College and Research Libraries ute to catalog code revisiOn by a careful consideration of the practical problems which arise in everyday work. Swank's paper, while not so directly re- lated to the theme of the Conference, is an excellent statement of the factors involved in the cost of cataloging and of bibliography generally, and ends with a plea for no skimp- ing on the author code, which he sees as the "very heart of the library service." The papers by Chaplin and Osborn are among the most stimulating and provocative in the volume, and it is to be hoped that they will be widely read by American cata- logers and librarians, since they present ideas and viewpoints which we tend to ig- nore in our deliberations. Osborn reports on the growing use in Germany of "me- chanical" or "natural" word order in filing title entries, in place of the traditional grammatical word order, and mentions the introduction of corporate entries in the pub- lic catalog of the Deutsche Staatsbibliothek. Chaplin outlines the rna jor problems which must be overcome to achieve an interna- tional code and comments hopefully on the activities of the IFLA working group on the international coordination of cataloging principles, which has optimistically attacked the chief obstacles to international agree- ment-corporate authorship and title entry for anonymous books. Wright summarizes in some detail the cur- rent progress on code revision in the United States, identifying the principles and ob- jectives which have been accepted for the new code, including the provision of alter- native practices for specialized and popular libraries. Lubetzky, fittingly, ha~ the last word, commenting on several points made during the Conference. He emphasizes the magnitude of the problem of assembling works of an author and editions of a work and affirms the professional nature of the problem of constructing a catalog code, as- serting that the authors of a code cannot be too much concerned with possible misappli- cation of the code by practicing catalogers or with constructing a code which attempts to meet the "needs" and "approach" of the library 's patrons. In summary, these papers provide a good background for, and review of, the main problems involved in catalog code revisiOn (particularly for the library school student and teacher), as given by recognized experts, although one looks in vain for a detailed consideration of the basic problems in- volved in the "finding list vs. reference tool" dilemma, a question which still has not been thoroughly discussed. It is interesting to note that several participants minimize the value of studies of readers' use of the catalog-a far cry from the literature of the forties on the catalog and catalog codes, which virtu- ally always concluded with a plea for such studi~s. To ~his reviewer, the most important que~tiOn ra~sed relates to the possibility of an mternatwnal code. On the basis of the evidence presented here, it would seem that this is no longer in the realm of unattain- able ideals. American catalogers and librar- ians have a serious obligation to examine closely our basic concept of main entry for works produced by corporate bodies. In view of the liberal use of added entries in Amer- ican catalogs and bibliographies, can we consider a wider use of title as main entry for such works? Would this really violate our concept of "authorship" and, if so, what are t~e cons~quences? Certainly, these are ques- tiOns whtch the Catalog Code Revision Com- mittee should consider carefully as it works on the new ~ode:-Wesley_ Simonton, Library School, Unzverszty of Mznnesota. Russian Biography Russkie biograficheskie i bio-bibliografiches- kie slovari. By I. M. Kaufman. Moscow: Gosudarstvennoe izdatel'stvo kul'turno- prosvetitel'noi literatur'i, 1955. 75lp. 3IR 40K. This new, revised edition of Russian Bio- graphical and Rio-bibliographical Diction- aries, compiled by I. M. Kaufman, has added reference works which were published in the years 1950-1954 . Published in an edition of 12,000 copies, it is obviously a work that is finding a home in nearly all Soviet refer- ence collections. It is divided into the following sections: (I) all biographical dictionaries and collec- tions of biographies ot' general character, 514 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES published in the last 250 years (pp.5-68); (2) all works containing biographies and bio- bibliographies of Russian scholars and sci- entists in the fields of mathematics, astron- omy, physics, chemistry, geology, biology, history, and geography (pp.69-183); (3) works which list members of the Soviet Academy of Science (pp.l84-96); (4) works on individual members of Russian Academy (Czarist and Soviet) and their publications (pp.l97-200); (5) works which list profes- sors, lecturers, and students of the Univer- sities, institutes and other higher institu- tions (alphabetically by places; Warsaw, Riga, and Dorpat are also included in this list, perhaps because these cities belonged to Czarist Russia, before Poland, Estonia, and Latvia won their independence after 1918) (pp.201-76); (6) a short list of works on both pre-Revolutionary Russian and So- viet learned and literary societies (pp.276- 78); (7) a special list of works with biog- raphies of scholars and scientists before and after the Revolution, apparently selected at random for this section by Kaufman (pp. 279-82); (8) a list of biographical diction- aries of Russian and Soviet belletristic authors from the eighteenth century on (pp.282-335); (9) bibliographies of works "Then There Are Librarians" on physicians (pp.336-73); (10) engineers (divided according to the type of engineer- ing) (pp.37 4-406); ( 11) agronomists (pp.407- 15); (12) teachers (pp.416-19); (13) librar- ians (including printers and booksellers) (pp.420-27); (14) artists (pp.428-85); (15) architects (pp.486-92); (16) musicians (pp. 493-502); and (17) actors (pp.503-13); (18) a list of dictionaries and collections of biog- raphies published in various Soviet cities, not including those listed under universities and schools (pp.5 14-56); (I 9) dictionaries of pseudonyms (pp.557-60); (20) works listing obituaries (pp.561-62). There is also a supplement of works omitted from their proper places (pp.563- 76), and alphabetical lists of names (pp. 579-740), titles (pp.741-48) and series (pp. 748-49). Under each entry there is a com- mentary on the scope and purpose of each title in the bibliography. The arrangement is chronological in each section. Kaufman's work is the best source for in- formation on Russian biogr~phical and bio- bibliographical dictionaries, and it has a place alongside similar guides to biograph- ical reference works in other jurisdictions.- Milimir Drazic, Northwestern University Li- brary. Then there are librarians. I think there must be a special dispensation in Valhalla for all librarians, and especially for those of the Woman's College Library [Greensboro, North Carolina]-under the direction of Mr. Charles Adams-which naturally contained much of the specialized information which this record required. Miss Marjorie Hood, with whom I worked most closely, is the library staff member who has earned my very special and limitless gratitude. Others who have been helpful in- clude personnel of the excellent Ferguson Library of Stamford, Con- necticut, the incomparable New York Public Library, and the Enoch Pratt Free Library of Baltimore, the National Archives, Washington, and the State Department of Archives and History, Raleigh. I have found only courtesy and helpfulness in libraries. Indeed I have a higher opinion of the whole human race than when I began research on this volume four years ago.-Rose Howell Holder, in "Acknowledgments," in her Mciver of North Carolina (Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 1957). NOVEMBER 1957 515