College and Research Libraries


country, hopefully for educational rather 
than for economic reasons. In the mean-
time, studies like this will be important 
technical guides wherever the selectio!} of 
materials for storage is necessary.-]. 
Daniel Vann, CLR Management Intern, 
Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, 
California. 

• Resources of South Carolina Libraries. By 
Edward G. Holley, Johnnie E. Givens, 
Fred W. Roper, W. Christian Sizemore. 
Columbia, S.C. : South Carolina Commis-
sion on Higher Education, 1976. 126p. 
Having moved to the Carolinas from 

Texas where he had conducted a somewhat 
similar survey, Dean Holley with his col-
leagues has coordinated an equally effica-
cious critiqqe _ to assist libraries in 
"strengthening all the state's institutions of 
higher learning so that quality education 
will be available for every citizen who wants 
it and can profit from it," an ideal stated by 
the South Carolina Commission on Higher 
Education and the Postsecondary Education 
Planning Commission, whose objective is to 
include full consideration of the library 
function. 

Although ACRL' s recommendations for 
measuring the strengths of collections 
(checking standard bibliographies, etc.), 
staffs, and buildings were also evaluated 
components of the program, this was proba-
bly the first statewide survey to apply the 
measuring techniques adopted as ACRL' s 
standards in 1975. 

Two aspects of this survey are of particu-
lar interest: the surveyors' acknowledgment 
of the wide use of public library resources 
by college students (with good ·supporting 
data) and the division and integration of the 
surveyors' responsibilities. Holley took the 
"general purpose" universities and the pub-
lic libraries; Givens, the senior colleges; 
Sizemore, the two-year institutions; and 
Roper, the health sciences libraries. In all, 
more than fifty institutions were included, 
with some overlaps of visitations. The sec-
tions of the survey are individual reports, 
but the whole book is well coordinated and 
interestingly presented, with all the neces-
sary documentation, tables, and statistics. 

The conclusions suggest that the four 
classes of libraries do not differ significantly 

Recent Publications I 51 

from their counterparts in most other states 
or regions. Cogent suggestions accompany 
the stimulating analyses and reviews of each 
type of library, with the most urgent needs 
for development seeming to be in the 
health sciences and public libraries. 
Throughout the survey the usual needs for 
increased financial and staff support, 
cooperative bibliographic (resource) activity, 
and service coordination among the libraries 
are emphasized. 

It is a truism, perhaps, that the librarians 
who are concerned with the recommen-
dations of other experts are already aware of 
most of the facts that a survey of this kind 
will reveal. Nevertheless , well-conducted 
surveys such as this give substantiated sup-
port to librarians everywhere and, in the 
special locale under study, guidance to 
educators, administrators, and legislators 
who may not have seen their local special 
needs in perspective. The problems that can 
only be solved with their understanding and 
support are adroitly pinpointed.-Lee Ash, 
Library Consultant, Bethany, Connecticut. 

Lancaster, F. W., with the assistance of M. 
J. Joncich. The Measurement and Evalua-
tion of Library Services. Washington, D. 
C.: Information Resources Press, 1977. 
395p. $27.50. LC 77-72081. ISBN 
0-87815-017-X. 

NATO Advanced Study Institute on the 
Evaluation and Scientific Management of 
Libraries and Information Centres, Bris-
tol, 1975. Evaluation and Scientific Man-
agement of Libraries and Information 
Centres. Edited by F. W. Lancaster and 
C. W. Cleverdon. NATO Advanced 
Study Institute Series. Series E : Applied 
Science, no.18. Leyden: Noordhoff, 1977. 
184p. $19.50. ISBN 0-286-0656-4. 
It is rare to have the opportunity to re-

view a book in the field of librarianship that 
is admirable in almost every respect. It is _ so 
rare, in fact, that one hesitates to announce 
such a judgment for fear of being taken as 
undiscriminating. With The Measurement 
and Evaluation of Library Services, F. W. 
Lancaster has indeed written a book that 
deserves enthusiastic praise, even to the 
point of overlooking the minor flaws that 
can always be found if one searches hard 
enough, if that would encourage the wider 



-

58 I College & Research Libraries • January 1978 

acceptance of the work by the profession. 
Lancaster's work is intended to be a 

textbook for library school courses relating 
to the measurement and evaluation of li-
brary services. It is not, however, written at 
an elementary or superficial level and will 
perhaps find its greatest usefulness as a 
standard reference for researchers and for 
practicing librarians who take an objective, 
evaluative approach to library services and 
programs. 

