College and Research Libraries


The A ge of the Scholar. By Nathan M. 
Pusey. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard U ni-
versity Press, 1963. 210p. $4.50 ( 63-
19146). 

Harvard's president would be among 
those who discount as a literary form the 
presidential address, a kind of Gebrauch-
.smusik of the calling. Born of occasions as 
distant as the dedication of a children's hos-
pital and a University of Delhi convocation, 
these addresses offer, in graceful, elegant 
language, an index to the major concerns of 
the universities of the times: complexity, 
size, the impact of the practical and of 
government, the relation of research to 
teaching, the competition of sciences with 
the humanities. 

Although, like his colleagues, President 
Pusey hints at an apprehensiveness about 
the size, complexity, and expense of main-
taining libraries, his description of the val-
ues of reading and books will comfort li-
brarians and reinforce their belief in their 
vocation: 

Basic to all but the most elementary learning 
is reading. This is undoubtedly why it is prop-
erly a matter of concern to teachers from the 
first grade throughout the whole of formal edu-
cation. But what is not so widely recognized is 
that in most cases the quality or lack of quality 
in a mental life perhaps owes as much to what 
one customarily reads as to any other one thing. 
It is for this reason that, though the simplest 
kind of reading may be acceptable fare for 
children at certain stages of their development, 
it is certainly not a sufficient staple for the 
intellectual fare of adults. Nor are newspapers 
or the average run of magazines sufficient by 
themselves-that is, apart from the supple-
mentary influence of major books. Despite all 
our antipathy to "bookishness," there is a dis-
turbing truth here which we shall overlook at 
our peril. 

What we are depends in a very considerable 
measure on the intellectual experiences we have 
had, or have not had-on the meaning we have 
found in life or have not found. Such experi-
ences do not necessarily have to be found in 

Book Reviews 

books, but it is chiefly in books, in the best 
books, that the most illuminating human experi-
ences are apt to be found .... 

If this be true, then to live apart from books 
is not to turn toward life but deliberately to 
cut one's self off from significant understanding 
of it. And this is what will happen if we turn 
too far from the verbal, that is, from languages 
and literature, in our educational practices . 
Books, as another has said, are men thinking. 
They are also at their best the work of the men 
whose thoughts are most worth knowing. For 
their thoughts are the kind of thoughts that can 
both engender in us joy in new awareness and 
stretch our thinking ( p. 36-37) .-Donald 
Coney, University of California, Berke_ley. 

Collier's Ency clopedia. New York: Crowell-
Collier Publishing Co., 1964. 24 vols. 
Annual. (64-10285). 

Any major encyclopedia is impressive in 
the sheer weight of statistics it can muster 
in its self-description, and Collier's is no ex-
ception. A fact sheet distributed by the 
publishers, for example, reveals that the 
present revision contains more than eight-
een thousand pages, twenty-one million 
words, and four hundred thousand entries 
in its index to twenty-six thousand articles. 
It presents more than seventeen thousand 
illustrations, sixteen hundred maps , and 
eleven thousand five hundred items in its 
bibliography. It was prepared by more than 
five thousand authors and editors. Without 
question, "monumental" is an appropriate 
adjective to apply to Collier's Encyclopedia; 
not many of its competitors can top these 
figures. 

More meaningful, however, in examining 
a particular edition of an encyclopedia are 
the numbers that can be used to describe its 
revision. No major encyclopedia, of course, 
can afford to prepare complete new editions 
more frequently than once in a lifetime, but 
a process of continuous updating .goes on in 
all of their editorial offices. The 1964 "edi-
tion" of Collier's, we are told, contains 
eighty-one new articles, three hundred new 

I 61 



62 I College & Research Libraries • january, 1965 

illustrations, and eighty-four completely re-
written articles; more than thirteen hundred 
articles have bee~ reviewed and updated, 
and more than three thousand pages have 
been changed. In applying these figures to 
Collier's, it must be borne in mind that this 
encyclopedia first appeared in 1950, so that 
even an article totally unrevised since its 
initial writing can be no more than fifteen or 
so years old. A sampling of the articles new-
ly added or revised in the 1964 printing in-
dicates that some of them occur where one 
would expect them to occur; such as the 
expanded article on "Space Science and Ex-
ploration." Other new pieces, however, 
could hardly have been expected; such as 
the new treatments of "American Litera-
ture," "Federalist Papers," and "Byzantine 
Empire." 

