College and Research Libraries


but on page 99. This was difficult to ascertain 
from the index; it was not found there under 
"collected acts" but only under "association 
agreements,·· for which two pages were cited. 
In general, however, the index is good. 

This volume is important not only to Euro-
pean Communities depositories but to any re-
search institution involved with studies of 
Western European political and economic 
affairs.-Carolyn W. Kohler, University of 
Iowa, Iowa City. 

Williams, Patrick, and Pearce, Joan Thornton. 
The Vital Network: A Theory of Communi-
cation and Society. Contributions in Librar-
ianship and Information Science, number 
25. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Pr., 
1978. ll1p. $13.95. LC 77-94757. ISBN 
0-313-20324-5. ISSN 0084-9243. 
Since bibliographic and information net-

works are topics of consuming interest in the 
profession today, many librarians may acquire 
this title in the hopes that it will provide some 
insight into the elusive goal we all seek-a vital 
network. These hopes will be disappointed; 
the subtitle, A Theory of Communication and 
Society, is more descriptive of the book's con-
tents. 

Some librarians who acquire this work as a 
result of its misleading title may find that doing 
so is a rewarding mistake. The purpose of the 
work is to present a theory of macrocommuni-
cation systems that would provide librarians 
and other communication professionals a theo-
retical model from which to derive values and 
priorities. 

Briefly, the theory is a simplified derivative 
from the works of George Herbert Mead and 
Lev Vygotsky. It starts with the position that 
human intelligence .is the product oflanguage; 
the "cultural biosystem," which encompasses 
science, literature, and social and political in-
stitutions, is essentially a communications sys-
tem. The ability to communicate is the founda-
tion of human existence, and communication 
is the ultimate human activity. Naturally, the 
theory reflects well on the significance of the 
role of "communication professiona~s. ·· 

After establishing and to some extent justify-
ing this broad framework, the authors analyze 
three communication industries-entertain-
ment, journalism, and education-in terms of 
their roles in American society. These chap-
ters present a series of observations that at 

Recent Publications I 185 

times are interesting and provocative but pro-
vide little systematic evidence in support of 
the authors' theory. Basically, Williams and 
Pearce have succeeded in establishing a point 
of view and presenting a few examples. Al-
though the point of view is held with some 
consistency, it is not developed systematically 
in sufficient depth to warrant the name of 
"theory.·· 

The approach of this book must be consid-
ered somewhat oblique if it is aimed specifi-
cally at our librarians. Librarianship is treated 
in a brief postscript, but no attempt is made to 
establish the relevance of the theory to librar-
ianship in the course of presenting the theory 
in the main text. In light of the series in which 
this title is published, it would have been ap-
propriate to treat librarianship at least to the 
same degree as entertainment, journalism, 
and education. Had such an effort been made, 
the authors might have come clos~r to achiev-
ing their goal. 

Nevertheless, Williams and Pearce have 
produced a book that is provocative enough 
that it may be of interest to librarians who have 
the time to indulge their reflective moods on 
the role of the profession in society.-]oe A. 
Hewitt, University of North Carolina at 
Chapel Hill. 

Stem, Madeleine B. BooksandBookPeoplein 
19th-Century America. N e~ York: Bowker, 
1978. 341p. $25. LC 78-12197. ISBN 
0-8352-1109-6. 
For almost four decades Madeleine Stern's 

well-written essays and anecdotes have graced 
the pages of journals and monographs, re-
minding us of the rich heritage of our nation· s 
book trade. Some twenty-three of those essays 
are now brought together in this volume, 
which is well designed in a manner appro-
priate to its subject. The resulting medley 
should provide several ~venings of agreeable 
reading for anyone interested in the subject. · 

Virtually the entire contents of the book 
have appeared elsewhere. Readers who re-
member Stern's Imprints on Histdry (Indiana 
University Press, 1956) might choose to think 
of this book as its second volume, so similar are 
the styles and contents of the two, were it not 
that fully fifty pages from the earlier title are 
reprinted here. The integrity of the subject of 
Books and Book People, however, and the fact 
that some of its pieces are reproduced from