College and Research Libraries brary Seroices, instead of a consolidated list. In summary, Lancaster's earlier work on this topic was considerably more thor- ough and comprehensive and one cannot help but wonder why an updated second edition of that work was not produced in- stead of this pared down version. Still, · this is a solid treatment of a timely topic from one of the leading experts, if not the leading expert, in the field, making this a logical source for students and librarians alike who are interested in the evaluation process.-Clifford H. Haka, Michigan State University, East Lansing. Shailor, Barbara A. Catalogue of Medi- eval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Reinecke Rare Book Room and Man- uscript Library, Yale University. Vol- ume II: Mss. 251-500. Binghamton, N.Y.: Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 1987. 578p. $36 (ISBN 0- 86698-030-X (alk. paper v.2) ). LC 84- 667. Barbara Shailor' s catalogue is the sec- ond of presumably three volumes to de- scribe the holdings of the Beinecke Rare Book Room and Manuscript Library at Yale University (for a review of Vol. I in these pages, see C&RL 47:518-20 (1986). It catalogues 250 manuscripts, a group of books that date from the ninth to the nine- teenth century and were made in diverse centers ranging from Europe to Central America. Because of their disparate nature, these manuscripts pose problems of presenta- tion on both the levels of organization of the book as a whole and of individual en- tries. First, how does one structure such a varied group of entries in order to give them coherence? Shailor discusses the books in numerical order rather than se- lecting thematic divisions as organizing principles-divisions, such as country of origin (as is being done in the ongoing cat- alogue of manuscripts of the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, whose French volume has just appeared), or type of text (literary, historical, devotional, etc.). She offsets the random nature of the presentation by providing at the end of the volume a series of indices intended to aid the reader in Recent Publications 491 placing the manuscripts in appropriate ge- ographical, chronological, artistic, and so- cial contexts. These aids to the reader give some coherence and shape to the collec- tion. Following the indices, however, are a sequence of plates whose organizational structure is not immediately apparent. These illustrations are labeled with manu- script number, folio citation, and an indi- cation of scale which notes whether the pictures are of natural size, enlarged, or reduced. Nothing in the list of plates or their captions makes clear that these im- ages are arranged geographically and chronologically (showing in plates 3-23 German, French, and Netherlandish manuscripts, in plates 24-27 English man- uscripts, in plates 28-41 Italian manu- scripts, in plate 42 a later German exam- ple, in plate 43 a Central European manuscript, in plates 44-53 Byzantine manuscripts, and in plates 54-61 Greek texts written in Italy). Such clarification would enhance the utility of the illustra- tions. Indeed, the catalogue as a whole would benefit from the inclusion of an in- troduction to volume II which specifies how the book was structured; as it stands, the reader has to consult the introduction to the first volume for such information. A second problem that a cataloger faces is how to discuss individual manuscripts. Sailor has opted for a traditional structure that she fleshes out with carefully ob- served detail that is particularly rich in the treatment of texts. Within each entry Shailor provides a description of the man- uscript's contents, including incipits for unpublished texts and citations of critical editions for published ones. This is fol- lowed by a physical description (discus- sions of support, ruling, collation, script, artistic concerns, and binding), discussion of provenance, and bibliography. The length of her entries and their attention to details of concern to historians, literary scholars, art historians, and codicologists are impressive and will make the cata- logue a very useful research tool. How- ever, the resultant fragmented structure . detracts from the reader's experience of the individual manuscripts themselves. In some ways this catalogue presents so 492 College &: Research Libraries much information about books that the in- dividual codex becomes lost. For instance, because the catalogue places such weight on texts, it does not treat the illustrated codex in an integrated fashion. The separation of identifications of text from subjects for images within the catalogue may reflect traditional discipli- nary divisions Qiterary history versus art history), but it violates the experience that a reader turning the pages of an illustrated book has. Pictures are embedded in texts, and modern researchers like medieval readers before them, need to understand their relation. Shailor' s identification of subjects for illustration is buried among the physical description in close proximity to analyses of artistic style, as though that were the primary information one would wish to know about pictures. I suspect that it would have been more useful to the general reader of the volume if the identi- fication of subjects for illustration had been integrated into the description of the text so that readers could easily see how pictures focus attention on particular texts, either reinforcing or, in fewer cases, rearranging the reader's experience of the written word . Such concerns are no longer simply the focus of art historians; increasingly historians and literary theo- rists are taking illustration of individual manuscripts into account when interpret- ing the text. My few criticisms about the treatment of visual material in Shailor' s catalogue should not detract from its value. This book is a solid piece of scholarship which attempts to introduce the Beinecke collec- tion to a broad audience.lts thorough cat- alogue entries provide a wealth of infor- mation that scholars will mine for many years.-Anne D. Hedeman, School of Art & Design, University of Illinois, Urbana- Champaign. Preservation Microfilming: A Guide for Librarians and Archivists. Ed. by Nancy Gwinn for the Association of Re- search Libraries. Chicago: American Li- brary Assn., 1987. 212p. $40 (ISBN 0- 8389-0481-5). LC 87-10020. As preservation is becoming recognized as an important function of libraries and July 1989 archives, microfilming is assuming a role as an integral part of preservation in a growing number of institutions. Preserva- tion Microfilming: A Guide for Librarians and Archivists fills an important gap in library and archival literature by providing an ex- cellent in-depth introduction to the sub- ject. Heretofore it was difficult to obtain a good overview of preservation microfilm- ing. Preservation Microfilming pulls to- gether and integrates information that was only available before from a variety of sources, and it contributes new informa- tion as well. Preservation Microfilming achieves its purpose and scope as they are set forth in the preface: You can approach this book in many ways; as an overview of the whole process of preserva- tion microfilming, as a detailed-but not exhaustive-guide to each step of the opera- tion, as a reference book to other documents or programs to meet your specific needs, as a fact book, as a checklist, as a place to find sample forms or photos-in short, as a helper to keep right behind your desk. Read it through, then go back as needed for specific facts and refer- rals. You won't find in detail every procedure that you will require-many of them must mesh . with local priorities and conditions-but the critical issues are all covered. We hope the book will end up being well-thumbed. Preservation Microfilming is the work of several people. Different authors wrote the first drafts of the chapters; these cover all phases of preservation microfilming, from the selection of materials for micro- filming to the bibliographic control of mi- croforms. The first chapter presents an ·overview of administrative decisions and serves as 11 an extended abstract of the en- tire manual.'' Rigorous editing has mini- mized the overlap from chapter to chap- ter, and the careful attention of many reviewers has ensured the accuracy of the information presented. One of the most impressive things about Preservation Microfilming is the emphasis maintained throughout on placing micro- filming within the broader contexts of the preservation program, the institution, and the national agenda. This treatment begins with the introduction, which pro- vides a historical context and examines the