College and Research Libraries


224 I College & Research Libraries • May 1978 

where Afro-Americans were denied mem-
bership in white organizations. A chronol-
ogy of events in black librarianship, 1808-
1977, is thoroughly presented. 

Section 3, "Contemporary Black Librar-
ianship," traces the involvement of black li-
brarians in library organizations, including 
the ALA Black Caucus and its impact on the 
American Library Association, as well as its 
role in motivating other caucus groups. 
Statistics on black libraries and librarians 
may be limited due to scope of and re-
sponse from various surveys. 

Section 4, "Vital Issues in Black Librar-
ianship," does not attempt to deal with the 
total picture of librarianship in the Afro-
American community but does discuss sev-
eral serious issues the reviewer sees as 
being of prime concern to librarians in all 
types of libraries serving the black popula-
tion. The contributors for .this section ap-
pear to be more concerned with the pat-
terns and importance of library services to 
children as cultural identity is developed 
and maintained. The academic librarian will 
be especially interested in the essay, "The 
Future of the Black College Library," and 
the emphasis placed on excellence of library 
services as vital to survival of the black col-
lege. 

Section 5, "Significant Books and Peri-
odicals For Black Collections," is a conven-
ient, well-organized section that is in no 
way comprehensive; however, it can be of 
inestimable value for librarians attempting 
to build a core collection and to those in-
terested in brief biographical sketches of 
black librarians as creative writers. For the 
most part, annotations for the reference 
books are brief but thorough. 

Academic librarians will find the descrip-
tive bibliography of selected African and 
Afro-American periodicals extremely useful 
based upon the four-point criteria by which 
selections were made to emphasize con-
tents, worth, and usefulness of the titles. 
Other significant features of this section are 
brief essays dealing with black authors who 
have written best-sellers, black librarians 
who do creative writing, and black authors 
who have made significant contributions to 
knowledge and have been recognized 
through the ALA Notable Books list. 

Sections 6 and 7, "African Resources" and 

"Afro-American Resources," are outstanding 
features of the Handbook, which identify 
and describe resources for building African 
and Afro-American collections with em-
phasis on procurement and preservation. 
The essay entitled "Procurement of Mate-
rials from Africa" may well be a first at-
tempt to describe the variety of programs 
and procedures involved in the selection 
and acquisition of African library materials. 
This is an invaluable resource for academic 
acquisitions librarians. The lists of reference 
books and periodicals, articles dealing with 
black authors, and listings of best-sellers all 
reflect the black experience in a unique 
manner. This reviewer believes this style of 
documentation to be a first. The black oral 
history programs, museums, and black his-
torical societies are thoroughly researched 
and described. 

Researchers will find the brief descrip-
tions of four major African collections iri the 
United States invaluable for locating source 
material. "Afro-American Resources" pro-
vides a mixture of ideas that academic li-
brarians will find especially useful, ranging 
from the essentials for beginning collectors, 
pointers for archivists, and private collect-
ing. 

The bonus section of the Handbook adds 
value to the book as a general reference. 
There is much solid information, however 
fragmentally arranged. In order to retain its 
usefulness, updating will be necessary, 
especially where staff, budget, and acquisi-
tions statistics are quoted. 

The text is presented in clear, readable 
style, logically arranged. The Handbook is a 
must for all academic libraries and speci-
fically for those serving predominantly 
blacks. It will be useful in homes and all 
other types of libraries as a basic reference. 
The binding looks good but unfortunately 
perhaps not as strong as needed. 

The contributors, compilers, and editors 
are congratulated for their devoted labors, 
and perhaps noticeable gaps in coverage 
may be partially filled in a revised 
edition.-Jessie Cottman Smith, University 
of Maryland, Eastern Shore, Princess Anne. 

