College and Research Libraries


used alone as a textbook for materials selec-
tion classes, as too much is omitted or dealt 
with in summary fashion; used in conjunc-
tion with other materials, however, it could 
be a valuable contribution to the literature 
of library materials selection.-Cathleen C. 
Flanagan, University of Utah, Salt Lake 
City. 

The College Library: A Collection of Es-
says. Edited by George Jefferson and G . 
C. K. Smith-Burnett. London: Clive 
Bingley; Hamden , Conn .: Linnet Books, 
1978. 208p . $12.50. LC 78-5945. ISBN 
0-85157-252-9 Bingley; 0-208-01665-1 
Linnet. 
Is a "college" library a unique combina-

tion of resources and services, or is it like 
any other library of similar size forming part 
of an educational institution? The question 
is not posed by the authors of the nine es-
says in this volume, but the libraries they 
describe do belong to a special class. They 
are libraries in colleges of higher education, 
polytechnics, and junior colleges mainly in 
Great Britain . · 

Their closest counterparts on this conti-
nent are to be found in our community col-
leges and junior colleges. Most of these in-
stitutions offer a wide variety of programs to 
a heavy concentration of students who are 
served by a library of core materials, which-
usually contains a high proportion of au-
diovisual material in relation to its holdings 
of the more conventional book stock. 

Although the essays contain many refer-
ences to the North American situation, and 
the last essay is by a member of the staff of 
·a Canadian university library who discusses 
the cooperative programs made possible by 
automation-OCLC , BALLOTS, UTLAS, 
among others-most pages are devoted to 
the growth of the_ college library in Britain 
during the past two decades . 

There is a long essay on the history of the 
college library and others on financing, or-
ganizing, and staffing and on the services 
and training such libraries provide. The 
most interesting essays for the North 
American reader are those devoted to or-
ganizational structure and to staffing. Many 
of the problems defined have a familiar 
ring, and the solutions, though seldom new, 
are refreshingly stated. 

Recent Publications I 71 

The essays are consistent and well writ-
ten, and the emphasis on the British scene 
should present no serious problem for most 
North American readers. There is one an-
noying feature: the rather too g~nerous use 
of acronyms in some essays, which requires 
frequent scurrying to the list in the front of 
the book in order to identify the organiza-
tion or group being discussed. The problem 
is doubtless greater for the North American 
reader, since many of the organizations are 
British and Australian and not commonly re-
ferred to in our library literature. 

The book is essentially factual and de-
scriptive and does not invite much argu-
ment . Each essay is well documented and 
provides a useful bibliography that the 
editors have conveniently left at the end of 
each section. The work is carefully edited, 
only a few minor typographical errors hav-
ing been missed. 

In spite of its positive features , the book 
is not likely to command a wide readership 
in North America. It is mainly useful for the 
student of recent library history or of com-
parativt librarianship and for the beginning 
librarian in a community or junior college. 
-Dorothy F . Thomson , University of Ot-
tawa. 

Larsgaard, Mary . Map Librarianship: An 
Introduction. Library Science Text Se-
ries. Littleton, Colo.: Libraries Unlim-
ited , 1978. 330p. $17.50 U . S . and 
Canada; $21 elsewhere. LC 77-28821. 
ISBN 0-87287-182-7. 
Mary Larsgaard's Map Librarianship is 

the first, and long awaited, North American 
textbook on map librarianship. Its predeces-
sor as the first textbook on the subject is 
Nichols ' Map Librarianship, reviewed in 
the January 1977 C&RL. The Nichols vol-
ume has a strong English bias and , there-
fore, more limited applications in the North 
American context. 

This new book is constructed in an un-
usual but very practical manner. It is basi-
cally a massive review of the literature, with 
footnote references in the form of author 
and date appearing directly after a state-
ment . For knowledgeable map librarians, 
this means that the sources selected as the 
basis for the theory or analysis of a topic are 
immediately apparent. For novices they 



72 I College & Research Libraries • january 1979 

lead easily to more detailed literature in the 
field. 

This review of theories in the field does 
not stand alone but is coupled with a clear 
and incisive commentary from the author, 
in most cases directing readers to the most 
practical approach to take in applying the 
theories to their own map collections. North 
Americans in the field of map librarianship 
sometimes refrain from recommending one 
method over another in their articles to the 
detriment of students and beginning map 
librarians. It is to the credit of this author 
that she does take a stand in most cases and 
reveals a very sane and intelligent grasp of 
the possibilities, impossibilities, and poten-
tialities of operating map collections today. 

The book follows a fairly standard pattern 
of arrangement: A chapter on selection and 
acquisition is followed by two chapters on 
classification and cataloging, a chapter on 
storage and preservation, one on public re-
lations and reference services, a chapter on 
administration and planning of facilities, and 
finally an overview. The book concludes 
with fifteen appendixes covering a variety of 
topics and the bibliography. 

The chapter on selection is somewhat un-
even, ranging rather too generally over the 
theoretical problems vis-a-vis policy, basic 
map purchases, atlases, globes, and aerial 
photos, with all examples geared to an 
American setting. 

She does however make the point very 
clearly that selection and acquisition are 
probably still the most difficult tasks in run-
ning the map library because of lack of bib-
liographic control, the dispersed nature of 
the sources, the exclusion of maps from cen-
tral handling by government agencies, and 
security controls. These problems can never 
be pointed out too frequently to the begin-
ning map librarian. 

From the point of view of an instructor in 
map librarianship, the chapters on catalog-
ing and classification are invaluable, as they 
provide excellent summaries of manual and 
computer map · cataloging systems as well as 
the various theories in the field, including 
the conflict over main entry. The timing of 
this summary is particularly pertinent, and 
the author emphasizes that standardization, 
through use of MARC- Map formats, ISBD 
(CM), LC Class G, probably AACR II, and 

cooperative cataloging, is the only real di-
rection to move in map cataloging to save 
time and money. As she queries: Is a 
briefer system really so inexpensive if it has 
to be done all over again in a few years' 
time? 

