84 College & Research January 1983 it does not address either set of questions 11Popular Culture and Libraries." Wayne well. A. Wiegand, issue editor. Drexel It scrupulously avoids tackling the ques­ Quarterly, V.16, no.3 (July 1980). Phila­ tion of copyright by stating that this was to delphia, Pa.: Drexel University, 1980. be omitted by direction of the commis­ 99p. $6. ISSN 0012-6160. sion. This issue is, of course, central to any During the past century there has been a discussion of electronic document deliv­ continual increase in the quantity and di­ ery. However, there is a fair amount of versity of popular culture produced for cost detail, which is stated in terms of Eu­ mass distribution. Every new communica­ ropean currency units, which allows for tions technology has been used for the recalculation into U.S. dollars. By carrying manufacture and distribution of yet more through their figures, I was able to deter­ artifacts designed to distract, amuse, de­ mine that the ARTEMIS system might be light, or otherwise engage the attention of operated for roughly the same cost as to­ the consumer. People of all ages and from day's document delivery, but with a sub­ all walks of life-be they rich or poor, stantial reduction in the average delivery young or old-have displayed before time. them the glittering, glamorous, exciting, In summary, the has its useful seductive possibilities of modern media. points and it does do what the dust-cover There is no indication that this is going to says, "It takes us one step closer to change in the near future. One area of the ultimate goal of information on popular culture production may decline demand." -Donald B. Simpson, Director (e.g., the current decline in the production and Chief Executive Officer, The Center for Re­ · of popular music recordings), but the gap search Libraries, Chicago, Illinois. is quickly filled by some new diversion. Do any of these artifacts have any re­ deeming features? Do they enhance life or degrade it? Do any of them belong in the library? These are interesting questions, and they are important. But the fact is that the culture of the United States is predom­ Heritage on inantly a popular culture, and this is something that no librarian is ever going Microfilnt to change. For those librarians who re­ main unconvinced of this, the work in Rare and out-of-print titles hand provides cogent arguments for tak­ and documents on 35mm ing popular culture very, very seriously. silver halide microfilm. Throughout, there is a pervasive assump­ tion th~t we are dealing with materials and • French before 1601 services that are not just important to li­ • Scandinavian Culture braries, but are central to the function of • 18th Century English Literature the library in the modern world. Because • Victorian Fiction of its nature and its role in life, popular • Literature of Folklore culture is, ipso facto, a necessary part of • Hispanic Culture the library's programs. In his introduction, the editor rational­ Send for catalog and title izes the need for the library's involvement information today. with popular culture on the basis of some of his own experiences and on the works of Brenda Dervin and Herbert Cans. The core of the argument is that popular­ ,.. 1~~ culture artifacts acquire meaning only 70 Coolidge Hill Road Watertown, MA 02172 within the lives of the people who experi­ (617) 926-5557 ence them. The point is this: any evalua­ tive criteria that do not take into account Recent Publications ·ss the phenomena as experienced by those Librarians who do commit resources to who have the experience is not valid. popular-culture collections will find this Beauty is in the mind of the beholder, and work a valuable guide.-Gordon Stevenson, the mind of the beholder is the product of State University of New York, Albany; a life-style and a cultural milieu; popular culture is used to structure an ordered re­ Fling, Robert Michael. Shelving Capacity ality; it is essentially an experience. in the Music Library. (MLA Technical Re­ The opening essay by Ray B. Browne ports, no.7) Philadelphia: Music Library provides the conceptual framework for Association, 1981. 36p. $7.25. ISBN what is to follow. His is as eloquent a ra­ 0-914-95420-2. tionale for the central role of the library as The planning of areas for one will find anywhere. Although others books is a topic that has been studied with have written of the ''appalling'' extent to increasingly serious attention, but never which libraries have ignored popular cul­ before has there been published a techni­ ture, Browne is not so pessimistic. We cal report devoted to the planning of new then get to practical issues in a series of six or expanded music library stacks. This essays on collections, building, ground-breaking study reveals newly de­ services, and programs. veloped formulas for calculating shelving William L. Schtirk provides practical capacities for music scores and sound re­ perspectives from his point of view in aca­ cordings, the storage of which usually demia (he is in charge of the Popular Cul­ poses special problems because of the ture Library at Bowling Green State Uni­ multiplicity of their sizes, shapes, and for­ versity, Ohio). Jannette Fiore describes mats. the Russel B. Nye Collection at Michigan The basic methodology is straightfor­ State University. ward: calculate the average number of B. Lee Cooper is interested, as he has scores or recordings that would occupy been for a long time, in the educational any twelve inches of shelf, determine the uses of popular culture: What does it tell thickness of the average item, and project us about ourselves and our society? He shelving capacity based on existing linear also outlines his idea for a comprehensive feet of shelf. Finally, convert these linear popular-culture information system. A feet into square feet, in terms of hypotheti­ public library perspective is provided by cal stack areas. Janet K. Schroeder, who makes some im­ Beyond the usual planning factors of portant points on how the public library's shelving materials, shelf depth, aisle approach to popular culture is quite differ­ width, and density of reader population, ent from that of the academic library. Fred the author takes into account a number of E. H. Schroeder's "Collecting and Using other significant variables. For example, Popular Photographs" (p.73-88) is suc­ the chapter on scores provides separate cinct and thorough; in fact, it is the finest measurements for collections in which piece now available on the theoretical and miniature scores might be either inte­ practical issues related to the much­ grated or segregated, for specific classifi­ neglected area of still photographs. The is­ cations within the sue closes with a discussion, by John M. Class M for music, and for collections that Forbes, of the role of the library in dealing need to have stack ranges spaced closer with materials of American popular than usual. The chapter on recordings dance. considers shelf arrangement by accession All of this is very convincing, and after number and by classification schemes, it, one is inclined to conjecture and shelving capacities for disc recordings that the issues, insofar as they are of inter­ are presented according to various ratios est to academic librarians, are not so much of single LPs to boxed sets. For tape re­ those of the ''elite versus popular culture'' co~dings, distinct capacity measurements genre as of the efficient and equitable allo­ are provided for steel shelving and cation of limited economic resources in the wooden shelving. face of demands from many disciplines. The book also includes a summary of