College and Research Libraries


the basic data. An advance analytic report 
which was published in July 1961 limited 
its coverage to data on library volumes, per-
sonnel and expenditures. After many un-
avoidable delays, the full report has now 
been issued, and plans are under way to 
issue the analytic part for succeeding years · 
during 1963 in order to catch up with the 
current compilations. 

The first section explains the usable cov-
erage of libraries represented in the data-
1854 institutions or 95 per cent of the total 
population. Institutions are divided into 
seven categories, one of which, "Other pro-
fessional schools," might be broken down in 
future compilations into medical, law, busi-
ness, etc. to be more useful. Further distinc-
tions, such as four-year and two-year colleges, 
public or private control, and enrollment 
ranges are maintained throughout the tables. 
The introductory section also contains tables 
showing a summary of management data, 
and median figures for all data according to 
enrollment, as well as totals for professional 
staff vacancies. While a first publication 
lacks naturally a basis for comparison, it is 
hoped that future reports will expand the 
description of. trends. 

The appendix contains eighty-seven tables 
which analyze more fully each of the items 
on the statistics questionnaire. The table of 
contents divides the tables into the two cor-
responding parts of the questionnaire: man-
agement data and salaries. It is a formidable 
listing chiefly because the table titles are 
lengthy, repetitious, and tend to hide the 
key words which would allow users to pro-
ceed directly to the desired type of data. A 
subdivision of the topics covered under each 
of these sections would improve this listing, 
as would a shortening of table titles. 

Each librarian can locate the standing of 
his library in relation to the high and low 
figures for each item, the median and the 
first and third quartiles. 

The first analysis marks an important mile-
stone in the development of a statistical pic-
ture of academic libraries. It will be useful 
to librarians and administrators in planning 
improvement of local libraries, and to all 
who seek to buttress legislation with convinc-
ing data. While there is room for improve-
ment in the selection and presentation of 
data, it must be remembered that the orig-
inal statistics questionnaire was changed, re-
fined, and amplified over a period of years 

JULY 1963 

in response to the suggeslions of users. This 
is the approach which guides the planning 
of the present Statistics Committee and the 
U.S. Office of Education.-Robert R. Hertel, 
Illinois State Normal University. 

Biography of a Library 
The Library of Bucknell University. By 

J. Orin Oliphant. Lewisburg, Pa.: Buck-
nell University Press, 1962. 154p. $3.00. 

~acking a satisfactory general history of 
American collegiate libraries, students and 
scholars must rely chiefly on individual ac-
counts. Fortunately, however, this approach 
can serve better than the casual reader may 
appreciate, particularly when, as in the pres-
ent book, the author brings to his task a 
substantial knowledge of developments in 
the larger social scene. A professional his-
torian specializing in American social and 
intellectual history, the author of several 
previous publications dealing with the his-
tory of Bucknell, and sometime chairman of 
the Bucknell faculty library committee, one 
may hope for, and here receive from Pro-
fessor Oliphant, an account which relates 
the library to contemporary Bucknell ;md to 
other institutions and forces in American 
life. Indeed, persons knowing the history of 
other · academic libraries are bound to en-
counter in the Bucknell library story much 
that is familiar: ambitious beginnings (1848-
59) followed by decline and neglect (1859-
79) ; the rise, fall, and eve ntual merging of 
student society librari es with the college col-
lection; the notable and salutary effort on 
collegiate library services of student demands 
nourished (circa 1880's and '90's) by reading 
student papers of other schools; increasing 
the hours the library was open from one or a 
few a week to something like present prac-
tice; opening of a reading room; regular 
employment as librarian of someone other 
than a full-time professor-custodian (1894) ; 
the employment of an experienced female 
assistant librarian to help create a card cata-
log (1896); separate study facilities for wom-
en students resulting from the unchivalrous 
objections of their male counterparts (1896/ 
97) ; a Carnegie building (1905) to accom-
modate growing collections and services; reg-
ular annual appropriations for books grow-
ing out of acceptance of appropriations for 
binding (I 906-16), etc. 

