320 / College b- Research Libraries • March 1968 trace public taste in these titles and in From this "chief manuscript of our profes- looking toward the future could use them sional history," Mr. Holley has chosen as a starting point for speculation. The seventy-four items; and from other con- yearly lists in the present volume have more temporary sources (e.g., American Library appeal for the student of social history and Journal, The Nation, Publishers' Weekly), literary taste than the over-all lists because he has selected twenty-six items which they reflect events, crises, and changing complement and supplement the scrapbook mores through a period of years. documents. He has edited this material Generally speaking, the popular book ap- wisely and with discrimination, and has peals to the reader because it is influenced provided an informative and authoritative, by the same forces that shape the non- interesting, and gracefully written intro- reading hours. A record of best sellers duction to the work. is a record of social history. Alice Payne Since many of the letters and postcards Hackett has provided a valuable record and merely express approval of an interest in guide to source material in several fields in the conference-idea, only a representative her 70 Years of Best Sellers.—Martha Boaz, sample of such communications is repro- University of Southern California. duced. Most of the letters "containing con- crete suggestions for conference discussion, Raking the Historic Coals: The A.L.A. or relating to the major conference figures" Scrapbook of 1876. By Edward G. Hol- are included. ley. (Beta Phi Mu Chapbook Number The letters concerning topics for confer- Eight) [Urbana, Illinois]: Beta Phi Mu, ence papers and discussion reveal that li- 1967. xv, 142p. $6. (67-28354). brarians in 1876 were interested in such matters, among others, as bibliography, During 1876 the United States celebrated cataloging and classification, copyright, its centennial in a huge exhibition in Phila- distribution of public documents, indexing, delphia. In October a group of this coun- library cooperation, qualifications of librar- try's leading librarians (ninety men and ians, statistics. How familiar these topics thirteen women) came together in the City sound in 1968—ninety-two years later! of Brotherly Love for three days, for the "There is no new thing under the sun." purpose of "mutual consultation and practi- Among those planning the conference or cal cooperation." Raking the Historic Coals exchanging letters about it were Justin presents by means of one hundred selected Winsor (Boston public library), William documents the story of the preparations Frederick Poole (Chicago public library), for this conference which witnessed the Charles Ammi Cutter (Boston Athenaeum), founding of the American Library Associa- Richard Rogers Bowker and Frederick Ley- tion with Melvil Dewey being the first to poldt (Publishers' Weekly), Charles Evans sign the membership register. (Indianapolis public library), Lloyd Pear- The volume here under review is based sail Smith (Library Company of Phila- on a scrapbook of letters, postcards, and dephia), Ainsworth Rand Spofford (Library printed documents called "Librarians' Con- of Congress), and, of course, Melvil Dewey ference, October, 1876" which the author- (Amherst College library). Their letters editor found at ALA headquarters while reveal much about these early library lead- working on his award-winning biography, ers—their healthy prejudices, their opinions Charles Evans, American Bibliographer of colleagues, their views on various library (University of Illinois Press, 1963). The matters, their hopes for the conference. scrapbook contains "216 items, mostly auto- graph letters, beginning with Justin Win- Reading the letters of the great and the sor's response of May 18, 1876, to a [Mel- near-great, the well-known and the not-so- vil] Dewey-[Frederick] Leypoldt letter well-known, holds a certain fascination for about supporting a conference and conclud- many. Those in the library profession so ing with the advance proofs from the first fascinated will not want to miss reading issue of the American Library Journal which these letters of librarianship's pioneers as described the Conference program for the they prepared for the 1876 meeting in meeting in Philadelphia, October 4-6, 1876." Philadelphia. Librarians generally—library Book Reviews / 321 history buffs particularly—will long be in of other Municipal Library Buildings; and debt to Edward G. Holley for having re- Tabulated Data of other County Library kindled the historic coals of the conference Buildings. out of which came the American Library The Commentary contains a good sum- Association. As for the book itself, it is mary of public library architectural trends beautifully printed, admirably illustrated, and recommendations. It is all too short handsomely bound—a credit to the publish- in proportion to the book as a whole. This er, the printer, and the designers. Raking reviewer would have appreciated more the Historic Coals is a solid contribution to comments and thinking by the authors, for library history, to the literature of librarian- they are in a position to exert great influence ship, and, what is more, it is a real charmer. on future public library buildings. Indeed —John David Marshall, Middle Tennessee it is a pity that the text was not available State University. to architects and librarians before some of the structures illustrated were built. It British Public Library Buildings. By is exciting to think that a team of architects S. G. Berriman and K. C. Harrison. New in the Ministry of Education is producing York: London House and Maxwell, 1966. prototype library plans for varying sizes 260p. $25. of communities. These, however, should be subject to continual review for changes re- Public library architecture has long been quired as new services or equipment is re- debated, discussed (and cussed), and quired and there should be reasonable ac- studied. Too often there has been more ceptance of the prototype plans by all con- wind than logic; too often architectural cerned—public, librarian, and architect. whims or professional prejudices have There is a danger also, of course, in that dominated the scene, and the convenience the prototype will be duplicated without of the user or aesthetic qualities have suf- thought as to local requirements for site fered. and local services. Experimentation and As the authors have rightly pointed out logical evolution must not be squelched. in their monumental record of postwar The volume is well illustrated, giving in British public library construction, public many instances a real dimension to the libraries the world over were freed from plans. It would have been helpful to have the ornate institutionalism found in build- had the plans all drawn to the same scale ings constructed prior to the 1940's. Un- and to have had tabulations of pertinent doubtedly two important factors influenced statistics. Some floor plans give neither this change: one a breath of fresh air the scale used nor the square footage. This, created by architects, working with newer however, is a most welcome volume which materials and under a different economy will lead to further thinking on public thus permitting materials hitherto too ex- library building problems.—Emerson Green- pensive for public buildings; and the other, away, Free Library of Philadelphia. a completely new understanding on the part of librarians, not only for the functional Formulation of Research Policies; Col- operational needs of the staff, but also great- lected Papers from an International Symposium. By Lawrence W. Bass, and er consideration for the interrelationship of Bruce S. Olds, eds. [Washington, D.C.] uses of a public library by the public. This American Association for the Advance- in many buildings has produced a happy ment of Science, 1967. 210p. (Publica- combination in a joint understanding and tion No. 87). (67-29695). relationship between architect and librar- ian. A study of this volume will indicate Research forty years ago, according to a the extent to which this has occurred in colleague, was less than a respectable ac- Britain. tivity for a young PhD in chemistry. In The book, containing an index, is divided recent decades research has taken on an into seven sections: Commentary; Municipal entirely different character and is, in fact, Main Libraries; County Library Headquar- in Formulation of Research Policies the sub- ter Buildings; Municipal Branch Libraries; ject for attention of nineteen ranking offi- County Branch Libraries; Tabulated Data cials in government and industry.