College and Research Libraries


of arriving at them, because e x p e r i e n c e s will 
differ. B u t if the f u n c t i o n of this b o o k is to 
o u t l i n e the whole picture a n d to provide 
s t i m u l a t i o n to thought a n d action, then it 
should be the f u n c t i o n of its readers to eluci-
date p a r t i c u l a r details as they u n d e r s t a n d 
t h e m . — R o b e r t A. Karlowich, University of 
Illinois Library. 

Great Books 

Molders of the Modern Mind. By R o b e r t B . 
Downs. New Y o r k : B a r n e s 8c N o b l e , 1961. 
396p. $6.00; paper, $2.25. 

T e n years ago I read a library copy of 
C r a n e B r i n t o n ' s Ideas and Men a n d was de-
lighted to find that it b r o u g h t i n t o some 
o r d e r scattered bits of i n f o r m a t i o n I h a d 
picked u p over the years. A t the end the 
"Suggestions f o r F u r t h e r S t u d y " giving refer-
ences to o r i g i n a l sources in c o n n e c t i o n with 
each c h a p t e r inspired m e to buy my own 
copy of the book. I was too optimistic when 
I thought I could read those suggested 
sources; I never even got through T h u c y d i -
des, the first for the c h a p t e r on the 
Greeks! 

W h e n I e x a m i n e d the table of c o n t e n t s of 
Molders of the Modern Mind I hastily f o u n d 
that deserted copy of Ideas and Men and 
began to compare the titles suggested for the 
chapters from V I I I on with the list of those 
reviewed in Molders of the Modern Mind. 
T h i r t y - t w o of them were on the B r i n t o n lists 
which i n c l u d e d only seventeen others for the 
m a t c h i n g chapters. B r i n t o n warned his read-
ers: " A n i n t e l l e c t u a l history is inevitably in 
part a series of private judgments made by 
the m a n who writes it. Unless that m a n is sure 
that he knows the right i n t e r p r e t a t i o n al-
ways—and this writer is n o t so s u r e — h e will 
do b e t t e r to afford his readers constant 
chances to go through the original stuff of in-
tellectual history, and to m a k e u p their own 
m i n d s on m a n y m a t t e r s . " M r . Downs ends 
his i n t r o d u c t i o n : " A p p r o x i m a t e l y three hun-
dred titles were r e c o m m e n d e d f o r considera-
tion by various consultants. I t is p a t e n t that 
a u n a n i m o u s verdict is exceedingly difficult 
to o b t a i n on any given book. Selection is un-
avoidably a subjective m a t t e r , a n d responsi-

bility for the final list has been b o r n e en-
tirely by the a u t h o r . " 

W i t h due respect to both these state-
m e n t s I am grateful to have been brought 
closer to knowing 111 books that any li-
b r a r i a n should want to include in his read-
ing e x p e r i e n c e , even though in large part 
vicariously. M r . Downs gets i n t o the ap-
p r o x i m a t e l y one-thousand-word q u o t a for 
each title a summary of its contents, a sig-
nificant q u o t a t i o n o r so as a sample of the 
style o f writing, something a b o u t the a u t h o r 
a n d his contemporaries, as well as an estimate 
o f his affect on later thought. F o r instance, in 
his a c c o u n t of T h o r e a u ' s Resistance to Civil 
Government he includes the story of its moti-
vation of G h a n d i h a l f a century later. 

T h e titles are grouped u n d e r f o u r head-
ings: " R e n a i s s a n c e and R e f o r m a t i o n , " " E n -
l i g h t m e n t , R e a s o n a n d R e v o l u t i o n , " " T h e 
Bourgeois C e n t u r y , " a n d " M a k i n g the 
M o d e r n W o r l d . " Each section is i n t r o d u c e d 
by a short essay that fills in the contempo-
rary b a c k g r o u n d effectively, a n d i n c i d e n t a l l y 
makes the r e a d e r aware of the enormous 
scholarship of the man who has written 
Molders of the Modern Mind. T h i s book 
should certainly give a lift to those l i b r a r i a n s 
who cringe when they h e a r the accusation 
that there are too many administrators and 
too few b o o k m e n in m o d e r n libraries, for 
h e r e is o n e outstanding a d m i n i s t r a t o r who 
has obviously f o u n d time to read. 

M r . Down's 1956 volume, Books That 
Changed the World, i n c l u d e d sixteen of the 
same authors he discusses in Molders of the 
Modern Mind, though in two instances o t h e r 
titles are used: Das Kapital by M a r x instead 
of the Communist Manifesto by M a r x and 
Engels, and Freud's Interpretation of Dreams 
instead of Civilization and Its Discontents. 
T h e e a r l i e r book gives more m a t e r i a l on each 
title a n d uses m o r e q u o t a t i o n s , but the es-
sentials are all included in the shorter sum-
maries, and the flavor is m a i n t a i n e d . Several 
of the titles m e n t i o n e d in the i n t r o d u c t i o n 
to the first book as h a v i n g been considered 
for inclusion and r e j e c t e d " f o r o n e reason 
or a n o t h e r " are found in the second book, 
suggesting that the research d o n e f o r the 
first led i n t o the m o r e extensive coverage in 
the second. A n u m b e r of historians and critics 
are cited in the essays i n t r o d u c i n g the f o u r 
sections of Molders of the Modern Mind, 
a m o n g them B r i n t o n whose Ideas and Men 
is q u o t e d . 

J U L Y 1 9 6 2 3 5 3 



I n Books that Changed the World M r . 
D o w n s said: " I n view o f the e x t r e m e diffi-
culty as to r e a d a b i l i t y of perhaps a m a j o r i t y 
o f titles on the select list, this q u e s t i o n may 
reasonably b e asked: H o w could these works 
e x e r t influence on any e x c e p t a narrow b a n d 
of specialists? . . . T h e i r influence, accord-
ingly, has resulted from i n t e r p r e t a t i o n by 
e x p e r t s . " I would ask a n o t h e r q u e s t i o n : in 
view of the e x t r e m e difficulty o f under-
standing many of the books t h a t have m o l d e d 
o u r m o d e r n consciousness, a n d the equally 
e x t r e m e difficulty o f finding t i m e to r e a d 
them, isn't it b e t t e r to r e a d M r . Downs's 
lucid summaries than to fail to read most of 
the o r i g i n a l s ? — K a t h a r i n e M. Stokes, Western 
Michigan University, Kalamazoo. 

A Regional Survey 

College, University and Special Libraries of 
the Pacific Northwest. E d i t e d by M o r t o n 
K r o l l . (Pacific Northwest L i b r a r y Associa-
tion D e v e l o p m e n t P r o j e c t R e p o r t s , V o l u m e 
I I I ) . Seattle, University of W a s h i n g t o n 
Press, 1961. x , 310p. $ 6 . 7 5 . 

T h i s study, v o l u m e three of the reports 
o f the Pacific Northwest L i b r a r y Association 
D e v e l o p m e n t P r o j e c t , consists o f two parts. 
I t s first third covers college a n d university 
libraries, while the r e m a i n i n g two-thirds 
presents surveys of three types o f special li-
braries: legal, m e d i c a l a n d federal. I n b o t h 
cases the geographical coverage is the f o u r 
states o f W a s h i n g t o n , O r e g o n , I d a h o , a n d 
M o n t a n a a n d the p r o v i n c e of B r i t i s h Colum-
bia. O n l y t h r e e o f the six chapters ( " P o l i c y 
M a k i n g a n d C o n t r o l in College a n d Univer-
sity L i b r a r i e s , " " T h e A c a d e m i c L i b r a r y a n d 
the C o m m u n i t y : A Study o f R e l a t i o n s h i p s 
between P u b l i c a n d A c a d e m i c L i b r a r i e s in 
the Pacific N o r t h w e s t , " a n d " T h e F e d e r a l 
L i b r a r y i n the Pacific N o r t h w e s t " ) have 
i n d i v i d u a l authors; teams o f two ( " T h e R e -
search F u n c t i o n of College a n d University 
L i b r a r i e s in the Pacific N o r t h w e s t " ) , f o u r 
( " T h e L a w L i b r a r i e s of the Pacific North-

w e s t " ) , and six ( " T h e M e d i c a l L i b r a r i e s of 
the Pacific N o r t h w e s t " ) p r e p a r e d the o t h e r 
three chapters. 

T h e first of the three chapters on college 

a n d university l i b r a r i e s provides an e x c e l l e n t 
view o f the structure of policy m a k i n g . T h e 
a u t h o r first considers policy m a k i n g within 
the library a n d then e x a m i n e s r e l a t i o n s with 
n o n l i b r a r y groups. T h e writer, a p o l i t i c a l 
scientist, concludes that the most effective 
forms a n d procedures of a d m i n i s t r a t i o n are 
those which keep o p e n the c h a n n e l s of com-
m u n i c a t i o n s . H e also emphasizes t h a t pro-
cedures are n o b e t t e r than the m e n who use 
t h e m — c e r t a i n l y a plea f o r m o r e c o m p e t e n t 
a n d qualified administrators. Students of 
library m a n a g e m e n t , take h e e d ! 

T h e n e x t c h a p t e r explores the library's 
role in research. A l t h o u g h a discussion o f 
resources devotes one p a r a g r a p h to listing 
some special strengths of the area's libraries, 
the writers p o i n t o u t that " h i g h l y r e l i a b l e 
knowledge o f the actual state o f the collec-
tions in t h e various fields t h r o u g h o u t the 
region must await m o r e e x a c t a n d extensive 
surveys." N o t m e n t i o n e d is the fact that a 
new e d i t i o n o f J o h n V a n M a l e ' s Resources 
of Pacific Northwest Libraries (1943) could 
accomplish this. T h e c l a i m of the authors to 
c o n c e n t r a t e " o n f o u r selected fields: physical 
sciences, social sciences, biological sciences, 
a n d h u m a n i t i e s " puzzles this reviewer, since 
most scholars would t h i n k of these areas as 
e m b r a c i n g all of t h e disciplines within the 
l i b e r a l arts a n d sciences, e x c l u d i n g only the 
various professional fields of law, m e d i c i n e , 
a r c h i t e c t u r e , etc. A f t e r b r i e f consideration o f 
finance, services, a n d facilities the c h a p t e r 
concludes with twelve " t e n t a t i v e recom-
m e n d a t i o n s " r a n g i n g from m o r e efforts to 
develop c o l l e c t i o n s a n d to fill gaps to an 
" i m p r o v e d system for c o n t r o l l i n g the time 
of b i n d i n g j o u r n a l s . " 

P e r h a p s t h e most striking t h o u g h t left 
with the r e a d e r o f Carlson's study o f the 
a c a d e m i c library a n d the c o m m u n i t y is n o t 
the lack o f e x a m p l e s o f a c o m b i n e d public-
college library service b u t the lack of interest 
in e x p e r i m e n t i n g with it. H e offers the ex-
p l a n a t i o n that, in spite o f " a great deal of 
effective though i n f o r m a l c o o p e r a t i o n " be-
tween the two types, " t h e definite f e e l i n g 
persists that each . . . has its own c l i e n t e l e . " 

T h e r e a d e r of the c h a p t e r s which form 
part o n e needs to b e a r in m i n d that each has 
a somewhat different scope. T h e first does 
n o t i n d i c a t e how m a n y libraries i t covers, 
b u t the e x a m p l e s t e n d to draw on the larger 
a c a d e m i c libraries. C h a p t e r 2 is based pri-
marily on n i n e i n s t i t u t i o n s (the universities 

3 5 4 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