National Conference on New Directions in 
Law Libraries, Denver, 1977. National 
Conference on New Directions in Law Li-



braries: Multi-Media, Computers and 
Networks. 'Sponsored by Trans-Media 
Publishing Co., Inc., and University of 
Denver Law School. April 12-15, 1977, 
Brown Palace Hotel, Denver, Colorado. 
Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.: Condyne/Trans-
Media Distributing Corp., 1977. 124p. 
and five cassette tapes. $125. 
This work, the proceedings of a special 

law library conference, is itself in a mul· 
timedia format, part print and part audio. 
The principal papers are here to be heard, 
while the post-talk questions and the pro-
grammed discussions are reproduced in 
print. Although one could read the papers 
in a shorter time than it takes to listen to 
the cassettes, in this fonnat you get a better 
"feel'' of the presentations. 

There are nine papers. Allen Veaner' s 
"Foundations of Library Micrographics" was 
read by Professor Roy M. Mersky, a confer-
ence cochairperson, since the speaker was 
unable to be in Denver; but the paper is 
only available in the print media. Arthur 
Tannenbaum described the "Media User 
Environment," and Carl Spalding charac-
terized "Micrographic Equipment." Robert 
Sullivan assisted with the "Acquisition of 
Microforms for Law Libraries," and Arthur 
Levine followed up with "The New 
Copyright Law and its Meaning for New 
Technology." The remaining four papers 
were: "C-0-M" by Don Bosseau, "Audio-
Visual Materials" by Howard Hitchins, "Use 
of Video in Information Retrieval" by Jerry 
Bradshaw, and "Multi-Media, 2000 A.D ." 
by F. William Torrington. 

In his part of the theme setting, Professor 
Mersky acknowledged that all too often and 
for too long law .librarians have lagged be-
hind others in adapting to newer approaches 
and newer techniques. His call was for 
catching up and moving ahead. If he is cor-
rect in his assessment, then one could find 
little fault in offering the law librarians 
present a considerable dose of information 
that is already well known and widely avail-
able in library literature, to say nothing 
about other general and special conference 
proceedings. The talks on foundations, envi-
ronment, equipment, and acquisitions of 
microforms offered, to a large degree, "the 
same old truths," while the paper on 
copyright spent far too much time rehashing 

Recent Publications I 225 

the several sections of the new law and too 
little time on how it applies specifically to 
micromedia and especially to educational 
television and instructional television. 

On the contrary, the next three were 
most helpful. Don Bosseau (whose name 
was misspelled and mispronounced 
throughout) offered a detailed and encourag-
ing experience of a catalog in microfiche 
format (COM). Howard Hitchins, an expert 
in instructional development, stressed most 
effectively that the newer formats are not 
ends in themselves but serve as means of 
improving the educational process. I was 
particularly pleased to be able to hear his 
throwing down the gauntlet for the commu-
nity of legal educators. Jerry Bradshaw gave 
a demonstration of the usage of videodiscs, 
but there was obviously no way for me to 
appreciate what the participants saw on a 
screen. 

The final talk was, to be as kind as possi-
ble, unfortunate. Torrington, coming from a 
different and possibly limited experience in 
England, foretold and warned about the fu-
ture. The printed discussion shows clearly 
that those present were in open disagree-
ment with his prognostications. 

The audio reproductions are excellent; I 
don't believe I missed more than a word or 
two. The printed discussions and questions 
seem somehow abbreviated through editing, 
although there was no suggestion anywhere 
that this was done. I know for a fact that 
most often the law librarians use legal 
stenotypists to record their proceedings, 
and the total feedback from the participants 
should have been made available. 

The price is not unreasonable. I recom-
mend the work to law libraries, library 
school libraries, and especially to those pro-
grams training law librarians.-Leslie W. 
Sheridan, University of Toledo , Toledo , 
Ohio. 

Breivlk, Patricia Senn. Open Admissions 
and the Academic Library. Chicago: 
American Library Assn., 1977. 131p. 
$8.50. LC 77-5816. ISBN 0-8389-3195-2. 
Breivik has reported on an instance in 

which an academic librarian actively and 
creatively responded to a changing envi-
ronment (open admissions at the City Uni-
versity of New York) instead of passively