341 



In the last chapter, which deals with the 
years since World War I, the story becomes, 
not surprisingly, more of a local chronicle, 
albeit within limits useful, detailed, and, as 
elsewhere, based on thorough research. A 
success story thread runs through this latter 
portion, climaxed by the benefactions of 
Mrs. Bertrand, the donor of a new building 
(1951) and a $5,000,000 library endowment. 

This book is a welcome addition to the 
modest shelf of scholarly histories of Ameri-
can academic libraries.-John C. Abbott, 
South ern Illinois University , Edwardsville: 

Labor Service 
Library Service to Labor. Compiled by Doro-

thy Kuhn Oko and Bernard F. Downey. 
New York: Scarecrow Press, 1963. 313p. 
$ 6.50. 

I was pleased to see the publication of this 
anthology on library service to labor, for 
much of what has been written appeared 
originally in publications of limited distribu-
tion and has long since gone out of print. 
Furthermore, many of the librarians and 
labor educators who pioneered this unique 
program and recorded their experiences have 
retired from the scene and a new generation 
is carrying on the work. 

The articles in the collection are taken 
largely from the Newsletter and Guide of 
the Joint Committee on Library Service to 
Labor Groups, established by ALA in 1945, 
with representatives from libraries and or-
ganized labor. They are written by thirty-
four librarians and labor educators, includ-
ing such veterans as Dorothy Bendix, who 
for a number of years directed the service to 
labor at Newark Public library; Ida Goshkin 
of the Akron Public library; Ruth Shapiro, 
formerly with the Milwaukee Public library; 
and-from the labor movement-John Cos-
grove and Otto Pragan of the AFL-CIO De-
partment of Education, J. W. O'Connell of 
the International Association of Machinists, 
and Sally Parker of the American Federation 
of Teachers. University programs in workers' 
education and labor relations are represent-
ed by Anthony Luchek of Wisconsin, Shirley 
F. Harper of Chicago, and others. I miss 
Mark Starr of the Ladies' Garment Workers 
in the anthology, but perhaps what he has 
written is more readily available elsewhere. 

The selection was made and appropriate 
commentary provided throughout by Mrs. 
Dorothy Kuhn Oko, long-time head of labor 
service at the New York Public library and 
for many years the guiding force on the 
joint committee, and by Bernard F. Downey, 
librarian of the Institute of Management 
and Labor Relations at Rutgers. 

The anthology opens with several articles 
explaining why labor has been singled out 
for special library attention and presenting 
the historical background of cooperation 
between librarians and trade unionists. 
There follows a number of articles on the 
practical aspects of establishing and operat-
ing public library programs directed to 
organized labor, building labor book collec-
tions, and serving educational programs con-
ducted by trade unions. Finally, there are 
reprints of case studies of public libraries 
that have had exemplary programs for labor: 
Akron, Boston, Milwaukee, New York, and 
Newark. A related area, not covered by the 
collection, is the interpretation of the labor. 
movement and labor problems to students, 
a concern of many high school librarians. 
But perhaps this is another book. 

There is a good balance between the practi-
cal "how to do it" and the inspirational "why 
it's worth doing." Perhaps more than any 
other area of librarianship, service to labor · 
calls for personal involvement in and sympa-
thy with the group to be served. It is not the 
kind of library assignment that one can ac-
cept casually, and, for many, it has become a 
lifelong career of dedication. Much of this 
spirit is reflected in the pages of this anthol-
ogy, which should serve as a handbook and 
guide to the present generation of librarians 
serving labor groups.-Ralph E. McCo y, 
Southern Illinois Univ ersity. 

Lilli put 
The Small College Library. By Sister Helen 

Sheehan. Westminster, Md.: The Newman 
Press, 1963. 216p. $3.50. 

The happy conjunction of a thorough and 
level-headed approach to a great need, and 
adequate and proper backing by the ACRL 
has resulted in this small volume the intent 
of which is to 'translate theory into action.' 
The theory concerns several aspects of man-
agement of the small academic library, and 

342 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES