College and Research Libraries Recent Publications BOOK REVIEWS Universities, Information Technology, and Academic Libraries: The Next Twenty Years. Academic Libraries Fron- tiers Conference, UCLA, Lake Arrow- head Conference Center, December 13-17, 1981. Robert M. Hayes, ed . Nor- wood, N.J.: Ablex, 1986. 178p. $29.95. LC 85-22879. ISBN 0-89391-266-2. The conference from which this book is derived was organized by the editor, who is dean of UCLA's library school, with support from the Council on Library Re- sources. It brought together approxi- mately forty-five selected participants (ac- ademic research library directors, library school deans, university administrators, representatives of library consortia and as- sociations, and sponsors of library devel- opment programs) to consider the future of universities and their research libraries through the remainder of this century and to deliberate on the needs for research on academic librarianship and for education for management of academic research li- braries. What this book can offer the potential reader is substantial, but probably a good deal less than its title might suggest. Since everything in· it is five years old, this is hardly a preferred source of material on the status of developments in information technology, academic libraries, or univer- sities. And, since the title's indicated con- cern for "the next twenty years" is re- spected only sketchily and unevenly in the text, a reader would search in vain for some conference product that tabulates chronologically the major developments to be anticipated in academic research li- braries through the end of the century. Indeed, one will find barely any confer- ence product at all here. The book is pri- marily an assemblage of material describ- ing the background and conduct of the conference that is sandwiched in with the texts of background talks, which were de- livered by six distinguished, invited speakers for the purpose of stimulating deliberation by conference participants. Also, the editor has tabulated and charac- terized the various issues that were upper- most in the participants' minds, as re- flected in the personal lists of five main issues that each attendee was asked to bring to the conference. The meager product of the discussion sessions takes up only seven pages in the final chapter. It consists of two groups of statements prescribing educational objec- tives to be met and research tasks to be un- dertaken in connection with academic li- brarianship. The educational objectives are familiar ones relating to technology, management, academic environment, and fundamentals of librarianship; input from other disciplines; recruitment of su- perior students; and continuing educa- tion. The thirty-nine research tasks are presented without any intrinsic or accom- panying explanation of why they are par- ticularly timely or what purposes they will serve. These tasks are stated so broadly that, as guides to action, they are sterile. For example: "Identify how information needs are currently being met in the uni- versity, and project what means are likely to be used in the future." Or: "Carry out parallel studies of librarians' attitudes and perceptions of faculty.'' Although the transcripts from the closing session make plain that at least some of the conferees- were euphoric about new insights gained, 617 618 College & Research Libraries the product presented here seems to show that the doctors and saints of this event, like Omar of yore, went out by the same door where in they went. Nevertheless, there is plenty of worth- while reading in this book for academic li- brariai)s who take their profession seri- ously. The six background papers that fill most of the pages provide, collectively, a treasure of carefully considered, even in- spired, organization and interpretation of information bearing on the future of uni- versities and their libraries. The papers are by three university presidents: William Gerberding (University of Washington); John Brademas (New York University); and Steven Muller (Johns Hopkins Uni- versity) and three vice-presidents: Gerald Stevens (Yale); William Schaefer (UCLA); and Howard Resnikoff (Harvard). Their presentations overlap in scope, but they focus on different aspects of the outlook for universities: economic and political en- vironments, future student population, information technologies and their im- pacts, and prospects for academic pro- grams and organizational structures. The panorama suggested by this group of presentations is one in which we will see universities adapting, perforce and clumsily, to: continuing technological and social revolution, fairly static instructional volume and older students, proportion- ally more foreign students, uneven prog- ress in accommodation of minorities, un- likely restoration of generous government support for students or institutions, grow- ing demand for vocational instruction, shrinkage in areas of liberal arts and social science, aging faculties, competition from commercial providers of vocationally ori- ·ented instruction, increased cooperation with industry as a way C?f securing sup- port, increased conflict of interest be- tween faculty and institution, and slowed growth of basic scholarship and research. Universities will need to revise dramati- cally their instructional methods and adapt their organizational structures in or- der to coordinate broad information activi- ties based on technology. Academic li- braries, if they are perceptive and adaptable, can avoid sliding into irrele- November 1986 vance by becoming the multifaceted infor- mation hub of the emerging university. These prospects, and what can be done about them by universities and libraries, are elaborated to different degrees in the several papers. So far, in the passage of time since origi- nal presentation of these papers, no im- portant surprises or omissions have turned up to diminish the authors' credi- bility. Their insights are of the kind that trigger creative thinking about useful courses of action for education and aca- demic librarianship .' Readers must depend on their own in- genuity for integrating related passages from the several papers. Expect no help from the subject index, which is vapid and usually fails to link discussions of similar concepts when the speakers used differ- ent phraseology or contexts, but the name index could conceivably help some readers.-Ben-Ami Lipetz, School of Informa- tion Science and Policy, State University of New York at Albany. International Librarianship Today and Tomorrow: A Festschrift for William J. Welsh. Comp. by Joseph W. Price and Mary S. Price. New York: K.G. Saur, 1985. 174p. $32.50. ISBN 3-598-10586-X. In his preface to Index to Festschriften in Librarianship, J. Periam Danton character- izes festschriften and provides the basis on which to judge this genre. A festschrift is meant to honor "a more or less distin- guished individual'' with a volume of con- tributions //by the honoree/s friends and colleagues who are also usually promi- nent in their fields,'' and to have lasting significance. A biography of the honoree is usually present; a bibliography of his or her work is always present. Danton adds, however: "In the field of librarianship, at least, there is a considerable number of works in which both are lacking. Indeed in a few Festschriften there is no indication whatever, either on the title page or in the preface, introduction, dedication, fore- word, text, or appendix-of who the hon- oree is, where he was active, or in what field!" The compilers of this volume have not