The range of topics covered is compre-
hensive, including, among others, catalog 
use studies, evaluation of reference service, 
evaluation of literature searching and infor-
mation retrieval, evaluation of the collec-
tion, evaluation of document delivery 
capabilities, library surveys, and cost-
performance-benefits considerations. Chap-
ters are also devoted- to evaluation of tech-
nical services and automated systems, but 
these topics are not, unfortunately, treated 
as fully as others. Studies of catalog use, 
evaluation of reference service, and evalua-
tion of collections are covered most thor-
oughly. 

For the most part, Lancaster provides for 
each topic a brief discussion of his theoret-
ical perspective on the issue, a discussion of 
approaches to research methodology and 
measurement, a rather extensive summary 
and analysis of the principal studies relating 
to each area, and a concluding statement on 
the cumulative findings of the research. Ex-
cellent bibliographies are appended to each 
chapter. The result of this consistent and 
organized treatment is a highly useful ·be-
ginning point for in-depth study of mea-
surement and evaluation in each area of 
concern. 

A consistent theme throughout Lancas-
ter's work is his focus on evaluation of li-
brary services in terms of specific, measura-
ble objectives derived from the immediate 
and tangible needs of library users. Lancas-
ter excludes from his attention the evalua-
tion of libraries in terms of their broader so-
cial roles or the philosophical goals fre-
quently put forth as statements of objec-
tives. Lancaster conscientiously maintains 
this emphasis throughout, with the result 
that he has written a highly concrete, 
information-packed book of considerable 
practical value. 

Another important characteristic of Lan-
caster's treatment is his commentary on the 
research methodologies of the studies he 
surveys. All too frequently in the literature 
of librarianship, survey articles deal exclu-
sively with findings and neglect the neces-
sary assessment of the methodologies of the 
rese~ch surveyed. Lancaster rarely fails to 
point out the strengths and weaknesses of 
the various approaches to each measure-
ment and evaluation problem, and he avoids 
the common fault of comparing the results 
of studies conducted by noncomparable 
methodologies. The Measurement and 
Evaluation of Library Services serves not 
only as a survey of the present state of 
knowledge on each topic but also as a 
state-of-the-art survey of the research meth-
odologies appropriate to measurement and 
evaluation. 

The evaluation of library services in terms 
of performance measures derived from 
explicit objectives is still an emerging disci-
pline. The problems posed by measurement 
and evaluation are recognized to be 
difficult, and the practical utility of much 
research to date has been limited. On the 
other hand, the appearance of Lancaster's 
book is cause for optimism. The general im-
pression left by his survey is one of a grow-
ing base of research and an increasingly re-
fined methodology. This book in itself indi-
cates the emerging maturity of measure-
ment and evaluation in librarianship. It is a 
distinguished contribution to the literature 
that could not have been written except for 
a solid and considerable base of research by 
others. 

Evaluation and Scientific Management of 
Libraries and Information Centres, edited 
by Lancaster and C. W. Cleverdon, ap-
peared almost simultaneously with The 
Measurement and Evaluation of Library 
Services. Ordinarily, this work would re-
ceive a generally favorable review, but it 
suffers badly in comparison with the Lancas-
ter monograph. This is a collection of lec-
tures delivered at a NATO advanced study 
institute. 

