reviews 98 College & Research Libraries January 1997 America) to illustrate how public and corporate sector policy regulates radio, television, and movies. Although Lacy’s comfort in his knowl- edge of the communication industry, particularly with regard to interactions between publishing and other media, is in evidence throughout this work, there are several important shortcomings. Without any explanation, much of the corpus of recent writings in communi- cation studies, whether by media crit- ics (such as Ben Bagdikian or Herbert Schiller) or researchers and critical theo- rists, has been given little attention in the construction of the author ’s argu- ments. This is particularly ironic given their focus on critiquing media monopo- lies, power, and hegemony. Also, in his discussion of computer-based commu- nication, Lacy gives scant attention to the impact of networked communica- tion in general and of the Internet in particular. Given the breadth of recent literature in this area, his arguments are somewhat constrained by his focus on a relatively limited range of informa- tion technologies. Finally, Lacy’s thesis on the history of communication in society rests on his interpretation of the idea of progress. As useful as his work is for understand- ing the development of communication in Europe and the United States, it is less relevant to understanding commu- nication systems in other cultures. Early on, he engages in a troubling discus- sion in which he distinguishes between oral and written cultures. “In oral soci- eties,” Lacy asserts, “only a few works could be so frequently performed, like those of Homer, as to acquire a more or less stable and recognized identity. It would be difficult to conceive of an extensive body of separate, individually recognized works in an oral culture. Writing made possible the existence of many hundreds, even thousands, of identifiable works, fixed in form, usually of identifiable authorship, and self-consciously created in recognized genres.” Although society at large has clearly benefited from the transcribed narratives, tales, and histories of oral cultures, along with other ways of pre- serving and communicating culture (through art, music, and other forms of expression), Lacy’s contention under- values the presence of sophisticated systems of communication among di- verse cultures by placing a higher pre- mium on the written record. This last point has two consequences. First, toward the end of the book Lacy expresses grave concerns over the “in- formation disenfranchised,” arguing a widely held belief that many people— even whole societies—are information poor because they lack access to avail- able information within the mainstream of communication systems. (Alterna- tively, resolution of this dilemma may begin with analysis of such populations through a different lens, one that is fo- cused on understanding the nature of their methods of communication.) Sec- ond, the gigabytes of new and emerg- ing computer-based technologies are proving to have a much greater capac- ity than print to accommodate different forms of communication among cul- tures, particularly where such cultures rely on oral or visual transmission of knowledge. At the end of his book, Lacy writes, “Successive advances in communica- tions technology and skills have given us an almost inconceivable power both to master and shape reality and share the capacity benignly throughout soci- ety. How we use that power and how broadly we share it will depend on our wisdom and will.” Lacy has, in the end, contributed to our conversation on this important issue.—William C. Welburn, University of Iowa, Iowa City. Reilly, James M., Douglas W. Nishi-mura, and Edward Zinn. New Tools for Preser- Book Reviews 99 vation: Assessing Long-Term Environmen- tal Effects on Library and Archives Col- lections. Washington, D.C.: Commis- sion on Preservation and Access, 1995. 35p. $10, alk. paper. (ISBN 1-887334-46-7.) In this work from the combined author- ity of the Image Permanence Institute (IPI) and the Commission on Preserva- tion and Access (CPA), the authors pro- pose a new, detailed, and, with impor- tant qualifications, more precise means by which temperature and relative hu- midity in libraries and other collections- holding institutions may be measured, recorded, and interpreted. The proce- dures and explanations are clearly pre- sented, but a knowledge of chemical re- actions is required for a full understan- ding. The accompanying figures, tables, and charts are necessary supplements to the text and, on the whole, are under- standable. Perhaps of minor signifi- cance, but noticeable to the reader fa- miliar with the preservation literature, is the positive tone taken by the authors; they speak in terms of change toward improved conditions rather than merely recording the negative. The two new concepts in New Tools for Preservation are the preservation in- dex (PI) and the time-weighted