College and Research Libraries


In the first part there are 112 sections on 
such topics as Arabic history and literature, 
classics, engineering, fine arts, law and 
military history, and such forms as alma-
nacs, bookplates, dissertations, manuscripts, 
and union catalogs. Occasionally a heading 
containing but slight information is sepa-
rated from an inclusive subject with which 
it could have placed (e.g., Sri Lanka and 
South Asia). Sometimes there is coverage of 
a specific topic (physical education, political 
philosophy, Portuguese history and litera-
ture, women), but no section on the broad-
er field (education, philosophy, European 
history, sociology) to which it pertains. En-
tries generally indicate the nature and ex-
tent of holdings in those libraries with signif-
icant amounts of material-the most exten-
sive and/or important collection coming first 
and all Australian institutions before those 
in New Zealand. Naturally the guide con-
centrates on the national, university, and 
other libraries with holdings important for 
research; there is little information on the 
institutes of technology and the colleges of 
advanced education (presumably an area for 
expanded coverage in a second edition). 
The descriptions vary from a brief note of 
existence (e.g., "the University of Sydney 
Library has a separate section of erotic liter-
ature," p.57) to four to six pages for such 
broad fields as Australian history and 
periodicals and sets. 

Downs singles out for discussion in the 
second part a mere twenty-four persons-
understandably including Captain James 
Cook, Katherine Mansfield, and William 
Shakespeare. One wonders, however, why 
Edmund Husser, Joan of Arb, Napoleon 
Bonaparte, and Rainer Maria Rilke appear 
here, when each receives less than seven 
lines of comment. Would it not have been 
wise to incorporate such brief mentions into 
the appropriate topical section? 

The extensive bibliography (565 items, 
consisting of guides, surveys, library cata-
logs, periodical articles, etc.) constitutes one 
of the book's most valuable reference fea-
tures. Although the alphabetical arrange-
ment does not favor the person interested 
in specific subjects, many bibliographical 
references (some in abbreviated form) in the 
text itself help to overcome this limitation. 

The index leads the reader back to topics, 

Recent Publications I 54 7 

to libraries, to individual organizations and 
institutions, and even to previous surveys of 
resources (e.g., Burmester, Osborn, and 
Tauber) but not always to names of collec-
tors who assembled materials. Libraries of 
universities appear under their distinctive 
name or place (e.g., · La Trobe, Melbourne 
University), while national and state librar-
ies appear in the N' s and S' s. 

This reader has mixed feelings toward the 
volume's layout. The basic text (p. 9-120) 
has generous space between headings and 
text and between sections, as well as ample 
white space surround_ing the text. In con-
trast, the bibliography's listings are packed 
into twenty-five pages (an average of 11.3 
entries per column); with no space between 
items and without "hanging indention" this 
entire section is harder on the eye than it 
ought to be. 

Some readers might question the value of 
six and one-half pages of travel information 
on the two countries (dubbed "Impressions" 
by the author), but there is no doubt that, 
with or without such comments, a map 
would have proven helpful. Most of the 
other shortcomings mentioned above prob-
ably result from time limitations (apparently 
the field research was limited to a two-
month tour; cf. p. 9) and/or hasty editing. 
The scholarly production of Robert B. 
Downs is legendary; once again the "dean 
of library resources" has given us a useful 
tooL-William Vernon jackson, University 
of Texas, Austin. 

Australian Official Publications. Edited by 
D. H. Borchardt. Melbourne: Longman 
Cheshire, 1979. 365p. A$10.50. ISBN 0-
582-71461-3 cloth; 0-582-71444-3 (paper). 
The title of this excellent book does not 

indicate its true scope. Rather than, as 
might be expected, a list of publications, it 
is an extensive series of essays on govern-
ment in Australia and its written records. 
The contributors to this work are all experts 
in their field. 