As with most such collections, the indi-
vidual contributions vary greatly in quality 
and usefulness, and there is a lack of consis-
tent organization and focus. With the excep-
tion of Ferdinand Leimkuhler' s contribution 

;~ 



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60 I College & Research Libraries • January 1978 

on operations research and systems analysis, 
there is little in this book that is not pre-
sented better in The Measurement and 
Evaluation of Library Services. -Joe A. 
Hewitt, Associate University Librarian for 
Technical Services, University of North 
Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

Wilson, Patrick. Public Knowledge, Private 
Ignorance: Toward a Library and Infor-
mation Policy. Contributions in Librari-
anship and Information Science, no.10. 
Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 
1977. 156p. $13.50. LC 76-52327. ISBN 
0-8371-9485-7. 
Dr. Wilson's tripartite essay will thrill li-

brarians who · have wandered bewildered in 
this sterile world thinking that the library, 
their institution, the institution in which 
they believe, is doomed to be devoured by 
the computer, the information network, the 
automated data base. At least' it will thrill 
that portion of the group which reads it all 
the way through and does not read it 
carefully-or does not think about what it 
says. Wilson, formerly dean of the library 
school at the University of California, 
Berkeley, is a witty conversationalist, and in 
this small book his way with words shows it-
self. His method of reasoning is often like a 
pride of cats after one small mouse. Each 
cat seals off an exit until there is just one 
direction the mouse can take. The conclu-
sions seem inevitable, but most readers 
should look further. 

Of the three sections in this book, "public 
knowledge" is the shortest and most consis-
tently reasoned. It will surprise many 
readers to discover that public knowledge is 
not after all knowledge that has been made 
available to the public by being published. 
This book makes a very neat distinction be-
tween what is published and stored some-
place and what is actually available to 
people to use in solving problems or making 
decisions. Librarians who have never con-
sidered this dichotomy will do well to read 
part one with great care. 

Where the definition of public knowledge 
may surprise readers, the second part of the 
book will frighten them. The depth of "pri-
vate ignorance," as Wilson relates it, is like 
the Mariana Trench, virtually unplumbable, 
and while we might quibble with some of 

the suppositions, the weight of the argu-
ments leaves little room for doubt. We may 
wish that rational people made use of in-
formation systems that gave them precisely 
measured doses of information tailored to 
their individual information needs, but we 
know better. 

Wilson is very convincing in arguing that 
people do not even care if their information 
gathering system is totally incompetent, so 
long as this does not cause them to make 
decisions that negatively affect their lives in 
a noticeable way. The key wo.rd here is 
"noticeable," and it is to be noted that elec-
tion of public officials is not an area to 
which we can point as being conducted at a 
high level of public knowledge. The public 
(and that means all of us), according to Wil-
son's logic, is incredibly ill-informed, and 
even those poor souls who might take it 
upon themselves to improve their informa-
tion systems find that access to knowledge is 
either so time-consuming or so complicated 
that it takes a massive effort to make even 
insignificant gains. The world abounds with 
private ignorance. Most of us will agree. 

Finally we come around to libraries, and 
here Wilson and I part. There is no conve-
nient way to simplify his arguments, but the 
reader will see that Wilson makes an almost 
invincible case for information experts. He 
even points out and argues quite suc-
cessfully that since the function of the ac-
cumulation of knowledge is to make deci-
sion making of all kinds and at all levels 
easier, then the medium for conveying that 
knowledge should be experts, not biblio-
graphical experts (librarians) but subject ex-
perts. Not persons who will help the public 
find an answer as supplied by other experts 
(usually in written form), but persons who 
will assimilate the relevant information and 
make specific recommendations. In other 
words, not persons who will say that Emily 
Post says that the proper place setting is 
thus-and-so, but rather persons who (having 
consulted all the relevant sources of infor-
mation including Emily) will declar~ what 
the proper place setting should be. 

Having convinced this reader that he is 
right and having shown that these experts 
need not be attached in any way to a li-
brary, Wilson cops out. Just when we can 
confidently predict that he is about to call