College and Research Libraries Handbuch der Bibliothekswissenschaft. Registerband. Bearbeitet von Renate Bellmann. Wiesbaden, Otto Harrasso- witz, 1965. 203p. DM 88,-. Only he who has actually indexed in full detail a major bibliography or refer- ence work can properly appreciate the depth of scholarship necessary to perform an adequate job. The competent indexer must know the subject almost as well as the author or authors in order to give the proper guidance to those who place confi- dence in his index. Often the indexer must undertake original studies and may even be led down the primrose path of reading some of the references. Miss Bellmann has done her job of in- dexing a noble. reference work with per- ception and good judgment. One suspects she has done a good deal of reading in the references in the copious footnotes of the H andbuch, but this pleasant vice did not prevent her from completing a work as exacting as any of the articles in the Hand- buch and surely infinitely more tedious. To distinguish between the miscellaneous Gregories, to transliterate properly and consistently from various non-Roman alpha- bets, to resolve bibliographical and library terminology under common index entries is no slight task, certainly nothing that anyone but a mature scholar should at- tempt. Although the editorial supervision of the original work under Georg Leyh was exemplary, the indexer's chore re- mained a difficult one. This index is not only impressive but also encyclopaedic. Obscure names or those known only to narrow specialists are iden- tified. Thus we note the entry on Samuel Ibn Negdela (Spanish-Jewish councillor, Maecenas, died 1055). It is equally con- venient to learn the dates of persons better known to us, e.g., Herbert Putnam ( 1861- 1955) or William Warner Bishop (1871- 1955). To know that Olivier Mallard was a sixteenth century illusb·ator and publish- er or that Josef Sakkakini was a nineteenth century papyrus collector makes the index much easier to use. Book Reviews In a sense this monumental index should be viewed as an encyclopaedia of books and libraries. Together with the great Lexi- kon des gesamten Buchwesens ( 1935-37) and the much lesser Lexikon des Buchwes- ens ( 1952-56), we have here all the en- tries and nearly all the information neces- sary for such an encyclopaedia. In the meanwhile, all credit should be given to Miss Bellmann for having made a ponder- ous Handbuch somewhat less forbidding to some inexperienced scholars. If a similar job were done, for example, on !wan MUl- ler's H andbuch der klassischen Altertums- wissenschaft, the Cambridge histories, or Aage Friis' Det nittende Aarhundrede, life would be much easier for all of us.-Law- rence S. Thompson, University of Kentucky. Planning Academic and Research Li- brary Buildings. By Keyes D. Metcalf. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1965. xv., 43lp. $10. (64-7868). Although library literature is filled with articles, proceedings of buildings institutes, and other useful information on college and university library buildings, it re- mained for Keyes D. Metcalf to do for aca- demic libraries what Joseph L. Wheeler and Alfred M. Githens did twenty-four years ago for public libraries. Planning Academic and Research Library Buildings, which will stand for years to come as the definitive work in its field, reflects the ac- cumulated experience of Dr. Metcalf's sixty years as a librarian, a career that has culmi- nated in his recognition by the library profession as the foremost library building consultant in the country if not, indeed, in the world. Encyclopedic in both breadth and depth of coverage, it will be invalu- able to librarians, consultants, and archi- tects alike. Dr. Metcalf's careful analysis and reasoned approach to library building problems is certain to exert a salutary influ- ence on the many academic libraries now in the planning stage and on those of the future. The first of the two parts into which the book is divided covers the technical as- I 233 234 I College & Research Libraries • May, 1966 pects of library planning, including library objectives, financial matters (must reading not only for the librarian but also for the college or university administrator who wants to understand something of the many variables that influence library building costs), the concept of modular design ( cer- tainly the most comprehensive treatment of this subject in print), ceiling heights, traffic patterns (a broad-scope chapter de- voted to all aspects of the problem from the location of stairways and elevators to the spatial relationships of each element of the building), lightning, mechanical prob- lems, and furniture and equipment. The treatment of each of these topics is pains- takingly thorough as Dr. Metcalf brings every possible point of view to bear on the discussion. Each chapter warrants the most careful study, although the material on furniture and equipment (because the au- thor was relying on publication of a man- ual on library furniture, in preparation by the Library Technology Project of the American Library Association but not yet available) is the least satisfactory. Library design has few stock answers and in some instances there may be three, four, or more, possible solutions to a given problem. Dr. Metcalf's detailed analysis of such building problems not only reveals their complexities, but very often requires that the reader make his own value judg- ments based on the factors inherent in his own situation. In some cases the author provides no answer but is content simply to ask the basic questions that must be answered before a solution can be identi- fied. Since many of these discussions are fairly technical, the first section of the book is probably more useful to the library plan- ner with some prior experience and knowl- edge-be he architect, consultant, or li- brarian. At the same time, these chapters will repay careful study by the inexperi- enced librarian who is planning a new building, and especially by the architect who has not previously designed a library. The six chapters that comprise Part Two cover such topics as planning preliminaries, assignable space requirements, initial plan- ning steps, and the construction period and final stages of building, up to and including dedication ceremonies. Five appendices, in- cluding a selective bibliography, a glossary, and an index, complete the volume. The il- lustrations are generally excellent. Much of the material in the book is ap- plicable to libraries of any size, but where size is a consideration, the author is quick to point out its possible effects on planning. Strangely, however, to this reviewer at least, the illustrations are, save for those of the Lamont library, exclusively of large research libraries, and one wishes that plans of at least a few of the excellent small col- lege libraries constructed in recent years might have been included. Audio-visual facilities, which form an im- portant feature of many recent college and university library buildings, as well as those now in the planning stage, receive only brief treatment. Design criteria for indi- vidual and group listening facilities, acous- tical problems, the layout of control center equipment, and related problems are not touched upon. Nor does Dr. Metcalf dis- cuss the design or potential use of the electronic or environmental carrel, although there seems little doubt that this will be a feature of many academic libraries in the future. But these omissions are minor and undoubtedly reflect the severe lack of in- formation in these areas. This book should be read by every aca- demic librarian involved in a new build- ing. Hopefully, it will also be widely known and read by library architects. As a ref- erence work and as a contribution to the literature of the profession, it belongs on the shelves of every library of any signifi- cance-public as well as academic.-Frazer G. Poole, University of Illinois, Chicago Circle. Alphabetical Subject Indication of In- formation. By John Metcalfe. Graduate School of Library Service, Rutgers, The State University (Rutgers Series on Sys- tems for the Intellectual Organization of Information, Susan Artandi, Ed.) New Brunswick, N.J., 1965. 148p. The Coming Age of Information Tech- nology. Ed. by Vladimir Slamecka. Doc- umentation Incorporated (Studies in Co- ordinate Indexing, v.6). 1965. ix, 166p. $5.- The Coming Age of Information Tech- nology comprises a dozen papers published