College and Research Libraries


ryphal and help to emphasize the problems. 
This text should supersede many of the 

earlier (and poorer) articles in the field and 
should be basic reading, for some time, for 
North American map librarians, whether 
experienced or beginners, and for nonmap 
librarians who want to know what is hap-
penging in the field.-joan Winearls, Uni-
versity of Toronto . 

The Information Society: Issues and An-
swers. American Library Association's 
Presidential Commission for the 1977 De-
troit Annual Conference. Edited with a 
Preface and Introduction by E. J. Josey 
and a Foreword by Clara Stanton Jones. 
A Neal-Schuman Professional Book. 
Phoenix, Ariz.: Oryx Press, 1978. 133p. 
$11.95. LC 78-17708. ISBN 0-912700-
16-5. 
The ALA program in Detroit two sum-

mers ago attempted an ambitious departure 
from the usual Annual Conference format: 
an ali-day, plenary, think/talk session de-
voted to an examination of some major 
problems librarians face in the emerging 
"post-industrial society." 

Five major speakers followed in the wake 
of a keynote address by Norman Isaacs, a 
communications specialist from Columbia's 
Graduate School of Journalism (who ha-
rangued the gathering on those 
shortcomings of librarians-negativism, ar-
rogance, self-serving behavior, absurd 
bureaucratic routines-he presumed must 
stand in the way of libraries becoming 
"working community centers," a function he 
saw as their higher calling). 

OCLC director Fred Kilgour briefly re-
viewed past applications of technology to li-
braries, chiefly in cataloging, and invited 
participants to speculate on the fountain of 
beneficial effects about to shower forth as 
computer technology moved librarianship 
into "another of its great ages." New York 
State Senator Major Owens lambasted li-
brarians for failing to r~spond positively to 
social change during the past twenty years 
and, with the White House Conference in 
mind, called for· greater participation by li-
brarians in the government's policy-making 
procedures in order to overcome public in-
difference. 

Thomas Buckman, president of the Foun-

Recent Publications I 13 

dation Center, treated information as a 
commodity and discussed the economic im-
plications posed by new technology; Gerald 
Shields of the School of Information and Li-
brary Studies, SUNY Buffalo, invited 
analysis of the new role of librarians result-
ing from that technology; and Fay Blake of 
the School of Library Science, University of 
California at Berkeley, warned that public 
access to information must be determined, 
not by technology, but by librarians with a 
clear notion of their patrons' need. 

Following each address, the audience of 
some 1,500 participants broke up into small 
group discussions and proceeded to kick 
around these and other topics. It was, as 
one participant said, "the world's largest 
reactor panel." 

It is chiefly as a record of the event that 
publication of conference proceedings must 
be judged, and as a record this one is intel-
ligently designed, well edited, and thor-
ough. Feedback from the discussion groups 
is summarized and presented along with the 
texts of principal speeches; the editor's in-
clusion of reviews of literature prepared as 
handouts for the discussion sessions-and in 
some instances the review essays were more 
stimulating than the formal addresses 
themselves-gives the volume some claim 
to utility. 

Predictably, although some of the funda-
mental concerns are shared by academic li-
brarians (especially the identity crisis of the 
professional librarian caught up in a chang-
ing economic and technological environ-
ment), the public library context of the ses-
sion, as well as its necessarily superficial 
and hortatory treatment of issues, made 
it-and makes its tardy report-of only in-
cidental interest to the vast majority of 
readers of this journal.-W. A. Moffett, 
State University of New York, College at 
Potsdam. 

Conroy, Barbara. Library Staff Develop-
ment and Continuing Education: Princi-
ples and Practices. Littleton, Colo.: Li-
braries Unlimited, 1978. 268p. $17.50 
U.S. and Canada; $21 elsewhere. LC 78-
18887. ISBN 0-87287-177-0. 
This book provides an in-depth presenta-

tion of all aspects of establishing staff de-
velopment and continuing education pro-