College and Research Libraries LC 78-7129. ISBN 0-313-20608-2. Although these papers were prepared for a conference held in 1977, they are still up to date. In fact, librarians appear to have done very little in the time since to prepare themselves for the non-card catalog or AACR 2. One of the best things they could do now is to read this book. It does not provide a do-it-yourself kit for producing a new catalog, nor does it address nuts-and-bolts issues. Librarians have, how- ever, always been inclined to neglect under- lying principles, and the various authors do remind us forcibly that in this p.ew age no- thing less is required than a complete re- view of the rationale of the catalog. Foremost among these concerns are: the definition of the data base, reconsideration of its contents, reevaluation of its public shape, and rethinking of the ways in which it is produced and maintained. Together these concepts could mean , if properly un- derstood and applied, a revolution in librar- ianship, since they imply a totally new way of looking at bibliographic data. The distinction drawn by Brett Butler be- tween resource and collection data bases is basic and needs to be understood by anyone proposing to set up an alternative catalog. It also enables the functions of utilities and li- braries to be separated clearly in library thinking, a severe lack in most current net- work planning. Coupled to this is the vital fact pointed out by Michael Malinconico that for the first time we have gained con- trol over the shape of the catalog. If on-line or COM catalogs can be manipulated and erased or disposed of, the rigidities created by the 3-by-5-inch card should no longer be seen as the controlling factors. The standard message may be MARC, but its public for- mat can be as variable as is necessary be- cause change no longer means changing thousands of cards. Sanford Berman adds to this a plea to use the flexibilities of automation to produce lo- cally what is needed locally, and the argu- ment is hard to counter, though its applica- tion is possible only if the premise of data flexibility is accepted. Peter Spyers-Duran and William Axford discuss the issue of management, one from the perspective of personnel, the other from the perspective of planning. Both insist that the changes librar- Recent Publications I 415 ies face require superior management of a kind not readily found to date. It is indeed questionable whether muddling through will suffice. Henriette Avram provides her usual inci- sive statement of national needs. Glyn Evans provides a useful analysis of network-library-utility problems by critiqu- ing the role and accomplishments of OCLC. Neither, however, addresses the problems of local data needs, whether for an indi- vidual library or for a regional group of li- braries, and this may well be the crucial issue in the future of bibliographic utilities . Nor do they more than touch on the ques- tion of internetwork access . If these prob- lems cannot be surmounted , neither the flexibilities of COM nor the commonalities of MARC will save us. Among the more practical papers, the an- alytical study of the Los Angeles County Public Library catalogs makes outstanding reading. Mary Fischer's presentation should encourage other libraries to undertake simi- ' lar analyses. Robert Blackburn presents again in convenient form a summary of the Toronto experience. Since the decision on whether and how to convert a shelflist is a critical one, it would have been of greater assistance if John Kountz had not couched his contribution in such an arch tone. He had some good things to say but has dis- guised them well. In somewhat the same vein it is regretta- bly necessary to say that most of the figures are practically meaningless . The graphs are too sketchy and the legends do not explain their purpose adequately, which is a pity in an otherwise attractive book. All catalogers and administrators should read and ponder this book, using the con- cepts to avoid getting mired in the largely irrevelant "practicalities" of how to convert to AACR 2 and COM.-Murray S. Martin , The Pennsylvania State University, Univer- sity Park. Columbia University. Oral History Research Office. The Oral History Collection of Columbia University. Edited by Elizabeth B. Mason and Louis M. Starr. New York: Oral History Research Office, 1979. 306p. $22.50. LC 79-11527. ISBN 0-9602492- 0-6. (Available from: Oral History, Butler 476 I College & Research Libraries • September 1979 Library, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027.) The fourth catalog to the oral history col- lection of Columbia University, this latest edition is a· handsome, comprehensive guide to the most prestigious oral history collec- tion in the world. Oral history in the modern sense, both as term and concept, dates from May 18, 1948, when Allan Nevins of Columbia conducted his first interview with New York City banker and civic leader George McAneny. When Nevins retired a decade later, the Oral History Research Office had gathered more than 100,000 pages of memoirs , and an oral history movement was gaining mo- mentum. Today oral history groups are at work in every state and on every continent. · The four guides to the Columbia collec- tion published in the last nineteen years clearly document the development of this pioneering program in the field. The first edition, a slim booklet of about 120 pages, appeared in 1960. Four years later , a somewhat larger and more attractive guide gave impetus to the growing interest in oral history throughout the United States and abroad. Bolstered by later supplements, this second version continued in use until 1973, when a third edition , coedited by Elizabeth B. Mason and Louis M. Starr , directors, marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of the program at Columbia. With an assist from computerization, that 460-page volume , or- ganizing the collection into a single al- phabet, with supplemental indexes, de- scribed memoirs totaling 364,650 pages. The 1979 edition , according to coeditor Starr, "quadruples what the first had to of- fer." A comparison with its most recent predecessor attests simultaneously to the sustained vitality of the Columbia program and the refinement of the collection guide. New memoirs and projects appear, of course . Changes of access since 1973 are carefully noted. To their credit, the editors have not been content merely to record additions and changes. This fourth version is a dictionary catalog presenting persons, projects, and topics of interest in a single alphabet. Topical cross-references also ap- pear for the first time. The two-column page, another change, presents entries set in Times Roman with headings in Gill ' s Perpetua. The effect is one of clarity and felicity. Indeed, the entire volume reflects the consummate skill of Warren Chappell, its designer. Essential to any guide are the directions for its use. Here Louis Starr's lively intro- duction to the edition; a short background essay that follows, "Coming to Terms: Oral History"; and ten pages of captioned photo- graphs lead the user on to "How to Use the Catalogue," appropriately-though perhaps unnecessarily-presented in the question- answer pattern of the oral history interview. Convenient lists of subject headings, special projects, and abbreviations complete the twenty-seven-page prefatory section. Among the new projects reported in the latest guide is one of special interest to li- brarians . Gerald Gottlieb , Pierpont Morgan Library, has conducted a series of inter- views with significant figures in the world of rare books. Initiated in 1973, this section of the Rare Books Project now numbers 669 pages of transcript and is continuing. A later development of the same project, an explo- ration of the American antiquarian book trade between the two world wars, got under way just last year. Interviewees have included dealers , collectors, and librarians associated with the trade between 1920 and 1945. Despite the cost of this fourth edition of The Oral History Collection of Columbia University , all libraries and other organiza- tions serving researchers and those in- terested in oral history projects will want to ad.d this volume to their reference collections.-Martha Chambers, State Uni- versity of New York, College at Oneonta. Soltow, Martha Jane, and Sokkar, Jo Ann Stehberger. Industrial Relations and Per- sonnel Management: Selected Information Sources. With the editorial assistance of Nancy Barkey. Metuchen, N .J.: Scare- crow, 1979. 286p. $11. LC 78-31795. ISBN 0-8108-1203-7. Aimed at filling the needs of a wide audi- ence of librarians , faculty, students, and "practitioners" for a sourcebook covering all aspects of the employer-employee relation- ship, Industrial Relations and Personnel Management scores a bull' s-eye . The au- thors, one who is librarian for the School of