College and Research Libraries lieve they would make a genuine improve- ment in the state of graduate education. In that sense, I shall claim that they are bold; naturally, I think they are sound," (p. 234). This reviewer concurs with Berelson's opinion of his recommendations. However, another study supported by the Carnegie Corporation and published in the last days of 1959 should be kept in mind as one con- siders Berelson's recommendations. Earl J . McGrath, author of The Graduate School and the Decline of Liberal Education, a sixty-five page publication of the Institute of Higher Education, concludes that the locus of power in the academic enterprise "resides in the graduate faculties of the uni- versities and in their offspring in the inde- pendent colleges. No amount of reason—and it has been sincere, vigorous, cogent, and prolonged—has yet been able to unhorse this directive academic class. "Many proposals made by scholars of wis- dom and integrity for the correction of the present crying shortcomings of graduate edu- cation have been almost totally disregarded by the group which controls its policies and shapes its character, and this fact foreshad- ows the extreme difficulty of accomplishing even the most obviously needed reforms. Until different influences are brought to bear on the policies which prevent colleges from fully discharging their proper functions, new attempts at persuasion by fact or logic are unlikely to fare any better than their predecessors," (p. 50). There is not a dull page in Berelson's book. It will unquestionably provoke wide discussion and debate which should be par- ticipated in by academic librarians. It will be interesting to see what changes, if any, will be made in graduate education as a result of this study.—Eugene H. Wilson, University of Colorado. Inside Bentley A Victorian Publisher; A Study of the Bent- ley Papers. By Royal A. Gettmann. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1960. 272p. $7.50. In general, the literature of publishing consists of a long series of house histories usually written with eulogistic overtones. Such books contain a useable quantity of in- formation about significant events in the chronology of each firm, but they commonly lack the facts most valuable to the student of literary and cultural history. T h a t is, they omit data about manufacturing costs, author- publisher relationships, publicity methods, and even sales figures. No one is more aware of this than Professor Gettmann who, in this handsome volume, devotes only one chapter to the history of the Bentley firm, and then proceeds to study "the problems of nine- teenth-century publishing as they are em- bedded in the records of Richard Bentley and Son." Fortunately, Professor Gettmann has had a vast archive to exploit: the correspondence files of the firm at the University of Illinois, the letter-books and ledgers at the British Museum, plus other collections at the Bod- leian and the New York Public Library. Be- cause the Bentleys occupied a major place in British publishing from the 1830's to the 1890's, this study contributes much to our knowledge of publishing during this period. It also illustrates the advantages and value of a specific approach to the history of pub- lishing. In an unusually skillful manner, the author synthesizes his material so that, for the first time, one can easily learn, among other es- sential things, about the variety of author- publisher contracts of the period, the sums earned by major and minor writers, the ways publishers secured favorable reviews as well as book notices, and the influence of the editor on the text. Moreover, since this was the age of the three-decker, he has recorded its growth and decline. In these chapters, one vignette follows another: the sums George Gissing earned, a publisher's reader's opinion of The Cloister and the Hearth, the shrewd contracts drawn by the author of East Lynne. This insight into the Victorian publisher at work will be required reading in many a literature and bibliography course. Now that this survey of the Bentley papers is finished, much more detailed investigation remains to be done. Some aspects of publish- ing, such as details on the cost of illustra- tions, are merely suggested, others not men- tioned. It would be rewarding, for example, to compare the costs in the Bentley papers with those in The Cost Books of Ticknor and 308 C O L L E G E A N D R E S E A R C H L I B R A R I E S Fields, or to make a thorough examination of the Anglo-American correspondence. Professor Gettmann's transcriptions, while not impeccable, are more accurate than usual. It is to be regretted, however, that the pub- lisher did not provide a more adequate index to the myriad of facts in the t e x t . — R o l l o G. Silver, School of Library Science, Simmons College. Library Administration Studies in Library Administrative Problems; Eight Reports from a Seminar in Library Administration Directed by Keyes D. Met- calf. [Edited by Keyes D. Metcalf.] New Brunswick, N. J . : Graduate School of Li- brary Service, Rutgers, T h e State Uni- versity, 1960. 21 Op. $5.00. This collection of case studies is more valuable for its introductory report on ex- periments in the methods of training junior library administrators than it is for its ad- ministrative content. T h e eight studies, in- teresting and quite well done for the most part, deal with such subjects as organiza- tional problems of a decentralized state uni- versity's library (Rutgers), space planning for Columbia, library cooperation in New York City, cataloging-in-source at Princeton, se- lective acquisitions at Yale, resources reloca- tion at Harvard, and centralization of sci- ence libraries at Johns Hopkins. T h e cases are taken entirely from large and complex libraries, and therefore have some value to the profession as detailed records of some of the problems currently faced by large libraries. However, each is an administrative rather than a research study, using conven- tional methods and establishing nothing new in administration. T h e more important parts are the introduction and the running commentaries by the editor. T h e primary interest centers about the various methods of teaching that were used. Five different methods of teaching ad- ministration were tried. All the experiments were conducted under favorable conditions, by an accomplished administrator, Keyes D. Metcalf, librarian emeritus of Harvard Col- lege, and under the sponsorship of one of the library schools receptive to experiments, the Graduate School of Library Service of Rut- gers University. T h e methods ranged from regular teaching in the school, to short courses, seminars, and intensive case-study workshops. Enrollments in the later experi- ments were limited and the participants chosen carefully, usually at the associate or assistant director level. They averaged forty to forty-five years of age and already were capable administrators. T h e fifth method of teaching, of which this book is a by-product, included reading in advance, case studies of specific problems in major libraries in the East, visits by individuals and then by the entire group to each of the libraries, plus talks by chief librarians and by visiting au- thorities. This ultimate method is too expen- sive for regular use in library schools be- cause of the extensive travelling. Financial help was provided by the Carnegie Corpora- tion. While the intensive on-the-spot case study method was the most satisfying to Metcalf, it may be questioned whether or not the excessive costs of this procedure are justifi- able for the profession. Business has em- barked during the last ten years on extensive programs of training for its middle manage- ment personnel. This training usually is given in intensive short courses at major universities, and the case-study method is used heavily. However, the cases are drawn from the literature or drafted by the teach- ers, and no visits to industries are involved. Since business foots the bill and is usually hard-nosed about value received, it may be that the library profession should once again profit from the successful experience of busi- ness management. Actually the more leisurely study of ad- ministration in regular courses at the grad- uate level may prove to be more productive. Such courses allow a more scholarly ap- proach to administrative theory and may permit the student to perform some basic research, or draw upon basic research, for the solution of administrative problems. In- tensive courses such as the later experiments bv Metcalf do have practical values for the training of middle management (and future chief administrators) in the techniques of administration, of course. T h e experiments also are important to library education for the emphasis they place upon the value of the case-study method. This technique prob- ably should be used more freely in library schools. J U L Y 1 9 6 1 309