College and Research Libraries


G o e t h e ' s Werther. In the nineteenth century 
the genre w a s used f o r political and social 
reasons, but there are also significant auto-
biographical novels which may be called 
Schliisselliteratur (e.g., G o t t f r i e d K e l l e r ' s 
Der griine Hienrich and J a m e s L a n e A l l e n ' s 
The Alabaster Box). 

Schneider has c a r e f u l l y analyzed this rich 
and confusing l i t e r a t u r e and organized it in 
a manner that w i l l make it readily compre-
hensible. T o be sure, his w o r k represents 
only a selection of the best in w o r l d l i t e r a -
ture, and there w i l l be some w h o w i l l q u a r r e l 
with his choice. In many cases an individual 
student w i l l stumble across a key to a book 
that w o u l d seem to be pure fiction even to 
the experienced critic. T h i s r e v i e w e r could 
point out no less than twenty-six titles of 
K e n t u c k y fiction which Schneider might have 
considered. H o w e v e r , it is f a i r and s a f e to 
say that Schneider has been able to identify 
most of truly significant titles of w o r l d litera-
ture in the genre under consideration and 
dealt with them in e x e m p l a r y f a s h i o n . — L a w -
rence S. Thompson, University of Kentucky 
Libraries. 

Education of Librarians 
Die Bildung des Bibliothekars. B y G e o r g 

L e y h . Copenhagen, E j n a r M u n k s g a a r d , 
1 9 5 2 . I 3 i p . (Copenhagen U n i v e r s i t y , L i -
b r a r y , Scientific and M e d i c a l D e p a r t m e n t , 
" L i b r a r y R e s e a r c h M o n o g r a p h s , " volume 
3 - ) * 

T h e humane tradition of librarianship is 
one of o u r finest ideals, and yet it is perhaps 
one of the most difficult to define. G e o r g 
L e y h , retired librarian of the U n i v e r s i t y of 
T u b i n g e n and editor of the second edition of 
the Handbuch der Bibliothekswissenschaft, 
has devoted a lifetime to the theoretical study 
and the practical exposition of this ideal. H e 
f i r s t set f o r t h his ideas on the subject in a 
lecture to the l i b r a r i a n s of Stockholm, printed 
under the caption of " D i e B i l d u n g des 
B i b l i o t h e k a r s " in the Nordiskt Tidskrift for 
Bok- och Bibliotheksvasen, X X X V I I ( 1 9 5 0 ) , 
5 6 - 7 0 ; and the present study is an expansion 
of this essay. 

D r a w i n g heavily on his intimate knowledge 

* It would be well to note here the other two numbers 
in this important new series, since neither have been 
reviewed in C&RL: ( 1 ) J e a n Anker's Otto Fridericli 
Muller's Zoologica Danica ( 1 9 5 0 : io8p.). and (2) 
S. R. Ranganathan's philosophy of Library Classification 
( i 9 S i ; I 3 3 P - ) -

of the history of E u r o p e a n l i t e r a t u r e , li-
brarianship, scholarship, and philosophy, 
L e y h r e v i e w s the traditional concepts of the 
scholarly librarian, including training (past 
and present m e t h o d s ) , personal development 
through experience, professional dilemmas, 
and special problems of librarianship in mod-
ern times. T h e last two chapters ( " D i e 
K u n s t des L e s e n s " and " S c h r i f t s t e l l e r e i " ) are 
m a s t e r f u l statements of t w o basic aspects of 
our w o r k , the f i r s t based at least in part on 
L e y h ' s own handsome private l i b r a r y , the 
second on his w i d e experience in research in 
many fields of librarianship. 

T h r o u g h o u t the entire study L e y h elabo-
rates on a theme stated by one of his f a v o r i t e 
authors, G e o r g Christoph Lichtenberg, " T h e 
w h o l e man must move t o g e t h e r . " H e 
emphasizes that any f o r m a l training f o r li-
brarianship is necessarily introductory in 
n a t u r e ; and he rejects the A m e r i c a n doctorate 
in l i b r a r y science as a " F e h l e n t w i c k l u n g , " 
pointing out that " d e r Bibliothekswissenschaft 
fehlt als G a n z e s der kristallisierende K e r n , 
aus dem sie sich e n t f a l t e t " (p. 8 9 - 9 0 ) . T h e r e 
is much to say f o r this viewpoint if w e v i e w 
the P h . D . in librarianship as a theoretical re-
search degree j u s t as the P h . D . in the hu-
manities, the social studies, or the pure 
sciences; but there may be some doubt about 
the validity of L e y h ' s stricture when applied 
to the doctorate in librarianship as a p r o f e s -
sional degree. T h e tripartite doctoral pro-
g r a m at C o l u m b i a might w e l l meet his 
approval. 

R e g a r d l e s s of any questions about L e y h ' s 
specific theories of education f o r l i b r a r i a n -
ship, it w o u l d be difficult to r e f u t e his in-
sistence that the l i b r a r i a n be a well-rounded 
m a n — w e l l read, broadly trained, and with 
specific research interests (either in his own 
subject field or in one of peculiar interest to 
l i b r a r i a n s ) . T h e l i b r a r i a n ' s task is perhaps 
the most difficult in the entire realm of 
scholarship and the p r o f e s s i o n s ; f o r he must 
master the technology of elementary l i b r a r y 
operations (not to be scorned as undignified, 
L e y h a r g u e s ) , know the history of learning 
and of his own institution, establish a com-
panionship with books in the intimate sense 
defined in this study, and maintain his own 
research interests in order to j u s t i f y his posi-
tion (in universities) as a member of a 
learned b o d y . — L a w r e n c e S. Thompson, Uni-
versity of Kentucky Libraries. 

110 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES