Recent Publications I 377 .. and practicing librarian or information practical observation. Yet through the famil specialist.-Audrey N. Grosch, University iar idiosyncrasies of his nature and his of Minnesota, Minneapolis. milieu emerges a picture of a genial, just, dedicated, and effective man. Dewey, Melvil. Melvil Dewey: His Endur Following a short but revealing biography ing Presence in Librarianship. Edited by in part I, part II, which forms the bulk of Sarah K. Vann. The Heritage of Librar the volume, groups selected professional ianship Series, no.4. Littleton, Colo.: Li papers of Dewey into fourteen subtopics, braries Unlimited, 1978. 278p. $17.50 each prefaced by a brief critical commen U.S. and Canada; $21 elsewhere. LC 77- tary. They cover his views on the American 21852. ISBN 0-87287-134-7. Library Association, women in librarianship, Here is another worthwhile contribution education for librarianship, library coopera to a growing body of works by and about tion, cataloging and classification, the Li the bearer of the best-known name in brary of Congress, public and academic li American library history. From Grosvenor braries, and glances toward the future and Dawe' s official eulogy, published under the the past. The bibliography in part III first Lake Placid Club imprint the year after identifies extant Dewey manuscript collec Melvil Dewey's death, to this latest compi tions. It next cites in chronological order his lation, biographers have given as much at editorial achievements and his library tention to revealing the man through his related publications. Finally it gives a useful writings as through their own narratives. survey of works about the man. The book Small wonder, for while the bulk of Dew closes with a general index. ey's publication during his lifetime is sub Few readers will proceed straight through stantial, that of his unpublished correspon this book from cover to cover. It is more a dence, notes, and diaries is even greater source for reference and browsing. Its chief and harder to access because of its disper impact will be to remind us how little in li sion and difficult shorthand. brary theory and practice is new. Terminol The editors of this work, and of the series ogy and modes of expression alter, but the to which it belongs, disclaim having pro issues are perennial, resulting in solutions duced the definitive study "so badly that frequently become cyclic. That is, the needed." Yet Sarah Vann researched an im issues transcend our temporal solutions. pressive list of sources to give us a concise They must be faced and "solved" by each biography, a useful selection from Dewey's new generation. Historical perspective be library writings, and a nearly definitive comes, then, not an excuse for skepticism or chronological bibliography. She mentions, irresponsibility, but an opportunity to learn but does not attempt to document, such from the experience of the past. Melvil other enthusiasms as simplified spelling, the Dewey packed into his eighty years a great metric system, and the Lake Placid Club. deal of observation and common sense that This biobibliography adds nothing star can inform and guide us today.-]eanne tling to our general acquaintance with a Osborn, The University of Iowa, Iowa City. nineteenth-century titan. Ardent, industri ous, high-principled, optimistic, hyperac "Libraries and Society: Research and tive, and opinionated, Dewey deliberately Thought." Phyllis Dain and Margaret F. chose librarianship as his primary sphere of Stieg, issue editors. Library Trends action. He was not merely a joiner but also 27:221-417 (Winter 1979). $5. ISSN a founder of lyceums, societies, and clubs. 0024-2594. (Available from: Univ. of Illi He planned, organized, and administered at nois Pr., Urbana, IL 61801.) every opportunity, attracting loyal support The need for librarians to study their re ers and antagonizing other strong-willed as lationship to society in these changing times sociates throughout his long career. He was is of prime importance. The library's role in more an activist than a contemplative our sociocultural milieu is dependent on scholar or researcher. His writings tend varied circumstances, technological ad toward exhortation, bolstered by fairly ab vances, changing human thought and be solutist pronouncements based on shrewd havior, to name but a few factors. This issue 378 I College & Research Libraries • July 1979 of Library Trends attempts to go beyond governance (equalization of educational op the usual summaries of what one can read portunity, research methodologies analyzing in •he field and attack the nagging problems public policymaking, accountability for pub that exist between librarians and society. It lic funds) have for libraries is treated by R. opens up an uncharted area for critical Kathleen Molz. Much study still remains in thinking and presents challenges unique to these areas. To be read in conjunction with our times. Asheim' s article, Richard L. Darling's ap What our professional goals were is thor proach to intellectual freedom and access to oughly discussed by Lester Asheim histori material during the last forty years would cally, and options presented as to where seem to preview the future. professional standards should lead. Beverly The history and current scene of Ameri P. Lynch contrasts two aspects of manage can education in the schools depicted by ment: its formal characteristics organized for Elaine Fain allows us to reexamine our past administrative efficiency and the informal and to seek how libraries can be significant processes whereby personnel react an in the educational system. Lewis F. Stieg's tagonistically toward service goals. insistence on the need for a theory in How demographic trends and social struc academic librarianship ties in beautifully ture will affect librarianship is foretold by with Martin's presentation. Academic li Lowell A. Martin in sections dealing with brary goals and objectives must relate to population growth, an older population, societal factors. women and the family, urban concentration F. W. Lancaster and Linda C. Smith de and dispersion, minorities and the poor, scribe the current pattern of disseminating class and libraries, and, finally, demand for research results and predict that the present continued social research in the library communication cycle will give way to the field. What implication certain issues of electronic mode, offering the librarian the role of an indispensable, respectable ex plorer of a tremendous electronic "library without walls." Robert D. Harlan and Bruce L. Johnson do not mince words as they lay MCGREGOR it on the line for librarians in reporting the recent trends in American book publishing. "PERSONALIZED Computer and communication technology SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE" with its effect on the library environment is Every customer is assigned an experienced "Home addressed by Joseph Becker, who recog Office" ntpresentatlve. You corntSpond direct; any title needs, changes, cancellations or problems can be nizes that technology alone cannot solve the handled promptly by letter or phone. This makes your problems of a pluralistic society. The chal job easier al}d keeps you abreast of your subscription lenge is before us. needs at all times. In spite of the fact that the editors are With over 45 years experl*nce, McGregor has built a reputation of prompt and courteous service on both aware of several other problems in our pro domestic and International titles. We pntpay subscrip fession, particularly as they relate to broad tions ahead of time. areas of concern in society, all of us can Our customers, large and small, like the prompt read at least this material with open minds attention we give them. We think you would tool Ask about McGregor's "Automatic Renewal" plan de and allow research by pertinent disciplines scribed in our new brochunt. Write today for your to have its impact on librarianship, as long free copy. OUR as we pick up the ball and run with it! Let 46th us thank the editors and writers for compil YEAR ing and organizing these topics into a worthwhile pattern for us to study.-Jovian P. Lang, O.F.M., St. John's University, Jamaica, New York.
Ash, Lee, comp. Subject Collections: A Mount Morris, llllnols61054 Guide to Special Book Collections and Subject Emphases lJ8 Reported by Uni-