College and Research Libraries


498 College & Research Libraries 

status of serials treatment. Statements are 
frequently based on the present state of 
the economy, standards, database cover-
age or technology, and would be some-
what invalidated with a significant change 
in any of those conditions. However, such 
instances are well qualified with the criti-
cal, environmental definitions so that fu-
ture readers will be able to examine them 
for validity. 

The annotated bibliography contains 
over six hundred citations, and is ar-
ranged with subcategories that generally 
parallel chapter headings; that is, major 
serials treatment categories. The book was 
originally conceived as a text to facilitate 
the teaching of serials management in li-
brary schools. The annotated bibliogra-
phy will provide students with a most ef-
fective guide to further study. -Shere 
Connan, Stanford University Libraries. 

Wilson, Pauline. Stereotype and Status: Li-
brarians in the United States. Westport, 
Conn.: Greenwood, 1982. 225p. $27.50. 
LC 82-6119. ISBN 0-313-23516-3. 
The purposes of this book are "to help 

librarians in deciding upon and imple-
menting actions necessary to help over-
come the unfavorable stereotype that has 
plagued the library profession throughout 
this century . . . to provide fuller under-
standing of the stereotype-its pervasive-
ness in the library profession, the multi-
tude of ways in which it is manifested, ahd 
the many ways in which it affects librari-
ans and their behavior.'' (Stereotyping is 
defined as "the general inclination to 
place a person in categories according to 
some easily and quickly identifiable char-
acteristic, such as sex, ethnic membership 
... or occupation, and then to attribute to 
him qualities believed to be typical of 
members of that category.'') Among the 
more important components of stereo-
types are alleged personality and intellec-
tual traits. 

The hypothesis used by the author is: 
"Librarians handle their identity, as be-
stowed on them by the stereotype, in the 
manner of a minority group; their re-
sponse is similar to that made by members 
of minority groups in response to minority 
status." (A minority grOup is "any group 

November 1983 

of people who because of their physical or 
cultural characteristics, are singled out 
from others in the society ... for differen-
tial and unequal treatment, and who 
therefore regard themselves as objects of 
collective discrimination.'') 

The methodology used was adapted 
from a study of minority groups and con-
sisted of a quantitative content analysis of 
journal articles, chapters in books, and 
news reports written about the stereotype 
of librarians by members of the library 
profession during the period 1921-April 
1978. Sentences in the documents that 
were judged to be like a typical minority 
group response were counted and classi-
fied. Five categories of responses were an-
alyzed: (1) acceptance of the stereotype-
confirmation of negative view of 
librarians; (2) concern with in-group 
purification-stereotype is the result of 
only a few members of the group who 
should conform to majority behavior; (3) 
denial of differences-librarians are just 
like other people; (4) denial of group 
membership-dissociation of oneself from 
others in the profession; (5) for group 
action-to combat the unfavorable stereo-
type. 

Of the 499 documents examined, 77 fit 
the study's specifications for inclusion. A 
coding of sentences based upon the classi-
fication of responses noted above reveal 
that: 24 percent were category 1 type re-
sponses, i.e., acceptance of stereotype; 
category 2-38 percent; category 3-24 
percent; category 4-8 percent; category 
5-6 percent. The author concludes from 
this that the evidence supports the hy-
pothesis and that being a librarian "is a 
burden and is perceived as being a bur-
den. Librarians do regard themselves as 
receiving differential treatment, and they 
do see themselves as being objects of col-
lective discrimination." 

This reviewer has major problems with 
the research design and conclusions of 
this study. No attempt was made to bal-
ance the negative findings in the study by 
identifying the favorable components of 
the librarian stereotype, or analyzing posi-
tive statements in the literature that con-
tradict these responses. And so, of course, 
the evidence examined supports the hy-



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500 College & Research Libraries 

pothesis; since only minority type re· 
sponses were analyzed, how could the 
conclusions be anything else? 

In addition, even with this stacking of 
the deck, the quantity of documentation is 
low. If only 77 relevant publications have 
appeared in the last 57 years (an average of 
1.35 articles per year), this would not ap-
pear to constitute a major preoccupation 
of the profession with a negative stereo-
type. 

However, by the end of chapter 2 the au-
thor has set up this straw man, which she 
then attacks, primarily through a detailed 
analysis of librarians' scores on three stan-
dard personality tests, all of which show 
that, in general, librarians are normal, 
well adjusted, and happy. 

Other topics touched upon in the book 
include factors involved in occupational 
choice, reasons for entering the profes-
sion, recruitment, and library education. 
These are all important topics for the pro-
fession, and one can find in this book a fas-
cinating mixture of: (a) interesting com-
ments regarding the differences in roles 
and working environments of different 
types of librarians, e.g., academic and 
school librarians have an ''especially diffi-
cult time acquiring the status they desire 
. . . [because] the mission of the parent in-
stitution of these libraries is in the hands 
of another and dominant profession''; (b) 
fuzzy statements that are not explained, 
but that underlie important positions 
taken by the author ("Although the li-
brary profession is made up of different 
segments-library educators, public li-
brarians, special librarians, (etc.) ... 
-they make up a dynamic whole, a 
group, that shares a common fate because 
they are interdependent"); (c) statements 
that dismiss important research that could, 
shed light on an issue ("It is doubtful that 
one can establish a relationship between 
tasks of a given occupation and specific 
personality traits required for members of 
that occupation''); (d) a very good bibliog-
raphy which draws heavily on the litera-
ture of sociology and psychology; (e) ex-
cellent discussion of examples from the 
literature of how a negative mind-set re-
garding the profession seriously biases 
one's interpretation of research results; 

November 1983 

and finally, (f) good, practical observa-
tions and advice-librarians are their own 
worst enemies. We should stop writing 
and speaking in self-destructive ways 
about our image and status, "acquire a 
better perspective on the stereotype and 
learn to take it in stride . . . improve it by 
not adding to it and by not disseminating 
it, and most important . . . control [our] 
response to it." 

If the cost of the book were reduced by 
two-thirds, and in spite of its basis on a 
very poor research design, I would recom-
mend the book for all librarians, since the 
subject has a perverse fascination for most 
of us, the credibility of the profession is 
important to all of us, and the author has 
shown courage and thoughtfulness in 
confronting controversial issues ( espe-
cially library school accreditation), which 
the profession has not dealt with in a 
straightforward, intelligent, and construc-
tive manner. However, given the critical 
deficiencies in the research design, the 
weaknesses in the analysis, along with the 
very high price of the book, this reviewer 
recommends: caveat emptor.-Suzanne 0. 
Frankie, Oakland UniversitY. Libraries. 

Roberts, Matt and Etherington, Don. 
Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books: 
A Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology. 
Washington, D.C.: Library of Con-
gress, 1982. 296p. LC 81-607974. 
The compilers of this dictionary claim 

that it is not an encyclopedia; it is II a guide 
to the vocabulary-of a field, not a compen-
dium on a specific subject.'' Nevertheless, 
this volume is loaded with encyclopedic 
information, and it fails as a dictionary be-
cause it does not provide lexical informa-
tion about the vocabulary it contains. Like 
so many reference tools defying exact clas-
sification, it is a vade mecum falling some-
where between the two, i.e., an encyclo-
pedic dictionary. It contains more than 
three thousand words and names, from 
formal usage, technical vocabularies, his-
torical figures and methods, and informal 
trade jargon, all arranged alphabetically 
word by word (rather than by letter). It is a 
mine of information, surpassing old stan-
dards like John Carter's ABC for Book Col-