reviews


 

200 College & Research Libraries March 1996 

only in Kaser ’s discussion of modular 
versus other academic library building 
designs that he adopts a prescriptive 
stance. In an appendix, he has listed 
chronologically all the American aca­
demic library buildings constructed 
since 1840 that he has been able to iden­
tify. Several plates and drawings illus­
trate various typical internal and exter­
nal designs. There is a good index, and 
because Kaser’s use of technical archi­
tectural terms is rare and always in a 
context enabling the reader to discern 
their meaning, the lack of a glossary is 
not a problem. Recommended for librar­
ies with architecture or library history 
collections.—W. Bede Mitchell, Appala­
chian State University, Boone, North Caro­
lina. 

Libraries & Philanthropy: Proceedings 
of Library History Seminar IX. Ed. 
Donald G. Davis Jr. Austin, Tex.: 
Graduate School of Library and In­
formation Science, Univ. of Texas, 
1996. 548p. $27.50 acid-free paper 
(ISBN 0-938729-03-09). LC 96-078192. 

This work contains a collection of pa­
pers presented at the Library History 
Seminar IX, “Libraries and Philan­
thropy,” held at the University of Ala­
bama in the spring of 1995. This com­
prehensive collection covers topics on 
library philanthropy from the times of 
Ancient Greece and Rome to modern 
Europe, India, and the United States. 
Greatest emphasis is given to the indi­
viduals, communities, and organiza­
tions responsible for the birth and evo­
lution of library philanthropy. The 
authors of the papers presented during 
the plenary sessions provide a histori­
cal overview of public libraries as play­
ing a key role in the development of 
American civil society. They also ex­
plore the origins and implications of pub­
lic funding in which nonprofit, nongov­
ernmental, and philanthropic agencies 
played a significant part in the develop­
ment of libraries. 

In addition to funding library build­
ings and library collections, many bene­
factors offered funding for library ser­
vices and research. Groups committed 
to addressing the problems of libraries, 
such as the Council on Library Re­
sources, were funded by the Ford Foun­
dation. In the 1950s, the Ford Founda­
tion became the sponsor of the Massa­
chusetts Institute of Technology’s 
Project INTREX. Even though INTREX 
became a project for developing ap­
plied technology rather than focusing 
on information research to help librar­
ies, it produced motivated staff and stu­
dents who influenced trends in the li­
brary world. A majority of authors such 
as Mary B. Haskell, Ann Curry, Paula D. 
Watson, Maxine K. Rochester, Nicoletta 
M. Hary, Wayne A. Wiegand, Nancy 
Becker Johnson, Peggy Sullivan, Rob­
ert Sidney Martin, and Orvin Lee Shiflett 
focused on private benefactors. 

The philosophical issues that moti­
vated private benefactors to donate 
money to libraries varied: Andrew 
Carnegie saw his library program as a 
gift to all society for improvement and 
enlightenment; Phoebe Hearst, on the 
other hand, considered her library phi­
lanthropies as gifts returned to the com­
munities; and the Rockefellers were able 
to see “the big picture” of which librar­
ies were a part along with other institu­
tions and museums. They also contrib­
uted to library buildings and collections 
abroad such as in Japan and Switzer­
land with the incentive to promote bet­
ter relations between the United States 
and these countries. Although many of 
the women philanthropists were un­
likely to have had formal education, 
their strong interests in reading and lit­
erature motivated them to contribute 
to libraries. Their commitment to library 
philanthropy also was related to those 
other aspects of their lives that contrib­
uted to their progress toward financial, 
political, and social independence. In 
her essay “ALA Youth Services Librar­



 

 

 

Book Reviews 201 

ians and CARE-UNESCO’s Children’s 
Book Fund,” Christine Jenkins discusses 
the impact that organizations such as 
the CARE-UNESCO and DLCYP (ALA’s 
Division of Libraries for Children and 
Young People) had on libraries during the 
Cold War. The attempts of CARE­
UNESCO to export children’s books to 
other countries raised many sensitive is­
sues which resulted in the development 
of tensions between DLCYP and CARE­
UNESCO. Some of these issues were re­
lated to diversity, censorship, and trans­
lation; questions establishing evaluative 
criteria of literary quality, child appeal, 
and what is considered the “right book” 
for children overseas became big issues 
for debate. In many cases, organizations 
and individuals used library philanthropy 
as a means of promoting their political 
and social agendas. A clear example is 
the case of the Derby Public Library in 
the Midlands, England. The benefactor 
of the Derby Public Library building was 
Michael Thomas Bass, head of the fa­
mous brewing company. There is no 
question that his motive for building a 
library was to benefit the brewing trade 
and to counteract writers of the late nine­
teenth century who suggested that 
drinking was immoral. He demonstrated 
his idea of a well-rounded vision of life 
and leisure by building a library and 
suggesting to the English people that 
beer and books could coexist. 

Libraries & Philanthropy is a well-orga­
nized collection of twenty-five essays, 
each of which contains a wealth of bib­
liographic notes and references to 
supplementary sources. These intellec­
tually stimulating essays may not have 
much practical application, but their ac­
counts of the historical and theoretical 
background of library fund-raising are 
invaluable.—Constantia Constantinou, 
Iona College, New Rochelle, New York. 

Serials Management in the Electronic 
Era: Papers in Honor of Peter 
Gellatly, Founding Editor of The Se-

rials Librarian. Eds. Jim Cole and 
James W. Williams. New York: 
Haworth Pr., 1996. 234p. $39.95 alk. pa­
per (ISBN 0-7890-0021-0). LC 96­
38911. 

As anyone who works with serials 
knows, change is the key concept and 
uncertainty about the future is the gen­
eral attitude. From a library perspec­
tive, these changes affect technical ser­
vices in a most direct way but also 
impact the education and role of librar­
ians, library organizational structure, 
and the development of a new model of 
scholarly communication. From the 
commercial point of view, the issues af­
fect relationships among publisher, ven­
dor, and library, and the publisher’s role 
in scholarly communication. This vol­
ume, appropriately dedicated to Peter 
Gellatly, attempts to cover these many 
pressing issues, as they relate to seri­
als management, in sixteen articles writ­
ten by publishers, vendors, librarians, 
and library educators, as well as an edi­
tor of an electronic journal and a com­
puter scientist. For the most part, it suc­
ceeds. The buyer should be aware that 
this volume has been published previ­
ously as an issue of The Serials Librarian. 
Not surprisingly, most of the articles in 
the book pertain to the technical ser­
vices aspects of managing serials in the 
electronic era and cover diverse topics 
including a discussion of collection de­
velopment issues, a description of a lo­
cally developed serials control system, 
an annotated “webliography” of library 
sources available on the World Wide 
Web, and an exploration of serials man­
agement issues in a consortia context. 

Elizabeth Cooley and Edward A. 
Goedeken write a provocative piece 
with the premise that we must collect 
information, not formats. Once it has 
been determined what information is 
needed, a decision can be made on the 
most appropriate format—print, elec­
tronic, or whatever else might be avail­
able. The really intriguing part of the