College and Research Libraries


tail. Like treatment is accorded those of the 
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the 
"Golden Age" of the individual bibliographer. 
The 1600s were notable for the works of van 
der Linden, Lipenius, and Cornelius a Beug-
hem, and the following century brought forth 
the works of Boerhave, Haller, who compiled 
several bibliographies besides the one on 
general medicine, Ploucquet and Callisen, 
whose monumental compilations ended the 
reign of the individual as a bibliographer. 
Before Champier, dependence had to be 
placed on personal lists of writings such as 
Ficinus,1 and the general bibliographies of 
Trithemius2 on the writings of the Church 
Fathers and illustrious men. 

The rate of increase of publications, books 
and periodical articles, had become so rapid 
that the era of cooperative effort had to be 
inaugurated. The first in a series of such 
works w a s the Catalogue of Scientific Papers 
of the Royal Society, London, followed by the 
monumental work, the Index Medicus and the 
Index Catalogue of the Medical Library of 
the Surgeon General's Office of the United 
States, initiated and compiled under the di-
rection of Dr. John Shaw Billings. Miss 
Brodman devotes considerable space to a de-
scription and evaluation of these publications 
now deceased from over-feeding. Tables are 
presented of the rapid growth of periodicals 
from 1800 to 1908, showing in the last year 
a total of 71,248 periodicals. 

The modern situation is reviewed, outlining 
the history of the International Catalogue of 
Scientific Papers, the Current List of Medical 
Literature, the efforts of U N E S C O , and the 
use of punched cards by machine methods. 
The great problem of the present centers on 
the limitation of publications on selective 
cataloging. 

Incidentally, through the text, there is a 
steady flow of material relating to the history 
of medicine, making the book of double value 
to interested persons. 

Appended to the text, there is a list of 250 
medical bibliographies published since 1500 
A.D. There are author and subject indexes, 

1 F i c i n u s , M a r s i l i u s . Liber dc sole et lumine. Flo-
rence, 1493. C o n t a i n s a list of the personal w o r k s of 
F i c i n u s . 

2 T r i t h e m i u s , J o h a n n e s . De scriptoribus ecclesiasticis. 
B a s e l , 1494. C a t a l o g u s i l l u s t r i u m v i r o r i u m . | M a i n z , 
1 4 9 5 . 1 T r i t h e m i u s , w h i l e abbot at S p o n h e i m , d e v e l o p e d 
a b u s i n e s s f o r t h e c o p y i n g of m a n u s c r i p t s and as-
s e m b l e d a l a r g e library. 

and the Medical Library Association is to 
be congratulated on the selection of this book 
for its Publication No. I. 

This invaluable reference volume should 
be a "bed-side" book for medical librarians 
and also is recommended to bibliographers and 
medical historians.—James F. Ballard, di-
rector, Boston Medical Library. 

Columbia's Library School 

A History of the School of Library Service, 
Columbia University. By Ray T r a u t m a n . 
N e w York, Columbia University Press, 
x954- 85p. $2.00. 
Professor Trautman's history of the School 

of Library Service forms part of the series of 
studies issued in honor of Columbia's two 
hundredth anniversary. As might be expected 
of such a unit, this volume is published in 
attractive format, deals briefly with the vari-
ous eras of the school and looks forward to 
the future. The two photographs that consti-
tute the only illustrations, however, seem 
inadequate selections. Portraits of distin-
guished leaders of the school and exteriors of 
important buildings are not shown, though 
these might have proved more fitting than the 
contrasting views of teaching facilities in 
Melvil Dewey's time and of the type of 
classroom in use today. 

The account of the school proceeds chrono-
logically from the time of founding up to the 
present. The first chapter is devoted to 
organization under Dewey and the transfer 
to Albany two years later. The next two 
chapters deal with the immediate predecessors 
of the present School of Library Service: the 
N e w York State School and that of the N e w 
York Public Library. Chapters IV and V 
cover the administrations of Deans William-
son and White of the present school. The 
final chapter, "The Program for Advanced 
Degrees," seems the poorest of the six. M a -
terial here, in condensed, reorganized form, 
properly belongs with the preceding chapter 
which is decidedly thin as to content. 

Were it not for the Bicentennial Celebra-
tion of Columbia, this volume would probably 
not have appeared in 1954. As a full history, 
it has lamentable shortcomings. Much more 
time and effort ought to be expended on 
the amalgamation of earlier, published ac-
counts of the school under Dewey, and on the 

JANUARY, 1955 111 



individual contributions to librarianship of the 
N e w York State and N e w York Public 
Schools whose histories have also been pub-
lished previously. T h e story of the present 
school under its two administrations needs to 
be entirely rewritten before it can take its 
place justifiably in the chronology. 

N o t only should the Williamson and White 
regimes be treated at far greater length; in 
each present account, a statement of broad, 
over-all objectives in the training programs 
needs to be inserted. These objectives existed 
and must still exist in spite of national and 
world crises that have arisen. T o o little is 
said in the Trautman history about the need 
for library schools to train for librarianship 
as it is now being practiced, and to produce 
leaders, both in the physical and philosophical 
sense. Thinkers, expert technical workers, 
executives are all called for, and the nation 
looks to the library schools as the best and 
most logical sources for such people. From a 
practical viewpoint the matter of whether 
Columbia is producing competent librarians 
deserves far more consideration than whether 
the student body is becoming local rather than 
national in character. 

T h e last part of the Williamson chapter is 
entirely too much concerned with the 
enumeration of isolated, specialized courses 
that seem to have composed the curriculum 
of the school. Many of these, incidentally, 
were introduced during summer sessions. 
Such summer offerings have proved sound and 
logical practice at many universities, where 
new courses are introduced on an experi-
mental basis. 

The final chapter, which still deals with 
the White administration, presents too many 
explanations about the doctoral program. 
Incidentally, during the eleven years of Dr. 
White's deanship, candidates seem to have 
been only slightly more numerous than during 
the Williamson regime. Only one person has 
actually acquired the degree. Is something 
wrong with the school's doctoral program and 
the quality of the students who are attracted 
to it? Or is the prospect of absorption by 
the profession of a large number of people 
who might obtain the Ph.D. in library science 
not likely? A university is the logical place 
for such training; other schools at Columbia 
turn out substantial numbers of graduates who 
have earned the degree. 

The role played by the alumni during the 
White administration is handled in relative 
fullness, but more attention might well have 
been given to this group in the Williamson 
chapter. This shortcoming applies to the 
story of the formation of the present, 
amalgamated association as well as to the 
many profitable consultations with the alumni 
during the 1926-43 period. 

Typographical errors appear to be few in 
number, but Appendix I shows some omissions 
and an occasional mistake as to date. The 
three appendices form one of the most useful 
sections of the book, particularly because of 
their ready reference value. 

The style throughout is uneven as to 
quality. At times it is dignified, in keeping 
with an anniversary volume; in sections where 
the author's bias predominates, the writing 
becomes clouded both as to thought and pres-
entation of facts. Very likely the preparation 
of the volume as a unit in an official series has 
hampered the insertion of humor, the homely 
anecdote and the human side of the persons 
responsible for the school since its inception. 
Such material is available in abundance and 
should not be overlooked in the awaited, 
comprehensive history of this school.—Harriet 
D. MacPherson, dean, Drexel Library School, 
and librarian of Drexel Institute of Tech-
nology. 

Technical Services 
Technical Services in Libraries: Acquisitions, 

Cataloging, Classification, Binding, Photo-
graphic Reproduction, Circulation Opera-
tions. By Maurice F. Tauber and 
Associates. N e w York, Columbia Univer-
sity Press, 1954. xvi, 487P. $6.50. 
W e have a great number of books which 

describe in detail the operations in the techni-
cal services of libraries. There is no up-to-
date compendium for acquisitions work and 
related processes, but both the beginner and 
the experienced professional in cataloging have 
at their disposal some excellent manuals. T h e 
common denominator for most of the litera-
ture in the field is that they are either text-
books designed for an elementary level or 
compilations of rules. There was an urgent 
need for a scholarly publication which would 
discuss on a high intellectual level the entire 
field in its broadest aspects. Maurice Tauber 

112 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES