College and Research Libraries


especially since the developers of Leeward 
Community College's library instructional 
materials have systematically revised them 
to insure validity, reliability, and practical-
ity. It is strongly recommended that 
academic librarians desiring to initiate or 
improve their own programs buy this pub-
lication and copy freely from the 150 pages 
of teaching and testing items contained 
herein. The sample materials can easily be 
adapted to fit local needs. As a bonus, the 
authors are willing to supply additional 
materials and information, as well as con-
sultations, upon request.-Leonard Grundt, 
Nassau Community College, Garden City, 
New York. 

Hoffmann, Frank W. The Development of 
Library Collections of Sound Recordings. 
Books in Library and Information Sci-
ence, V.28. New York: Marcel Dekker, 
1979. 169p. $19.75. LC 79-23064. ISBN 
0-824 7-6858-2. 
The purpose of this text is "to provide a 

blueprint of the selection, acquisition, and 
arrangement of phonorecords and tapes in 
all types of libraries" (p. v). Essentially, the 
author seems to be concerned with current 
circulating materials, rather than archival 
and historical collections. In addition to col-
lection development, there are sections on 
audio reproduction equipment, the care and 
preservation of sound recordings, arrange-
ment and classification, and cataloging. The 
sections on collection development include 
chapters on general principles of selection, 
selection criteria, and an extremely valuable 
annotated list of periodicals to be used in 
the selection process. There is also a bib-
liography of books which the author thinks 
will be helpful in collection development 
(books on music appreciation, history, and 
guides to the repertory). 

Chapter 7 is a list of recordings for a 
basic collection. This is to serve as "merely 
a foundation." Local needs, inclinations, 
and capabilities will then determine the 
direction of the collection. The list of 1,250 
items is recommended for large university 
and public libraries, but identifies appropri-
ate items for medium-sized public and col-
lege libraries (625 items) and small public 
and school libraries (313 items). The list is 
classed by genre: blues, rhythm and blues; 

Recent Publications I 319 

classical music-chamber works, keyboard 
works, string and woodwind works, sym-
phonic works, and vocal works; country and 
western music; drama; folk music; jazz; 
musicals, movies, radio shows; opera, 
operetta, ballet, oratorio; and popular 
music. Specific recordings are recom-
mended in all cases except the classical 
genres (where only titles of compositions 
are listed with no recommendations for per-
formers). 

A notable feature of Hoffmann's work is 
his generous regard for nonclassical forms. 
On the other hand, I expect that many 
librarians would like to have more help in 
selecting specific interpretations of classical 
music. Thus Richard Halsey's book, Classic-
al Music Recordings (Chicago: American Li-
brary Assn., 1976), is still indispensable. 
Nor have other basic sources been made 
obsolescent-see, for example, the series of 
discographies by Nancy and Dean Tudor, 
American Popular Music on Elpee [sic] 
(Littleton, Colo.: Libraries Unlimited, 
1979-- ). 

One could certainly take issue with some 
of Hoffmann's predilections (e.g., his sug-
gestion that library collections should mirror 
public tastes, the lack of coverage of certain 
areas of the repertory). But these issues are 
subjective, and, all things considered, this 
is a most useful contribution to the library 
literature.-Gordon Stevenson, State Uni-
versity of New York at Albany. 

Music Library Association. Subcommittee 
on Basic Music Collection. A Basic Music 
Library: Essential Scores and Books. 
Compiled by the Music Library Associa-
tion Subcommittee on Basic Music Col-
lection. Edited by Pauline Shaw Bayne. 
Chicago: American Library Assn., 1978. 
173p. $5. LC 78-11997. ISBN 0-8389-
0281-2. 