preser- vation index (TWPI). A collection area’s PI, the temperature and relative humid- ity (RH) at any particular moment, is given a value in terms of years for the expected life span of any organic, “short-lived materials” such as acidic paper or acetate film. The life span is determined by the point at which the PI temperature and PI humidity lines meet on a chart. This process follows that de- scribed in the 1994 CPA publication by Donald K. Sebera titled Isoperms: An En- vironmental Management Tool. Recogniz- ing that storage conditions fluctuate, the PI values are recorded over a pe- riod of time (ideally a year) and are av- eraged to arrive at the TWPI. It is the TWPI that reveals the life expectancy, in terms of chemical deterioration only, for any organic material stored in the location from which the readings are taken. The device developed for mea- suring, recording, and displaying the four factors of temperature, humidity, PI, and TWPI is the preservation envi- ronment monitor (PEM). The procedure is much the same as measuring, record- ing, and averaging environmental con- ditions using a thermometer and a hy- grometer, with the exception of the value of years assigned to the readings. This new means for monitoring environ- mental conditions is meant to be less cumbersome than using the older meth- ods, with more precise, “bottom-line” data made accessible. Although most of the procedures and results are evident to someone famil- iar with the effects of temperature and humidity on library materials, under- standing some aspects of the authors’ recommendations requires more than a passing knowledge of chemistry. Some of the obvious questions raised in the text can be answered only in terms of more complex chemical pro- cesses. An example of such a question is how a life span in numbered years can be assigned to an object just by knowing the average temperature and humidity of the location in which the object is stored. Appendix II is very helpful for a more detailed explanation of how these life spans were determined using reac- tion rates from accelerated aging tests. It is stated that one need not be an ex- pert to understand the TWPI concept, but considering that communication of these procedures is one of their stated goals, is it possible to communicate the concept accurately and field questions from an audience without having fur- ther expertise? If these concepts can- not be adequately presented, an admin- istrator may be likely to allow environ- mental conditions along the more lib- eral and controversial guidelines put 100 College & Research Libraries January 1997 forth by the Smithsonian study (Ellen McCrady, “Temperature and RH Guide- lines Challenged by Smithsonian,” Ab- bey Newsletter 18:44, 1994). The assignment of precise years of life for a given set of environmental readings could be easily misread or mis- understood. One cannot state that a book housed consistently in an area of 72 degrees Fahrenheit with an RH of 50 percent will have a useful life of thirty-three years, even though this is the PI value given for these readings on the chart. The authors correctly point out that PI is “general” and “is not meant as a predictor of the useful life of any object.” Would an administrator or casual listener at a presentation catch this qualification? The temptation exists to hold these PI and TWPI values in years as absolutes. There are some other very impor- tant qualifications described in New Tools regarding the PI values. These values are assessed only for “short-lived” ma- terials such as acidic paper and acetate film, although as noted, alkaline paper would benefit from improved condi- tions. Further, the value is determined by chemical deterioration alone. Even though the study is concerned with en- vironmental conditions, mold growth and vermin infestation are not consid- ered here. Certainly there are other preservationists who would cringe at the finding that, according to the TWPI, storage in a basement is better than storage in a closet. Finally, although the values “assume” that all organic mate- rial deteriorates at the same rate, the authors state that this “assumption is . . . not strictly true.” The National Endowment for the Hu- manities has awarded IPI a grant to test these new concepts of PI and TWPI us- ing the PEM. I look forward to seeing the results and to learning which insti- tutions were chosen to take part in the research. As presented in New Tools, the process would best serve larger insti- tutions where the commitment already exists to maintain a strong, influential, and permanent preservation program. Smaller institutions may want to stay with the simpler, thermometer/ hygrom- eter method to monitor and record stor- age conditions.—James W. Mason, San Francisco. Remer, Rosalind. Printers and Men of Capi- tal: Philadelphia Book Publishers in the New Republic. Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania Pr., 1996. 210p. $34.95, alk. paper. (ISBN 0-8122- 3337-9.) LC 95-51384. This succinct, but thorough study ex- plores the economics of the production, marketing, and distribution of books (not newspapers, periodicals, or job printing) in the United States from the 1790s to about 1830. Using Philadelphia as a case study, the author focuses on the people producing books during this period and their transformation from low-risk print- ers to entrepreneurial publishers (e.g., Mathew Carey). The book trade in Phila- delphia, the republic’s capitol during the 1790s, is known for its variety of output during the 18th century, and abundant specific evidence survives in the form of correspondence, account books, city directories, and the books themselves. All too often, we do not stop to exam- ine how and why a book was produced. Remer explores the process at a time of transition from reliance on the trade overseas to self-sufficiency, from the general to the specialized, from crafts- man to middle-class merchant, from lo- cal to broader markets—and before rail- roads and banks. She discusses finan- cial risks, patronage and politics, choice of texts, the decline of journeymen, competition and cooperation, wholesal- ing, credit and bankruptcy, exchange and commission, sources of type and paper, relationships with binders, how accounts were kept, development of new markets, preachers and peddlers as distributors in the back country, and << /ASCII85EncodePages false /AllowTransparency false /AutoPositionEPSFiles true /AutoRotatePages /All /Binding /Left /CalGrayProfile (Dot Gain 20%) /CalRGBProfile (sRGB IEC61966-2.1) /CalCMYKProfile (U.S. Web Coated \050SWOP\051 v2) /sRGBProfile (sRGB IEC61966-2.1) /CannotEmbedFontPolicy /Warning /CompatibilityLevel 1.3 /CompressObjects /Tags /CompressPages true /ConvertImagesToIndexed true /PassThroughJPEGImages true /CreateJobTicket false /DefaultRenderingIntent /Default /DetectBlends true /DetectCurves 0.0000 /ColorConversionStrategy /CMYK /DoThumbnails false /EmbedAllFonts true /EmbedOpenType false /ParseICCProfilesInComments true /EmbedJobOptions true /DSCReportingLevel 0 /EmitDSCWarnings false /EndPage -1 /ImageMemory 1048576 /LockDistillerParams false /MaxSubsetPct 1 /Optimize true /OPM 1 /ParseDSCComments true /ParseDSCCommentsForDocInfo true /PreserveCopyPage true /PreserveDICMYKValues true /PreserveEPSInfo true /PreserveFlatness false /PreserveHalftoneInfo true /PreserveOPIComments false /PreserveOverprintSettings true /StartPage 1 /SubsetFonts false /TransferFunctionInfo /Apply /UCRandBGInfo /Preserve /UsePrologue false /ColorSettingsFile () /AlwaysEmbed [ true ] /NeverEmbed [ true ] /AntiAliasColorImages false /CropColorImages false /ColorImageMinResolution 151 /ColorImageMinResolutionPolicy /OK /DownsampleColorImages true /ColorImageDownsampleType /Bicubic /ColorImageResolution 300 /ColorImageDepth -1 /ColorImageMinDownsampleDepth 1 /ColorImageDownsampleThreshold 1.10000 /EncodeColorImages true /ColorImageFilter /DCTEncode /AutoFilterColorImages true /ColorImageAutoFilterStrategy /JPEG /ColorACSImageDict << /QFactor 0.15 /HSamples [1 1 1 1] /VSamples [1 1 1 1] >> /ColorImageDict << /QFactor 0.15 /HSamples [1 1 1 1] /VSamples [1 1 1 1] >> /JPEG2000ColorACSImageDict << /TileWidth 256 /TileHeight 256 /Quality 30 >> /JPEG2000ColorImageDict << /TileWidth 256 /TileHeight 256 /Quality 30 >> /AntiAliasGrayImages false /CropGrayImages false /GrayImageMinResolution 151 /GrayImageMinResolutionPolicy /OK /DownsampleGrayImages true /GrayImageDownsampleType /Bicubic /GrayImageResolution 300 /GrayImageDepth -1 /GrayImageMinDownsampleDepth 2 /GrayImageDownsampleThreshold 1.10000 /EncodeGrayImages true /GrayImageFilter /DCTEncode /AutoFilterGrayImages true /GrayImageAutoFilterStrategy /JPEG /GrayACSImageDict << /QFactor 0.15 /HSamples [1 1 1 1] /VSamples [1 1 1 1] >> /GrayImageDict << /QFactor 0.15 /HSamples [1 1 1 1] /VSamples [1 1 1 1] >> /JPEG2000GrayACSImageDict << /TileWidth 256 /TileHeight 256 /Quality 30 >> /JPEG2000GrayImageDict << /TileWidth 256 /TileHeight 256 /Quality 30 >> /AntiAliasMonoImages false /CropMonoImages false /MonoImageMinResolution 600 /MonoImageMinResolutionPolicy /OK /DownsampleMonoImages true /MonoImageDownsampleType /Bicubic /MonoImageResolution 1200 /MonoImageDepth -1 /MonoImageDownsampleThreshold 1.16667 /EncodeMonoImages true /MonoImageFilter /CCITTFaxEncode /MonoImageDict << /K -1 >> /AllowPSXObjects false /CheckCompliance [ /None ] /PDFX1aCheck false /PDFX3Check false /PDFXCompliantPDFOnly false /PDFXNoTrimBoxError true /PDFXTrimBoxToMediaBoxOffset [ 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 ] /PDFXSetBleedBoxToMediaBox true /PDFXBleedBoxToTrimBoxOffset [ 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 ] /PDFXOutputIntentProfile () /PDFXOutputConditionIdentifier () /PDFXOutputCondition () /PDFXRegistryName () /PDFXTrapped /False /CreateJDFFile false /Description << /ENU (IPC Print Services, Inc. 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