College and Research Libraries


of UDC, this time as Foskett himself sees 
it. A few of his suggestions: 

UDC should be "a broad classification 
. . . with a detailed analytico-synthetic 
scheme to replace the current full/ medium 
editions" (p.105). The scheme should use 
several CRG ideas, and it should be accom-
panied by "a thesaurus rather than a sim-
ple alphabetical index" (p.108). UDC 
should develop "through use in mechanized 
information retrieval systems and through 
computer production of the schedules" 
(p.103); by use of Computer Output 
Microfilm "at the end of each year a com-
plete new edition could be published" 
(p.117). Just as LC and DC are "tied to 
a collection" and "developed through the 
daily work of classifying the books received 
by the Library of Congress," so "the British 
Library should accept as one of its respon-
sibilities the maintenance of a team to 
maintain and utilize UDC" (p.102- 3). "The 
English edition could then become the ba-
sis for all versions of UDC" but "policy 
would remain in the hands of the FID I 
CCC; a situation analogous to that of DC" 
where "revision is carried out'' in the Li-
brary of Congress ''but overall policy is de-
cided by Forest Press Inc., acting on the 
advice of the Decimal Classification Edi-
torial Policy Committee" (p.119). Funding 
would come from the British Library and 
from the sale of the completed edition 
(p.120). 

This is a book whose detail may be for 
experts more about penguins than they 
wish to read and for the interested non-
experts more jargon than they can easily 
understand. Organization of the material 
is rather more haphazard than one might 
expect from a classification expert (there 
are even tacked on four not too obviously 
needed appendices) . It is not impossible 
that the solutions offered would transform 
(rather than save) UDC and repel some 
present producers and some present users. 
But Foskett's statement of the problem rings 
loud and clear: 

The old girl can no longer get by with 
just love and a lone faithful servitor; what 
she needs now are cash and a retinue. But 
first she must have a face lift.-Paul S. 
Dunkin, Professor Emeritus, Rutgers Grad-
uate School of Library Service. 

. Recent Publications I 379 

Mathies, Lorraine M., and Watson, Pe-
ter G. Computer-Based Refere'JU!e Ser-
vice. Chicago: American Library Assn., 
1973. 200p. $9.95. 

The title is somewhat misleading. The 
reader may be anticipating a discussion on 
the provision of reference service using an 
electronic data base and how a library 
should go about doing this. The on-the-line 
librarian may well have questions about the 
implications and costs in getting involved 
in such a venture. Librarians are becoming 
aware of commercially available data bases 
and are probably beginning to ask basic 
questions about the direction to take. For 
example, is it best to opt for the commer-
cial product offered by such corporations 
as SDC or Lockheed, or is it better to start 
one's own shop of electronic reference 
tools? How does a library market this new 
service? What are the staffing requirements: 
their numbers and educational background; 
and how does a library pay for this? 

What this book turns out to be is an in-
troductory technical manual (based on a 
1971 ALA preconference) on some aspects 
of electronic data use; e.g., document pro-
cessing in ERIC, binary numeration, Boo-
lean Logic, and weighing. The authors ap-
pear to have the viewpoint that librarians 
will, by working through this book, be less 
likely to be snowed by computer people 
when electronic data services are talked 
about. The authors state that librarians 
must be versatile in discussing computer-
based services. This is true, but do librari-
ans need to know binary arithmetic ( 14 
pages) or Boolean logic ( 12 pages) to car-
ry on intelligent conversations. Some librar-
ians will need to know how to use a com-
puter terminal and to act as facilitators in 
arranging for a user's search of the litera-
ture. (No doubt for such an individual all 
of this book is relevant.) Most other librari-
ans will need to know about the administra-
tive and user-oriented aspects of such ser-
vices. 

The best and most original part of this 
book deals with search strategies and their 
refinement in realizing the full benefit of an 
electronic data base. This section provides 
useful information on how one goes about 
structuring and refining the language of a 
search request. 