Earlier editions of Collier's Encyclopedia 
are well known to readers of CRL, so its 
basic structure does not need extensive ex-
amination here. In summary, however, it 
could be pointed out that the articles-all 
but the most perfunctory of which are 
signed-have been prepared by recognized 
and unimpeachable authorities. Librarians 
have been much involved in the preparation 
of the encyclopedia. The names of no fewer 
than four ACRL members appear on the 
title and facing pages, and Dr. Louis Shores, 
of course, is editor-in-chief of the work. 

The stated purpose of Collier's is to pre-
sent "information accurately and authori-
tatively in a manner that is readily under-
standable by the general reader." It is obvi-
ous that great attention has been paid to 
this matter of the "general reader" and that 
family use as well as scholarly use has been 
much aspired to by its editors. In this re-
viewer's opinion, these aspirations will be 
attained, as the election of terms throughout 
has been admirably untechnical. Where it 
has been impossible to avoid technical 
terms, they have been clearly explained. 

A subjectively determined impression of 
the relative simplicity of presentation among 
encyclopedias, however, is probably impos-
sible to support on the basis of objective cri-
teria. An attempt by this reviewer to de-
velop statistics, for example, on the relative 
counts of one-, two-, and three-syllable 
words in articles on the same subjects in 
Collier's and in other major encyclopedias 
proved to be inconclusive; there was obvi-

ously greater variation on this yardstick 
from author to author within a single en-
cyclopedia than between two different en-
cyclopedias. It will probably not be ques-
tioned, however, that the larger type face, 
heavier leading, wider margins, and greater 
use of "white space" throughout Collier's 
than in many reference sets at least gives 
it the -appearance of being easier for the 
"general reader" to attack and to overcome. 
The larger page size and somewhat longer 
line length, as well as the extensive use of 
illustrations-including line, tone, four-color, 
map, and chart illustrations, together with 
some effective transparent color overlays 
for certain special purposes and effects-
all contribute to the impression it gives of 
being clear and readable and readily under-
standable. 

The apparatus for utilizing the text is 
deserving of comment. Volume 24 contains 
the bibliography, a study guide, and an ex-
cellent index to the text, illustrations, maps, 
and bibliography. It is difficult for an aca-
demic librarian to judge intelligently the 
value of, or the need for, the study guide. 
It would be an interesting and perhaps even 
useful exercise for the publisher to poll 
a sampling of Collier's owners to determine 
the amount and kind of use being made of 
the study guide. To this reviewer the study 
guide appears shallow. 

Almost any selective bibliography can 
be argued with, and the present one is not 
entirely an exception, although questions 
raised here must be of "exclusion" rather 
than of inclusion. The books listed are good 
books, leaving as the only allowable query: 
"Why include this title and not such-and-
such another?" The bibliography is syste-
matically arranged, and obvious efforts have 
been made to keep it current. Many purists, 
however, will continue to wish that the 
bibliographical notes appeared at the ends 
of the respective articles to which they per-
tain rather than presented as a completely 
separate corpus. This is, of course, a funda -
mental problem not possible of solution 
here. 

In short, Collier's continues to be one of 
· the major encyclopedic efforts available to 
the library community, and the revisions in 
the new printing make it clear that its pro-
ducers intend that it remain so for a long 
time. As part of its responsibility to its home 



and family purchasers, the publisher of 
course makes available its yearbook, but 
librarians will probably be more pleased to 
observe the sustained attempts being mani-
fest to keep the basic work revised and up-
dated. We wish Collier's all success in this 
effort.-D.K. 

