College and Research Libraries United States. T h e recent surveys of the li- braries of the Alabama Polytechnic Institute and of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute reached conclusions which are similar to those arrived at by O r r and Carlson for T e x a s A. and M . A recommendation, common to the other surveys, reached by the surveyors is as follows: If the library is to give effective support to resident instruction, research and extension edu- cation, the book collections, especially scientific and technical journals in the basic and applied sciences, will have to undergo substantial de- velopment. A greatly augmented staff, some of whom would possess training in science and foreign languages, will also be necessary. More- over, a library building that is larger and more functional than the Cushing Memorial Library building must be provided. Not until these needs are satisfied will the library be in a position to provide the publications, the services and the facilities that are required for the library pro- gram needed at Texas A. and M. College. T h e surveyors have performed a valuable job for Texas A. and M . in outlining a pro- gram of development for the future. T h e methods of analysis used in examining the book collections, the personnel, public services and use, technical services, library building and financial support are not too different from those employed in other surveys of academic libraries with which we are now familiar. However, they are specifically di- rected at Texas A. and M.'s peculiar prob- lems. T h e surveyors recognize the great strides that are being made in the educational and research programs of land-grant colleges. Texas A. and M., like other similar institu- tions, "has long since advanced beyond the original Morrill Act assignment of instruc- tion in agriculture and the mechanic arts." Its increased research program, stimulated by the Hatch Act, has resulted in greater de- mands upon the library. In addition, the growth of the Graduate College has made it essential for the library to provide resources and facilities on a more advanced level. In order to correct the deficiencies of its library program, Texas A. and M . will need a substantial increase in its budget. T h e sur- veyors suggest an increase from the 1949-50 budget of $137,864.55 to $249,440. Actually, this represents approximately 2.95 per cent of the total general and educational expenditures. Since funds, wisely spent, are necessary for a library enterprise to function effectively, it may be worth noting that from 1933-34 to 1949-50, Texas A. and M . allocated sums to the library which ranged from 1.09 to 1.69 per cent of the total expenditures, with the appropriation for 1938-39 reaching a high of 1.92. A large part of the increase is recom- mended for books, but 17 new staff members are proposed, nine professional and eight cleri- cal. Surveys have proven to be valuable blue- prints of procedure to some of the institutions for which they have been made. T h e extent to which the authorities of an institution will consider serious recommendations and put them into effect is important in the future life of the libraries involved. Texas A. and M . has a carefully worked out program for direct action.—Maurice F. Tauber, Columbia Uni- versity. T h e N e w Gutenbergjahrbuch Volume X X V of the Gutenberg-Jahrbuch has just been published as the silver jubilee volume commemorating the fiftieth anniver- sary of the founding of the Gutenberg-Gesell- schaft in Mainz. A particularly handsome book as a physical specimen, it is truly in- ternational in character with its text in five languages (German, English, French, Span- ish and Italian), each contributor writing in his native idiom. Among the contributors are Dard Hunter, who writes on "Papermak- ing by Hand in America, 1690-1811," Her- man Ralph Mead on the 15 supposedly unique Spanish incunabula in the Huntington Library and Curt F. Biihler on " T h e Edition of the 'Ditz moraulx des philosophes' Printed at Paris by Michel Le Noir." The basic purposes of the Gutenberg- Gessellschaft have been stated as research in the history of writing, printing, paper, book- binding, illustration and other aspects of the graphic arts. In addition to the annual Gutenberg-J ahrbuch, the society publishes several smaller works every year. Of partic- ular interest among recent publications are Director Aloys Ruppel's "Die Erfindung der Buchdruckerkunst und die Entdeckung Amerikas" (1948) and Helmut Presser's cata- log of the Gutenberg-Museum's exhibit com- memorating the Goethe Bicentennial, "Goethe und seine Drucker" (1949). JULY, 1951 29 7 Membership subscription to the society is $6.00 per annum, a fee entitling each in- dividual member to all publications. A l - though the Gutenberg-Festschrift (i.e., volume X X V of the Jahrbuch) is being sold for $14.27 in the book trade, it is still possible to acquire it as a part of the relatively modest membership fee for 1949-50. Mem- berships are received by D r . Aloys Ruppel, director of the society, at Rheinalle 3 3/10, Mainz, Germany (French Z o n e ) . — L a w - rence S. Thompson, University of Kentucky Libraries. Subject Cataloging in Germany Lehrbuch der Sachkatalogisierung. Von Hein- rich Roloff. Leipzig, Otto Harrassowitz, 1950. xii, H5p. T h e problem of subject cataloging is con- siderably more complicated in Europe than it is in America for the average research li- brary simply because of the age of the hold- ings and the nature of the cataloging tradi- tions. With a few exceptions, American re- search libraries began to assume significant proportions only in the latter part of the nine- teenth century; and before acquisition rates were stepped up to the present astronomical proportions, widely accepted cataloging codes, classification schemes and subject heading sys- tems had taken hold in America. Precisely the opposite is true in Europe. Moreover, European library systems have never com- bined attempts to serve scholars as well as the masses, and neither has the European uni- versity library ever had to serve undergradu- ates comparable to ours. Roloff, librarian of the Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften in Berlin, is thus free to describe a multiplicity of practice in this text- book without feeling obligated to set up in- flexible standards or condemn apparently clumsy systems which originated in past gen- erations and have been adapted to peculiar institutional needs. He does not offer a "sachkatalogische Kodifikation" such as Hans Trebst demanded in his article, " D e r heutige Erkenntnisstand in der Formal- und in der Sachkatalogisierung," Zentralblatt fiir Biblio- thekswesen, L I (1934), 449; but he does present a quite complete survey of current cataloging problems in Germany and a num- ber of points of departure for constructive discussion. T h e text is divided into four sections: ( 1 ) Historical development of subject cata- loging together with definitions and a state- ment of functions; (2) T h e problems in- volved in shelving books (formats; shelving in alphabetical order, by numerus currens, by groups, by classification; housing new acquisi- tions; call numbers); (3) Shelf lists in gen- eral and for shelving by numerus currens, by groups and in alphabetical order; (4) T h e classed catalog, with discussions of the basis of classification, a description of various classification schemes (with special attention to the basic decimal classification as well as its variants), the logic of form divisions and sub- divisions, the shorthand of notation, conspecti (rotuli) and subject indices and classed cata- logs as shelflists or as^subject guides inde- pendent of shelving systems; and (5) T h e rules for a subject catalog with special at- tention to the form of the headings, filing and a tentative subject heading code. It is particularly interesting in the latter case to note how many common sense rules for the establishment of new headings transcend linguistic and national differentiation and would seem to be well-nigh universally ap- plicable. For this very reason it is regrettable that Roloff did not cite practices in English-speak- ing countries more extensively. Except for the section on the decimal classification little discussion is devoted to routines familiar to us; and of the 85 references in the bibliog- raphy, all were printed in Europe. On the other hand, this book grew from lectures in a library school and was intended as a text- book for German students of librarianship; and we can only wonder whether anyone doing a similar book in this country would have given equal attention to the European literature of subject cataloging. Neverthe- less, a similar book is needed in English, and when it is published, it should refer fre- quently to the European practices described by Roloff.—Lawrence S. Thompson, Univer- sity of Kentucky Libraries. 302 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES