College and Research Libraries 250 I College & Research Libraries • May 1982 Low-Cost Microcomputer Based AV Circulation System Replace outdated manual booking methods for as little as $129 a week! With AM I you can improve service to your custom- ers, keep more complete and accurate re- cords, increase inventory turnover, reduce labor expense and speed up response time. AM I is the truly low-cost way to mod- ernize your operations and save money. Call TOLL FREE 800/323-7520* I R~l " RESEARCH TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL 4700 Chase, Lincolnwood , Illinois 60646 'Illinois, Alaska, Hawaii Call 3121677·3000 MCGREGOR "PERSONALIZED SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE" Every customer is assigned an experienced "Home Office" representative. You correspond direct; any title nHds, changes, cancellations or problems can be handled promptly by Ienir or phone. This makes your job easier and keeps you abreast of your subscription needs at all times. With over 45 years expertMce, McGregor has built a reputation of prompt and courteous service on both domestic and International titles. We prepay subscrip- tions ahead of time. Our customers, large and small, like the prompt attention we give them. We think you would tool Ask about McGregor's "Automatic Renewal" plan de- scribed In our new brochure. Wrltll today for your free copy. OUR 49th YEAR Mount Morris, Illinois 81054 and library research. Although thought- provoking, there is little in the data gathered that support their analyses of the importance of these topics to collection development. This is a well-organized work and should provide considerable insights to the thought- ful collection development librarian or li- brary director. In addition it should be read by planning officers and administrative offi- cials having to deal with library budgets in academic institutions.-Barbara A. Rice, State Library Cultural Center, Albany, New York. European Americana: A Chronological Guide to Works Printed in Europe Relating to the Americas, 1493-1776, Volume I: 1493-1600. Ed. by John Alden with the assistance of Dennis C. Landis. New York: Readex, 1980. 467p. $50. LC 80-51141. ISBN 0-918414-03-2. Scholars have long relied on Charles Evans' American Bibliography and Joseph Sabin's Bibliotheca Americana for biblio- graphical and historical information about the Americas. In spite of the excellencies of these works, however, they have recognized limitations for research. The usefulness of Sa- bin's work for investigating a particular year or decade, for example, is virtually nil be- cause of its dictionary arrangement by name and not by date. Evans' work, on the other hand, does have a chronological arrange- ment, but it also inconveniences the re- searcher by only recording imprints of the British North American continent. These limitations of chronology and geog- raphy have now been bridged in European Americana. The name of the editor, John Al- den, may well become as familiar as those of Sabin and Evans. And rightly so, for this first volume signals the appearance of an excel- lent, major reference work. Even the most casual examination of the book reveals sev- eral potentials for research. This volume, for example, covers the years from 1493 through 1600, with future volumes to include works published through 1776, thereby including all colonial history of the United States. The book also adds many "unknown" works about America for "of the works thus de- scribed, some 4300 in number, only a fourth appear already in 'Sabin' " (p.xvii). The im- plications for historical studies of this star- tling increase of "newly available" primary The Haworth Press will be pleased to send you a free sample from our family of library journals, but please be selective, and choose only the journals that are relevant to your library, school, or department! BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES LIBRARIAN CATALOGING & CLASSIFICATION QUARTERLY COLLECTION MANAGEMENT COMMUNITY & JUNIOR COLLEGE LIBRARIES JOURNAL OF LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION LEGAL REFERENCE SERVICES QUARTERLY LIBRARY & ARCHIVAL SECURITY MEDICAL REFERENCE SERVICES QUARTERLY PUBLIC LIBRARY QUARTERLY THE REFERENCE LIBRARIAN RESOURCE SHARING & LIBRARY NETWORKS SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY LIBRARIES THE SERIALS LIBRARIAN SPECIAL COLLECTIONS TOPICS IN TECHNICAL SERVICES ( ) Please send me a free sample copy of the journal(s) checked above. NAME: __________________________________________________ _ TITLE/POSITION :------------------------------------------- ADDRESS:------------------------------------------------- CITY: __________________________ STATE: __ ZIP:------- Return this form to THE HAWORTH PRESS, Inc., 28 East 22 Street, New York, NY 10010 252 I College & Research Libraries • May 1982 research materials is incalculable. Alden has an acute understanding of what the scholar requires to carry out research. He not only includes the usual "author, title and subject index," he also anticipates future re- search by including a "geographical index of printers" and "booksellers & their publica- tions" as well as an "alphabetical index of printers" and "booksellers & their geographi- cal locations ." These compilations are neces- sary for the presently evolving study of print- ing and publishing history commonly called l'histoire du livre. Individual entries reflect the same histori- cal tendency as the volume "does not purport to be a 'bibliography' but to the contrary a ' guide' for those seeking what a contempo- rary reader may have encountered at a given period of time" (p.xv). Full names are pro- vided. Titles are abbreviated, yet they have not been made unintelligible, which is no easy task. Imprint information is limited to place, single publisher or printer, and date. Especially useful for the historian is the in- clusion of book sizes, both the number of pages or leaves, and the physical format , as well as whether there are maps and illustra- tions .. One small but highly useful contribu- Engineering Index publications. Abstracts virtually every important article published in every engineering discipline. Last month. Last year. Or as far back as 1884. Call toll-free or write for copies of our folder ''A Complete Guide to Engineering Index Publications ," yours to distribute free. Engineering Information, Inc. 345 East 47th Street New York , New York 10017 Call toll -free 800-221-1044 In New York State, call212-705- 7615 tion is in entry notation. Each entry is num- bered (the first entry for each year begins with number 1) with both its sequential and its chronological number so that entry "564/ 16," for example, refers to Charles Estienne's L 'agriculture et maison rustique, which is the sixteenth entry for the year 1564. The outstanding feature of the entries is the mul- titude of critical annotations describing the subject of books. This same Estienne book tells the reader that "included are refs to American plants. " Alden's historical focus does not mean that bibliographical features are slighted all that much as abundant bibliographical informa- tion is included. As with the historical anno- tations, there is one bibliographical feature that stands out: that is, a later edition of a work is identified as such and the date and place of the first edition are also noted. This information is complemented by a list of all editions of a particular work in the index. All in all, European Americana promises to be one of the important reference books in the long tradition of outstanding historical and bibliographical scholarship on the Americas. It is a required book for all re- search libraries and scholars studying early Publishers of Engineering Index* Monthly, Engineering Index Annual , Energy Abstrac ts, 254 I College & Research Libraries· May 1982 Everybody's talking about on-line catalogs What about on-time? GRCCC@JNfr A name that stands for on-time! Contact Don Gill GENERAL, REsEARcH n CORPORATION A SUBSIDIARY OF FLOW GENERAL, INC. P.O. Box 6770 , Santa Barbara. CA . 93111·0770 Phone (805) 964 ·7724 Heritage on Microfil111 Rare and out-of-print titles and documents on 35mm silver halide microfilm. • French Books before 1601 • Scandinavian Culture • 18th Century English Literature • Victorian Fiction • Literature of Folklore • Hispanic Culture Send for catalog and title information today. ~~~3~ ~CO\AP?NY 70 Coolidge Hill Road Watertown, MA 02172 (617) 926-5557 American history.-Paul S. Koda, Univer- sity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Henry, W. M. et al. Online Searching: An In- troduction. London, Boston: Butterworth, 1980. 209p. $31.95. LC 80-40242. ISBN 0- 408-10696-4. Directed to managers and would-be prac- titioners, this book provides an introduction to online searching strictly for bibliographic references. It reflects the four authors' British affiliations, describing both European as well as North American activities. The text is almost evenly divided between ten chapters of narrative and eight appen- dixes. The chapters that provide background information about hardware, the structuring of files, the intellectual concepts of analyzing questions, and search strategy to retrieve ref- erences online are particularly good, giving concise accounts of details. Less. space is de- voted to discussion of related personnel issues surrounding online search services, although three chapters address such topics as, the role of the intermediary, management aspects, and education for searchers. · The first appendix provides a fairly de- tailed "check list for search preparation and search strategy" aimed primarily toward the search intermediary. Each of five other ap- pendixes summarizes, in tabular format, de- tails of the major search systems of Blaise, ESA-IRS, Infoline, Lockheed/DIALOG, and SDC/ORBIT. The last appendix is about Euronet, a European telecommunication network connecting numerous online service systems, including most described in the ear- lier appendixes. The book ends with an au- thor and subject index. In a textbook fashion, numbered subdivi- sions of chapters, a thorough index and se- lected citations at the conclusion of most chapters offer the reader easy reference to specific information as well as leads for fur- ther study. The text itself is well written, use- ful both for a novice to the subject and for an experienced searcher who seeks a review or clarification of a particular question. The oc- casionally used jargon is generally defined in comprehensible terms and descriptions of technical topics are understandable. The authors repeatedly warn the reader to seek additional sources for more current data, and cite several sources that may be