College and Research Libraries ture and conducted between 1976 and 1979, this volume deals with the formation process of information systems and the or- ganization of scientific information. More than five hundred researchers in the aca- demic and scientific community partici- pated in studying the information sys- tem's implications and organizational approaches to a broad range of scientific disciplines. Their study focused on five re- search groups: input processing, struc- ture recognition, storage and retrieval, systems approach,, and research trend analysis. Developmental activities were carried out on database management sys- tems, computer networks, and input- output system organization. The results are here published in English as a whole for the first time. Led by the internation- ally known cybernetics scholar, Toshio Ki- tagawa, professor emeritus at K yushu University, twenty-nine research units tackled the five research categories as well as the developmental activities. This is a welcome publication, although best suited for the technical collection of a large research library or special library. Not a general treatise, it reveals little of Ja- pan's efforts to organize its isolated com- petitive efforts to link the scientific infor- mation community. Despite the promise of this title, the ma- jor study in English on information sys- tems in Japan today is contained in the in- troductory matter in Gibson and Kunkel, Japanese Scientific and Technical Literature; a Subject Guide (Greenwood, 1981). Data and commentary on national and interna- tional cooperation through the proposed Japan Center for Promoting Scientific In- formation will be of particular interest to academic librarians. The papers dealing with this topic include the group study on the planning of scientific information sys- tems in Japan (Shimanouchi), the Report of the 0-Committee on the development of scientific information systems in Japan (Tanaka), and the paper on the develop- ment of interuniversity computer net- works in Japan (Inose). Typical of the sub- ject coverage, the paper, "An Under- standing System of Natural Language and Pictorial Pattern in the World of Weather Report,'' devotes four pages to the lin- Recent Publications 413 guistic and pictorial world of the isobar. One treatise details the use of handwriting action in construction of models for use in two-dimensional expressions of informa- tion, such as those used in figures, graphs, charts, and other handwritten characters, and is punctuated with illus- trations (Hosaka and Kimura). In the pa- per on "Methodologies of Japanese Lan- guage Treatment by Computer for Information and Documentation Sci- ences," authors Nagao, Tsujii, and Mat- suyama explore machine translation of document titles from English into J apa- nese, a Japanese text-editor capability, and a model for a natural language question-answer system. One revealing conclusion: "Interna- tional exchange of documentation infor- mation requires the [sic] language transla- tion, and it is to be by machine because the information amount to be translated is too huge to be done by human translators." Written in technical, often halting, En- glish, this book provides ample evidence that the need is indeed urgent for high- quality natural translations from one lan- guage to another. References to articles cited are not always clear as to the lan- guage of the full text. The work has no in- dex, and suffers further from a photo- reduced, single-spaced typewritten manuscript for most of its contents.- Theodore F. Welch, Northern Illinois Univer- sity, DeKalb, Illinois. Conservation in the Library: A Handbook of Use and Care of Traditional and Non- traditional Materials. Ed. by Susan Garretson Swartzburg. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1983. 245p. $35. LC 82-15582. ISBN 0-313-23267-9. When William Blades' The Enemies of Books (London: Triibner) appeared in 1880, the enemies were identified as dirt, climate, air pollution, fungi, and people. Librarians are all too aware that these ene- mies not only continue to threaten the printed collections described by Blades but also pose serious problems for the non print components of this decade's li- brary collections, including photographs, microforms, slides, films, sound record- ings, videotapes, videodiscs, and com- 414 College & Research Libraries puters. The problem is further compli- cated by diminished library budgets as well as cost increases for books and library materials. Indeed, the latter factors may be the most persuasive in convincing li- brarians that conservation is the responsi- bility of every librarian, including the li- brary administrator, and not just that of the archivist, curator, or special collec- tions librarian. · For those librarians who want to take an active conservation role in the care and maintenance of their collections, Conserva- tion in the Library: A Handbook of Use and Care of Traditional and Nontraditional Materi- als will be a valuable tool. The editor and contributors are recognized preservation specialists, and most of them are also prac- ticing librarians. Each devotes a chapter to a specific medium: paper, books and bind- ings, photographs, slides, microforms, motion picture film, and sound record- ings. Chapters on newer nonprint media-videotape, videodiscs, and computers-are also included. Each chap- Heritage on Microfilnt 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. ~ll~~~ ~CQ\AP?NY 70 Coolidge Hill Road Watertown, MA 02172 (617) 926-5557 September 1984 ter follows the same format: inclusion of a brief history of the medium, a definition of its characteristics, and an outline of there- quirements for its ideal care and preserva- tion followed by a short, annotated bibli- ography of suggested readings. The chapters are aptly, though not lavishly, il- lustrated, and, when appropriate, they in- clude sample guidelines for the selection of equipment and the handling of materi- . als as well as descriptions of simple con- servation techniques. A list of suppliers and supplies, in addition to sources of or- ganizational advice and assistance, are welcome additions to the text. The topic of conservation, like the prob- lem itself, can easily overwhelm anyone . trying to learn more about it. Swartzburg and the contributers present a broad range of information, much of it highly special- ized, and they do so simply and clearly. Each author takes care to distinguish be- tween those practical conservation mea- sures the librarian can practice and the point at which the professional conserva- tor or specialist ought to be consulted. This is a carefully edited book; the chap- ters tend to build on one another with little duplication of information. Conservation in the Library will be valu- able to a variety of readers, including the librarian who wants a single compendium of practical and up-to-date information on the care and handling of materials found in the modem library, an overview of cur- rent conservation problems and practices, a reference to suppliers and organizations offering assistance, and additional biblio- graphic sources. While the book's pur- pose is to present practical preservation information on conventional materials as well as nonprint media (which it does), each author raises questions, either im- plicitly or explicitly, about the future pres- ervation needs of libraries and the role to be played by librarians in determining how these needs will be met. Any individ- ual concerned about the future of libraries can read this book with profit.-Gretchen Lagana, University of Illinois at Chicago. Morehead, Joe. Introduction to United States Public Documents. 3rd ed. Little-