College and Research Libraries 364 I College & Research Libraries • july 1982 on videodisc technology, contrasting be- tween mechanical, magnetic, optical, and capacitative approaches. A small collection of system specifications is presented, each giving a thumbnail sketch of the salient fea- tures and availability of those systems now on or approaching the marketplace. Also included are descriptions of current or potential applications, a review of some major research and development projects in which this technology plays a central role, and the author's assessment of future oppor- tunities (some insurmountable) that are likely to present themselves. Last, but by no means least, the author presents a list of 117 cited references, accom- panied by another 66 relating to the subject of videodiscs. Any reader whose interest is whetted to the point where more detailed study is called for will find papers cited on just about any aspect of the topic. The report by Barrett is similar in outline to that of Harder, but contains substantially more descriptive material relating to the technology itself. Of special interest are Bar- rett's comments on the aspects that require more development. The correctness of the author's views on a time frame for resolution of the problems he cites remains to be seen, but the reader is given a good feeling for the current state of the art and likely future di- rections. Some of the terminology employed would probably be opaque to the nonengineer, but Barrett uses it sparingly: a layperson can gain a general sense of how these devices work. The structure of the report, however, is not easily discernible from the section headings, making it somewhat difficult to assimilate. -john R. Schroeder, The Re- search Libraries Group, Stanford, Califor- nia. User Fees: A Practical Perspective. Ed. by Mi- riam A. Drake. Littleton, Colo.: Libraries Unlimited, 1981. 142p. $17.50. LC 81- 6032. ISBN 0-87287-244-0. This is a collection of eleven pieces related to the subject of fees in libraries. It is divided into five sections: "Review of the Issues"; "Opposition Views"; "Fees in Public Li- braries"; "Fees in Academic and Special Li- braries"; and "Fees for Service through In- formation Brokers." It also contains a selected bibliography. The first two sections present pro and con arguments concerning fees and the remaining sections describe some actual charging practices in various types of libraries. Four of the papers were prepared for a workshop on user fees sponsored by the Indi- ana chapter of the Special Libraries Associa- tion. Two more of the articles were prepared for this volume. The remaining five were previously published elsewhere, three of them in Special Libraries. In the first article, Miriam Drake presents a convincing argument that libraries must "undertake serious efforts to justify economi- cally the claims by libraries on our scarce re- sources or else see a continued erosion of the real resources devoted to producing library services." It is presumably her conviction of this imperative that underlies the selection of papers included here. Drake's paper is followed by a good pre- sentation of the economic rationale for li- brary fees by economist Richard Pfister. Not the least of these arguments are the continu- ing reductions in available public funds and the idea that user fees could bring about more user-responsive service. Marketplace mechanisms are proposed to promote effi- ciency in resource allocation, to make those who use services pay for them, and as a means of library survival. One wonders whether, governed by the market, library services and collections may then come to reflect the plastic "shopping mall" quality we find in those segments of our lives already controlled by market mech- anisms. One can hope that technological de- velopments will allow for greater diversity of information sources despite the tendency of market mechanisms to reduce things to the lowest common denominator. One of the opposing views is presented by Fay Blake. She points out that the fee issue is only an issue in publicly funded libraries. In a typically rousing paper, she raises her con- cerns about the availability of information and the place of publicly available informa- tion in the kind of society we want to have. The other paper opposing fees is a brief ar- gument that challenges the view that the main purpose of the public library is to sup- ply light reading. Presenting an English per- spective, Roger Stoakley argues that intro- clueing charges may very well lead to a requirement that libraries become self- supporting. In her paper on charging practices in uni- versities, Sandra Rouse qualifies the fee con- cept. She notes that "while the current en- vironment may dictate charging library pa- trons for on-line reference services, we be- lieve that future improvements in on-line sys- tems will result in the library's absorbing an increasing percentage of the total cost." There is little doubt that the public li- brary, as we have known it, is in jeopardy. It is threatened by lack of funding, lack of pub- lic support, and by computers and electronic technologies. Drake's conclusion that "policy makers are likely ~o seek a compromise posi- tion between fully subsidized library service and fee for service" seems to me a very likely scenario for the future. Although Drake does not say so, the next question this raises is: What is the optimum division between these two sources of revenue? One would hope that Recent Publications I 365 another "practical perspective" would ad- dress this issue, which will be a real issue for library administrators. The discussions of fees in various types of libraries vary in their relevance and interest. James Dodd's piece on information brokers highlights the paradoxical nature of the rela- tionship 'between information brokers and public libraries. Rouse's paper summarizes charging policies in ten universities. But the paper on the Dialib project, which presents guidelines for introducing online services, is only peripherally related to charging fees. This volume is recommended to those con- cerned with the future of libraries. It is espe- cially recommended for the questions raised by both Drake and Blake and for Pfister's ec- onomic analysis. -Sara D. Knapp, State University of New York at Albany. Blackwell, James E. Mainstreaming Outsid- ers: The Production of Black Professionals. New York: General Hall, 1981. 345p.