Redfern, Brian. Organising Music in Li-
braries. 2d ed. London: Clive Bingley; 
Hamden, Conn.: Linnet Books, 197&-79. 
2v. V.1, $9.50. V.2, $12.50. LC 78-819. 
ISBN 0-85157-231-6, V.1; 0-85157-261-8, 
V.2, Bingley; 0-208-01544-2, V.1; 0-208-
01678-3, V.2, Linnet. V.1: Arrangement 
and Classification. V.2: Cataloguing. 
During the 1970s the Music Library 

Association (MLA) issued a number of 



380 I College & Research Libraries • july 1980 

selected lists, covering areas like miniature 
scores, reference books, biographies of 
musicians, opera scores, etc.; these were in-
tended to guide nonspecialist librarians in 
building music collections for general librar-
ies. From 1975 to 1978 a committee of MLA 
revised and augmented those lists, to pro-
duce the single compilation now before us. 

It is a gathering of 952 numbered titles, 
consisting of both musical compositions and 
writings about music. Information given for 
each item includes publisher and price, 
brief annotations for most books, and uni-
form titles for scores. There is also a list of 
music publishers and an author-title index. 

While the list would be useful in the 
formation of a core collection, it leaves 
much to be desired. A fundamental prob-
lem rests in the lack of stated criteria for in-
clusion; the list is curiously imbalanced 
among types of material, and it bears some 
odd omissions. What shall we say-in terms 
of balance-of a basic collection with more 
wind chamber publications (120 items, in 
miniature score and performing edition for-
mats) than orchestral works (96 miniature 
scores)? Or how can we justify a core list 
that excludes five Beethoven symphonies, 
two Brahms symphonies, and five by 
Tchaikovsky? 

In the literature section the titles given 
are worthy, but again omissions come to 
mind at every turn. Even in a small refer-
ence section, one would expect to find such 
standard works as Crowell's Handbook of 
World Opera, Index to Characters in Per-
forming Arts, ASCAP Biographical Diction-
ary, Who's Who of jazz, Index to Biog-
raphies of Contemporary Composers, 
Orchestral Music: A Source Book, and Gen-
try's History and Encyclopedia of Country, 
Western and Gospel Music. Considering the 
distinguished parentage of this guidebook, 
one can only be disappointed in the guid-
ance it ultimately gives. 

Redfern's work is completely new in its 
second edition, replacing the one-volume 
issue of 1966. The author explains that the 
present two-volume format was the result of 
his intention to deal with AACR 2 and the 
delay in release of those rules; the second 
volume awaited their publication. Both 
volumes are comparative studies: the first 
examines the familiar classifications for 

music materials, the second looks at catalog-
ing codes. Although "intended primarily for 
students" (1:7), these are in no sense text-
books; they are quite specialized reviews of 
technical problems and various solutions 
which have been offered for them. It would 
seem that the ideal reader would be a 
music cataloger who craves an intellectual 
viewpoint on what must otherwise seem a 
dry collection of regulations. 

The author, a principal lecturer in librar-
ianship, Polytechnic of North London, takes 
a solid British stance throughout. In clas-
sificatory matters, for instance, he is com-
mitted to the British Catalogue of Music 
Classification ("much easier and more con-
sistently reliable than classification by DC 
or by the Library of Congress," 1:11), and 
he identifies progress in the classification 
world with the increasing acceptance of 
faceted theory. In subject cataloging, his 
attention is on PRECIS and the BCM, with 
passing condescensions toward the LC and 
New York Public Library subject headings. 

Probably the most useful feature of the 
first volume is a simple presentation of the 
way "foci" are grouped into facets, using 
musical examples. Of less interest. are the 
chapters on classification of jazz and on 
arrangement of sound recordings. The jazz 
section is based on Derek Langridge, whose 
quaint subdivisions may remind one of early 
Dewey (e. g., the schedule includes such 
units as "neglect" [of jazz], "creation," 
"Negro" [style], and "Dixieland," and 
"Blues"-with obvious problems of defini-
tion and overlap). A brief treatment of 
sound recording classification seems to have 
been written without awareness of Olga 
Buth's detailed summary in Library Trends, 
January 1975. 

In the second volume, on cataloging, 
there is a thorough analysis of AACR 2 
music coverage, in the light of the Code in-
ternational de catalogage de la musique, 
issued by the International Association of 
Music Libraries. There are good studies of 
uniform titles and of descriptive practice. 
Each volume has a short bibliography, with 
important omissions, and a general index. 

It is awkward to attempt a general esti-
mate of Redfern's work. He has certainly 
looked closely and intelligently at matters of 
concern to him and offered very personal 



views with little reference to other writers; 
those views partake heavily of a British per-
suasion. The result is not a textbook, nor 
yet a scholarly treatise. For libraries that 
want this kind of book, this is the kind they 
will want.-Guy A. Marco, Library De-
velopment Consultants, Washington, D.C . 

Conroy, Barbara. Library Staff Develop-
ment Profile Pages: A Guick and Work-
book for Library S,elf Assessment and 
Planning. Tabernash, Colo.: The Author, 
1979. 50p. $12. (Available from: Barbara 
Conroy, Box 502, Tabernash, CO 80478.) 
This recent work is intended to be used 

in conjunction with the author's Library 
Staff Development and Continuing Educa-
tion: Principles and Practices. Retentive 
readers will recall that this earlier work was 
reviewed by Sheila Creth at the dawn of 
1979 (C&RL 40:73-75). The previous work 
provided the principles and practices; this 
one, the profile pages which serve as a 
guide and workbook and which grew out of 
the author's 1979 evaluative study of the 
Cooperative Information Network's staff de-
velopment program in California (ERIC ED 
172 828). The two clearly complement each 
other. 

The present work is divided into two sec-
tions. Part I gives a "Profile for Assessing 
Library Staff Development-A Guide," 
while Part II is a "Profile for Planning Li-
brary Staff Development-A Workbook." 
Part I gives worksheets to hel~t define the 
profiles of responsibilities and policies, of 
planning the program, of implementation, 
and for evaluating the result. Part II ad-
dresses itself to staff development needs, 
program goals and objectives, roles and re-
sponsibilities, policies, resources, the needs 
assessment process, the planning process, 
and the evaluation process. A selected bib-
liography completes the work. 

I was prompted, . in thinking about the 
administrative aspects of staff development, 
to recall the distinction between the art and 
science of a martini. The person who has 
never made one requires instructions in the 
science while the devotee, requiring no 
assistance, practices the art. At the risk of 
oversimplifying and appearing blase, the 
distinction is useful. Those already much in-
volved in staff development will wonder 

Recent Publications I 381 

why they need these profile pages and will, 
at a possible risk, choose to ignore them. 
Those who have never been engaged in staff 
development will, to their lasting credit, 
tum to these most useful pages. As to those 
in the middle somewhere, well--check 
them anyhow. No harm will be done and 
perhaps a lot of good realized.-Leslie W. 
Sheridan, University of Toledo, Toledo, 
Ohio. 

Videotext: The Coming Revolution in Home/ 
Office Information Retrieval. By Efrem 
Sigel with Joseph Roizen, Colin Mcin-
tyre, Max Wilkinson. White Plains, N.Y. : 
Knowledge Industry Publications, 1980. 
154p . $24.95. LC 79-18935. ISBN 
0-914236-41-5. 
Videotext has been defined as a two-way 

(interactive) communication system that 
links computer data bases to television by 
telephone or by cable television lines. Tele-
text, on the other hand, is a one-way 
(noninteractive) communication system that 
transmits information via television through 
regular or cable television broadcast signals. 
Videotext and teletext are considered to be 
the newest and most revolutionary develop-
ments in information retrieval. 

With videotext one may use a hand-held 
calculator type key-pad and have a wide 
variety of information appear on a television 
screen, such as classified ads in the daily 
newspaper, travel and weather information, 
encyclopedia articles, and even holdings of 
the local library. Bills can be paid, bank 
accounts examined, and theater tickets re-
served by this new home information 
service system. 

A variety of videotext/teletext systems as 
they exist in their present stage of develop-
ment are described in this work by Sigel 
and others. A brief chapter outlines the 
technology of videotext/teletext in relatively 
simple terms. Nearly half the book is de-
voted to a description of the two major Brit-
ish systems: CEEF AX (seeing facts) and 
Prestel. (The authors consider Britain to be 
a good two years ahead of the rest of the 
world in introducing home information 
services.) 

CEEF AX, a teletext type service of the 
British Broadcasting Corporation, provides a 
broad range of information but features