College and Research Libraries


r 

ful companion to this reader, as many of the 
manuscripts discussed are reproduced in 
this series. 

Winckler introduces the student to the 
history of books and printing. As we enter 
the era of Gutenberg II, a period of rapid 
technological development and an explosion 
of information, it is good for the student of 
librarianship to have a historical perspec-
tive. This reader provides it. -Susan G. 
Swartzburg, Rutgers University, New 
Brunswick, New Jersey. 

Reader in Undergraduate Libraries. Edited 
by Billy R. Wilkinson. Readers in Librar-
ianship and Information Science, 25. En-
glewood , Colo.: Information Handling 
Services, 1978. 447p. $20. LC 78-9504. 
ISBN 0-910972-76-1. 
This new volume in the Reader Series in 

Librarianship and Information Science goes 
a long way towards filling the gap in litera-
ture available on undergraduate libraries. 
The paucity of literature on the subject is 
reflected in the number of times the writers 
chosen for inclusion (both from the U.S. 
and the UK) refer to the other selected arti-
cles or to their authors. It suffers from a 
fault common to all publications of this 
type, in that its major role is to republish 
items that have previously been available in 
a variety of sources and is, therefore, re-
stricted to material that is already familiar to 
most of its potential audience. 

Most of Billy Wilkinson's present selec-
tions have been readily available-even out-
side the U gLi fraternity. Bringing them all 
together in this way, however, justifies the 
undertaking, but why are there only passing 
references to more recent articles? And was 
the cutoff date for the "general reading list" 
really May 1, 1971? Ellen Keever, in one of 
the two more recent articles included, lists 
a few more modern references, and Wilkin-
son himself refers to the 1976 statistical edi-
tion of the UgLi Newsletter and to Win-
gate's 1978 article in C allege & Research 
Libraries. But one does wonder if he might 
not have been able to include some more 
up-to-date references and statistics from the 
UgLi Newsletter and other sources. 

For this reviewer , at least, the book's 
value would have been enhanced if the 
editor had expanded his brief introductory 

Recent Publications I 471 

comments for each section. A critical as-
sessment from Wilkinson would have made 
for interesting reading-though it was prob-
ably not within the terms of reference for 
this series! 

The material presented effectively takes 
undergraduate libraries into the 1960s and 
early 70s (at least until the early months of 
1973), and the summary of Braden's 1967 
thesis still provides a realistic checklist of 
the special contribution that can be made 
by an undergraduate library , especially 
where it supplements a major research li-
brary. 

The articles are well written and touch on 
a fairly wide spectrum of the topic. The his-
torical aspects receive most space and are 
well covered by a list of writers that sounds 
like a miniature "who's who" in academic 
librarianship-Keyes Metcalf, Philip 
McNiff, Edwin Williams , Arthur McAnally, 
William Dix, Frederick Wagman, Ellsworth 
Mason, and so on. 

Wilkinson devotes almost half of this vol-
ume to the proceedings of four conferences. 
Patricia Knapp's chapter should be required 
reading far beyond the undergraduate li-
brary, as should the papers of the Institute 
on the Undergraduate Environment. James 
Davis ' contribution to this institute 
eloquently sums up the U gLi role as 
"Coping-an UgLi Way of Life." This at-
titude may well be the bridge that carries 
some undergraduate libraries over the pres-
ent budget crises and beyond the doubts 
expressed by Wilkinson, into the future. 

If that future is based on the objectives 
spelled out by Braden (and others) there 
should indeed be a future volume on the 
1970s and 1980s. For, as Davis says in the 
one quote Wilkinson gives from a later arti-
cle, " undergraduate libraries are not a nos-
trum for many of the ills presently besetting 
academic libraries. Many undergraduate li-
braries have needlessly been established as 
unrealistic solutions to problems unrelated 
to service for undergraduate students . But 
judiciously conceived and properly sup-
ported, both administratively and fiscally, 
they can infuse all components of the com-
munity of an academic library with a new 
spirit of enthusiasm and interest. " 1 

This reviewer would like to have seen 
more critical and analytical material on the 



472 I College & Research Libraries • September 1979 

special services for undergraduate students , 
which Braden lists among her top ten 
priorities. Maybe such articles have been 
omitted from this volume because they are 
being saved for that future volume? Maybe 
they are still waiting to be written? 

Despite these gaps , this volume certainly 
deserves a place on the shelves in most 
academic libraries and in all faculties and 
schools of library science . It should be read 
by all U gLi librarians-perhaps even ~s 
preparation for some new substantive and 
objective articles on why and how we pro-
vide the services this volume describes.-
Sheila M. Laidlaw, University of Toronto , 
Toronto , Ontario. 

REFERENCE 

1. James Davis, " The Changing Role of the 
Undergraduate Library in Uni versities," in E. 
] . ] osey, ed., New Dimensions for Academic 
Library Service (Metuchen, N.J. : Scarecrow, 
1975), p. 73. 

Taylor, P . J. Information Guides: A Survey 
of Subject Guides to Sources of Informa-
tion Produced by Library and Informa-
tion Services in the United Kingdom. 
British Library Research & Development 
Report No. 5440. London: British Li-
brary, Research and Development De-
partment, 1978. 106p. £6. $12. ISBN 
0-905984-22-6 . ISSN 0308-2385. (Avail-
able from : Publications , British Library , 
Research and Development Dept. , Shera-
ton House, Great Chapel St. , London 
S1V 4BH.) 
A survey of 1,600 library and information 

services in the United Kingdom by Aslib in 
1977 investigated the form and range of 
production of brief printed subject guides to 
sources of information. This study also iden-
tified areas of overlapping effort and possi-
ble strategies for the coordination of effort. 
Emphasis was placed on the instructional 
function of the guides. The 530 guides ex-
amined indicate that compilation and pro-
duction of such publications is not a major 
activity of the agencies, and the material is 
more often produced by higher education 
units with "considerable investment of re-
sources in their production within these sec-
tors." Three series of information guides 

produced in the United States are also de-
scribed. 

Analysis of the guides compared subject 
coverage, duplication of coverage, subject 
specificity, content, form of entry and lay-
out, physical format, design features, style 
of presentation and written expression, page 
layout, use of annotations, and arrangement 
of contents. 

Some of the outstanding guide series are 
discussed (appendixes include copies of Sci-
ence Reference Library [British Library] 
Guidelines and MIT Pathfinders and Library 
of Congress Science Tracer Bullets) as well 
as the role of guides in user education. 

Useful even beyond survey results for 
U.K. librarians is an appendix indexing sub-
jects covered by information guides with 
reference to issuing institutions. Other ap-
pendixes include a bibliography of pub-
lished guides to literature/information 
sources and examples of design work. 

Those already printing information guides 
and those contemplating it will find valuable 
sections on responsibility for production , 
pricing, and sale of guides , tests of 
readability of guides , and design considera-
tions. With the increasing popularity of this 
type of publication , this survey identifies 
important considerations to be taken up by 
U .S. librarians as well as those in the U.K. 
The report should be included in collections 
of academic libraries planning printed user 
service projects.-Mary Pound , The Univer-
sity of Texas at Austin. 

Progress in Communication Sciences. V.l. 
Edited by Melvin J. Voigt and Gerhard J. 
Hanneman. Norwood, N.J .: ABLEX Pub-
lishing Corp., 1979. 198p. $17.50. ISBN 
0-89391-010-4. ISSN 0163-5689. 
Pretentious and heavy handed at times , 

volume one of the series Progress in Com-
munication Sciences, edited by Melvin J. 
Voigt and Gerhard J . Hanneman, never-
theless bears monitoring. 

The stated objective of the series is to 
document specific aspects of the great 
number of rapid changes occurring in com-
munication systems and, along with these 
changes, to focus on the concomitant and 
inevitable fallout: social change. Moreover, 
an important goal of the series is to keep 
abreast of, and report on, research-in-