College and Research Libraries


there are a f e w surprising omissions, not-

ably, in the reference list, Brunet's Man-

uel du Libraire, N o r t h r u p ' s Register of 

Bibliographies, Who Was Who, Rice's 

Dictionary of Geological Terms, Shaw's 

Manual of Meteorology, and Enciclope-

dia Italiana; in the periodical list, Duke 

Mathematical Journal, Economic History 

Review, E.L.H., a Journal of English 

Literary History, and Speculum. Pre-

sumably these titles have been considered 

and voted out by the librarians cooperating 

w i t h the project. T h e difficulty which 

the compilers w i l l have in keeping the 

lists up to date can be illustrated by the 

fact that the Annalist has merged w i t h 

Business Week, Forum and Century w i t h 

Current History since the periodical list 

was compiled. G r o v e s ' Dictionary of 

Music and Musicians and T h o r p e ' s Dic-

tionary of Applied Chemistry have new 

volumes, K i n g z e t t ' s Chemical Encyclopedia 

is in its fourth edition, and L a n g e r ' s Ency-

clopedia of World History now takes the 

place of Ploetz's Manual. T h i s difficulty 

w i l l be met in part by the " C u r r e n t R e f -

ference A i d s " section of College and Re-

search Libraries. W o u l d it be possible 

for those responsible for this section to 

note items especially suited to the junior 

college and the four-year liberal arts col-

lege ? 

T h e s e are, however, but minor matters, 

for the fact remains that these t w o lists 

are the best tools now available for a self-

analysis of reference and periodical hold-

ings for junior college and four-year 

college libraries. Because of their arrange-

ment, they can be readily used by librar-

ians in conferring w i t h faculty members. 

T h e y w i l l strengthen the plea of librarians 

in asking administrative officers for funds 

for materials of long-time usefulness. In 

citing items of peculiar interest and value 

to institutions in the South, it is to be 

hoped that they w i l l challenge other re-

gional library groups to go and do like-

wise. D r .  A .  F . K u h l m a n , chairman of 

the Steering Committee on Standards for 

C o l l e g e Libraries of the Southern Asso-

ciation, and M r s . Frances Cheney, chair-

man of the advisory committee, are to be 

congratulated on achieving these lists 

which are part of w h a t is modestly termed 

" A Preliminary and Partial Report on a 

P r o j e c t to D e v e l o p Criteria for M e a s u r -

ing the Adequacy of College Libraries." 

—Flora B. Ludington, Mount Holyoke 

College, South Hadley, Mass. 

A New Design for Women's Education. 

Constance W a r r e n . Stokes, 1940. xiii, 

2 7 7 p . $2. 

A New Design for Women's Education, 

w i t h true Chaucerian gusto "makes 

a v a u n t " that Sarah L a w r e n c e College, of 

which the author is president, and Ben-

nington College as w e l l , w e r e the first in a 

group of institutions that have broken 

a w a y f r o m an older educational pattern, 

in order to create a new design having its 

center at the point where the interests and 

the needs of individual students cross. In 

so doing, they have removed the learning 

of subject matter from its usual high rank 

among the offerings of the typical four-

year liberal arts college, substituting an 

educational concept " w h i c h has accepted 

f r a n k l y this new objective of making the 

whole college experience serve each stu-

dent to the best of its ability rather than 

serve scholarship as an end in itself." 

M i s s W a r r e n ' s description of the new 

design at Sarah L a w r e n c e is not weighted 

w i t h the dullness which so often comes 

from the educator's favorite v i c e — a n in-

finite capacity for taking pains. Instead, 

it has a fine quality of readableness, and 

MARC hi, 1941 157 



it is charged w i t h a genuine enthusiasm 

for the demolition of regimentation in 

college education. T h e book presents w i t h 

more partiality than judicial detachment 

the case for a flexible curriculum, for the 

destruction of artificial barriers between 

fields of learning, and for the abandon-

ment of such old educational habits as 

grades and examinations. O n e special 

satisfaction in reading this book comes 

from the frequency w i t h w h i c h biblio-

graphical w o r k is stressed as part of each 

student's program. E v i d e n t l y this is not 

mere lip service to the place of the library 

in the new design, but a sincere confession 

of faith in the importance of teaching stu-

dents to move easily and independently 

among sources of knowledge. 

In the best sense, this is a provocative 

book.  I t leaves w i t h one reader, at least, 

a desire to argue the case. O n e wishes 

to ask if mathematics, w i t h its orderly 

and logical progression from part to part, 

can really be relegated successfully to 

the category of a tool chest, from w h i c h 

one small screw may be extracted for use 

in putting together ideas in another course. 

W i l l anything but grinding at a language 

give one understanding of it, so that it 

may be truly u s e f u l ? If one is led on 

gently from enthusiasm to enthusiasm in 

college, w i t h o u t submitting to the routine 

of class w o r k , w h e r e w i l l one learn the 

habit of drudgery, upon which success 

in intellectual w o r k so often depends a f t e r 

college days are o v e r ? H o w can versa-

tility and a light teaching load enable 

even an unusual professor to give expert 

guidance in a field related to his own, but 

of which he is not master? M a y not 

superficiality and smartness result under 

such circumstances and are these less dan-

gerous faults than the rigidity ascribed to 

w o r k in the more traditional colleges? 

H a s not "the orderly acquisition of sub-

ject m a t t e r " as an educational objective of 

the first importance found vindication for-

ever in the brilliant achievements and con-

structive w o r k of men and w o m e n formed 

by the scholarly disciplines of hundreds 

of traditional colleges? 

T h e fair-minded reader of this g r a c e f u l 

and stimulating book, in which a progres-

sive college is the protagonist, w i l l not 

find an answer to his questions in one 

easy Aye or Nay. T h e house of A m e r i c a n 

education is one of many mansions. So 

l o n g as its rooms are thronged by 

i>350,000 students annually, and so long 

as the path beyond it "leads up hill all 

the w a y , " there must continue to be "beds 

for all w h o come." E v i d e n t l y the hos-

pitality offered by Sarah L a w r e n c e has 

found w i d e and deserved a p p r e c i a t i o n . — 

Blanche Prichard McCrum, Wellesley 

College Library, Wellesley, Mass. 

Liberal Education in a Democracy; a 

Charter for the American College. 

S t e w a r t  G . C o l e . H a r p e r , 1940. 

3 ° 9 P - $ 3 -

T H E C O N F U S I O N  O F P U R P O S E t h a t 

characterizes the programs of many liberal 

arts colleges gives rise to this book whose 

purpose is to discuss questions dealing w i t h 

the direction the A m e r i c a n college is tak-

ing in its development, the standards by 

w h i c h it may be guided, and the program 

by w h i c h such standards may be imple-

mented. 

Six criteria of excellence in liberal edu-

cation are presented here by D r . C ol e , 

former college president. Based upon 

study of the history of the A m e r i c a n col-

lege and the psychology of personality, 

through w h i c h students' needs are dis-

covered, these criteria embody an approach 

somewhat metaphysical in character. 

158 ' COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES