College and Research Libraries


higher "yearly, monthly, daily, hourly," and 
threatening to engulf not only the library but 
civilization itself. He repeats an earlier 
warning: " W e seem to be fast coming to the 
day when, unless it is afforded the most expert 
sort of bibliographical service possible, civiliza-
tion may die of suffocation, choked in its own 
plethora of print." This is a serious condi-
tion requiring surgical operation. But M r . 
Rider is willing to content himself with a 
palliative. He suggests a microcard which 
will reduce the physical size of the mass of 
print. But the real threat of the "plethora 
of print" lies in its quantity, not in the size 
of its paper container, and M r . Rider's micro-
card does not reduce this quantity. This con-
dition is properly the problem of the scholar 
rather than the librarian, and the scholar 
should be urged to suggest a remedy. It is 
possible that the condition is due to an atavis-
tic habit of the days when there was a scarcity 
of recorded facts and when every record dis-
covered filled a vital gap in our knowledge. 
In these days of overabundance of print the 
problem is not in filling gaps but in preventing 
obstructive mountains. The problem of the 
librarian and of the scholar is not in the 
acquisition of all printed "records," but in the 
selection of representative records—i.e., rec-
ords exhibiting the contents and characteristics 

of numerous existing variants—so that the 
library will be spared the task of preserving 
mountains of print of dubious, though pos-
sible, value, and the future scholars will be 
spared numberless hours of futile search in 
illusive "treasures." 

The profession owes a profound debt to M r . 
Rider for throwing a glaring light on the 
starkness of the research library problems and 
for dramatizing the great potentialities, and 
also the great need, of microprint and cen-
tralized cataloging in meeting the problems of 
space and cost. These reviewers incline to 
envision the future research library as con-
taining materials in various forms—books, 
films, microprints, and other media which may 
yet be developed—each form used for the 
materials for which it is most suitable and 
kept in the special conditions required by it; 
specialized authoritative bibliographies pre-
pared by scholars to guide other scholars in 
the literature of their fields and librarians 
in their task of purposeful acquisition; and a 
catalog which will guide the inquirer to the 
library's resources, in whatever form they may 
be available. The catalog will be coopera-
tively produced for the good of all libraries, 
and its ultimate shape is still in the lap of the 
future.—Herman H. Henkle and Seymour 
Lubetzky. 

Official Publications of Latin America 

U.S. Library of Congress. A Guide to the 
Official Publications of the Other American 
Republics. James B. Childs, general editor. 
Washington, 1945. (Its Latin American 
Series, no. 9, 10, 11.) Contents: I. Argen-
tina; II. Bolivia; V I I . Cuba. 
The compilation of guides to the official 

publications of the other American republics 
is a project undertaken by the Library of 
Congress to meet an urgent need for securing 
adequate information about an area of publi-
cation which, while difficult of access, is, 
nevertheless, of vital importance to those 
concerned with the study of administrative, 
economic, social, and cultural conditions in 
Latin America. 

The three sections published in 1945, 
namely, Argentina (Section I ) , Bolivia (Sec-
tion I I ) , and Cuba (Section V I I ) , were pre-
pared under the general editorship of James 

B. Childs and have been issued as a part of 
the program of the Department of State's 
Interdepartmental Committee on Scientific and 
Cultural Cooperation. The project is the out-
growth of preliminary and special studies 
made by M r . Childs, the earliest of which ap-
peared in 1932.1 The value of this early 
work was recognized at once by those inter-

1 Childs, James B . Bibliography of Official Publi-
cations and the Administrative Systems in Latin 
American Countries. W a s h i n g t o n , D . C . , 1938. (Re-
printed f r o m Proceedings of the First Convention of 
the Inter-American Bibliographical and Library As-
sociation.) 

. Colombian Government Publications. W a s h -
ington, 1941. ( R e p r i n t e d f r o m the Proceedings of the 
Third Convention of the Inter-American Bibliographi-
cal and Library Association.) 

. " C u b a n G o v e r n m e n t P u b l i c a t i o n s — a Com-
prehensive S t a t e m e n t . " ( I n Proceedings of the Sec-
ond Convention of the_ Inter-American Bibliographical 
and Library Association. W a s h i n g t o n , D . C . , 1939, 
P. I 2 3 - S 2 - ) 

. The Memorias of the Republics of Central 
America and of the Antilles. W a s h i n g t o n , U . S . Gov-
ernment P r i n t i n g Office, 1932. 

284 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



ested in the field of official Latin American 
material. M a n y who have used the studies 
must have desired f u r t h e r breakdowns in the 
descriptions of governmental organizations, 
with a listing of as many of their publications 
as possible. T h e s e conditions have been met 
in the three guides recently issued insofar as 
the circumstances governing the compilation 
and available material permitted. F r o m their 
introductory statements one senses the magni-
tude of the field in which the compilers have 
been working, and it seems n a t u r a l for them 
to emphasize the fact that the publications in 
hand are intended merely as introductions to 
rich informational sources, upon which much 
work remains to be done. 

T h e scheme of arrangement of the three 
sections which are the subject of this review, 
as well as the treatment of the material in-
cluded, gives indications of criteria, which, it 
seems reasonable to assume, will govern the 
editorial policies of the entire project. 

First: conditions of compilation. T h e col-
lections described are based upon those of the 
Library of Congress, probably the most exten-
sive in existence. In order to clear up doubt-
f u l points and to secure data which would 
otherwise have been inaccessible, a Library of 
Congress representative undertook direct in-
vestigation in the capitals of Argentina and 
Bolivia. T h e cooperation of officials of the 
countries concerned has given the guides, in 
all parts of their development, a f u r t h e r cachet 
of authority. 

Second: arrangement. T h e general a r -
rangement of the contents of the three parts 
of the series now available is by the three 
branches of the government—legislative, exec-
utive, and judicial—with a section preceding 
the whole devoted to general publications. 
T h e sections dealing with the executive de-
partments give the ministries in alphabetical 
order with the subordinate agencies of each 
ministry grouped by their distinguishing names 
in the hierarchy, e.g., comision, comite, con-
sejo, direccion, etc. W i t h i n each group the 
agencies are arranged in alphabetical order 
with their publications listed below the re-
spective names. A variation in the general 
administrative scheme appears in the case of 
Cuba. A group of independent establishments, 
learned societies, professional colleges, associa-
tions of producers, and retirement and social 
security funds follows the list of ministries— 

an indication of the extent of quasi-official 
participation in activities of a scientific, cul-
tural, and economic nature which in many 
other Latin American countries come under 
the jurisdiction of specific ministries. 

Third: content. T h e nature of the contents 
indicates that the guides have been prepared 
to fill the need f o r practical reference works 
f o r the agencies and individuals interested in 
the affairs of the Latin American republics. 
Primarily, they aim to inform concerning the 
governmental structure as it exists at the 
present time, with all statements supported 
by adequate documentation; to trace signifi-
cant changes in governmental organization, 
particularly those reflected in the official pub-
lications; and to list the publications of each 
agency within the limits prescribed in the con-
ditions of compilation. Secondarily, there has 
been a consistent effort to furnish adequate 
references to be consulted f o r details and dis-
cussion concerning the government and coun-
try under consideration. C a r e has also been 
taken to include statements regarding official 
printing and to note existing bibliographies of 
official publications. 

In each guide, the achievement of these 
several objectives has resulted in a work 
which partakes of the dual nature of a hand-
book and a bibliography. T h e histories of 
government agencies are written in a form 
which may be studied with profit by others at-
tempting to compose statements of this kind. 
T h e descriptive notes of serial publications 
are rich in beginning dates and terminal ones, 
where the latter exist. Although there has 
been no attempt made to be consistent in giv-
ing the contents of monographic series, many 
are listed. Under the names of agencies and 
institutions having to do with cultural matters 
there are given composite and single works by 
personal authors. Although they are at op-
posite ends of the books, the sections treating 
the gazettes, found under General Publica-
tions, and those dealing with legal material, 
under Judicial Branch, should be consulted 
and studied together. 

T h e indexes included in each guide are open 
to criticism. Presumably, they contain the 
names of all agencies included in the text as 
well as the titles of significant publications. 
A sampling of personal names seems to reveal 
no editorial policy f o r their inclusion or ex-
clusion. I t is u n f o r t u n a t e that the excellent 

JULY, 1946 1 285 



cross references abounding in the text are not 
incorporated in the index. These criticisms 
are made on the hypothesis that one may be 
using these guides without having in hand the 
documents described—a situation in which one 
needs all the help from an index that one can 
get. 

So far, what has been said about the con-
tents of the work under review merely ap-
praises its component parts as pieces of fine 
craftsmanship. What raises them above this 
level to that of distinguished compilation is 
the presence on every page of timely and re-
vealing data concerning the publications de-
scribed. These data are the products of 

painstaking research and a keen and unerring 
sense of what is relevant, bibliographically 
speaking. Such a sense is the result of a com-
bination of permeation by a subject and assur-
ance in the use of prescribed forms and is the 
factor which causes some bibliographies to be 
long remembered as outstanding. Perhaps 
the greatest contribution of the series so hap-
pily inaugurated by the three sections reviewed 
here is to have introduced meaning and order 
into a field of publication where, from the 
point of view of the average user in the United 
States, a state of confusion possibly approach-
ing chaos has prevailed up to now.—Violet 
Abbott Cabeen. 

Library as a Teaching Instrument 

The Library as a Teaching Instrument. State 
University of Iowa. University Library 
Planning Committee. 1945. 14P. 
The University Library Planning Commit-

tee of the State University of Iowa has issued 
a brief but compact outline of its program 
and the principle upon which it intends to con-
struct its new library building. As a pre-
liminary step to any building program, the 
University of Iowa has set up a model of pro-
cedure from which other colleges and univer-
sities planning a new building might well 
benefit by first analyzing their program and 
aims of the institution. The physical struc-
ture will be based throughout on a modified 
version of the unit type of construction. This 
type of building will permit the library to do 
everything it can think of now and will also, 
since the interior will be flexible and adapt-
able, meet the needs of the university for a 
long time to come. Rather than a great archi-
tectural monument, the building will be a 
sensible workshop in which the instructor and 
the student can work together in the midst of 
the book resources of the university, assisted 
by the latest audio-visual aids to learning and 
by adequate facilities for group and individual 
study. The program sets up principles which 
attempt to place within one building all the 
academic activities, including much of the in-
struction, which may wish to utilize media of 
communication now available for educational 
purposes. It has high aims which, as they 
become successful, will bid fair to revolution-
ize our present library programs and build-

ings on the campus. 
The needs of the college freshmen are to be 

met by the establishment of a "heritage" li-
brary within the main building. This library 
collection will be arranged around eight peri-
ods or historical moments from that of Early 
Man, Greek and Roman, to Contemporary. 
For each period not only the books will be 
used but all the dramatic visual aids such as 
models, maps, pictures, posters, phonograph 
records, slides, objects, moving pictures, etc. 
This heritage library is tied up with the "core 
curriculum" of the arts college and has the 
objective of helping the students become ac-
quainted with their backgrounds as well as 
aware of the critical issues of their own times. 
The adaptation of the library to the new cur-
riculum is typical of the progressive thinking 
of the whole program, from the needs of the 
college freshmen up through those of the 
graduate student, the research scholar, and 
even beyond to the needs of the citizens of 
Iowa. 

Such a program will demand new tech-
niques and training for librarians. The li-
brarian will become an integral part of the 
program of instruction. Less emphasis will 
be placed on library housekeeping functions 
and more on the professional aspects of the li-
brary. Books, however, do not tak'e care of 
themselves, and it is not too clearly stated just 
how this housekeeping is going to be elim-
inated from the working day of librarians. 

An experiment on as large a scale as this 
one will inevitably have its influence on the 

286 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES