College and Research Libraries


Theory of Knowledge Classification in 
Libraries. By Anand Prakash Srivastava. 
New Delhi: Lakshmi Book Store, 1964. 
206p. $6.75. 

In the field of classification, provision of 
good textbooks for beginning students has 
lagged far behind the output of advanced 
works describing research. Mr. Srivastava 
has been teaching for some years in the 
Virkram, Delhi, and Rajasthan universities, 
and has now published this book on the 
basis of his lectures and seminars. It goes a 
long way towards filling the gap, and pro-
vides a useful introduction to the science 
of classification, particularly as developed in 
India under the influence of Professor S. R. 
Ranganathan. 

There are five main sections and a useful 
(if somewhat limited) glossary. The book 
opens with a discussion of the structure of 
knowledge and the nature and role of clas-

' sification schemes in ordering knowledge in 
documents for shelf arrangement and for 
the subject approach to books. The next 
two sections cover analysis into categories, 
or "facets"; the qualities of a classification 
scheme; terminology; and notation. These 
are followed by a more detailed account of 
the structure of a faceted scheme, and the 
final section deals with the procedure in 
classifying documents. 

The approach is generalized, but the ex-
amples are all taken from the Colon and 
Decimal classifications. Although the author 
is wholeheartedly of the Ranganathan 
school, he has some criticism for CC and 
some praise for DC; and the book is ded-
icated to Melvil Dewey. He shows a good 
knowledge of current classification litera-
ture (especially British), and has clearly 
read H. E. Bliss's books with a sympathetic 
understanding. The exposition is lucid and 
shows a good grasp of the principles of 
teaching. 

Criticism of the work derives mainly 
from its place of origin. It is written very 
much within the school established by Ran-
ganathan, and may therefore appear new 
and strange to American students; the text 
is not free from errors in the use of English, 
or misprints. Though an elementary work, 
therefore, it is not easy to read. I am con-

142/ 

Book Reviews 
vinced, however, of the value of the work 
it describes, and recommend it to teachers 
in American library schools who are look-
ing for a simple account of the principles 
of facet analysis. For anyone willing to 
make the effort to master the style and ap-
proach-remembering that the author is not 
writing in his mother tongue-the book re-
pays study.-D. ]. Foskett, University of 
London. 

A Searcher's Manual. By George Lowy. 
Hamden, Conn.: Sho.e Strong Press, 1965. 
104p. $5. ( 65-16218). 

Mr. Lowy has produced an interesting 
guide to the principles and practices of 
bibliographic searching. The guide is di-
vided into three main parts: ( 1) the intro-
duction, which includes the function of the 
search and principles of card catalog en-
tries; (2) the technique of the search, includ-
ing a comparison of procedures followed 
in several libraries, use of the main card 
catalog, use of bibliographies and catalogs, 
illustrative searches, search of the outstand-
ing order file, serials and series and final 
steps; and ( 3) an appendix, which includes 
sections on the most frequently used biblio-
graphic tools and selective lists of national, 
trade, and specialized bibliographies. 

This slender volume should prove help-
ful in the training of new bibliographic 
searchers if used with established guides 
and if it is emphasized to the trainee that 
some of the principles stated are not uni-
versally accepted but may be . practices of 
one library. No distinction is made, for ex-
ample, between American-British and 
foreign authors in the rule for filing names 
with a prefix, and also the modification of 
letters is not disregarded in all libraries. 
The material is generally well organized, 
and good use is made of samples and 
tables throughout the text. Each chapter is 
summarized but in most cases the summary 
is too brief to be very useful. The chapters 
on basic principles and card catalog entries 
are well done except for the fact that the 
author fails to mention the best searcher's 
manual available-the ALA Cataloging 
Rules for Author and Title Entries. 

