College and Research Libraries 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 382 I College & Research Libraries • july 1980 news, finance, sport, entertainment, weath- er, and travel data. Prestel (sometimes re- ·ferred to as Viewdata) is a development of the British Post Office and unlike CEEF AX enjoys the major advantage of being inter- active. A separate chapter is devoted to the de- velopment of videotext and teletext systems within the United States. These develop- ments have been slow especially when com- pared to Britain and France. Passing men- tion is made of Warner Communication's Qube service launched in Columbus, Ohio, and the ambitious projects of Knight-Ridder Newspapers and General Telephone and Electronics. · Although Sigel and the other contributing authors are to be commended for what they have written , it is what they have not writ- ten and what they have not addressed that makes this book of little value for most li- brarians. No mention is made of the signi- ficant implications that videotext/teletext systems have for the future of libraries or the role that libraries will play as these in- formation systems are developed . Informa- MCGREGOR "PERSONALIZED SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE" Every customer is assigned an experienced "Home Office" r~presentative. You correspond direct; any title needs, changes, cancellations or problems can be handled promptly by letter or phone. This makes your job easier and keeps you abreast of your subscription needs at all times. With over 45 years experiMlce, McGr~gor has built a reputation of prompt and courteous service on both domestic and International titles. We pr~pay subscrip- tions ahead of time. Our customers, large and small, like the prompt attention we give them. We think you would tool Ask about McGr~gor's "Automatic Renewal" plan de- scribed In our new brochur~. Write today for your free copy. OUR 47th YEAR Mount Morris, Illinois 61054 tion access and copyright are other issues not discussed. Should one wish to read of the back- ground and technological development of CEEFAX, Prestel , Oracle, etc., then this book will be helpful; but for current, li- brary-oriented discussions of videotext/tele- text information systems, this reviewer rec- ommends constant perusal of current library literature. Susan Spaeth Cherry 's article published in the February 1980 issue of American Libraries is an excellent place to start.-David B. Walch , State University of New York , College at Buffalo. Woodbury , Marda. Selecting Materials for Instruction: Issues and Policies. Littleton, Colo .: Libraries Unlimited, 1979. 382p. $18.50 U.S. and Canada; $22 elsewhere. LC 79-18400. ISBN 0-87287-197-5. Marda Woodbury's substantial experience in the school library field is clearly reflected in her book Selecting Mate rials for I nstruc- tion: Issues and Policies . She has written "a handbook for the establishing of an effective and efficient selection process" from which teachers, school administrators , librarians , media specialists , parents , and even library and education students can profit. The book covers a wide variety of issues such as budgeting for instructional mate- rials , needs assessments , materials selection policies, use of evaluation criteria in select- ing instructional materials , learner verifica- tion and revision and appraisal of materials for readability , to name only a few. The emphasis throughout is to provide the read- er with information about materials selec- tion from preschool through high school , with major consideration being the selection of materials for classes and individuals , although the criteria employed in this study can be adapted to libraries and learning re- source centers. The author sees her study of materials selection as "a source of ideas , stimulating starting place for groups or individuals grap- pling with the processes or concepts of selection. " She combines both theory and practical information throughout the book. One of the most functional characteristics of this study is the number of different sets of guidelines, specific policy statements, needs assessment forms, evaluation guidelines,