College and Research Libraries


' ideas, the kindling anew of purpose that oc-
curs with face to face encounters. Interna-
tional Agricultural Librarianship: Con-
tinuity and Change falls into this dilemma 
that most likely has no answer. Still, the 
papers are well written and tell a story long 
in need of telling. Perhaps the most sig-
nificant part of librarianship, computerized 
bibliographies-wherein agricultural librar-
ies, if not forming the crest of the wave , 
were alongside others in pushing the many 
aspects of computer use-are somewhat 
minimized in these papers. Not ignored, 
but not exalted and perhaps this reveals a 
sophistication long needed. Awe of the 
computer is going if not gone. Someday will 
it be just a fancy electric typewriter? 

The longtime former librarian of the Na-
tional Agricultural Library Foster E. 
Mohrhardt was honored by this symposium 
and from his rich background gave a review 
of early bibliographic efforts. Other speakers , 
J. Richard Blanchard, Richard Chapin, 
Paula Scott , James Rhoads , John Sherrod, 
Donald Leatherdale, Frank Hirst, and Wal-
lace Olsen, covered topics from one library's 
various methods of providing literature for 
agricultural scientists to what the next thirty 
years will require. Because the symposium 
was a one-day affair the volume is slim. 
Still , its subject is significant and in the 
world food picture , weighty. -Albert C. 
Strickland, Unit;ersity of Florida , Gaines-
ville. 

Garrison, Dee. Apostles of Culture: The 
Public Librarian and American Society, 
1876-1920. New York: Free Press, 1979. 
319p. $14.50. LC 78-66979. ISBN 0-02-
693850-2 . 
The author of this important contribution 

to library history is a young scholar (with no 
librarianship background) who is on the his-
tory faculty at Rutgers University. In this 
study she attempts to revise the standard 
conception of the public library as a product 
of democratic idealism and shows the im-
portant effects of sex roles and social class in 
the formation and growth of the public li-
brary and in the ideology of its leaders. 

Her analysis is based on an examination 
of social ideals held by the leadership. The 
primary sources are the library reports and 
professional journals of the period and the 

Recent Publications I 561 

published and unpublished statements by 
and about the individual library leaders. 
Garrison's work is well documented with ex-
tensive notes and sources. There is also an 
appendix that lists public library leaders and 
provides brief biographical information . 

The book is presented in four major sec-
tions. Part 1 gives a profile of the selected 
leaders and discusses the " missionary 
phase" of librarianship and the "gentry 
stage" of library professionalism. Part 2 de-
scribes how the public library's attempts to 
lessen the influence of "immoral" literature 
were slowly replaced by a less paternalistic 
approach. Part 3 provides a perceptive ex-
amination of the career and impact of Melvil 
Dewey. Part 4 gives the reader an assess-
ment of the impact of feminization on the 
public library and on librarianship as a pro-
fession. 

Readers of College & Research Libraries 
will find this book of interest and value 
even though its emphasis is on public librar-
ies. The influences that Garrison traces also 
had their effects on academic libraries , and 
many of the leaders were also involved in 
academic libraries. 

This is a scholarly, yet readable, work 
that should be in the holdings of any library 
which includes even a modest library sci-
ence collection. It will also be of interest to 
students or readers of history , sociology, 
and women's studies.-George S. Bobinski , 
State University of Neic York at Buffalo . 

Welsch , Erwin K. Libraries and Archives in 
France: A Handbook. Rev. ed. New York: 
Council for European Studies, 1979. 
146p. $6. (Available from: Council for 
European Studies , 1403 International Af-
fairs Building, 420 West 118th St., Co-
lumbia University, New York, NY 10027 .) 
This workmanlike guide, first published 

in 1973 and now greatly revised and ex-
panded, is a succinct, practical handbook for 
American investigators in the social sci-
ences. Although written for the neophyte 
who is planning a first expedition to the ar-
chives and libraries of France, where stan-
dardization is not so highly regarded as in the 
United States, more seasoned scholars 
should also find much time-saving informa-
tion in it. 

Following a general introduction on the