College and Research Libraries acronyms, citations, and popular names used in the text. There are personal author, selected title/series, and subject indexes. An improvement in the second edition is the elimination of the chapter on clerical procedures and record keeping, the details of which appeared out of place in the first edition. A discussion of technical reports, an important part of the literature with which all librarians must grapple, has been added to the work. Other new information in- cludes GPO micropublishing, on-line re- trieval systems, and changes in the Monthly Catalog since 1976. In changing the concept for the chapter on department and agency publications in the second edition to emphasize categories of publications rather than individual publi- cations, some sense of the wide diversity of departments and agencies and their publica- tions, apparent in the first edition, has been lost. Departmental and agency publications comprise a large segment of the total output of the federal government, and some agen- cies have published significant titles over a long period of time, e.g., Occupational Out- look Handbook of the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Uniform Crime Reports of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. For the latter overview, the first edition is still vaiid, but one must keep in mind that all units of government are subject to constant reorganization, and publications begin, change titles, and fade with regularity. Appendi.x A, entitled "Special Problems in Documents Librarian ship," identifies them as mapping and charting, census bureau information, computer-based biblio- graphic services, federal audiovisual infor- mation, and microforms. These may be problem areas to some librarians, but they are sources important to all librarians and might have merited chapter status. This work is of especial value to library school students who can use it as a basic in- troductory text to United States government publications. General reference librarians will find the work a useful current reference tool. It is also a readable text for users of government publications in general. Morehead's style is envied by some and criticized by others. And while those to whom the English language is not a primary language may have some difficulty with sen- Recent Publications I 11 tences like "No theme, however fey, antic, arcane or ostensibly in apposite, remains far from the omniverous curiosity of govern- ment" (p.131), his style adds a light tough to the otherwise serious business of under- standing and servicing federal government publications. As Morehead points out in his introduc- tion, the emphasis of the work is on current activities. For historical information excel- lent sources are Laurence F. Schmeckebier and Roy B. Eastin's Government Publica- tions and their Use. (2d rev. ed.; Washing- ton, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1969) and Anne Morris Boyd and Rae Elizabeth Rips' United States Government Publications (New York: H. W. Wilson Co., 1949).- Yuri Nakata, University of Illinois at Chicago Circle. Downey, James A. US Federal Official Pub- lications: The International Dimension. With foreword by Leroy C. Schwartzkopf. Guides to Official Publications, v.2. Elmsford, N.Y.: Pergamon Press, 1978. 352p. $40. LC 77-30462. ISBN 0-08- 021839-3. This book is a revision of U.S. Federal Official Publications: A Foreign Viewpoint issued by the University of Sussex Library [Great Britain] in 1975. Downey's book is divided into two sections; the first describes the intricacies of bibliographic control and acquisition of federal publications and dis- cusses many government and commercially produced reference sources. The second section lists the major legislative, executive, judicial, and independent agencies, with a brief history of the unit and description of publications, especially those relevant to li- brarians and researchers outside the United States. The second section comprises three-quarters of the book. The information included in the first sec- tion is accurate and current, though much of it is gathered from numerous articles and monographs published in recent years. In some ways the first section parall~ls the early chapters of Morehead's Introduction to United States Public Documents (Librar- ies Unlimited, 1975; 2d ed., 1978), but Downey does not attempt to cover the Su- perintendent of Documents classification system, the administration of government 78 I College & Research Libraries • January 1979 documents collections, or the depository li- brary system. However, Downey is perhaps a bit more comprehensive in his treatment of reference sources, the . problem of non- GPO government publications, and the OP market. The entries for each issuing agency in the second section, with the exceptions of the Department of Health, Education, and Wel- fare; Commerce; and State, are very brief. The forty-page chapter on the Agency for International Development is a fine analysis of its publications. My primary criticism of this second section is that it merely includes a random group of federal publications that might be of interest to foreigners. This is basically the same criticism I have of Morehead's book. Downey does not provide a systematic or well-organized list; indi- vidual titles may be noted while some basic reference works from these agencies are omitted, making it very difficult to believe such a listing is of much value to anyone with more than a cursory interest in the publications of the federal government. It is extremely difficult to be comprehen- sive in listing government publications that would appeal to an international audience, but haphazard attempts do not seem the best method to follow. Given that I ques- tion the methodology employed, it should be pointed out nevertheless that Morehead's treatment of congressional and judicial materials is more comprehensive than Downey's, though when it comes to the executive agencies it is a tossup be- tween the two books . Government publications librarians who have access to works by Morehead, Schwartzkopf, O'Hara, and others will gen- erally find little in this book to justify its exorbitant price.-Alan Edward Schorr, University of Alaska, Juneau. Carpenter, Ray L. , and Vasu, Ellen Storey. Statistical Methods for Librarians. Chicago: American Library Assn., 1978. 119p. $12.50. LC 78-3476. ISBN 0-8389- 0256-1. Librarians are far from embracing empiri- cal research methods and statistical tech- niques as core elements of their professional The newest title on Faxon's reference team ... Index to Outdoor Sports, Games, and Activities by Pearl Turner Joining the Useful Reference Series of Library Books, this new title indexes nearly 500 publica- tions and seven periodicals on out- door sports and activities, from the most popular competitive team sports to the most exotic in- dividual pastimes. From baseball to skin diving, soccer to kayaking, football to falconry- the Index to Sports provides quick complete access to information sources for For information on the Index to Sports and other titles on Faxon's Useful Reference team, write for our Publications Catalog. ISBN 0-87305-105-X 408 pp. $18.00 [WF.W. FAXOn COmPAnY, IDC. Publishing Division 15 Southwest Park, Westwood, Massachusetts 02090