594 College & Research Libraries September 1989

• we debated whether to have children • we failed to get tenure and became inde- before our Ph.D.s, after our Ph.D.s, or pendent scholars. not at all. We have not "got it all." But we haven't • we earned tenure but burned out trying given up, and thanks to this fine group of to balance our academic career and fam­ new titles, the odds of having it all are ily responsibilities. improving.-Susan Klingberg, Head of the • we earned tenure but sacrificed per­ Education and Social Science Library and As­ sonal relationships for job mobility and sociate Professor of Library Administration, remained single. University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign.

BOOK REVIEWS

Metcalf, Keyes DeWitt. My Harvard Li­ ume, My Years stands well brary Years, 1937-1955: A Sequel to Ran­ independently as an account of Metcalf's dom Recollections of an Anachronism. Ed. activities during 18 years at our largest by Edwin E. Williams. Cambridge, university library. Mass.: Harvard College Library, 1988. Metcalf had strong views about library 285p. $25 (ISBN 0-074-59600-5). administration. He believed that-all This is a year of momentous anniversa­ things being equal-a librarian in most ries: ACRL and this journal reached fifty cases better administers a library (p.267), and in Cincinnati we celebrated a century and he tried to advance the preparation of of progress. The year 1989 also marks the librarians for administration. In explain­ centennial of Keyes Metcalf's birth. Born ing his interactions with "Three Librari­ in Elyria and educated on the playing ans of Congress" (Archibald MacLeish, fields of Oberlin (and in the library), this Luther Evans, and L. Quincy Mumford) son of Ohio made an indelible mark on the and his own successor at Harvard, Paul profession literally throughout the coun­ Buck (former provost and dean of the fac­ try. By his own reckoning, Metcalf trav­ ulty of arts and sciences), Metcalf makes eled the equivalent of eighty times around clear that for him, the correct test is that of the globe (p.206) on more than 550 con­ effectiveness in particular circumstances: sulting assignments after his ''retirement'' the right things have to be done at the in 1955. Now, five years after his death, right time and sometimes the person to do Metcalf is known chiefly for his work with them is not a trained librarian. This issue library buildings which he distilled into still exercises us and Metcalf's admoni­ his magisterial Planning Academic and Re­ tions should be considered seriously. search Library Buildings (1965). But he was Metcalf himself began his administra­ very far from one-dimensional; with the tion by learning and then using the aca­ publication of My Harvard Library Years, demic context of the Harvard libraries at we can appreciate more fully this indefati­ both personal and structural levels, and gable giant of the profession. then, of course, by assembling an excep­ In Random Recollections of an Anachronism tional staff. To meet increasing demands (1980), the first of a projected three vol­ by users and make the most of limited fi­ umes, Metcalf described his background nances and space, Metcalf sought solu­ and activities to 1937 when he left the New tions chiefly through cooperation with York Public Library to become director of other libraries. The theme of cooperation the Library and librar­ pervades this volume, in fact. At Harvard ian of Harvard College. Related more he feliciously labeled this ''coordinated ''quietly and plainly'' -as President Pu­ decentralization" (p.112), a philosophy sey observed of Metcalf's style (p.269)­ and mode of action he extended to the re­ than the sometimes rollicking first vol- gion and nation (first by creating the New ACQUISITION PERSPECTIVES

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England Deposit Library), always trying lections prove helpful and an adequate in­ to reduce unnecessary duplication and dex is provided. The lack of illustrations is thereby saving money which could be a disappointment; at least a map of Har­ used to increase the number and variety of vard might have been provided in this research materials held by libraries in the otherwise handsome volume for which United States and thus accessible to we must thank the Harvard College Li­ scholars. He sweated the details and cared brary. about users, from world-renowned pro­ In his preface to My Harvard Library fessors to undergraduates unable to see in Years, Metcalf's longtime assistant and ed­ the dimness of and for itor Edwin E. Williams notes that ''there whom he developed the undergraduate li­ will be no third volume of recollections" brary, Lamont. (p.iv). Many of us-especially those inter­ Metcalf's recollections constitute a re­ ested in administration and planning of source for further study of many aspects buildings-are sorry for that. The third and developments in academic and re­ volume was to have covered Metcalf's search librarianship, ranging from men­ years as consultant extraordinaire. How­ toring and the academic context to photo­ ever, the effect of ending Metcalf's recol­ copying and building design. Conven­ lections with My Harvard Library Years is to iently, some of these issues receive sepa­ balance and increase our appreciation of rate treatment in distinct chapters such as Metcalf as a complete librarian who dedi­ "Acquisitions," "The ," cated his long life to serving contemporary ''Peru,'' and ''Library Association As­ and future scholars, building collections signments." One sometimes loses the and facilities to house them, and forward­ thread of chronology, but this is no real ing the profession. That we can all be obstacle. Appropriate cross-references to proud of the past century of progress is chapters in this volume and Random Recol- due in no small part to Keyes Metcalf's ef- Let Wise-Ware Help Your Students With Biology, or Math, or Physics, or ... Choose from more than 170 MS DOS-based instructional software programs in the Wise-Ware catalog. Wise-Ware enables your campus to locate and distribute software in almost every field of study. Many packages run as Windows applications. Over 80 major institutions now belong to Wise-Ware, a primary distributor of the latest research and instructional software available for MS DOS-based microcom­ puters. Campus, Individual and Class License options exist for your institution. A demonstration center with copies of each product is also available for your library or micro lab. Call 800-543-3201 For a FREE Membership Guide Wise-Ware University of Wisconsin-Madison Bitnet: wiscware@wiscmacc Recent Publications 597

