College and Research Libraries


removed to appendices f o l l o w i n g the text. 

T h e report is practically a case book of 

university library problems. I t w i l l cer-

tainly be used extensively for many years 

by interested librarians and by the faculty 

and administration responsible for the de-

velopment of the University of Florida 

L i b r a r y . — P e y t o n Hurt, Williams Col-

lege, Williamstown, Mass. 

Report of a Survey of the University of 

Georgia Library for the University of 

Georgia, September-December, 1938. 

L o u i s R . W i l s o n , H a r v i e Branscomb, 

Ralph M . D u n b a r , and G u y R . L y l e , 

on behalf of the American L i b r a r y As-

sociation. American L i b r a r y Associa-

tion, 1939. 74p. $ 1 . ( M i m e o -

graphed) 

T H I S R E P O R T p r e s e n t s t h e r e s u l t s o f t h e 

first of three surveys of state university 

libraries conducted by the A m e r i c a n 

L i b r a r y Association during the last year. 

It is important as the report of a pioneer 

appraisal of a university library by an 

A m e r i c a n L i b r a r y Association committee 

and for its emphasis upon local problems 

and local needs as evaluative criteria. 

A library survey is rarely a research 

study. W i t h a program of action the end 

product of the survey, missionary zeal 

almost inevitably makes disinterested 

objectivity impossible, and perhaps, at the 

present stage of measurement in librarian-

ship, undesirable. T h e immediate func-

tion of an A m e r i c a n L i b r a r y Association 

survey is evaluation; the final objective 

a program of improvement. E v a l u a -

tion necessitates s t a n d a r d s — " m e a s u r i n g 

sticks." T h e standards most relevant in 

any library survey are local optima, in so far 

as they can be determined. T h e survey 

committee, under the chairmanship of 

D e a n W i l s o n , gave unusually careful at-

tention to the local scene—the regional 

and local environment of the university 

library. 

T h e committee, in effect, sought an-

swers to three questions: I. W h a t should 

be the contribution of the university 

library to the educational and research 

program of the University of G e o r g i a ? 

2. In w h a t specific respects is the univer-

sity library f a l l i n g short of optimum ful-

fillment of its obligations? 3. W h a t 

specific steps need to be taken to make 

university library service more consistent 

w i t h the library needs of the university? 

O f the three questions the first is the 

most difficult, particularly to an outside 

committee, and least adequately dealt 

with. A satisfactory answer can be 

evolved only over a period of years and 

by the staff of the university itself. 

Comparisons w i t h other universities and 

w i t h norms are useful chiefly as corrobora-

tive evidence and for "sales" purposes. 

W h i l e the committee recognized this 

limitation, it w a s forced by the lack of 

better measuring devices to seek answers 

to all three questions largely in terms of 

comparisons. 

T h e chief value of the report to other 

surveyors, as w e l l as to the University of 

Georgia, however, lies in its analysis of 

local needs in relation to local objectives. 

T h i s analysis involves a large element of 

subjective j u d g m e n t — o p i n i o n s of the 

committee, the faculty, and the student 

body. T h e resulting evaluation leaves 

little doubt in the mind of this reviewer 

as to its essential accuracy. Deficiencies 

w e r e not difficult to find. T h e same 

techniques w o u l d almost certainly result 

in less convincing conclusions if applied to 

a more highly developed library. 

T h e survey committee is to be com-

mended for a thorough and realistic re-

DECEMBER., 1940 67 



port, which should prove invaluable to 

future s u r v e y o r s — i n fact already has pro-

vided the basic pattern for t w o other uni-

versity library s u r v e y s . — G . Flint Purdy, 

Wayne University, Detroit. 

Reading in General Education; an Ex-

ploratory Study. W i l l i a m S. G r a y , 

ed. A m e r i c a n C o u n c i l on Education, 

W a s h i n g t o n , 1940. xii + 464pp. 

$2.50. 

T H A T reading cannot be regarded as a 
tool or facility w h i c h is acquired in 

elementary school and to w h i c h no further 

attention need be given has been empha-

sized by numerous studies in recent years. 

It n o w seems clear that the development 

of the art of reading must occupy the 

attention of elementary, high-school, and 

college teachers, and likewise of public, 

school, and college librarians. 

M a n y specific phases of the problem of 

reading are still under investigation. T h e 

present collection of eleven thorough and 

well-documented studies by both teachers 

and librarians is intended to be " a n 

intensive, critical study of the present 

status, recent trends, and current issues in 

reading, w i t h special reference to high 

schools and junior colleges, and to identify 

problems that are in urgent need of 

f u r t h e r investigation." It constitutes the 

report of the Subcommittee on R e a d i n g in 

G e n e r a l Education of the Committee on 

Measurement and G u i d a n c e of the A m e r i -

can C o u n c i l on Education. Funds w e r e 

supplied by the G e n e r a l Education Board. 

T h e individual studies are quite spe-

cialized and reflect, of course, the par-

ticular interests of the specialists w h o have 

prepared them. F o r this reason some of 

them w i l l be of greater interest to 

librarians than others, even though it 

might be difficult to select any as in-

trinsically more important or more valu-

able than others. 

A f t e r a rather general statement by 

N e a l M . Cross concerning the responsi-

bility of teachers in developing satis-

factory reading programs, entitled "Social 

C h a n g e , G e n e r a l Education, and Read-

i n g , " W i l l i a m S. G r a y analyzes the 

various interpretations of the term "read-

i n g " and the factors that influence the 

reading act. T h i s second study, " R e a d i n g 

and Factors Influencing R e a d i n g Effi-

ciency," stresses the importance of con-

tinuing the search for needed facts and 

using these facts in developing greater 

reading efficiency. 

In the third study, " R e l a t i o n of Read-

ing to O t h e r F o r m s of L e a r n i n g , " E d g a r 

D a l e considers reading in its relation to 

the various other methods of communicat-

ing experience (pictures, radio, etc.) that 

may be used in general education. L o u i s 

C . Z a h n e r , in " A p p r o a c h to R e a d i n g 

through Analysis of M e a n i n g s , " suggests 

the creation of a central institute like the 

O r t h o l o g i c a l Institute in L o n d o n to carry 

on and coordinate research in the teaching 

of reading, w h i l e Bernice E . L e a r y and 

W i l l i a m S. G r a y , in " R e a d i n g Problems 

in C o n t e n t F i e l d s , " indicate certain prac-

tices and procedures that teachers may 

f o l l o w in guiding the improvement of 

reading in any field. 

T h e sixth study, " A m e r i c a n C u l t u r e 

and the T e a c h i n g of L i t e r a t u r e , " by L o u 

L . L a B r a n t , w i l l be of general interest, 

but librarians w i l l be particularly inter-

ested in the f o l l o w i n g study, " R e a d i n g 

Interests and T a s t e s , " by H a r o l d A . A n -

derson, since it touches on the problem 

not only of stimulating interest in reading 

but of developing tastes for good reading. 

Studies eight, nine, and ten, " D i f f i -

culties in R e a d i n g M a t e r i a l , " by Bernice 

68 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES