Recent Publications I 71

used alone as a textbook for materials selec­ The essays are consistent and well writ­ tion classes, as too much is omitted or dealt ten, and the emphasis on the British scene with in summary fashion; used in conjunc­ should present no serious problem for most tion with other materials, however, it could North American readers. There is one an­ be a valuable contribution to the literature noying feature: the rather too g~nerous use of library materials selection.-Cathleen C. of acronyms in some essays, which requires Flanagan, University of Utah, Salt Lake frequent scurrying to the list in the front of City. the book in order to identify the organiza­ tion or group being discussed. The problem The College Library: A Collection of Es­ is doubtless greater for the North American says. Edited by George Jefferson and G . reader, since many of the organizations are C. K. Smith-Burnett. London: Clive British and Australian and not commonly re­ Bingley; Hamden, Conn.: Linnet Books, ferred to in our library literature. 1978. 208p. $12.50. LC 78-5945. ISBN The book is essentially factual and de­ 0-85157-252-9 Bingley; 0-208-01665-1 scriptive and does not invite much argu­ Linnet. ment. Each essay is well documented and Is a "college" library a unique combina­ provides a useful bibliography that the tion of resources and services, or is it like editors have conveniently left at the end of any other library of similar size forming part each section. The work is carefully edited, of an educational institution? The question only a few minor typographical errors hav­ is not posed by the authors of the nine es­ ing been missed. says in this volume, but the libraries they In spite of its positive features, the book describe do belong to a special class. They is not likely to command a wide readership are libraries in colleges of higher education, in North America. It is mainly useful for the polytechnics, and junior colleges mainly in student of recent library history or of com­ Great Britain. · parativt librarianship and for the beginning Their closest counterparts on this conti­ librarian in a community or junior college. nent are to be found in our community col­ -Dorothy F. Thomson , University of Ot­ leges and junior colleges. Most of these in­ tawa. stitutions offer a wide variety of programs to a heavy concentration of students who are Larsgaard, Mary. Map Librarianship: An served by a library of core materials, which­ Introduction. Library Science Text Se­ usually contains a high proportion of au­ ries. Littleton, Colo.: Libraries Unlim­ diovisual material in relation to its holdings ited, 1978. 330p. $17.50 U.S. and of the more conventional book stock. Canada; $21 elsewhere. LC 77-28821. Although the essays contain many refer­ ISBN 0-87287-182-7. ences to the North American situation, and Mary Larsgaard's Map Librarianship is the last essay is by a member of the staff of the first, and long awaited, North American ·a Canadian university library who discusses textbook on map librarianship. Its predeces­ the cooperative programs made possible by sor as the first textbook on the subject is automation-OCLC, BALLOTS, UTLAS, Nichols' Map Librarianship, reviewed in among others-most pages are devoted to the January 1977 C&RL. The Nichols vol­ the growth of the_college library in Britain ume has a strong English bias and, there­ during the past two decades. fore, more limited applications in the North There is a long essay on the history of the American context. college library and others on financing, or­ This new book is constructed in an un­ ganizing, and staffing and on the services usual but very practical manner. It is basi­ and training such libraries provide. The cally a massive review of the literature, with most interesting essays for the North footnote references in the form of author American reader are those devoted to or­ and date appearing directly after a state­ ganizational structure and to staffing. Many ment. For knowledgeable map librarians, of the problems defined have a familiar this means that the sources selected as the ring, and the solutions, though seldom new, basis for the theory or analysis of a topic are are refreshingly stated. immediately apparent. For novices they 72 I College & Research Libraries • january 1979

lead easily to more detailed literature in the cooperative cataloging, is the only real di­ field. rection to move in map cataloging to save This review of theories in the field does time and money. As she queries: Is a not stand alone but is coupled with a clear briefer system really so inexpensive if it has and incisive commentary from the author, to be done all over again in a few years' in most cases directing readers to the most time? practical approach to take in applying the The section on reference service perhaps theories to their own map collections. North stresses public relations, orientation, and Americans in the field of map librarianship user studies more than actual reference sometimes refrain from recommending one work; all are areas that have been over­ method over another in their articles to the looked until recently, particularly reference detriment of students and beginning map work. It is not surprising then that this librarians. It is to the credit of this author chapter is one of the shorter in the book; that she does take a stand in most cases and but considering that neither Nichols' Map reveals a very sane and intelligent grasp of Librarianship nor any other overview of the the possibilities, impossibilities, and poten­ field has included the topic in a separate tialities of operating map collections today. section, it has been very well covered here. The book follows a fairly standard pattern The chapter on storage and preservation of arrangement: A chapter on selection and covers most topics, from sources of paper acquisition is followed by two chapters on deterioration and repair methods to map classification and cataloging, a chapter on drawers and storage modes for wall maps, storage and preservation, one on public re­ plastic relief maps, etc, Since this is the lations and reference services, a chapter on topic most covered in the existing literature, administration and planning of facilities, and it might have been useful if the author had finally an overview. The book concludes a special section on practical repair and with fifteen appendixes covering a variety of handling in a small library, i.e., minimum topics and the bibliography. standards. The chapter on selection is somewhat un­ The administration chapter begins with a even, ranging rather too generally over the section on planning space layout, which, as theoretical problems vis-a-vis policy, basic the author points out, is affected by major map purchases, atlases, globes, and aerial concepts about the library, such as goals, photos, with all examples geared to an parent organization, and funding. She de­ American setting. votes a section to the presentation of a She does however make the point very budget, which has scarcely been covered clearly that selection and acquisition are before in the literature, and she discusses probably still the most difficult tasks in run­ the question of loans and photocopying in ning the map library because of lack of bib­ the light of the new U.S. copyright law. liographic control, the dispersed nature of The final part of this chapter is a series of the sources, the exclusion of maps from cen­ useful hints on moving the library. tral handling by government agencies, and Not all the appendixes are as successful as security controls. These problems can never they first appear. The sample acquisition be pointed out too frequently to the begin­ policy is not really detailed enough, while ning map librarian. the basic list of world atlases omits a major From the point of view of an instructor in new atlas: Rand McNally's The International map librarianship, the chapters on catalog­ Atlas (2d ed., Chicago, 1976). The source ing and classification are invaluable, as they lists are generally useful, as is the glossary provide excellent summaries of manual and of map terms. The bibliography is arranged computer map · cataloging systems as well as alphabetically because of the referencing the various theories in the field, including method and is very large and quite the conflict over main entry. The timing of adequate for further research. this summary is particularly pertinent, and The author's style is relaxed and in many the author emphasizes that standardization, places amusing and/or flip, depending on through use of MARC-Map formats, ISBD one's point of view. To experienced map li­ (CM), LC Class G, probably AACR II, and brarians, many of her jokes are almost apoc- Recent Publications I 13 ryphal and help to emphasize the problems. dation Center, treated information as a This text should supersede many of the commodity and discussed the economic im­ earlier (and poorer) articles in the field and plications posed by new technology; Gerald should be basic reading, for some time, for Shields of the School of Information and Li­ North American map librarians, whether brary Studies, SUNY Buffalo, invited experienced or beginners, and for nonmap analysis of the new role of librarians result­ librarians who want to know what is hap­ ing from that technology; and Fay Blake of penging in the field.-joan Winearls, Uni­ the School of Library Science, University of versity of Toronto. California at Berkeley, warned that public access to information must be determined, The Information Society: Issues and An­ not by technology, but by librarians with a swers. American Library Association's clear notion of their patrons' need. Presidential Commission for the 1977 De­ Following each address, the audience of troit Annual Conference. Edited with a some 1,500 participants broke up into small Preface and Introduction by E. J. Josey group discussions and proceeded to kick and a Foreword by Clara Stanton Jones. around these and other topics. It was, as A Neal-Schuman Professional Book. one participant said, "the world's largest Phoenix, Ariz.: Oryx Press, 1978. 133p. reactor panel." $11.95. LC 78-17708. ISBN 0-912700- It is chiefly as a record of the event that 16-5. publication of conference proceedings must The ALA program in Detroit two sum­ be judged, and as a record this one is intel­ mers ago attempted an ambitious departure ligently designed, well edited, and thor­ from the usual Annual Conference format: ough. Feedback from the discussion groups an ali-day, plenary, think/talk session de­ is summarized and presented along with the voted to an examination of some major texts of principal speeches; the editor's in­ problems librarians face in the emerging clusion of reviews of literature prepared as "post-industrial society." handouts for the discussion sessions-and in Five major speakers followed in the wake some instances the review essays were more of a keynote address by Norman Isaacs, a stimulating than the formal addresses communications specialist from Columbia's themselves-gives the volume some claim Graduate School of Journalism (who ha­ to utility. rangued the gathering on those Predictably, although some of the funda­ shortcomings of librarians-negativism, ar­ mental concerns are shared by academic li­ rogance, self-serving behavior, absurd brarians (especially the identity crisis of the bureaucratic routines-he presumed must professional librarian caught up in a chang­ stand in the way of libraries becoming ing economic and technological environ­ "working community centers," a function he ment), the public library context of the ses­ saw as their higher calling). sion, as well as its necessarily superficial OCLC director Fred Kilgour briefly re­ and hortatory treatment of issues, made viewed past applications of technology to li­ it-and makes its tardy report-of only in­ braries, chiefly in cataloging, and invited cidental interest to the vast majority of participants to speculate on the fountain of readers of this journal.-W. A. Moffett, beneficial effects about to shower forth as State University of New York, College at computer technology moved librarianship Potsdam. into "another of its great ages." New York State Senator Major Owens lambasted li­ Conroy, Barbara. Library Staff Develop­ brarians for failing to r~spond positively to ment and Continuing Education: Princi­ social change during the past twenty years ples and Practices. Littleton, Colo.: Li­ and, with the White House Conference in braries Unlimited, 1978. 268p. $17.50 mind, called for· greater participation by li­ U.S. and Canada; $21 elsewhere. LC 78- brarians in the government's policy-making 18887. ISBN 0-87287-177-0. procedures in order to overcome public in­ This book provides an in-depth presenta­ difference. tion of all aspects of establishing staff de­ Thomas Buckman, president of the Foun- velopment and continuing education pro-