forts and leadership. His example is one to generation, each more comprehensive carry with us as we build the future.­ than the last. Alice Schreyer's Rare Books, Jonathan LeBreton, Albin 0. Kuhn Library 1983-84, Trends, Collections, Sources is es­ and Gallery, University of Maryland, Balti­ sential after five years. Are the National more County. Union Catalogue, RLIN, OCLC, and the National Union Catalogue of Manuscript Col­ 41"'8pecial Collections in College and Univer­ lections so unknown to conscientious ''col­ sity Libraries. Comp. by Modoc Press, lectors, booksellers, designers, typogra­ Inc.; with an introduction by Leona phers" to say nothing of the reference Rostenberg and Madeleine B. Stern. librarians and researchers, all for whom New York: Macmillan, 1989. 639p. $90 Special Collections was intended, as to ren­ to 12/15/89; $100 after (ISBN 0-02- der them inefficient in locating institu­ 921651-6). LC 88-36849. tional strengths? I think not. The special collections department of What the rare book world of ''special any academic library is not unlike that of collections" needs today is a frequently other divisions in its search for new ways updated-preferably annual-source of to make its holdings better known to all information on all libraries capable of sup­ readers. This is so basic a rule that it comes porting sustained research in the subject as somewhat of a shock to read the banal fields such institutions have chosen to link justifications and hyperbolic claims by the themselves with. The sheer size of the Macmillan editors who brought Special book world must be seriously reckoned Collections in College and University Libraries with-it is arbitrary to consider simply col­ into print. lege and university libraries without tak­ No one should deny the good purpose ing into account independent research li­ of such a work as this one. One suspects, braries such as the Newberry or the however, that had the compilers been bet­ Huntington, museum library collections, ter informed of the field they were tilling, natural history, technology, art, or early of indeed a genre of such literature previ­ American historical society collections, ously established, they would have cre­ great and humble. ated a basic, even classic tool, not merely All of these ''public'' collections along the useful, if disappointing, effort in with academic library collections form a hand. stronger framework on which truly de­ In its scope statement, the claim is made tailed, thorough scholarship necessarily that ''This volume differs from others that depends. It is not reasonable to believe sail similar waters." How? Continuing, otherwise. A single volume which makes "It is not a directory of special libraries" the effort to accommodate the deeper [one would venture, however, it is], "Nor range of institutional collections will be, is it a listing by subject of a library's hold­ accordingly, a prized book. ings" [although, it does just that], " ... Special Collections is not without its rather, it is a compilation of detailed, de­ pluses. When Macmillan creates a refer­ scriptive information concerning special ence source, the standard of readability is collections, rare books, and manuscripts almost certainly assured. This book is no to be found in the libraries of colleges and exception. One suspects that the most oft­ universities throughout the United consulted section will be the subject in­ States." The book, in spite of its relative dex, and many of the descriptions are in­ length, is neither detailed, nor compre­ deed quite detailed. hensive. The fact that institutions are allowed to The truly disappointing thing about this hold forth for pages, such as the production is not so much that its claimed at Harvard or the intentions do not hold up to scrutiny; Beinecke at Yale, should be encouraged, rather, it is that the work missed a fine op­ but a maximum length should be estab­ portunity in building on similar works in lished to give the work a better flow. its area. Lee Ash's Subject Collections has Other institutions such as the University now gone through many editions over a of Michigan in future editions should be