College and Research Libraries BOOK REVIEWS International Conference on African Bib- liography, Nairobi, 1967. The bibliogra- phy of Africa; proceedings and papers. J. D. Pearson and Ruth Jones, eds. New York, Africana Pub. Corp., 1970. 362p. $17.50. Organized by the International African Institute (London), the International Con- ference on African Bibliography brought together a distinguished group of librar- ians, documentalists, and scholars concerned with the problems of coordination and standardization of current African biblio- graphical services. Over twenty-five papers on a variety of topics were presented. The participants, coming from African coun- tries, Europe, Britain, and the United States made a number of recommendations. The development of standardized national bib- liographies is of primary importance for the bibliographical control of African books, periodicals, and government publi- cations. Several countries have, with vary- ing degrees of success, made serious ef- forts in this direction. In separate papers the state of the art is described for Nigeria, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, Senegal, Mali, and Madagascar. Closely connected with the subject of standardization are the problems of cataloging and classification. Jean Fontvieille of the Institut Fonda- mental d'Afrique Noire in Dakar illustrates these problems clearly in his outstanding paper, "Le Nom des Ecrivains d'Afrique Noire,'' which, as the conference recom- mended, should be made available in En- glish. Another important dimension of African bibliography is the control of the litera- ture dealing with Africa. Such materials are published all over the world and bib- liographical access remains a serious prob- Recent Publications lem. A number of existing services are de- scribed and special attention should be called to the discussion of available bib- liographical card services in the article of Rene Bureau and the extensive listing of periodicals containing bibliographical data on articles relating to Africa which was pub- lished as an appendix to Julian Witherell's contribution, "Bibliographic Control of Peri- odical Literature on Africa." Other note- worthy papers deal with the problems of procurement of African materials-includ- ing a description of the efforts of the Li- brary of Congress-the need for the orga- nization of African archival collections, and the problems concerning African ephemera, microforms, and nonbook materials. The most significant contribution, however, is the "Survey of Bibliographical Services Covering Current Publications on Africa" by Ruth Jones, librarian at the Internation- al African Institute and coeditor of these proceedings. Although the results and recommenda- tions of the conference were widely pub- licized immediately afterwards, it is un- fortunate that it took three years to pub- lish the proceedings. A few contributions have been slightly updated, but a review of the progress in African bibliography since the conference would have greatly increased the usefulness of this volume. Seven of the contributions are in French; the others are in English. The introduc- tion and the conference recommendations have been printed in both languages. There is no index.-H endrik Edelman, ]oint University Libraries. Problems in University Library Manage- ment. Association of Research Libraries, Washington, D.C., 1970. 63p. This little pamphlet is the first product of an effort mounted by the Joint Commit- tee on University Library Management of I 229 230 j College & Research Libraries • May 1971 the Association of Research Libraries and the American Council on Education. The stated purpose of the study, carried out by a consulting firm, was to identify problems. It is quite evident from the report that they have accomplished their purpose. It is equally evident that these problems are obvious enough to those less than dedicat- ed to modern management theory; the net result is essentially a restatement of a col- lection of enduring problems long ago iden- tified and deplored, if not attacked. The introductory chapter sets the stage, describing current trends in higher educa- tion with particular emphasis on the place of the library in this framework and how the library is affected or affects these trends. The Special Report of the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education is taken as the point of departure. The second chapter sketches out the ma- jor management problems in university li- braries in the areas of planning, budgeting, operations, organization, staffing, facilities, financing, and interinstitutional coopera- tion. A third chapter is devoted to a series of detailed recommendations for improving the management of university libraries in each of the weak areas identified. There is a tabular summary, listing with each problem area one or more courses of cor- rective action and the agencies which should be responsible. For virtually all of the problem areas the ARL is advised to serve as prime mover and shaker. Some responsibilities are also suggested for the joint committee sponsors, the university and the library, the library alone, and in one case, the federal government. In near- ly all areas the promotion of further re- search and study is recommended. The study team does not offer package solu- tions or prescriptions. The final, very brief chapter is entitled "Plan of Action." In it a long-term pro- gram of research is outlined with a strong recommendation for the establishment of an ARL standing committee to carry out the initiation, design, financing, and nom- inal direction of each area of needed re- search. The program envisions the use of headquarters personnel and supervision, with additional operating specialists and consultants as needed. Financial support for this recommendation by the Council on Library Resources has already been an- nounced. There can be no doubt that numerous and real problems of university libraries have been accurately diagnosed in this re- port. It is unlikely, however, that operating university libraries will find anything new or unexpected in this catalog. What may be new is a consequence of the close col- laboration of ACE with ARL and the re- sulting frequent consideration of the ef- fective coordination (or lack of coordina- tion) of university and university library. This is not to excuse the library for its failures or to blame its parent institution, but to emphasize the necessary interde- pendence, often neglected. It is this em- phasis and the growing recognition of the mutual advantages to these two prime na- tional agencies which may constitute the most important contribution this study has made. Only time and the productive com- pletion of the broad range of research out- lined can speak for the usefulness of this document. Lacking this, what we have here is no more than an accurate outline of the numerous problems which beset university libraries in our time.-]errold Orne, Univer- sity of North Carolina. UK. MARC Project: Proceedings of a Seminar (March 1969) Organized by the Cataloguing and Indexing Group of the Library Association. A. E. Jeffries and T. D. Wilson, eds. Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Oriel Press, 1970. 116p. A. J. Wells, of the British National Bibliog- raphy, in his introduction to this seminar, labels it as the first full-scale discussion of the British National Bibliography, or rather U.K. MARC Project. It was intended that the participants emerge with the ability to look at library problems as they exist now in the light of computers and MARC, rath- er than spring out with full-fledged oper- able computer systems. This is important to keep in mind when evaluating the papers presented and the comments made dur- ing the seminar. The volume contains nine papers plus Wells' introduction. Topics covered in- clude: planning and form at of U.K.