The section on reference service perhaps 
stresses public relations, orientation, and 
user studies more than actual reference 
work; all are areas that have been over-
looked until recently, particularly reference 
work. It is not surprising then that this 
chapter is one of the shorter in the book; 
but considering that neither Nichols' Map 
Librarianship nor any other overview of the 
field has included the topic in a separate 
section, it has been very well covered here. 

The chapter on storage and preservation 
covers most topics, from sources of paper 
deterioration and repair methods to map 
drawers and storage modes for wall maps, 
plastic relief maps, etc, Since this is the 
topic most covered in the existing literature, 
it might have been useful if the author had 
a special section on practical repair and 
handling in a small library, i.e., minimum 
standards. 

The administration chapter begins with a 
section on planning space layout, which, as 
the author points out, is affected by major 
concepts about the library, such as goals, 
parent organization, and funding. She de-
votes a section to the presentation of a 
budget, which has scarcely been covered 
before in the literature, and she discusses 
the question of loans and photocopying in 
the light of the new U.S. copyright law. 
The final part of this chapter is a series of 
useful hints on moving the library. 

Not all the appendixes are as successful as 
they first appear. The sample acquisition 
policy is not really detailed enough, while 
the basic list of world atlases omits a major 
new atlas: Rand McNally's The International 
Atlas (2d ed., Chicago, 1976). The source 
lists are generally useful, as is the glossary 
of map terms. The bibliography is arranged 
alphabetically because of the referencing 
method and is very large and quite 
adequate for further research. 

The author's style is relaxed and in many 
places amusing and/or flip, depending on 
one's point of view. To experienced map li-
brarians, many of her jokes are almost apoc-



ryphal and help to emphasize the problems. 
This text should supersede many of the 

earlier (and poorer) articles in the field and 
should be basic reading, for some time, for 
North American map librarians, whether 
experienced or beginners, and for nonmap 
librarians who want to know what is hap-
penging in the field.-joan Winearls, Uni-
versity of Toronto . 

The Information Society: Issues and An-
swers. American Library Association's 
Presidential Commission for the 1977 De-
troit Annual Conference. Edited with a 
Preface and Introduction by E. J. Josey 
and a Foreword by Clara Stanton Jones. 
A Neal-Schuman Professional Book. 
Phoenix, Ariz.: Oryx Press, 1978. 133p. 
$11.95. LC 78-17708. ISBN 0-912700-
16-5. 
The ALA program in Detroit two sum-

mers ago attempted an ambitious departure 
from the usual Annual Conference format: 
an ali-day, plenary, think/talk session de-
voted to an examination of some major 
problems librarians face in the emerging 
"post-industrial society." 

Five major speakers followed in the wake 
of a keynote address by Norman Isaacs, a 
communications specialist from Columbia's 
Graduate School of Journalism (who ha-
rangued the gathering on those 
shortcomings of librarians-negativism, ar-
rogance, self-serving behavior, absurd 
bureaucratic routines-he presumed must 
stand in the way of libraries becoming 
"working community centers," a function he 
saw as their higher calling). 

OCLC director Fred Kilgour briefly re-
viewed past applications of technology to li-
braries, chiefly in cataloging, and invited 
participants to speculate on the fountain of 
beneficial effects about to shower forth as 
computer technology moved librarianship 
into "another of its great ages." New York 
State Senator Major Owens lambasted li-
brarians for failing to r~spond positively to 
social change during the past twenty years 
and, with the White House Conference in 
mind, called for· greater participation by li-
brarians in the government's policy-making 
procedures in order to overcome public in-
difference. 

Thomas Buckman, president of the Foun-

Recent Publications I 13 

dation Center, treated information as a 
commodity and discussed the economic im-
plications posed by new technology; Gerald 
Shields of the School of Information and Li-
brary Studies, SUNY Buffalo, invited 
analysis of the new role of librarians result-
ing from that technology; and Fay Blake of 
the School of Library Science, University of 
California at Berkeley, warned that public 
access to information must be determined, 
not by technology, but by librarians with a 
clear notion of their patrons' need. 

Following each address, the audience of 
some 1,500 participants broke up into small 
group discussions and proceeded to kick 
around these and other topics. It was, as 
one participant said, "the world's largest 
reactor panel." 

It is chiefly as a record of the event that 
publication of conference proceedings must 
be judged, and as a record this one is intel-
ligently designed, well edited, and thor-
ough. Feedback from the discussion groups 
is summarized and presented along with the 
texts of principal speeches; the editor's in-
clusion of reviews of literature prepared as 
handouts for the discussion sessions-and in 
some instances the review essays were more 
stimulating than the formal addresses 
themselves-gives the volume some claim 
to utility. 

Predictably, although some of the funda-
mental concerns are shared by academic li-
brarians (especially the identity crisis of the 
professional librarian caught up in a chang-
ing economic and technological environ-
ment), the public library context of the ses-
sion, as well as its necessarily superficial 
and hortatory treatment of issues, made 
it-and makes its tardy report-of only in-
cidental interest to the vast majority of 
readers of this journal.-W. A. Moffett, 
State University of New York, College at 
Potsdam. 

Conroy, Barbara. Library Staff Develop-
ment and Continuing Education: Princi-
ples and Practices. Littleton, Colo.: Li-
braries Unlimited, 1978. 268p. $17.50 
U.S. and Canada; $21 elsewhere. LC 78-
18887. ISBN 0-87287-177-0. 
This book provides an in-depth presenta-

tion of all aspects of establishing staff de-
velopment and continuing education pro-