College and Research Libraries


316 I College & Research Libraries • july 1978 

and ideas whose value extends beyond the 
time and the place of their writing. 

This volume was conceived to be a survey 
of Australia by Australians, a sort of 
coming-of-age ceremony for Australian li-
brarianship. As such it is fitting that it 
should set out the history of their libraries, 
calmly and without flattery. It is proper also 
that it should display informed dissent such 
as is natural within a group of adult profes-
sionals. Differences of opinion are not 
glossed over, nor are the many severe fail-
ures of past and present neglected. 

Perhaps in five years' time an article or 
two should be commissioned to see where 
the brave planners of the early seventies 
have got to. Besides, there are a few histor-
ical episodes that obviously require clarifica-
tion. Despite the frequent references 
elsewhere to its beneficial effects, D. H. 
Borchardt clearly states (p.155) that the 
Tauber report was emasculated by those 
who resented its implications. Perhaps the 
resolution of the fact is less important than 
that the statement should appear in this 
compendium, evidence that it seeks a true 
portrait, warts and all. 

There are multitudes of facts, historical 
and statistical, there is an excellent survey 
of recent buildings by Harrison Bryan, but 
beyond this there are discussions of librar-
ianship that transcend the Australian scene. 
Anyone interested in bibliographic instruc-
tion will find much wisdom and good advice 
in the chapters by S. B. Page and J. A. 
Levett. · Jean Whyte's discussion of reader 
services shows much sound, good sense. 
The chapter on automation by Mary Jacob, 
though it is restricted by the very contem-
porary nature of automation in Australia, 
poses questions we all must consider, while 
out of an entirely different tradition of li-
brary education Wilma Radford arrives at 
conclusions Americans would do well to 
ponder. 

Naming these few contributors is not 
meant to imply lesser value in others where 
the thinking is equally sharp. It would, 
however, be impossible not to commend 
the magisterial summation provided by 
Gordon Greenwood where he deals with 
policy and experiment in a comparative 
manner that must remind us once again that 
some of the greatest contributions to librar-

ianship have come from nonlibrarians. 
The bibliographic apparatus of the book is 

further evidence of the meticulous care of 
the editors. The arrangement of the 
bibliography-by subject and by specific 
library-is curious but perhaps desirable 
given the nature of the book, yet it makes 
systematic consultation tedious and unre-
warding. The fifty-page index makes easy 
the finding of specific names and topics. 

Not many other readers will read steadily 
through this book from cover to cover, but 
if they are half as fascinated as I became, 
they will return to it again and again to 
ponder specific ideas and suggestions, par-
ticularly those relating to the increasing im-
portance of governments at all levels in 
their influence on library development. 

All university libraries and library schools 
should purchase this book, also state librar-
ies, since the state libraries play a particular 
and an important role in Australia, and any 
librarian who is interested in a country that 
has maintained close links with America 
since its own birth in travail nearly 200 
years ago.-Murray S. Martin , Pennsyl-
vania State University, University Park . 

Academic Libraries by the Year 2000: Es-
says Honoring Jerrold Orne. Edited by 
Herbert Poole. New York: Bowker, 1977. 
205p. $15.95. LC 77-81880. ISBN 
0-8352-0993-8. 
This is a collection of twelve essays about 

librarianship, a short biography of Jerrold 
Orne, and a bibliography of Mr. Orne's 
publications. 

Edward G. Holley has written a general 
prediction for the future of academic librar-
ies that is in fact a conservative statement. 
Using present financial and educational 
trends, this is probably as accurate a guess 
at the future as one will find. Dean Holley 
has documented his statements and has 
good reason to make most of them. The 
fault in such an approach is that it cannot 
and does not deal with the unexpected, the 
unpredictable; that factor is simply not 
there. I would have preferred some guess at 
such unpredictability. The one kind of trend 
not as well explicated nor as well 
documented as this reviewer would like to 
see is the analysis of the social and 



psychological forces affecting the careers of 
American academic librarians. 

A. P. Marshall, in an article attempting to 
describe the role of bibliographic instruction 
in the academic library, has produced an in-
teresting survey of the highlights of that 
field . 

If this reviewer had to make a simple, 
straightforward guess as to which is the 
most important of the articles in the book, it 
would have to be William Welsh's call for a 
fully national bibliographic data base. It is a 
shame that it is printed here rather than in 
one of the widely circulated library journals. 
Perhaps it can be reprinted, but it may be 
the basis for the emerging national biblio-
graphic network. The parameters of that 
network will no doubt change from those 
hinted at by Welsh, but the fundamental 
question of a national and on-line and de-
centralized system will most certainly be 
that of the future. 

Lester Asheim, writing about library per-
sonnel in the clear and concise style that he 
always does, has again demonstrated both 
the expertise and commitment for which he 
is justly renowned. The conclusions he 
draws about the education needed for the 
future librarian are sound and provide an 
interesting delineation of three components 
from which one may well be able to con-
struct an adequate library school cur-
riculum. 

In an article on operations research in the 
academic library, Herbert Poole and 
Thomas Mott provide an approach to that 
technique of industrial engineering which 
seems to promise so much and delivers so 
little. Would that the creativity and consid-
erable learning demonstrated by the authors 
be applied to the very basic and human 
problems that are the most serious in 
academic libraries. 

There is a smattering of other articles on 
such topics as women in academic libraries, 
bibliographic standards, collection develop-
ment, and instructional technology that 
show a workmanlike approach to the prob-
lems but suffer that common failure of arti-
cles in festchriften-they are a little too 
contrived and a little too lackluster. All in 
all the book is not a bad one. It has some 
very good articles in it, and it is recom-
mended to all who are interested in 

Recent Publications I 317 

·academic libraries.-Hugh C. Atkinson, 
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign . 

Basic Manual Series. Chicago: Society of 
American Archivists, 1977. 5v. $16.00. 

Brichford, Maynard J. Archives & Manu-
scripts: Appraisal & Accessioning. 24p. 
LC 77-14523. 

Fleckner, John A. Archives & Manuscripts: 
Surveys. 28p. LC 77-14554. 

Gracy , David B., II. Archives & Manu-
scripts: Arrangement & Description. 49p. 
LC 77-13527. 

Holbert, Sue E. Archives & Manuscripts: 
Reference & Access. 30p. LC 77-21004. 

Walch, Timothy G. Archives & Manu-
scripts: Security. 30p. LC 77-15117. 
For the past forty years practitioners of 

the American archival craft have been en-
gaged in a sustained effort to locate and 
define their endeavor in the broader context 
of establishing a distinct profession, recog-
nized and accepted as such by their col-
leagues in related disciplines. Caught be-
tween the now firmly established profession 
of librarianship and the realm of academic 
professors of history, archivists have collec-
tively suffered from both an identity crisis 
and an inferiority complex as they went 
about their quest for professional legitimacy. 
Despite the generation of a considerable 
corpus of admittedly uneven archival litera-
ture, this quest has been continually con-
founded by a paucity of standardized meth-
odology, practice, procedure, and ter-
minology-in short, precisely those attrib-
utes that help serve to delineate and delimit 
the essence and parameters of any profes-
sion. 

With the recent publication by the Soci-
ety of American Archivists (assisted by a 
grant from the National Historical Publica-
tions and Records Commission) of the Basic 
Manual Series, the still essentially em-
bryonic American archival profession has 
taken a modest but important step toward 
achieving the sort of professional status that 
has hitherto proved to be so elusive. 

On a more practical plane, the five manu-
als that comprise this series provide a 
wealth of introductory and advanced how-to 
information for anyone interested in the 
theory and practice of administering ar-