College and Research Libraries every possible question that those charged with providing reference service might ask. Especially helpful are those sections of her manual that pertain to the right to know and the right to privacy, restrictions, guides and finding aids, and ethics. The section devoted to copyright considerations is par- ticularly valuable. Also useful are two ap- pendixes: the Society of American Ar- chivists' "Standards for Access to Research Materials in Archival and Manuscript Re- positories" and the SAA' s "Statement on the Reproduction of Manuscripts and Archives for Reference Use." Archives and Manuscripts: Surveys, by John A. Fleckner of the State Historical So- ciety of Wisconsin, is more specialized than the other manuals. According to the author, "it examines the several uses of record sur- veys and offers instruction in carrying out a survey. Its central theme is that the records survey is a tool that enlarges the archivist's view beyond the walls of the archivist's own institution." Fleckner meticulously traces the historical evolution of the use of records surveys, defines the terms associated with such activities, enumerates the various pur- poses of surveys, pays careful attention to both planning surveys and selecting appro- priate methodologies, and summarizes the various procedures utilized in conducting surveys. Several representative forms and other helpful examples are ipcluded. Con- cise and to the point, Fleckner' s contribu- tion is. an original and definitive contribu- tion to the rather sparse and wanting litera- ture on this important archival function. Archives and Manuscripts: Security, by Timothy G. Walch, director for special pro- grams at the Society of American Archivists, contains a thorough and informative treat- ment of a matter of paramount concern to all archivists: how to deter the increasing number of rip-offs of archives and manu- scripts. Walch discusses such topics as plan- ning and implementing a security program, security and the law, and security against fires and floods. His manual, like Fleck- ner' s, represents an important contribution to the literature in ·an area in which ar- chivists have long l>een seeking substantive assistance. In summary, this five-volume basic man- ual series, available in an easily accessible Recent Publications I 319 81h-by-ll-inch format at a relatively inex- pensive price, constitutes a most welcome and valuable addition to archiv~ literature. At once it represents a progressive step in the professionalization of the archival disci- pline while serving as an invaluable tool for all those who work with archives ~d manu- scripts. As such, the volumes in this series belong on the reference shelves of all librar- ies and other institutions, organizations, governmental units, or individuals con- cerned even in the most remote or marginal manner with the administration of archives and manuscripts.-Patrick M. Quinn, Northwestern University, Evanston , Illinois. • Smith, Jessie Carney. Black Academic Li- braries and Research Collections: An His- torical Survey. Contributions in Afro- American Studies, no.34. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1977. 303p. $15.00. LC 77-71857. ISBN 0-8371- 9546-2. Black institutions of higher education in America have, for the most part, been in- visible when intellectual histories have been written. Even more invisible than the col- leges and universities have been the librar- ies serving these institutions. McGrath in his 1965 study of the predominantly black colleges and universities states that the sit- ins and civil unrest of the early 1960s gave these institutions visibility. Between 1917 and 1971, studies and re- search findings relating to black academic libraries have been made available through three major surveys that were published in 1917 and 1942, a number of similar studies, and more recently surveys conducted be- tween 1965 and 1970. Jessie Carney Smith, university librarian of Nashville's Fisk Uni- versity, has written the present survey. Smith was the recipient of a Council on Library Resources "mid-career fellowship" in 1968 to undertake a detailed, in-depth analysis of library programs, facilities, and services in black colleges and universities. This study is one of the few that have dealt with the history of black institutions of higher learning and the growth, develop- ment, and status of their libraries. The news had been circulating for years that the "Smith study" was to be published, and finally it is out. It is a welcome addition to 320 I College & Research Libraries • july 1978 the field of knowledge. What was contemplated as a contemporary survey of the black academic library of the late 1960s is now a historical study. The delay in the publication may have been providential, for now we have a corpus of material to use in evaluating the present status of these libraries. The author states that the findings lend themselves to updat- ing. This is a boon for researchers who may wish to use these results for further study. Smith's work seems to carry forth previ- ous studies that agreed that in the history of black higher education libraries have consis- tently remained below minimum standards. Each study reported progress and im- provement, yet the libraries have not reached the status that they need to achieve in order to support the missions of their in- stitutions. Generally, the studies suggest the infusion of substantial funds to enable these libraries to overcome their short- comings. The book is divided into six chapters deal- ing with historical perspectives, research studies, libraries in the black college, spe- cial collections of black literature, and black academic libraries and research collections. There are four appendixes and an extensive bibliography. There are forty-four tables and one figure. Since the completion of the study, sig- nificant developments have taken place and these developments are addressed in foot- notes. Recommendations are made through- out the study. The need for a follow-up study is assessed in the concluding chapter with examples of issues that need to be con- sidered in future studies. Jessie Carney Smith's work can proudly take its place among the enduring pieces of library history. She has wrought wonder- fully.-Casper LeRoy jordan, Atlanta Uni- versity, Atlanta, Georgia. Barker, Nicolas. The Oxford University Press and the Spread of Learning, 1478- 1978. An Illustrated History by Nicolas Barker. With a Preface by Charles Rys- kamp. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978. 69p. plus 332 plates. $25.00. LC 77- 30541. ISBN 0-19-951086-5. What a handsome book this is! Careful at- tention to design, judicious selection of typeface, luxurious use of white space, and the inclusion of more than 300 excellent full- or half-page plates, some of which are in color, combine to make this volume a well-nigh sumptuous memento observing the quincentennial of its remarkable pub- lisher. There is moreover wide variety of interest represented in the plates. Many are of title pages or openings of Oxford Univer- sity Press books, but there are also repro- ductions of landmark documents from the press archives; portraits of important figures in its history; pictures of buildings, compos- ing rooms and pressrooms, type punches, and matrices; and other memorabilia depict- ing its five centuries of service to scholar- ship. It is an exciti.ng book to look at. It is more, however, than just a pretty book. Although he does not presume to supersede the several thorough textual his- tories of the Oxford University Press, the author nonetheless provides an extensive and provocative commentary on the illus- trations that comprises an excellent sum- mary of its work. There is a full body of rel- evant anecdotes, there are sketches of im- portant events and circumstances, and there is an adequate chronological framework to give the whole a kind of sequential as well as spiritual unity. Here, for example, one finds accounts of the fascinating bibliographical "pre-history" of the town of Oxford, of its long association with Bible publishing, of the importation of the Fell types, and of the relationship of the press to the rest of the English trade. One finds also the stories of the great monuments of scholarship with which the press has been associated: Clarendon's His- tory of the Rebellion, Pococke' s works on the Levant, Sir James Murray and the OED, Liddell and Scott's Greek and Eng- lish Lexicon, and many others. Here are the personalities that made the press run- Archbishop Laud, Dr. John Fell, Sir William Blackstone, and others-inspired by the author and illustrator with new life. Benjamin Jowett, for example, master of Balliol College, takes on a new dimension when we read the undergraduate doggerel: First come I. My name is Jowett. If it's knowledge, then I know it. If I don't, it isn't knowledge. I'm the Master of this College.