College and Research Libraries


processing, records scheduling, preserva-
tion and maintenance, and access and ref-
erence services) and how they must be 
modified when working with machine-
readable records are discussed in chapter 
3. Forms, used primarily at the State His-
torical Society of Wisconsin, are included. 
Of interest to those wanting more infor-

. mation will be the increased number of 
footnotes. A significant issue with 
machine-readable records is their preser-
vation and maintenance. Hedstrom warns 
that "under optimal conditions, tape can-
not be expected to last more than twelve to 
twenty years .'' There is also associated ex-
tra maintenance such as rewinding every 
one or two years and rigid temperature 
and humidity controls . The archivist hav-
ing the option to decline acceptance of 
machine-readable records or unable to op-
erate within the constraints would be well 
advised to consult this section before mak-
ing a decision to accept machine-readable 
records. 

The final chapter discusses archives and 
the office of the future. As Hedstrom 

Recent Publications 369 

states, there are major changes forecast in 
media storage. Currently, magnetic media 
do not meet all the criteria developed by 
archivists and records managers for ac-
ceptable archival storage media. New 
storage media being developed and dis-
cussed by the author are optical disks and 
computer assisted retrieval (CAR) of mi-
croform images. This chapter may over-
whelm the archivist struggling to deal 
with magnetic storage media, and now 
another type of media is soon to prolifer-
ate. These media, particularly optical 
disks, will, no doubt, generate another 
manual in the series. But, for now, Hed-
strom's manual will provide assistance to 
archivists and others who must meet the 
challenge of machine-readable records.-
Bruce Q. Frost, University of Illinois at Chi-
cago. 

Mason, Marilyn Gell. The Federal Role in 
Library and Information Services. White 
Plains, N.Y.: Knowledge Industry Pub-
lications, 1983. 177p. (Professional Li-

Midwest Library Service 
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virtually any book you want-even one from the 
smallest , most obscure publisher. This includes nearly 
all U.S. and Canadian publishers , U.S. distributors of 
foreign published works , university presses, non-profit 
organizations , private associations, and societies , in 
addition to many reprint publ ishers and paperbacks . 
You won 't find a wider selection of books your library 
wants , whether you 're a small college or a large 
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look ing for ! 

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370 College & Research Libraries 

brarian series) $27.50 . LC 83-11970. 
ISBN 0-86729-009-9. 
Why federal involvement? Mason re-

views in the introductory chapter of the 
book the societal forces and conditions-
political, economic, and technological-in 
which library and information services ex-
ist. She discusses individual rights, states 
rights and property rights, values articu-
lated throughout our history. But she ar-
gues that'' any government that expresses 
the principle of individual rights and free-
doms without providing the means to ob-
tain the information necessary to exercise 
those rights is a sham.'' Within our society 
the library makes a unique contribution. A 
political as well as a social establishment, 
the library does more than educate and in-
form, it transmits ideas and provides con-
tinuity and social order. While not every 
voter will go to a library to research an is-
sue or candidate before voting, every 
voter could do so. 

Mason defines the federal role in library 
and information services as: (1) data col-
lection and distribution; (2) financial sup-
port such as grants-in-aid; (3) research 
and demonstration; and (4) planning and 
policy making; a chapter is devoted to 
each of these. The final three chapters 
cover library networks, an example of 
how conditions combined to shape the 
federal role in the development of a spe-
cific type of library service; the White 
House Conference on Library and Infor-
mation Services; and the future federal 
role. 

More than just the collection and distri-
bution of government information is en-
compassed in the chapter on data collec-
tion and distribution. Mason considers 
two areas, direct information services and 
publishing and distribution services. Di-
rect information services include the activ-
ities of the major federal libraries-the Li-
brary of Congress, the National Library of 
Medicine, and the National Agricultural 
Library. She also notes the contributions 
of other federal agencies, including the 
preservation and publication activities of 
the National Archives and Records Ser-
vice, and the development of information 
files and databases by the Census Bureau, 
Patent and Trademark Office, the Na-

July 1985 

tional Technical Information Service, the 
Educational Resources Information Cen-
ter, etc. The second portion of this chapter 
provides a discussion of the ·federal pub-
lishing and distribution activities. The 
roles and responsibilities of the Joint Com-
mittee on Printing, the Government Print- · 
ing Office, and the National Technical In-
formation Service are summarized. The 
policy issues and conflicts arising from the 
relationship between these government 
bodies and private information firms, 
from the expanding role of the Office of 
Management and Budget in information 
management, and from the enactment of 
the Freedom of Information Act and other 
information-related legislation are all 
noted. No specific reference is made here 
regarding the impact that the electronic 
distribution of government information 
will have on libraries, the public, and the 
relationship between government and the 
private sector. This book was published in 
1983; the Chadha decision by the Su-
preme Court was issued in June 1983; eco-
nomic conditions have also continued to 
change. All the conditions that Mason has 
noted continue to bring rapid changes in 
government publishing and distribution 
activities. However, the basic policy is-
sues and conflicts remain the same. 

Mason notes that grants-in-aid for li-
brary services are a relatively recent devel-
opment but that their development co-
alesced with developments in public li-
braries to bring rapid growth in the last 
twenty years : This chapter briefly traces 
the evolution of public libraries and the 
development of legislation that authorizes 
funding for public, elementary and sec-
ondary, higher education, and medical li-
braries. While this information is available 
in other sources, grants-in-aid are a part of 
the federal role in library and information 
services. Sometimes the only one refer-
enced. However, Mason's chapter on re-
search and demonstration indicates that 
research and development programs 
within the federal government also have 
had an impact on libraries, the most obvi-
ous being the MARC tapes developed by 
the Library of Congress. 

The chapter on policy and planning is-
sues considers the development of '' infor-



mation policy," defined by Mason as a set 
of interrelated laws and policies con-
cerned with the creation, collection, man-
agement, distribution, and retrieval of in-
formation. Here the relationship between 
the government and the private sector is 
examined in an economic context, where 
information becomes a commodity. Ma-
son points out the balance that exists be-
tween subsidizing the creation of govern-
ment information and establishing 
property rights for information. 

Political, economic, and technological 
conditions in our society make the role of 
the federal government in library and in-
formation services of major importance 
not only to libraries and librarians, but to 
all citizens. Mason has drawn together in a 
single volume a review of the philosophi-
cal base, the historical development, and 
the policy issues. She then suggests ap-
propriate roles for federal involvement in 
the future. This is not an in-depth analysis 
of each area included but gives a perspec-
tive and basis for further discussion and 
future policy development.-Sandra K. Pe-
terson, Yale University. 

Rogers, A. Robert, and Kathryn McChes-
ney. The Library in Society . Littleton, 
Colo.: Libraries Unlimited, 1984. 285p. 
(Library Science Text Series) $28.50. LC 
84-15440. ISBN 0-87287-379-X. 
The authors and their six contributors, 

who intended this work as an introduc-
tory text for library science students, state 
that they seek to provide a theoretical and 
conceptual framework that would aid in 
developing a better understanding of the 
role of libraries in society. They set out to 
accomplish this by presenting a view of li-
brarianship in an international context. 

The book is divided into four main 
parts. Part 1 attempts to encourage stu-
dents to view libraries as integral parts of 
the societies in which they developed. 
Chapter 1 describes the role of the library 
in meeting societal needs. Philosophies of 
librarianship are presented in chapter 2 . 
Chapter 3 surveys the history of libraries 
and librarianship from antiquity to the sta-
tus of libraries at the end of World War II 
with an emphasis on the West. Part 2 de-
scribes the major types of libraries. There 

Recent Publications 371 

are separate brief chapters on national li-
braries, school and media centers, college 
and university libraries, public libraries, 
special libraries and information centers, 
and other governmental and quasi-
governmental libraries. Part 3 presents 
overviews of librarianship from various 
regions of the world. Basic concepts of in-
ternational and comparative librarianship 
are presented in the first chapter, setting 
the stage for the slightly more detailed de-
scriptions oflibrarianship in Europe, Asia, 
Australia and New Zealand, Africa, and 
Latin America that follow. Part 4 surveys 
the impact of professional associations on 
library development in the first chapter. 
Major professional issues in industrial and 
postindustrial societies as they affect li-
braries and librarianship are discussed in 
the next chapter. Problems and prospects 
of libraries in the Third World are pre-
sented in the last chapter. At the end of 
each chapter a bibliography of basic 
sources mentioned in the chapters for fur-
ther reading are given. This is often pro-
ceeded by a short list of questions for dis-
cussion and reflection-both appear to be 
useful to students. 

The authors state in their preface that 
they wished to view librarianship in an in-
ternational context while most "library in 
society'' books seemed to focus almost ex-
elusively on the United States. They have 
succeeded in their effort to present li-
braries in society in general terms in an in-
ternational context; however, so much 
ground is covered that it seems to lack ad-
equate depth and detail and often results 
in a superficial, less meaningful presenta-
tion as a whole. The textbook's tone and 
many generalities may be somewhat irri-
tating to a reader seeking more detailed 
knowledge; perhaps it is not possible to 
do more with an objective of presenting an 
introductory survey such as this.-Pat Kis-
singer, Northern Illinois University . 

College Librarianship: The Objectives and 
the Practice. Ed . by A. Rennie McElroy. 
London: The Library Assn., 1984. 447p. 
$50. ISBN 0-85365-785-8. (Dist. in the 
U.S. by Oryx). 
College Librarianship: The Objectives and 

the Practice belongs to the Handbook on Li-