College and Research Libraries


504 I College & Research Libraries • November 1978 

libraries have utilized archive tapes from 
OCLC to form the foundation of data bases 
which they manipulate into printed or COM 
catalogs. 

Hewitt reports on a survey he conducted 
to measure the use of OCLC in the forty-
seven charter member libraries. Since the 
data were collected in 1974, it would seem to 
make the report out of date. However, as 
Hewitt points out, " a lag has developed 
between network technology and the 
capabilities of libraries to effectively exploit 
the possibilities offered by that technology." 
Therefore , the timeliness of the report is 
acceptable to libraries considering the im-
plementation of a link with OCLC. 

While this report is not crucial reading 
for a library interested in linking up with 
OCLC, it is useful. For someone very much 
concerned with the long-range impact of 
OCLC on operations , it is nearly the only 
place to go; it serves as a benc}:lmark. In 
addition, it makes up for a lack to some ex-
t e nt in the Butler report regarding the 
considerations involved with maintaining a 
data base once the conversion is completed. 
There are many changes in operating pro-
cedures that accrue from the conversion 
from a manual to an automated data base. A 
feeling for the scope and direction of these 
changes can be gained from Hewitt's 
analysis. 

For someone beginning the process of 
converting from a manual to an automated 
data base , the Butler report is a valuable 
tool and the Hewitt report useful. Neither, 
however , completes the information-
gathering process. For instance , there is a 
great deal of difference in the level of 
sophistication of software from vendor to 
vendor. No general written report can pro-
vide an exhaustive study of either the range 
of services available nor the capabilities of 
these services. Perhaps after starting with 
these reports, one might enlist the aid of a 
consultant?-Richard W. Meyer , Indiana 
State Univ ersity , Terre Haute. 

Gore, Daniel. To Know a Library: Essays 
and Annual Reports, 1970-1976. New 
Directions in Librarianship , number 1. 
Westport , Conn.: Greenwood, 1978. 
379p . $18.95. LC 77-84769. ISBN 
0-8371-9881-X. 

Daniel Gore has acquired a host of critics 
as well as admirers over the years, and this 
alone should guarantee a wide readership 
for this collection of his writings. A careful 
reading of the book may well change some 
opinions about Gore and his theories. 

The early 1970s were extremely difficult 
years for private higher education in the 
United States. It seems clear that the true 
severity of the situation facing many private 
academic libraries during those years was 
seldom fully appreciated , except by those 
who experienced at first hand the effects of 
what was popularly known as " retrench-
ment." Conditions at Gore's Macalester Col-
lege , described in the introduction to his 
book, were little worse than those confront-
ing many similar institutions. Between 1970 
and 1975, the total library budget declined 
by 33 percent, the materials budget was re-
duced by 25 percent, and library staffing 
was cut by more than 50 percent. 

Gore's response to these grim statistics is 
described at the beginning of the book in a 
series of ten essays . His strategies range 
from the use of compact shelving for ac-
tively used collections, to delaying the 
cataloging of new acquisitions for as much as 
a year after receipt, to the development of 
the no-growth library. Although nearly all of 
these essays have been published pre-
viously, their availability in a single volume 
where they can be read as a systematic 
statement of theory strengthens their impact 
considerably. 

Unlike many librarians who love to 
theorize but hesitate to act, Gore practices 
what he preaches. More than two-thirds of 
the text is devoted to the publication of the 
annual reports of the Macalester College 
Library. Despite the limitations of form, 
which even a writer of Gore's enviable tal-
ents cannot entirely overcome, the reports 
are well worth a careful reading . They 
explain, in detail, how Gore's theories have 
been applied to the operation of his library 
and how those innovations have affected 
library use and library users. 

