College and Research Libraries


Book Reviews / 519 

moting national technological, economic 
and social goals." Without a doubt Dr. 
Klempner's findings support his hypothe-
ses that the government's abstracting serv-
ices are not being adequately utilized for 
the diffusion of results of government-
sponsored research; that industries and in-
stitutions having no government contracts 
generally do not receive, and frequently 
are unfamiliar with these abstracting and 
indexing services; and that there is a high 
degree of correlation between the extent 
of receipt and use of these services within 
certain regions and industries and the de-
gree of innovation and economic expan-
sion within these regions and industries. 
While Dr. Klempner does not try to prove 
cause and effect, his findings support pre-
viously published evidence that techno-
logical innovation and progress in industry 
seem to center on firms which, among oth-
er things, are aware of and sensitive to 
channels and media for the communication 
of scientific information. 

Dr. Klempner analyzed the patterns of 
distribution of the four services, as evi-
denced by their mailing lists. He obtained 
information on the use of the services 
through questionnaires addressed to sam-
ples of recipients and non-recipients of the 
services. His attention to detail in the de-
sign of his research method and his dog-
gedness in the preparation of his samples 
should belie any lack of confidence one 
might have in his findings. Because this 
book is in the main the text of his doctoral 
dissertation, it is filled with both tabular 
and factual presentation of his data. As 
with all good doctoral projects it is limited 
to a highly specific topic. As a dissertation 
it unfortunately will probably not be wide-
ly read. Dr. Klempner's message is, how-
ever, vital and clear: librarians and infor-
mation offices have an obligation to be ac-
tive and ingenious in promoting the use 
of the tools of their trade, and the Federal 
government must take steps to change the 
distribution pattern of these very important 
announcement and retrieval services in 
order to gain full power from them as 
instruments for the transfer of technology 
in industry.—Russell Shank, Smithsonian 
Institution. 

The Methodist Publishing House, Vol. I; 
From Its Beginnings to 1870. By James 
Penn Pilkington. Nashville: Abingdon, 
1968. xv, 585p. $7.50 (68-21894). 

John Wesley's aggressive publishing pro-
gram, which contributed substantially to 
the success of his religious movement in 
England, was imported with Methodism 
to the British American colonies in the 
1760's on the assumption that it would 
play as important a role here. The as-
sumption was valid, as this fully docu-
mented study shows, for the work of the 
Methodist Publishing House during its first 
one hundred years was crucial to the pros-
elytical and evangelical programs of 
American Methodism. The story of the 
Methodist Publishing House contains ex-
amples of reverses as well as triumphs. 
The house was sometimes divided. Occa-
sionally it suffered from poor management. 
Once or twice it seemed on the verge of 
collapse. Yet its overall history has been 
impressive. Its directors adapted them-
selves with enterprise and imagination to 
the changing times and to the developing 
needs of Methodism during a period in 
which it experienced spectacular growth. 
This work presents a history of which the 
Methodist Publishing House and the Meth-
odist Church can be proud. 

The author, a member of the staff of the 
Methodist Publishing House for over twen-
ty years, has had complete access to its 
records, which must surely be numbered 
among the most extensive and complete 
of any well-established American publish-
ing house. He has supplemented these 
records—which contain information upon a 
wide variety of topics ranging from print-
ing and publishing practices and sales 
figures to reading interests and editorial 
policy—with material gleaned from other 
sources, including newspapers, periodicals, 
and private papers. Effectively selected il-
lustrations add still more flavor to the au-
thor's close re-creation of the period. This 
study promises to be, with the eventual 
publication of the second volume which 
will continue with an account of the sec-
ond hundred years, the most comprehen-
sive history of any American publishing 



520 / College <Lr Research Libraries • November 1968 

house. It is already one of the most schol-
arly. 
In reading this excellent book, this review-
er was reminded again of Thomas Carlyle's 
observation: "The ordinary histories of 
Kings and Courtiers were well exchanged 
against a tenth part of one good History of 
Booksellers." In these first hundred years, 
the history of the Methodist Publishing 
House is closely interwoven with the his-
tory of this country, for the former was in-
fluenced by and, as a significant part of 
the religious movement, was an influence 
on the latter. Running through the fabric 
of the Methodist Publishing House's past 
are some of the warp threads in the 
whole fabric of American history: the in-
fluence of an expanding frontier; the op-
timism and sectionalism which its broad 
horizons generated; inflation, depression, 
war, and industrial growth. This work will 
be of interest to students of American cul-
tural history and the history of Christianity 
in America as well as of the history of 
American publishing and of Methodism. 

It is a sad fact that so few comparable 
studies, indeed so few studies at all, exist 
of American publishing houses which have 
played an important part in our country's 
cultural history. The potential use of an 
adequate corpus of such works to scholars 
in several fields can as yet be only partial-
ly comprehended. The wealth of informa-
tion found in this one work, however, sug-
gests something of that potential. 

The book is handsomely designed, well 
made, and copiously illustrated. Its price 
is remarkably modest.—Robert D. Harlan, 
University of California, Berkeley. 

Floors: Selection and Maintenance. By 
Bernard Berkeley. Library Technology 
Program, no. 13 [Chicago: ALA, 1968]. 
300p. $12.50 (68-23014). 

The book is organized in seven chapters as 
follows: (1) Selection Criteria; (2) Main-
tenance; (3) Resilient Floor Coverings; 
(4) Carpet; (5) Masonry Floors; (6) 
Wood Floors; and (7) Formed-in-place 
Floors. 

These chapter headings indicate the scope 
of this work. The first chapter discusses all 
types of floor coverings in general, the ad-
vantages and disadvantages of each gener-
al type, pricing comparisons, and mainten-
ance problems. After reading this chapter 
the librarian should be able to decide up-
on the general type of floor covering he 
will use. He can then select a specific type 
by further study of the appropriate chap-
ter covering the general type selected. 

The second chapter devotes forty-six pages 
to a comprehensive study of floor covering 
maintenance. It deals with maintenance 
supplies and equipment and their proper 
utilization. Although few librarians have 
control over maintenance practices, their 
understanding of the problems associated 
with them should improve their under-
standing of good and bad practices and 
should enable them to know what results 
to expect from any specific floor covering. 
This chapter, therefore, should not be 
passed over lightly. 

The remaining chapters analyze specific 
coverings. Their description, installation, 
maintenance, refinishing, the removal 
therefrom of stains and burns, and other 
pertinent information pertaining to each is 
presented in excellent detail. 
The author uses few footnotes but provides 
an exhaustive listing of selected refer-
ences. An excellent index is also included. 
Twenty useful tables appear at appropriate 
places within the text. Some care should be 
exercised in using the tables, however, 
since they contain a few typographical er-
rors. Photographs are used to illustrate the 
text. 
This well-organized consolidation of im-
portant factors in the selection and main-
tenance of floor coverings is the only book 
of its kind. Every librarian responsible for 
the physical aspects of a library should be 
familiar with it. Moreover, although it is 
not a maintenance manual, persons re-
sponsible for custodial services will profit 
from it, as will architects, library building 
consultants, and planners.—Charles Schliec-
ker, University of North Carolina. • •