College and Research Libraries 4101 College & Research Libraries • September, 1966 It is apparent to this reviewer that Mr. Holman and his talented designer-wife are a combination of sophisticated taste and high capability that is somewhat less than frequent in the profession. What is possible for them, having a Colts Armory Press and a careful selection of imported type, is simply beyond the reach of most librarians, nay, even of most academic librarians fa- vored with a university press. One would hope that there are enough large libraries and collectors at large to exhaust the edition of 350 copies. ( U nfor- tunately, this probably means that the vol- ume will be available to those who, in a sense, need it least.) Hopefully, too, every library school library will procure a copy, which might be the best way to maximize the book's usefuhiess. If only a small hand- ful of beginning librarians were fired by the passion and good taste exhibited by Mr. Holman, printing for libraries might one day be revolutionized. A more practical and immediate route to the upgrading of library publications-so fervently desired by Mr. Holman-would seem to be this: ( 1) raise the level of taste on the part of librarians, and ( 2) encourage them to seek out a high-quality printer who is, or who has on his staff, a good designer. Library Publications is a notable contribu- tion to the first of these goals.-Wm. R. Eshelman, Bucknell University. Special Libraries: A Guide for Manage- ment. Ed. by Edward G. Strahle. New York, Special Libraries Association, 1966. 63p. illus. $4. (66-17107). Special Libraries: A Guide for Manage- ment fills a gap in the literature of special librarianship. Rather than being aimed at the neophyte special librarian, this slim, paperbound book is intended for the use of management personnel in deciding the when, why, how, and what of a special library. Written by six special librarians, the information it contains is accurate, cur- rent, and well-presented. It is not written as a quick course in librarianship; it pre- sents the type of information the manager of a research laboratory, for example, re- quires to determine the need of his or- ganization for a library, the functions he might expect such a library to perform, and the probable costs of establishment and operation. A number of photographs, floor plans, and tables augment the text nicely. These- lection of examples has been chosen thoughtfully to include the whole range from very small to very large special li- braries. The data supplied to demonstrate the probable costs of establishment and operation is as current as possible and some suggestions concerning trends are made which should keep the book from being outdated too quickly. Three ap- proaches to budget planning are suggested and it might be possible to use them as a check on each other. The data in this sec- tion may also have some useful applica- tions in the estimation of operational costs of "special" libraries which are a part of university library systems. The increasing volume of contract research on university campuses has resulted in a significant growth of special libraries within the aca- demic milieu. A useful bibliography, again aimed more at management than librarians, is appended. This supplements the numerous books and articles mentioned in the text. This book is a powerful tool for the li- brarian who steps into the normally cha- otic situation which pertains when an in- dustrial or business concern suddenly senses a need for a library. A few copies in the hands of management would lend support to the librarian's desire to provide · optimum service. Unfortunately, it is not likely that too many managers will see a copy before their literature problems be- come overwhelming. The Illinois Chapter of Special Libraries Association is to be congratulated for sustaining this project and producing this useful pamphlet.-Rob- ert E. Burton, University of Michigan. Lyceum to Library: A Chapter in the Cultural History of Houston. By Orin Walker Hatch. Houston: Texas Gulf Coast Historical Association, 1965. [ix1, 73p. $3. Every institution should have its history recorded. This maxim is as true for a cul- tural institution as for a financial, govern- mental, or academic one. Library histories are important if for no other reason than that they lend support to the raison d' etre of libraries themselves. But the histories provide much more than that, of course: practices and developmental programs cur- rently in force can be better understood and justified through a delineation of past experiences, early patterns, historical events, and original sources. Contrary to popular thinking, the past record of an eminent library can be an interesting bit of reading, assuming that one has an inter- est in the profession or the particular li- brary. The early history of the Houston public library has been compiled by Orin Walker Hatch, who was employed in that library for five and one-half years. It was issued as a small paperback volume in the Publi- cation Series of the Texas Gulf Coast His- torical Association. Other worthwhile titles that have been issued in the series, not always local in scope, are A Short History of the Sugar Industry in Texas, by William R. Johnson; Crusade for Conformity; the Ku Klux Klan in Texas: 1920-1930, by Charles C. Alexander; and The European Common Market, by W. L. Clayton. Mr. Hatch is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma library school and the newly appointed librarian of New Mexico Junior College at Hobbs. He assembled the ma- terial for this study in the course of pre- paring a thesis for the Master of Arts de- Book Reviews I 411 gree at the University of Houston. The published result is hard core historical matter with little or no literary dressing. One reads the work for fact, not fancy . It has none of the enlivened readibility of Harry Clemons's University of Virginia Li- brary, 1825-1950, or Frank B. Woodford's Parnassus on Main Street; a History of the Detroit Public Library. Beginning with the founding of the Hous- ton Lyceum in 1837 the story is fraught with failure, the abandonment of one lyceum-library after another, until Andrew Carnegie rescues the perishing cultural so- cieties, too numerous to recall. Mr. Hatch's story ends with the erection of the Italian Renaissance building ·of the Houston Lyceum and Carnegie library in 1904. In the appendix a short 'Epilogue' by the pres- ent librarian, Harriet Dickson Reynolds, describes well but too briefly the services and size of the Houston public library to- day. The author's chronology and biblio- graphical essay are helpful, and the index is good. The reader feels that he has begun the tale-now he would like to finish it. Who will write the next (and perhaps the most interesting) part of the story of one of America's potentially great public libraries? -Roscoe Rouse, State University of New York at Stony Brook. •• Art Reference Citation THE AUTHOR of "The Art Reference Library" (CRL, May 1966, pp. 201- 206), writes "that the Worldwide Exhibitions Catalogue mentioned in my article ... should read Worldwide Art Catalogue Bulletin . . . and is published by Worldwide Books, Inc., 250 West 57th Street, New York." ••