College and Research Libraries


336 I College & Research Libraries • July 1972 

2. Good library programs are the result 
of leadership. 

Granted that these conclusions are valid, 
anyone who has observed the state library 
scene for the last decade or so must raise 
an inevitable question. With all of the 
rhetoric about the central role of the state 
library and its leadership functions, why 
haven't more good state library programs 
developed? Are we lacking in will or lead-
ership or both? 

In addition to the substantial questions 
which it answers and raises, the study in-
cludes a number of notable features. The 
chapter on "Agencies and the Policy Proc-
ess" is an excellent manual on profitable 
political activity. Also, Alex Ladenson' s 
essay included in the appendix on "The 
Role of State Government in the Establish-
ment, Promotion and Support of Public Li-
braries" is a very useful survey. 

A v.aluable study and a refreshing de-
parture from the usual efforts in this field 
which are over-larded with useless sta-
tistics and short on meaningful conclusions. 
-F. William Summers, Graduate Library 
School, University of South Carolina 

John B. Corbin. A Technical Services 
Manual for Small Libraries. Metuchen 
N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1971. 206p. ' 
In A Technical Services Manual for 

Small Libraries by John B. Corbin, Scare-
crow Press, 1971, Corbin attempts to de-
scribe technical service routines and prac-
tices in "small- to medium-sized libraries 
(college, school, public, or special) " for 
the benefit of inexperienced librarians as-
signed the task of organizing and manag-
ing a technical service operation. Since 
"small" is nowhere defined, and since col-
lege, public, school, and special libraries 
vary radically in function, size, and popu-
lations served, the book manages to fall 
neatly between several stools. Corbin seems 
most comfortable in describing techniques 
appropriate to public libraries, and is 
aware of procedures useful to college li-
braries of modest aims; the book is of little 
use to special or school libraries. It might 
more appropriately have been titled Help-
ful Hints for Planning and Managing Tech-
nical Service Operations in Small Public or 
College Libraries. 

Corbin devotes time to describing the 

nature of work in acquisition and catalog-
ing, and requirements for space, equip-
ment, and desirable staff traits for tech-
nical service librarians. Curiously, although 
acquisitions and cataloging functions, and 
book preparation procedures are examined 
in some detail, no attempt is made to de-
scribe bindery or prebindery procedures. 

After chapters on Organization, Selec-
tion, Acquisitions, Classification and Cata-
loging, Preparation of Catalog and Shelf 
List Cards, and Final Preparation of Ma-
terials, the last chapter concerns itself with 
Special Problems in Technical Services 
Work. These problems are work simplifi-
cation, precataloging and reclassifying, cen-
tralized processing, preprocessing, and au-
tomation and mechanization. 

The selected bibliography of basic 
sources is one of the more useful features 
of the book. However, whether Haines' 
Living With Books has practical applica-
tions today is debatable; The National Un-
ion Catalog is most likely to be required in 
affiuent college libraries; Robert Casey's 
Punched Cards-$20.00 for one chapter-
seems a dubious choice, and Tauber's Tech-
nical Services in Libraries is seriously out of 
date. The most remarkable omission is 
Dougherty and Heinritz' s Scientific Man-
agement of Library Operations, a funda-
mental text for organizing routines in li-
braries. 

Corbin describes established techniques, 
well known to experienced librarians and, 
for the most part, already described else-
where in the literature. However, the tech-
niques discussed are clearly and carefully 
described. The book could thus be of some 
help to neophytes in the profession if the 
texts in Corbin's bibliography are not at 
hand. 

Physically, this is one of the characteris-
tically unattractive but sturdy books pub-
lished by Scarecrow Press, photo-reduced 
from an accurately typed manuscript. ( Oh, 
yes, on page 117, Who's Afraid of Virginia 
Woolf? is by Edward, not Albert Albee.) 

Corbin's book is not a significant addi-
tion to the literature of library manage-
ment. It is recommended only for those li-
braries attempting to collect all books on 
librarianship.-David E. Pownall, Hofstra 
University