Gore ' s attitude toward the sweeping 
changes made at Macalester under his di-
rection can be easily summarized. " Sweet 
are the uses of adversity. When 'lean-looked 
prophets whisper fearful change,' that is the 
time to turn bleak adversity into bright op-



portunity" (p. 64). He believes his library 
not only survived the lean years of the early 
1970s but actually prospered. Determining 
the accuracy of that claim has a special 
interest and importance for the profession at 
this particular time. Thanks to the now in-
famous Proposition 13, or one of its many 
offspring presently in utero, academic librar-
ians at a number of publicly supported in-
stitutions now face the prospect of having to 
cope with the same dismal conditions that 
earlier challenged Daniel Gore. 

A dispassionate analysis of the annual re-
ports argues convincingly that the Macal-
ester Library did indeed survive some ex-
tremely rough years, perhaps in even better 
condition than might have been anticipated. 
For this, no small achievement, Daniel 
Gore can rightfully claim credit. However, 
Gore's confident assertion that his is "a li-
brary that has prospered through years of 
heavy weather" remains very much a matter 
of opinion. This reviewer remains uncon-
vinced of the superiority of Gore's innova-
tions or their usefulness as a model for 
other libraries.-Robert L. Burr, Gonzaga 
University, Spokane , Washington. 

Collection Building: Studies in the De-
velopment & Effective Use of Library 
Resources. Syracuse, N.Y.: Gaylord 
Professional Publications, in association 
with Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc. 
1978- . $55 per vol. Issued three 
times a year. ISSN 0160-4953. 

Collection Management: A Quarterly Jour-
nal Devoted to the Management of Li-
brary Collections. New York: Haworth 
Pr., 1976- . $25 per vol. Issued quar-
terly. (V.1, nos.1 and 2, published under 
the title De-Acquisitions Librarian.) ISSN 
0146-2679. 

Library Acquisitions: Practice and Theory. 
Elmsford, N.Y.: Pergamon, 1977-
$25 per vol. Issued quarterly. ISSN 
0364-6408. 

The Serials Librarian. New York: Haworth 
Pr., 1976- . $25 per vol. Issued quar-
terly. ISSN 0361-526X. 
In these days of tight money and wildly 

escalating serial costs, new periodicals in 
any field must justify their existence by 
providing more and better information on 
key topics than the existing journals. Enter-

Recent Publications I 505 

pnsmg editors must offer potential sub-
scribers fresh insights and objective, evalua-
tive studies that will attract and hold their 
interest. 

These four new, or relatively recent, 
journals cover various aspects of the plan-
ning, development, and management of re-
sources in large and small libraries of all 
types. Their aim is to acquaint library per-
sonnel from paraprofessionals to specialist 
bibliographers with the latest trends, issues, 
and policies in this relatively neglected 
field. In relation to the existing periodical 
literature each of them attempts to fill a 
perceived long-standing need for more 
analytical and practical information on the 
complexity of acquisitions work. 

The audience for which these four spe-
cialized journals are primarily intended ap-
pears to be library workers who are already 
heavily involved in collection building. As 
one might expect, the journals differ con-
siderably in their aims, policy, content, and 
even in their definition of the field they 
cover. 

Predictably, the articles range from tech-
nical papers and research reports to inter-
pretive essays and how-to-do-it pieces. A 
few reading lists on special topics are also 
included. The varying quality of these jour-
nals can to some extent be attributed to 
each editor's ability, or lack of it, to recruit 
contributors ranging from well-known 
names in library literature writing on famil-
iar topics to neophyte scholars just out of 
graduate school. 

As its title indicates, Collection Building 
deals with this important range of profes-
sional activities "in libraries of every cate-
gory and size." Its editors and publishers 
point out that relatively little attention has 
been given in the past to collection de-
velopment in small and medium-size librar-
ies. They further charge that "only in the 
large university-research library is excel-
lence in resources development [regarded 
as] a necessary or realizable goal." In his in-
troductory editorial Walter Curley, associate 
director of the Detroit Public Library, 
promises not only to publish regularly bib-
liographic essays and developmental profiles 
of noteworthy collections but also to sponsor 
"specific studies on diverse aspects of collec-
tion development." An editorial board com-