College and Research Libraries ~--------- - -------------------------------------------------------------~ 4U College & Research Libraries consistency in substantive content is lack- ing to the point that it weakens the edi- tors' intent. In many cases data are con- densed to the point that little current or historical information is obtained by the reader in a consistent fashion, resulting in unbalanced overviews. For example, cap- tions to the illustrations (p.117) of two Af- rican libraries reflect out-of-date terminol- ogy. Rhodesia became Zimbabwe in 1980, and Haile Selassie University has not offi- cially been known by that name since 1974. Brief and concise area studies are a re- quirement for this work since one inten- tion is to use them to develop and test the editors' analytical framework. Therefore, lengthy areas studies, for example, such as one finds in the International Handbook of Contemporary Developments in Librarianship (1981), would not be appropriate. What is needed in World Librarianship is more con- sistent, balanced, and substantive area studies edited to be less discursive in con- tent. What is also needed in World Librari- anship are up-to-date bibliographic cita- tions. The weaknesses of the area studies are reflected in the notes to the text. There are just over 180 notes, a substantial num- ber of which come from the same source, the Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science, which itself contains out-of-date material. References to current in-depth studies in the bibliography of the book it- self are lacking as well. Of the approxi- mately 160 entries, only about five date from 1978 to the present. Furthermore, current editions are not cited. For exam- ple, the 1976 edition of the International Guide to Library, Archival, and Information Science Associations is cited instead of the 1980 edition, and the 1970 edition of A Handbook of Comparative Librarianship is cited instead of the 1975 or 1983 editions. Intended as a text, the methodological framework for analysis the editors have developed in World Librarianship will, in spite of the work's weaknesses, be of in- terest to students and teachers of compar- ative librarianship.-David L. Easterbrook, University of Illinois at Chicago. Serials Management in an Automated Age. Proceedings of the First Annual September 1984 Serials Conference, October 30-31, 1981, Arlington, Va. Ed. by Nancy Jean Melin. Westport, Conn.: Meckler, 1982. 101p. $35. LC 82-2302. ISBN 0-930466- 48-9. Although many of the papers in this slim volume are already becoming dated, it does contain a wealth of information for the serials manager attempting to deal with serials in a time of great change. Many of the articles contain excellent bibli- ographies and serve well, both as an intro- duction to the topic and as a starting point for further research. The papers are well chosen, and cover a diversity of topics: ''The Journal of the Year 2000'' (Thomas B. Hickey); "Playing by the Rules- AACR2 and Serials" (Ruth C. Carter), "Going Online with Serials" (Minna C. Saxe); "Order from Chaos? Standardizing Serials" (Gary Ink); Indexes and Abstracts-What Lies Ahead" (Robert E. Stobaugh, David W. Weisgerber, and Ronald L. Wigington); "Resource Sharing of Serials-Past, Present and Prospective: Old Wine in New Bottles or Substantial Change?" (C. James Schmidt); and "Au- tomating the Serials Manager: New Direc- tions, New Opportunities" (Nancy Jean Melin). The book also includes an intro- duction by Melin and a summary by Milo Nelson. The papers contain excellent anal- yses of the present state of the field and fu- ture predictions. Many of the presenters bring forth problems for consideration along with some suggested solutions. Even though it is overpriced ($35 for 101 pages), I recommend this book for pur- chase by anyone dealing with the collec- tion or management of serials and for all libraries with a large library science collection.-]ames Mouw, University of Illi- nois at Chicago. Scientific Information Systems in Japan. Ed. by Hiroshi Inose. Amsterdam: North- Holland, 1981. 257p. $56. LC 81-1658. ISBN 0-444-86151-3. This collection of thirty-four technical papers is intended for the serious scholar/ student of database management systems in scientific research. The final report of a three-year project supported by Japan's Ministry of Education, Science, and Cui- •