College and Research Libraries


BOOK REVIEWS 

Northwestern Approaches: the First Cen-
tury of Books. By R. D. Hilton Smith. 
Victoria, B.C.: The Adelphi Book Shop 
Ltd., 1969. 67p. $6.50. 

This I know. Any book about the Pa-
cific Northwest is a collector's item. North-
western Approaches passes muster for oth-
er reasons, too. It is something in the na-
ture of a bibliography printed and pub-
lished in British Columbia, and issued in a 
limited edition of 750 copies. The book 
derives from a series of lectures given to 
the students of the University of British 
Columbia School of Librarianship in 1966. 
Mr. Smith devoted his talks to "books 
written by the explorers of British Colum-
bia and its approaches during the century 
which began with Bering's first voyage and 
ended with Sir George Simpson's second 
journey to the Columbia." This meant no 
inhibition, however, for "British Columbia 
and its approaches" virtually covers the 
Pacific rim. 

The book contains tidy thumbnail ac· 
counts of major explorations conducted 
from Russia, Spain, Great Britain, France, 
and the United States during the hundred 
years, 1728 to 1828. Mr. Smith's repertory 
of books arising from these explorations in-
cludes works that any librarian or schooled 
layman must take cognizance of if he 
wishes to reside and live long in the Pa-
cific Northwest. Regionalism is inexorable, 
and nobody in the Pacific Northwest can 
afford to be a landlubber. To survive, one 
must be conversant with Captain Van-
couver's ship, the Discovery, and know 
that Captain Cook had a Discovery, too, 
as well as a Resolution. Northwestern Ap· 
proaches provides a key to these and ap-
proximately forty other never-to-be-forgot-
ten ships, including the New Hazard of 
Stephen Reynolds, the Astrolabe of La 
Perouse, the Neva of Urey Lisiansky, and 
the Argonaut of James Colnett. Further-
more, Mr. Smith would never forsake rele-

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Recent Publications 

vant place names. A cursory examination 
of his check-list and index evokes such 
memorable names as Vitus Bering of Ber-
ing Sea, Robert Gray of Gray's Harbor, 
Simon Fraser of Fraser River, and George 
Vancouver of Vancouver Island, along with 
Alexander Mackenzie, David .Thompson, 
Otto von Kotzebue, John Jewitt, and Baron 
de Lesseps. 

The longest chapter in Northwestern 
Approaches has to do with British land 
and sea explorations conducted, it is so 
hard to believe, during the height of the 
American Revolution. Mr. Smith's narra-
tive contains sufficient historical chronolo-
gy to place each bibliographic entry in a 
proper perspective. 

Northwestern Approaches should be as 
acceptable to aficionados of Pacific North-
west Americana as it can be useful to 
compatriots who wish merely to acquire a 
hazy impression of early explorations and 
voyages. The narrative is clear and easy 
on the mind. Since Hilton Smith is an ex-
perienced librarian and alert bookman, he 
is nicely attuned to British Columbiana. 
He has enriched his presentation with 
twelve judiciously chosen illustrations. Dr. 
Samuel Rothstein originated the library 
school lectures and contributed a Fore-
word to them.-Harry C. Bauer, University 
of Washington. 

Junior College Libraries: Development, 
Needs, and Perspectives. By Everett 
LeRoy Moore, ed. (ACRL Monograph, 
No. 30). Chicago: American Library 
Association, 1969. 104p. (68-56370). 

Community Junior College Libraries: 
Development, Needs, and Perspectives 
should have been the title of this publica-
tion. This brief volume is a collection of 
nineteen papers submitted at the Confer-
ence on Junior College Libraries held at 
the University of California, Los Angeles, 
June 21-24, 1967. Except for Ralph S. 
Emerick, Director of the Library at Ste-
phens College, who represented the pri-
vate junior college library, all the program