380 I College & Research Libraries • September 1974 

The editors should have provided a dif-
ferent direction for this book to face the 
fundamental questions librarians should or 
do have regarding the use of such reference 
tools. The obvious expertise of the authors 
could have been used to help other librari-
ans learn about providing electronic data 
bases in reference service to a library's 
users.-]ohn Lubans, ]r., Assistant Director 
for Public Services, University of Colorado 
Libraries, Boulder, Colorado. 

Proceedings of the 1973 Clinic on Library 
Applications of Data Processing: Net-
working and Other Forms of Co-opera-
tion. Ed. by F. Wilfrid Lancaster. Ur-
bana-Champaign, Ill.: University of Illi-
nois Graduate School of Library Science, 
1973. $6.00. 
This volume is a potpourri of materials 

on the application of computerized informa-
tion handling techniques to one of the most 
complex and convoluted of today' s ''hot 
topics" in librarianship-networking. We 
have here a good mix of people, including 
library systems personnel, senior adminis-
trators, and information specialists, chosen 
specifically for their professional experience 
with networking at one stage or another-
designing, planning, developing, operating, 
and evaluating. Library school teachers are 
conspicuously absent, for the emphasis is 
squarely on the practical, not the academic. 
Most of the activities discussed are attempts 
at centralized technical processing, but in-
formation retrieval services for users are 
covered in McCarn (MEDLINE) and in 
parts of the papers by Randall and by 
Evans, whose generalized schematic ap-
proach is intriguing enough to steal the 
show from the particular project he is de-
scribing. 

There are accounts of libraries "back-
ing into network operations" (Brodman), 
where a system was designed for one li-
brary and then adapted for many, and of 
formally organized and chartered affairs 
like OCLC (Long), which had its objec-
tives well enough defined at the outset to 
let a contract for the simulation of comput-
er performance characteristics in order to 
make the right choice of machine for its 
purpose. Jolliffe provides the only European 
contribution with a succinct account of 

Project LOC, a joint attempt to create a 
machine-readable union catalog of pre-1801 
materials held at Oxford, Cambridge, and 
the British Museum. This is not a network, 
of course, but it could become the basis for 
one, and much more should be known 
about it in the U.S. 

Whether or not the clinic succeeded in 
imparting help at the nuts and bolts level 
I do not know, but in published form the 
more interesting contributions are those 
that go beyond technical description to give 
us the flavor of what it is really like to be 
involved in computerized cooperation. The 
oft-repeated platitude that runs "The major 
problems are not technological, but organi-
zational and administrative" seems depress-
ingly confirmed by recurring comments on 
the problems of properly financing coopera-
tive activity; or persuading librarians to 
give up some control of their operations 
and services; of being dependent upon a 
computer center which has many other mis-
sions and user groups; of increasing user ex-
pectations which then are not fulfilled; of 
whether and how to charge for services, 
etc. Even taken singly, most libraries have 
found it difficult enough, organizationally, 
to understand and exploit the computer (as 
any Gentleman of Quality knows). The 
immediate chances of them multiplying 
their manifestly severe bureaucratic prob-
lems by ten and then succeeding cannot be 
very high. Joseph Becker ends the volume 
with the hortatory comment that a national 
network of all types of libraries cooperating 
about everything is "just around the bend." 
Given the general tenor of the preceding 
papers, that seems a trifle optimistic.-Pe-
ter G. Watson, University Library, Univer-
sity of California, Los Angeles. 

OTHER BOOKS OF INTEREST 
TO ACADEMIC LIBRARIANS 

Ash, Rene L. The Motion Picture Film Edi-
t01'. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow, 1974. 
171p. $6.00. (74-4072). (ISBN 0-8108-
0718-1). 

Atkins, Thomas V., ed. Cross-Reference In-
dex. A Subject Heading Guide. New 
York: Bowker, 1974. 255p. (73-23066). 
(ISBN 0-8352-0680-7). 

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