College and Research Libraries Recent Publications COLLEGE & RESEARCH LIBRARIES Extended Library Education Programs: Proceedings of a Conference Held at the School of Library Service, Columbia University, 13-14 March 1980 , reviewed by Stuart Forth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381 An Information Agenda for the 1980s: Proceedings of a Colloquium , june 27-28, 1980 , reviewed by Richard A. Olsen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383 The Future of the Printed Word: The Impact and Implications of the New Communica- tions Technology, reviewed by Richard A. Olsen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383 Martin, Susan K. Library Networks, 1981-82 , reviewed by D. Kaye Capen . . . . . . . . . . 384 Advances in Librarianship , Volume 10 , reviewed by Norman D . Stevens . . . . . . . . . . . . 386 Rizzo, John R. Management for Librarians: Fundamentals and Issues , reviewed by Rosemary Ruhig Du Mont . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387 Bender, David R. Learning Resources and the Instructional Program in Community Colleges, reviewed by Judith Sessions ................... :. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388 Boss, Richard W. , and Marcum , Deanna B. "The Library Catalog: COM and On-Line Options," reviewed by James R. Dwyer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389 American Library Association. Resources and Technical Services Division . Filing Com- mittee. ALA Filing Rules, reviewed by Neal L. Edgar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389 United States. Library of Congress. Processing Services. Library of Congress Filing Rules , reviewed by Neal L. Edgar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389 Archivists and Machine-Readable Records. Proceedings of th e Conference on Archival Management of Machine-Readable Records , February 7-10, 1979, Ann Arbor, Michigan, reviewed by Sam Streit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391 Abstracts ... .. ......... . . ... ........ .. ..... , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393 Other Publications of Intere~t to Academic Librarians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395 BOOK REVIEWS Extended Library Education Programs: Pro- ceedings of a Conference Held at the School of Library Service, Columbia Uni- versity, 13-14 March 1980. Richard L. Darling and Terry Belanger, eds. New York: School of Library Service, Columbia University, 1980. 150p. $6 (postpaid). (Available from: School of Library Service, Columbia University, 516 Butler Library, New York, NY 10027.) As is the case with many professional con- ferences, the proceedings are doubtless more interesting to those who participated than to those who read them. While we all ought to be concerned about the issues raised at this one, I found the document somewhat disap- pointing. Those who spoke at the conference are worthy of our respectful attention: Lloyd H. Elliott, the president of George Washing- ton University, Deans Richard Darling, Robert Hayes, Edward Holley, Russell Bid- lack, Charles D. Churchwell, Katherine H. Packer, and Jane Anne Hannigan. I regret that Robert Taylor and Pauline Atherton were not included. President Elliott tried to provide the framework in which the papers were pre- sented. What he said was not new to most of us, though he said it well enough. Like most university presidents, he talked from the general which he knew, to the specific of which he knew rather less, but did succeed in reminding his colleagues of the broader issues with which higher education must contend now and in the future. The conference participants were con- cerned, properly, with the quality of their students, the training they get, their job op- portunities, their salaries, the impact of rapidly changing library practices on them, and what we who hire them do with them and for them. All are legitimate concerns of deans and faculties of library schools. But the papers as a whole seem to be more I 381 382 I College & Research Libraries • july 1981 The Zoological Record is No Ordinary Specimen! In fact, it's the world's largest taxonomic index to the zoological literature. • Covering more journals than any other zoological bibliography - at present over 6,000 annually • Providing complete coverage of these journals, with detailed references to over 45,000 papers each year • Forming a continuous bibliography since 1864, with back issues available Volume 115 (all sections) will be delivered to subscribers by December 1981. For subscription information and details please contact BIOSIS User Services. BioSciences Information Service 2100 Arch Street Philadelphia, PA 19103 USA Phone: 215-568-4016 • Toll free within Continental USA, except Pennsylvania (800) 523·4806 Telex: 831739 e Bt): concerned with the mechanics of library edu- cation, and specifically, of course, whether or not library schools should move to two-year programs and, if so, how such programs would improve the individual graduate. I was pleased to learn of their concern for the need for providing research experience, but there seemed to be too little critical, serious discus- sion about what that should encompass. In view of what passes for research in much of the literature of the profession, this is a seri- ous matter, and I felt a certain impatience with the discussions. I was reminded of Lucy Van Pelt's answer to the old question of how many angels can dance on the head of a pin: "Three if they're fat; six if they're thin." One can count on Lucy, if not always on our col- · leagues. By and large, the participants accounted themselves well, but I found myself wonder- ing if the conference was really necessary. As the administrator of a large library system undergoing the trauma of dramatic change (as is increasingly common around the country), I think this distinguished group of men and women might better have spent their time asking whether library education is trying to be all things to all people, whether we have too many library schools, whether we are producing too many librarians, whether we should actively recruit Ph.D.s from other dis- ciplines, whether or not we are stressing the mechanics and housekeeping functions of li- brarianship too much, and even, perhaps, whether or not the doctorate in librarianship is a defensibl~ degree for those in practice. Fair is fair, they did a bit of this . Within their agreed-upon charge to them- selves, they might have asked us more hard questions: Why do we use librarians in lending-service operations, in reserve rooms, in routine ordering and cataloging of current trade books, or in many administrative posi- tions in our libraries? Will two-year programs give us librarians with computer skills, with sophisticated management skills, and with political skills applicable to academia? Obviously the time spent on securing a graduate degree does and will affect what is learned, and resolving that may be a neces- sary first step toward more extensive cur- riculum revision. If our library schools are simply going to extend the traditional course offerings, with a soup~on of research thrown in, they will not be addressing the basic prob- lems of either library or information science. At present, leadership in the profession is coming from a few of those in charge of our great research libraries, from the developing networks and consortia, and from the infor- mation industry itself, not primarily from the nation's library schools. Jane Anne Hannigan's summary chapter is perhaps the best part of this document. She asks, both directly and indirectly, many of the questions the participants touched on all too briefly (if at all), one of which I can answer: "Yes, Ms. Hannigan, we are still 'creating serfs to the faculty' of our institutions." In part this is because library education is simply not demanding enough, not tough enough (whatever its length), and in part because we are having to hire those who are not librarians (and pay them more, I might note) to get the work done that is now necessary in academic libraries. This conference was useful in that this group of men and women publicly began ad- dressing some of the profession's most serious problems, if only by indirection. It was but a tentative first step, and as the Council on Li- brary Resources, and the Association of Re- search Libraries become increasingly con- cerned about library education, as they are, we may at last develop the kind of symbiotic relationship we need between academic li- braries and the library schools that, to date, has at best' existed only in form, not sub- stance. All libraries and librarians will be the better for it.-Stuart Forth, The Pennsyl- vania State University, University Park. An Information Agenda for the 1980s: Pro- ceedings of a Colloquium, June 27-28, 1980. Ed. by Carlton C. Rochell. Chicago: American Library Assn., 1981. 154p. $6.50. LC 80-28634. ISBN 0-8389-0336-3. The Future of the Printed Word: The Impact and Implications of the New Communica- tions Technology. Ed. by Philip Hills. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1981. 172p. $25. LC 80-1716. ISBN 0-313-22693-8. I Here are two books that command atten- tion because they offer just enough basic in- formation and speculation on some of the forces affecting librarianship to stimulate thought. Foremost is a splendid volume con- taining the proceedings of the invitational col- Recent Publications I 383 loquium entitled An Infonnation Agenda for · the 1980s, held at New York University in June 1980 under the auspices of the American Library Association. It brings to the general reader and librarian alike a rich vein of opin- ion on perceptions of the information issues presumably emerging during this decade. The papers selected for publication include those by Lewis M. Branscomb, Douglas Cater, Benjamin M. Com paine, Robert Wedgeworth, Martin M. Cummings, and Dan Lacy. Especially noteworthy is an excel- lent introductory essay by Carlton C. Rochell, which highlights and integrates the major elements of the papers and discussions heard at the colloquium. The advent of information processing on a large scale through electronically based technology raises a host of questions that must be addressed by all segments of society, as well as by leaders in government, com- munications, education, and library service. For this reason, the publication of these thought-provoking papers serves to identify pertinent issues, which, taken as a whole, outline the potential impact of a fundamental change that society is just beginning to ex- perience. Branscomb aptly describes what might be the scope of such change during the next hundred years in the first paper, "Infor- mation: The Ultimate Frontier," and then narrows his focus in "Library Implications of Information Technology." Clarity of expres- sion and keen insight enable him to convey a view of the issues associated with the elec- tronic libraries of the future in a manner that makes them easy to comprehend. Cater treats what could be the central issue of the topic in his paper, "Human Values in the Information Society," when he shifts attention to the pos- sible effects of new technology on mankind. He states, "It is past time that we begin to measure with greater sophistication and then to ponder more deeply the changes in society being wrought by the way we gather, trans- mit, and employ information. We are already well into this revolution and remarkably few people give systematic thought to its conse- quences for good or ill." Compaine's paper, "Shifting Boundaries in the Information Marketplace," summarizes the variety of information systems available now and contemplated during this decade and provides examples of how they may be