College and Research Libraries


56 I College & Research Libraries • january 1978 

Overall, the report is a laudable, ambi-
tious undertaking. The final chapter is a 
conclusion that summarizes its findings from 
the variety of data, spots gaps in holdings, 
points towards a rational system for docu-
ment collecting, and suggests a role for the . 
National Library. Together with Edith Jar-
vi's Access to Canadian Government Publi-
cations in Canadian Academic and Public 
Libraries, this report permits one nation to 
see where its libraries stand in relation to 
government publications.-Harry E. Welsh, 
Government Documents Center, University 
ofWashington Libraries, Seattle. 

Urquhart, J. A., and Urquhart, N. C. Rele-
gation and Stock Control in Libraries. 
Stocksfield: Oriel Press (Routledge and 
Kegan Paul), 1976. 154p. $25. ISBN 
0-85362-162-4. 
The British Library sponsored this 1973-

75 study of practical methods for selecting 
periodicals and monographs from the open 
stack for storage and current periodical sub-
scriptions for cancellation. It was inspired 
by the shrinkage of construction funds 
plaguing British academic libraries and the 
concurrent coming of age of national library 
services that have prompted the revisionist 
concept of the "self-contained library" ( cf., 
review of Capital Provision for University 
Libraries in C&RL, July 1977). 

The study's purpose is "to reduce the 
dangers of arbitrary cuts and restrictions on 
the operation of academic libraries and to 
foster their continued health. It seeks to 
protect them both from the risk of unskilled 
amputation by the administrator as well as 
from what might be described as the iat-
rogenic perils resulting from the ministra-
tions of well-meaning and dedicated librari-
ans" (p.14-15). 

Attempting to identify specific quantita-
tive criteria by which materials can be 
selected for storage, the research used 
statistical techniques applied to surveys of 
circulation, in-library use, and national 
interlibrary loan data in the stack-filled 
400, 000-volume library of the University of 
Newcastle on Tyne. Its methodology, statis-
tical findings, and conclusions-much of 
which must be gleaned from eight 
appendixes-deserve to be consulted by 
every librarian · faced with the specter of 

weeding for storage or discard. The volume 
includes a useful though not exhaustive bib-
liography. 

Periodicals, the study indicates, can be 
most economically selected for storage on 
the basis of national interlibrary loan statis-
tics (in this instance those of the British Li-
brary Lending Division), though local circu-
lation and in-library use data are also good 
predictors. Cancellation of current subscrip-
tions can also be reasonably based on na-
tional interlibrary loan data. The ·"15/5 rule" 
evolves as a practical approach: Runs of fif-
teen years or more can be stored if they 
have not been borrowed during the last five 
years. 

For monographs the study casts serious 
doubts as to whether past use is a valid 
predictor of future use (as concluded in the 
studies of Fussier and Simon, Trueswell, 
and others) in the case of seldom-used 
books. Current use is found to be inde-
pendent of the last circulation date for 
books that have not circulated in six to fif-
teen years. The amount of use, however, 
varies strikingly among subject areas, with 
the humanities surprisingly appearing to 
have the fastest obsolescence rate. The re-
searchers conclude that the most 
practical-and economical-method of 
selecting monographs for storage is to dis-
patch the majority of books by entire sec-
tions, keeping only the heavily used mono-
graphs in the open stack. Catalog cards for 
only the retained books would be revised to 
indicate their location. Books borrowed 
from storage a single time should not be 
transferred back to the open stack. 

Most American library administrators are 
not yet eGonomically constrained to release 
a volume to storage or rubbish whenever a 
new one is acquired. Most do not anticipate 
a substantial relegation budget, much less 
one that will soon approach the cost of ac-
quisitions. But many will agree that "the 
main value in terms of current use of a 
working academic library lies in its recently 
acquired stock." 

The experience of the British as they face 
the challenge of strengthening academic li-
brary collections by acquiring the recent 
and used materials while releasing the 
unused-whether recent or dated-may in 
time serve as a model for libraries in this 



country, hopefully for educational rather 
than for economic reasons. In the mean-
time, studies like this will be important 
technical guides wherever the selectio!} of 
materials for storage is necessary.-]. 
Daniel Vann, CLR Management Intern, 
Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, 
California. 

• Resources of South Carolina Libraries. By 
Edward G. Holley, Johnnie E. Givens, 
Fred W. Roper, W. Christian Sizemore. 
Columbia, S.C. : South Carolina Commis-
sion on Higher Education, 1976. 126p. 
Having moved to the Carolinas from 

Texas where he had conducted a somewhat 
similar survey, Dean Holley with his col-
leagues has coordinated an equally effica-
cious critiqqe _ to assist libraries in 
"strengthening all the state's institutions of 
higher learning so that quality education 
will be available for every citizen who wants 
it and can profit from it," an ideal stated by 
the South Carolina Commission on Higher 
Education and the Postsecondary Education 
Planning Commission, whose objective is to 
include full consideration of the library 
function. 

Although ACRL' s recommendations for 
measuring the strengths of collections 
(checking standard bibliographies, etc.), 
staffs, and buildings were also evaluated 
components of the program, this was proba-
bly the first statewide survey to apply the 
measuring techniques adopted as ACRL' s 
standards in 1975. 

Two aspects of this survey are of particu-
lar interest: the surveyors' acknowledgment 
of the wide use of public library resources 
by college students (with good ·supporting 
data) and the division and integration of the 
surveyors' responsibilities. Holley took the 
"general purpose" universities and the pub-
lic libraries; Givens, the senior colleges; 
Sizemore, the two-year institutions; and 
Roper, the health sciences libraries. In all, 
more than fifty institutions were included, 
with some overlaps of visitations. The sec-
tions of the survey are individual reports, 
but the whole book is well coordinated and 
interestingly presented, with all the neces-
sary documentation, tables, and statistics. 

The conclusions suggest that the four 
classes of libraries do not differ significantly 

Recent Publications I 51 

from their counterparts in most other states 
or regions. Cogent suggestions accompany 
the stimulating analyses and reviews of each 
type of library, with the most urgent needs 
for development seeming to be in the 
health sciences and public libraries. 
Throughout the survey the usual needs for 
increased financial and staff support, 
cooperative bibliographic (resource) activity, 
and service coordination among the libraries 
are emphasized. 

It is a truism, perhaps, that the librarians 
who are concerned with the recommen-
dations of other experts are already aware of 
most of the facts that a survey of this kind 
will reveal. Nevertheless , well-conducted 
surveys such as this give substantiated sup-
port to librarians everywhere and, in the 
special locale under study, guidance to 
educators, administrators, and legislators 
who may not have seen their local special 
needs in perspective. The problems that can 
only be solved with their understanding and 
support are adroitly pinpointed.-Lee Ash, 
Library Consultant, Bethany, Connecticut. 

Lancaster, F. W., with the assistance of M. 
J. Joncich. The Measurement and Evalua-
tion of Library Services. Washington, D. 
C.: Information Resources Press, 1977. 
395p. $27.50. LC 77-72081. ISBN 
0-87815-017-X. 

NATO Advanced Study Institute on the 
Evaluation and Scientific Management of 
Libraries and Information Centres, Bris-
tol, 1975. Evaluation and Scientific Man-
agement of Libraries and Information 
Centres. Edited by F. W. Lancaster and 
C. W. Cleverdon. NATO Advanced 
Study Institute Series. Series E : Applied 
Science, no.18. Leyden: Noordhoff, 1977. 
184p. $19.50. ISBN 0-286-0656-4. 
It is rare to have the opportunity to re-

view a book in the field of librarianship that 
is admirable in almost every respect. It is _ so 
rare, in fact, that one hesitates to announce 
such a judgment for fear of being taken as 
undiscriminating. With The Measurement 
and Evaluation of Library Services, F. W. 
Lancaster has indeed written a book that 
deserves enthusiastic praise, even to the 
point of overlooking the minor flaws that 
can always be found if one searches hard 
enough, if that would encourage the wider