College and Research Libraries copious footnotes to each chapter, the lengthy bibliography, and the detailed in- dex . support this assertion. The generous use of quotations almost suggests "a reader" on the university, but as Ross himself notes, "there is far too much of the author's own words and analysis to permit such a desig- nation." Still, many of the great names are here-Trevelyan, Haskins, and Armytage; Ladd and Lipset, Fritz Machlup, L. R. Veysey, Christopher Jencks, Amitai E·t- zione, Daniel Bell, MacGeorge Bundy, and Clark Kerr, to name a few-and they are all well used by Ross. Librarians will look in vain for direct ref- erences to libraries or books, but neither is there any mention of computers or non- print media . Ross is not concerned with facilities and services, nor with any of the material aspects of university life . He does not discuss athletics, and he barely men- tions the financial side of the academic coin. His concern is with students and pro- fessors and the issues that unify or divide them. His concern is with issues that chal- lenge or threaten the university. And his Newfrqm Columbia Recent Publications I 81 concern is with the successes and failures of universities and with their past accom- plishments and future opportunities. For all his pains where, finally, does Ross arrive? What does he see ahead for the university? He sees an absolute neces- sity for the university to clarify its purposes, to establish an effective structure for gov- ernance, and to set goals which society will perceive as valuable and supportable. Only then will esprit de corps be restored to the academic enterprise.-John P. McDonald, Director of University Libraries, The Uni- versity of Connecticut. Young, Harold Chester. Planning, Program- ming, Budgeting Systems in Academic Libraries: An Exploratory Study of PPBS in University Libraries Having Member- ship in the Ass-ociation of Research Li- braries. Detroit: Gale Research, 1976. 227p. $15.00 (LC 76-10667) (ISBN 0-8103-0264-0) This volume is a descriptive account of planning, programming, budgeting systems (PPBS) in academic libraries just as the A new and updated edition of an invaluable reference tool· A POPULAR GUIDE TO GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS Fourth Edition W. PHILIP LEIDY, Compiler This new edition of the Guide-containing approximately 3,000 entries of value to a general audience-provides the key to what is useful in the repository of the United States Government Printing Office and, in the case of certain documents, other agencies of the government. Emphasizing in- expensive and informative. government publications, this is a worthwhile resource for every citizen and an invaluable reference work for all libraries. $25.00 ~~!.~UNIVERSITY PRESS ~ 136 South Broadway, Irvington, New York 10533 82 I College & Research Libraries • January 1977 title states. It is an elementary text of the subject primarily for those without any background or experience in PPBS. The initial part of the book contains many good definitions of terms that relate specifically to PPBS and to budgeting in general. The sections that deal with "Problems and Is- sues Found in Governmental and Business Literature Relating to PPBS" and the one on the history of academic libraries add little, if anything, to the primary scope of the book. The book is actually divided into two parts. The first consists of the background materials already noted while the second consists of five case studies of ARL mem- bers chosen because "each had a member of the administrative staff to whom had been delegated the specific authority and responsibility for implementing PPBS." The case studies consist of summaries of inter- views held at each of these institutions. Each interview is noted separately with a brief summary of each case study. There are general conclusions drawn ba- sically from the case studies. In addition, there are appendixes including copies of the several questionnaires utilized in the study. A book on PPBS for academic libraries should have its place in the literature of the field. Unfortunately, this one begins with promise but ends up with little of real sig- nificance. Specifically, there are some problems with the book. On page one there is a mistake in fact (ARL libraries all have over a mil- lion volumes), and in several other places there seems a real naivete about the subject matter (e.g., "that because of the size of their parent organizations, these libraries are more visible to state legislatures or oth- er funding authorities" p.64). It would be difficult to prove this since many of the best known academic libraries are in relatively small institutions. The same is true for many other assumptions similar to this ex- ample. The unfortunate flaw in this book lies in the case studies. The approach taken was to interview several people at each of the five institutions and to summarize each in- terview. The information in the several interviews is not tied together except in a brief summary statement. Especially in the more detailed case studies, had the data been presented as a united whole rather than in four or five parts, it would have been more meaningful. As it is, there is often conflicting information as to what happened and how it happened, and no at- tempt has been made to indicate what ef- fect these different interpretations had on the effect of PPBS. One shortcoming which could have been avoided was the use of dated material. The study was written in 1972, and no pub- lished information after that time is includ- ed. For the case studies it would have been possible to update the information before its publication in 1976. This might have provided more complete information since some of the institutions should · have fully implemented PPBS by that time. Four-year- old data are not as significant as a one-to- two-year time lag. In the general conclusions, the author again passes up an opportunity to draw conclusions from the data presented. In- stead, the conclusions are really a summary. After reading the book, one does not really know if PPBS is a viable system for li- braries. Of the seven basic inquiries of the study there is no conclusion drawn about any: What effect does the formulation of goals and objectives have? What is the im- pact of PPBS upon organizational struc- ture? Had these questions and the others raised been answered, the study would have had more meaning. The main value of the book lies in its elementary description of PPBS and the new data presented in the case studies al- though each reader would have to reach his or her own conclusions. The book will have its place in library literature but perhaps not as close to the top as might have been desired.-Irene Braden Hoadley, Texas A&M University Libraries. A Plan for Cooperative Action. Final Re~ port, Long Range Planning Committee of the Library Council of Metropolitan Milwaukee. Coordinated and edited by Susan Keller. Milwaukee: Library Coun- cil of Metropolitan Milwaukee, 1976. 78p. The goal of the Library Council of Met- ropolitan Milwaukee, an organization made