The Cornell Library Conference: Papers 
Read at the Dedication of the Central 
Libraries, October, 1962. Ithaca, N.Y.: 
Cornell University Library, 1964. xiv, 
148p. (64-13711). 

This slender volume contains the ten pa-
pers read at the Cornell dedication in the 
autumn of 1962. There are contributions by 
six librarians: Sir Frank Francis, Stephen A. 
McCarthy, Ralph E. Ellsworth, William S. 
Dix, Raynard C. Swank, George H. Healy; 
two professors: Lionel Trilling, and Steven 
Muller; one academic administrator: W. R. 
Keast, and one architect: Charles H. War-
ner, Jr. The papers vary in length, quality, 
and content but have a unifying theme 
which is libraries and graduate and under-
graduate education, libraries and interna-
tional affairs, and library development in 
the future-topics that are seasonable as 
well as perennial. 

The paper by Sir Frank Francis, "Let the 
Past and Future Fire Thy Brain," is long, 
circuitous, and tranquilizing. Director Mc-
Carthy, in "The Cornell Library System," 
briefly described the development of the 
Cornell library system and revealed plans 
and hopes for the future. Mr. Warner con-
cisely related the agony and ecstasy experi-
enced in designing the 0 lin library and re-
designing the Uris library. W. R. Keast, in 
"The True University of These Days Is a 
Collection of Books," explored the sweeping 
educational potential of the- undergraduate 
library if use went beyond study hall and 
reserved reading functions. Professor Trill-
ing, in "The Scholar's Caution and the 
Scholar's Courage," was critically concerned 
with the current quality of graduate studies 
in the humanities. Ellis Worth's "Libraries, 
Students, and Faculty," rebuked librarians 
for some current practices, universities for 
wasteful duplication of curriculums, and en-
dorsed the humanities. Muller, in "Shrunken 
Globe, Swollen Curriculum," reviewed the 
internationalization of the American uni-
versity curriculum and described the bur-

Book Reviews I 63 

dens and responsibilities this revolution has 
brought to the libraries. Dix, in "The Re-
search Library and International Affairs 
Programs," spoke of library methods used to 
meet the challenge of the internationalized 
university. Swank, in "International Values 
in American Librarianship," defined librar-
ianship as an "international affair in its own 
right" and discussed those aspects of Amer-
ican library practice which he considered 
valuable for export to developing nations. 
George Healey, in "Yes, But What Does a 
Curator Do?" gave answer to the question 
in a clever and delightful manner. 

It is a significant event in the world of 
higher education when a most pressing 
educational problem is solved by large-scale 
investment in library buildings. It becomes 
more so when a private university with a 
strong tradition for academic excellence 
elects to demonstrate this evidence of long-
range planning and faith in the value of 
quality education in this tangible manner. 
This book may be considered a memento of 
two pleasant days, or a reminder of the 
courage and foresight of the Cornell U ni-
versity administration.-CeciZ K. Byrd, Indi-
ana University. 

Library Buildings of Britain and Europe 
-An International Study, with Ex-
amples Mainly from Britain and Some 
from Europe and Overseas. By Anthony 
Thompson. London: Butterworths, 1963. 
xii, 326p. $21. 

This is a comprehensive work on library 
buildings. Since they are so richly docu-
mented, Anthony Thompson has successful-
ly coordinated a large portion of the mass 
of available information and has presented 
it in a systematic and readable form. This 
reviewer agrees with the author when he 
says that he has tried to do the almost im-
possible-to illustrate with plans and photo-
graphs selected good examples of the main 
types of libraries, chiefly British, with a 
number from Europe, plus some notes on 
several outstanding exemplary buildings in 
the United States and British Common-
wealth. He has produced "a systematic 
study of the whole subject, to serve not 
only as a reference book for students of li-
brarianship, but also as a guide for librar-
ians intending to build, and as a book on 
libraries for architects" (p. xi).