Successful use of government publications 
depends on an understanding of the govern-
ment(s) involved. Recognizing this, the con-
tributors to the first two chapters describe 
in some detail the functioning of govern-
ment in Australia at federal, state, and local 
levels. Such an explanation is necessary to 



548 I College & Research Libraries • November 1980 

understand the distribution of responsibility 
and therefore what information is likely to 
be published at various levels. 

Thereafter in successive chapters the 
range of publications is described, with 
attention first to parliamentary publications, 
then judicial, followed by those of the var-
ious government departments and author-
ities. The latter are subdivided by subject 
rather than by department or level. As 
admitted by the editor, no effort has been 
made "to list every single document" but 
rather to give an idea of t"he range and 
scope of publications available. The level 
and style of treatment of the various sec-
tions are uneven and there is some degree 
of overlap. Few people would want, as this 
-reviewer did, to read steadily through it; 
the density of information is overwhelming. 
The more sensible way c would be to read 
(using the index) those parts relevant to the 
subject of interest or to documents being 
sought. Nevertheless there is in these chap- · 
ters much information essential to the 
understanding of what can or cannot be 
found in the various classes of publication. 
Examples that come to mind are the discus-
sion of how to track down the history of a 
bill together with the stumbling blocks in 
the way of the researcher, and the process 
by which law reports have evolved and are 
maintained. 

There is, however, a publication that can 
be used to accompany and supplement this 
survey. Itself an example of a semiofficial 
publication and the problems of biblio-
graphic description, it is Government Pub-
lications of Australia: A List of Lists, 2d 
ed., compiled by the Sub-Committee on 
Government Publications of the Victorian 
Regional Committee of the Australian 
Advisory Council on Bibliographic Services 
(Melbourne: Library Council of Victoria, 
1979, 47p., A$4.50, ISBN 0-909962-26-X). 
Libraries would be well advised to have 
both texts available. 

Librarians who are not necessarily in-
terested in Australia will be interested in 
the last three chapters, which describe in 
some detail the production and distribution 
of documents, . their bibliographical control 
(or lack of it), and access through libraries 
and their catalogs. These chapters discuss 
frankly many problems only too well known 

to librarians anywhere-inadequate govern-
ment coordination, historical gaps in the rec-
ord, and the difficulty of dovetailing bib-
liographic projects. 

Despite some reservations arising from 
the chosen format, there is no doubt that 
this book must be in every library serving 
users with an interest in Australia. Library 
schools and document collections will also 
benefit from the discussions of governments 
as publishers and the problems of access to 
official information. For those who need to 
acquire materials in specific subjects it can 
also help by suggesting possible leads to be 
followed up in more strictly bibliographical 
guides. Borchardt is to be congratulated on 
a further contribution to Australian bib-
liography.-Murray S. Martin, Pennsylva-
nia State University, University Park. 

Lancaster, F. Wilfrid. Information Retrieval 
Systems: Characteristics, Testing and 
Evaluation. 2d ed. Information Sciences 
Series. New York: Wiley, 1979. 381p. 
$19.95. LC 78-11078. ISBN 0-471-04663-6. 

Van Rijsbergen, C. J. Information Re-
trieval. 2d ed. London, Boston: Butter-
worths, 1979. 208p. $32.50. LC 78-40725. 
ISBN 0-408-70929-4. (Available from: 
Butterworths, 10 Tower Office Park, 
Woburn, MA 01801.) 
When two textbooks on information re-

trieval are published at about the same 
time, each a second edition, each intended 
mainly or in part for the use in instruction 
of college- or graduate-level students of li-
brary and information science, it is tempt-
ing to compare them for further significant 
similarities. In this case-with one regretta-
ble exception-there are none to be found. 
While addressing a common topic, these 
two books could hardly be more dissimilar. 
They are not in competition; each serves a 
different purpose for a different type of au-
dience. 

The regrettable similarity between these 
books is that both of them, through failure 
to discuss or identify alternatives, equate in-
formation retrieval to subject searching. A 
student who depends entirely on either will 
learn little or nothing about the unique 
aspects, the importance, or even the exis-
tence of information retrieval based on non-
subject approaches such as names, titles,