Not all bibliographic searchers will agree 

' 



with the selection of bibliographies nor 
with their relative importance but this vol-
ume should nonetheless be a useful tool in 
training new searchers and should be espe-
cially useful in small and medium-sized li-
braries. Large libraries might well wish for 
a greatly expanded list of bibliographies 
containing fuller information. All libraries 
might question the value of the comparison 
of searchers' markings and outstanding or-
der file arrangements, although this might 
be valuable in the classroom. A new edi-
tion might include an introduction contain-
ing general searching principles as well as 
a chapter on modifications in searching and 
problems encountered with computerized 
order records.-Connie Dunlap, University 
of Michigan. 

The Brothers Harper. By Eugene Exman. 
New York: Harper & Row, r1965 1• xvi, 
415pp. $7.95. (65-14651). 

Welcoming a businessman's history of his 
firm in which factual data is thoroughly ex-
plored, well organized, and carefully docu-
mented-such is a rare pleasure, surpris-
ingly rare indeed even for the output of so 
literate a group as publishers. Mr. Exman, 
recently retired as a vice president of Har-
per's has here retold the story of the firm 
from its beginnings around 1820 to the dis-
astrous fire of 1853. He approaches his 
subject with great seriousness of purpose 
and with an almost Germanic propensity 
for raw data-evidence rather than hypoth-
eses, details rather than conclusions, names 
rather than personalities. His presentation 
is long and involved, but in time it comes 
to impress one as being specially appro-
priate to its subject. 

Mr. Exman's announced objective is "to 
keep green the memory of the four brothers 
and their extraordinary partnership." Mter 
contemplating their sullen faces and read-
ing about their uneventful careers, one is 
led to conclude that Mr. Exman is indeed a 
good organization man. Not that his heroes 
are without glory: they carved their niche 
in our country's cultural history with a 
shrewdness which one can not help but ad-
mire. Working quietly and with a unity of 
purpose, they formed a powerful dynasty: 
so far as we will ever know, their four 
wives never fought, and nephews when 
they came of age were taken into the firm 

Book Reviews I 143 

with no grumblings from their uncles. Mr. 
Exman has tried his best to discover the 
individualities of the four brothers-Fletch-
er the friend of authors, Wesley the printer, 
John the bookkeeper, James the personnel 
manager-but their uncommunicative ways 
leave us agreeing with their adage that 
"any one of us is Harper, and the other 
three are the brothers." 

What was their commitment to the cul-
tural world they served? Why did they deal · 
in books, rather than in nails or mortgages 
or potatoes? What was their attitude toward 
the content of their editions? Did they be-
lieve in virtue rewarded, naively equating 
literary merit with large profits? Or did 
they see irreconcilable extremes, in the 
manner of some pessimistic Romantic di-
chotomy, their strategy being one of com-
pensating for a few good works with a mass 
of potboilers? Did they believe in a "long 
haul" theory, balancing in their catalogue 
the probable immediate favorites with the 
potential long-term classics? Or were they 
satisfied to leave all such matters to the 
gods and the critics, issuing almost anything 
and predicating their firm's growth on new 
audiences-such as were quickly develop-
ing in the West and through their own 
school district series? Such questions, how-
ever simplified and rhetorical, reflect on the 
larger question which we must ultimately 
ask about any publishers-in what ways 
were they a cause, and in what ways mere-
ly an effect, of the cultural life of the pub-
lic they served? 

"The secret of a successful book house 
was to play the p~rt of the benefactor of 
the man of letters" -such is the dictum of 
William Tryon (Parnassus Corner, p. 101), 
and while James T. Fields broadcast it 
widely and convincingly enough to carry 
his firm to a remarkable success, it also 
carried him down to the depths of a fear-
some battle with one of his disgruntled 
authors, the redoubtable Gail Hamilton. In 
comparison, the assault on Harpers, by 
Theodore Sedgwick Fay, described by Mr. 
Exman, approaches slapstick. In their ex-
ternal dealings, the Harpers were usually 
too clever to leave themselves vulnerable to 
serious attack; and, within the firm, they 
changed quietly with the times, in contrast 
to the violent personal upheavals of Fields' 
later business career. Fields preached end-