to make use of these services." Although librarianship has, in recent years, tended to concentrate on its service aspects rather than its archival func- tions, the equation of user satisfaction- especially the satisfaction of the unsophisti- cated user-with library success by no means commands the universal agreement assumed here. Nonetheless, users are obviously central to any information system so it is incum- bent upon the designers and operators of such systems to know as much as possible about those they attempt to serve. Kunz and his colleagues identify, discuss, and analyze the traditional methodologies em- ployed in user studies and conclude that for the most part they have "led only to an ac- cumulation of previously known data and to a confirmation of already known rela- tionships, and have not generated much new knowledge." The need for more and better research about users and the phe- nomenon of use is clear, and the relatively untried but promising research strategies suggested by the authors to expand our knowledge of this area are worthy of fur- ther development.