College and Research Libraries church, or school when viewed from the perspective of organizing support. The second part of this collection also has a dis- turbingly diffuse quality. The essays deal with all kinds of libraries-from large academic to small-town public-and discuss a variety of topics, ranging from how to deal with problem personalities in a friends' group, to choosing print styles for library publications. In this case, comprehensive- ness is a liability rather than an asset. The reader is left with a wealth of information on a variety of subjects and a longing for some more in-depth treatment of the over- all problem of organizing support for librar- ies. Fortunately, Paul Mosher's essay, "Friends Groups and Academic Libraries," satisfies this craving. In describing the Stan- ford Library Associates, Mosher paints a picture that should inspire the envy and admiration of any library director. An imagi- native program, the work of a full-time li- brary development officer, and the support of the library staff have combined to make for a remarkably successful friends group. Yet, as Mosher sagely notes, this friends group has never been seen as an end in it- self, but as a source and resource "for a range of short- and long-term developmen- tal activities, having as their goal the larger financial benefit of the library." Mosher's ·essay crystalizes the seminal thread in this book: carefully cultivated, a friends group can indeed be a valuable resource that can help libraries provide better service and better collections, even in the straitened environment of the eighties.-Leslie. Parker I-iume, Research Libraries Group, Stanford, California. Getz, Malcolm. Public Libraries: An Eco- nomic View. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Pr., 1980. 214p. $12.50. LC 80-10651. ISBN 0-8018-2395-1. From time to time experts from other disciplines have applied their paradigms to libraries. The impact of their efforts has usually been negligible on thinking and practice within the profession. This book, written by an economist and intended for scholars '!()f local government as well as li- brary and public administrators, may prove to be an exception. Recent Publications I 261 Getz' outsider view of libraries as publicly financed institutions, and the resulting payoff of such support in terms of value to society and the efficiency of operations, is provocative and illuminating. Drawing upon data from thirty-one major libraries, the au- thor has attempted to analyze "the strategic decisions that shape the provision of public library service in the United States" accord- ing to economic and public administration theories. The conclusions-based on mac- roeconomic data about the optimum mix of hours of operation, number of facilities, staff size, number of materials, and the impact of technological innovation in terms of cost re- duction-are not definitive but certainly raise tough questions that public officials are likely to ask and library administrators should prepare to answer. Getz views libraries with scholarly dispas- sion, but some of his statements are sure to raise hackles among librarian readers. He considers the public library as an industry and the "bundling" of labor, buildings, and materials a "production process" to be opti- mized into a cost-efficient mix of services. Forty-seven of the fifty-nine branches of the New York Public Library are characterized as having benefits less than their annual cost of operation. He discusses the widely accepted public administration concepts of equity and redistribution of benefits-both are positive if benefits are larger for low- income families. He concludes that public libraries do "not tend to redistribute well- being from higher to lower income groups" because low-income groups do not us~ li- braries much. He favors charging fees whenever the li- brary incurs an· additional use. Further- more, it's appropriate to charge in excess of cost. In fact, the author thinks fees re- flecting the value of the service are perfect- ly O.K. The problem is setting the basis for the fee. Academic librarians should not ignore this disturbing book. Many of the ideas pre- sented and issues raised are pertinent for all libraries.-Ellen Altman, University of Ari- zona, Tucson. Studies in Creative Partnership: Federal Aid to Public Libraries during the New Deal. Edited by Daniel F. Ring. 262 I College & Research Libraries • May 1981 Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow, 1980. 154p. $8.50. LC 80_-15762. ISBN 0-8108- 1319-X. Studies in Creative Partnership examines . the uses to which federal aid generated by the period of the Great Depression was put in the public libraries of seven major Amer- ican cities: Baltimore, Cleveland, Chicago, New York, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, and San Francisco. The federal agencies re- sponsible for the sudden infusion of hun- dreds of newly employed workers into these civic libraries were all created from Presi- dent Roosevelt's New Deal legislation: the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA); the Civil Works Administration (CW A) ; and the most well known of the agencies , the Works Progress Administra- tion (WPA). Established in 1935, the WPA provided funds for library personnel to maintain and repair buildings , bind and mend books, serve in clerical and other paraprofessional posts, and provide support for large-scale bibliographical projects, such as union catalogs, which would probably not have been undertaken without additional help. Unlike Edward B. Stanford's monograph, Library Extension under the W .P .A. , which analyzed the national distribution of funds and examined their use at the state level, this anthology concentrates its attention at the grass-roots level of government. Its con- tributors have scrutinized local records to determine what the various projects were and to evaluate their utility and long-term success. As might be expected, the results were uneven . Chicago, for example, forged ahead with the production of major catalogs and bibliographies, while San Francisco, under a rather lackluster librarian , hired workers to perform as clerks, bookbinders, and typists. Libraries also showed variety in the ways in which WP A workers were inte- grated with the permanent staff; employee unrest characterized Baltimore ' s Enoch Pratt Free Library, while the New York Public Library's use of additional personnel appears to have gone smoothly. No doubt because of the paucity of records, this anthology heavily stresses the institutional response to the WPA program ; little pre- sumably remains attesting to reactions of the federally paid employees to their new work environment. As Fay Blake poignantly observes, "For San Francisco Public Library the Works Project Administration provided a steady, if unspectacular, source of assis- tance and support. For the people whose livelihood the Agency ensured it meant more." This anthology is helpful in broadening our knowledge of early programs of federal assistance in the seven libraries selected for study, but the relationship of these forms of grants activity to the larger issues soon to occupy the nation's public libraries in their search for federal aid is largely untouched. This lack of connection somewhat limits the book as a source for an understanding of the role of public libraries on the public policy agenda.-R . Kathleen Molz , Columbia Uni- versity, New York City . Closing the Catalog: Proceedings of the 1978 & 1979 Library and Information Technology Association Institutes. Edited by D. Kaye Gapen and Bonnie Juergens. Phoenix, Ariz.: Oryx Pr., 1980. 194p. $18.50. ISBN 0-912700-56-4. Closing the Catalog is more than a frank and comprehensive evaluation of the pros and cons of closing a catalog. This record of two Library and Information Technology Association (LITA) institutes offers an en- gaging philosophical discussion of the pur- poses of a library catalog and the future of bibliographic access . In addition to very practical treatises on closing the catalog at the New York Public Library , the New York State Library, the University of Toron- to, .and LC , this volume contains articles on such topics as the process of planning for the bibliographic future ; the impact of clos- ing on library organization and on reference services; past and present research that could affect library catalog design ; and opening the catalog, i.e. , making the catalog more relevant , sensitive, . and timely for the library user. Although some would argue that the topic of this work makes it auto- matically out of date , the content of the presenta_tions would belie any such claim. If ther_e is one message that this work emphasizes, it is that the adoption of AACR2 ·by itself is insufficient reason for closing a catalog. Despite dire consequenc- es-loss of continuity , indefinite creation ·