College and Research Libraries


The Small College 
The Small College Talks Back, An Intimate 

Appraisal. By W i l l i a m W . H a l l , J r . 
N e w Y o r k , Richard R. Smith, 1951. 214P. 
$ 3 . 0 0 . 

President H a l l ' s avowed purpose is " t o 
t h r o w a little light on an important and t r a d i -
tional segment of higher education in America 
by use of the case method. F r o m the events 
in the life of one college during the adminis-
tration of a single president may be d r a w n 
lessons of much wider applicability. . . ." 
T h i s book, then, attempts to be nothing more 
nor less than a highly personal account of the 
conduct of the president's office at the College 
of I d a h o f r o m 1939 to 1948. Problems are 
f r a n k l y stated and reasoned. T h e answers 
are not all here, f o r no college president has 
all the answers. President H a l l offers the 
reading public the opportunity to accompany 
him in the conduct of his responsibilities and 
to d r a w its own conclusions on how these 
w e r e discharged. T h i s is done with f r a n k -
ness, vigor and l i t e r a r y ability. E d u c a t o r and 
layman alike will have difficulty in putting 
this volume down, once begun. W h a t a re-
freshing change f r o m most professional l i t e r a -
t u r e ! 

T h e problems of most colleges and many 
universities are all here. Faculty salaries 
were, as in other places, still at a mid-thirties 
low, and a certain amount of stagnation had 
set in. H o w could one a t t r a c t scholarly 
young men with real teaching ability to this 
small institution in the sagebrush? T h e en-
dowment was insignificant and the d r a f t soon 
cut deeply into enrolment. H o w , to quote 
a chapter heading, make " T w o and T w o 
M a k e Six"? 

T h e college is situated in an emerging area, 
coming out f r o m the r a w and rugged con-
ditions of its pioneering past and into a set-
tling existence with new industries and a cul-
t u r e and personality all its own. I n t o this 
the college must fit. T h e college must blaze 
its own path to meet the needs of its area and 
p e r f o r m a function different f r o m the state 
university, its great competitor. H o w voca-
tional education was finally ruled out and the 
liberal a r t s firmly established as policy to the 
satisfaction of trustees and alumni is an in-
teresting story with lessons f o r all educators. 

M u c h of the w o r k of a college president is, 
of course, in raising f u n d s and in public rela-
tions. H e r e the characters are d r a w n sharp 
and clear, to the discomfort of some and 
glory of others. T h e trustees, individually 
and collectively, are not excepted. T h e mem-
ber whose chief contribution to the college 
is termed "opening the meeting with prayer 
and seconding the motions," exists perhaps on 
other boards but does not expect such 
prominent recognition. 

A prominent and distressing lack is the 
scant attention given to the college library. 

L i b r a r i a n s of liberal a r t s colleges will find 
this volume highly u s e f u l f o r its light on the 
problems faced in the president's office. T h e y 
will have difficulty in reading the book be-
cause, judging f r o m personal experience, their 
wives and secretaries will r e f u s e to give it up. 
I t belongs, f o r all its deceptive spontaneity 
and charm, in any collection on higher edu-
cation. W o u l d t h a t some librarian had the 
wit and time to produce a similar book on his 
o w n w o r k . — A r t h u r T. Hamlin, Association 
of College and Reference Libraries. 

Bibliography in an Age of Science 
Bibliography in an Age of Science. By L o u i s 

N . Ridenour, Ralph R. Shaw and A l b e r t 
G . H i l l . U r b a n a , University of Illinois 
Press, 1951. gop. $ 2 . 5 0 . 
L i b r a r i a n s reading these second W i n d s o r 

lectures will have the eerie sensation of mov-
ing along the thin knife edge of the barely 
known into the realm of science fiction— 
science fiction set in the library. L i b r a r i a n 

readers will be "uneasy unless they have pre-
pared themselves by acquiring a bowing 
acquaintance with Berkeley's Giant Brains 
and W i e n e r ' s Cybernetics. T h e statements 
made and implications d r a w n by D e a n 
Ridenour, a physicist and r a d a r expert, and 
by P r o f e s s o r Hill, another physicist and one-
time Bell telephone engineer, out-fantasy 
Frederick Keppel's "Looking F o r w a r d , A 

OCTOBER, 1951 
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