College and Research Libraries tant one which will provoke considerable discussion. In it he notes that "Criticism serves to open debate, to admit to a range of options, and to awaken a partisanship which must defend itself in the open mar- ketplace of competitive ideas and prescrip- tions." His criticism does just that. Wasserman feels the profession is failing society; that its leadership is conservative and unresponsive; that we develop collec- tions at the cost of service; that we recruit the wrong kind of people; that our profes- sional organizations, our library schools, and our literature are inadequate to solve today' s problems, much less tomorrow's; and that libraries, all libraries presumably, are already an endangered species perhaps soon to be a footnote in our history like the Chautauqua movement. It is a well-organized book, based on the imaginative identification and use of sources too often overlooked. The author's knowledge of the process of change and his analysis of what he feels is needed in de- veloping leadership to do it are thoughtful and perceptive. If much of this is not new, it is presented from a new viewpoint, it is based on careful and creative research, and there is a kind of luminous sincerity in the author's concern for his subject, a sincerity somewhat marred by passion. The book is a polemic which compels our attention and, not surprisingly, it is also ir- ritating. Wasserman's style is occasionally obscure, even turgid, and many will be an- noyed with his fondness for vogue words- congruent, viable, relevant, dysfunctional, alienated, societal, syndrome, etc. A more serious irritant is the author's arrogance, that very arrogance which has discredited the whole intellectual community. We are a sorry lot, we librarians, and there is no health in us. We are old and tired and mid- dle class and our values and virtues, if any, are meaningless. A young, jobless welfare mother may be a villain; a working middle- aged librarian must be. In this sense, it is not only an academically fashionable book, but a sentimental one as well. Aside from the book's passion, its Band of Hope flavor, and its modish assumptions, one of its more serious Haws is that it ad- dresses itself to the whole of librarianship as an entity. It must be increasingly evident Recent Publications I 285 to all that this is not valid. The unique clientele, resources, goals, and governance of our various libraries do not lend them- selves to Wasserman's blanket indictments and broad generalizations. The differences between the Newberry Library and the Newark Public defy comparison. Wasserman is a hopeful man. He antici- pates replacing today's ineffective leader- ship with young people (of whom he is tenderly fond) drawn from the behavioral and social sciences, moved bv an idealism we have long lost, who ~ill somehow, through greater sensitivity and compassion, superior education, and a more demanding society, revolutionize our present concepts of library service. This done, they will move us further toward that unattainable goal, the elimination of poverty, ignorance, evil, and injustice. I wish it so may be. Whether they do or not, Wasserman has suggested a sophisticated way of examining our problems, based on high ethical and professional standards, and we cannot just murmur «Plus ga change, plus c' est la meme chose." Nor can we ignore his per- ception of reality, avoid recognizing his critical talents, or retreat to a permanent- ly defensive position in a demanding so- ciety.-Stuart Forth, :Pennsylvania State University College, University Park. Houghton, Bernard. Out of the Dinosaurs -the Evolution of the National Lending Library for Science and Technology. Hamden, Conn., and London: Linnet Books and Clive Bingley, 1972. This is the first in a projected series from British publisher Clive Bingley on "The Management of Change-Studies in the Evolution of Library Systems," and Evolu- tion is also in the subtitle. The title itself refers to one of NLL Director D. J. Urqu- hart's more provocative statements, here highlighted facing the title-page, comparing the failure of traditional libraries to see the significance of the NLL, to the dinosaurs' fatal incomprehension of the new species appearing around them. It occurs to me that no one has adequate- ly dealt with the thrust of Urquhart's analogy in that quotation, and one must include Mr. Houghton in that, despite the title-page fanfare. For, as indicated in a recent British 286 I College & Research Libraries • September 1973 review (LAR, Feb. 1973) this is essentially a straightforward descriptive survey of the NLL, rather than an analytical probing of the management of change or a compara- tive study of the NLL and "the dinosaurs surrounding it." With that caveat, which is worth raising at the outset since that is where a reader meets the problem, the work emerges as an interesting and infor- mative addition to the still rather sparse amount of generally available literature on the origin and functioning of the largest sci- entific library in Europe. In seven tightly-organized chapters the author, who is senior lecturer in informa- · tion work at Liverpool Polytechnic, covers the fascinating historical background to the NLL; its staffing, stock, and records; the operational service; and the ancillary activ- ities (translations, courses, etc.) which con- stitute some of the best examples of the NLL' s creative, flexible, and undogmatic approach to modern library service. A final chapter is devoted to a brief assessment. The treatment is factual and terse, often so sectionalized as to resemble lecture notes. One wishes the author had allowed himself to reflect, and to expand upon the many points he fires out in staccato sequence ("The results from the survey were used in making the following decisions: ( i) . . . ( ii) . . . (iii) . . . ( iv) . . . ( v) . . ." etc.) . Being opinionated about the NLL has, af- ter all, ample precedent in Dr. Urquhart's writings and elsewhere, and is still very necessary as this great experiment grows to maturity as part of the British Library. NLL buffs will recognize most of the standard NLL publicity photographs, as well as the documentary sources Mr. Houghton relies on, although those current- ly involved in the discussions about creat- ing a similar national lending service in the U.S. may find the work of less value than they had anticipated. The crucial question of the replicability, or otherwise, of NLL techniques is not part of the author's de- sign. Here we return to Urquhart's dinosaur conceit, which goads librarians for not adopting NLL methods in their own en- vironments. In fact, it is obvious that to do so would be impossible and that library users here, and in a score of other countries, would be better served by further "stand- alone" NLL's, comparable to the original in terms of world-wide holdings, minimal recording, and a fast response. Planners might even take seriously the idea of a dis- used military installation on cheap land near the communications fulcrum of the country. And this time, let us see the lead come from the library community.-Peter G. Watson, University of California, Los Angeles. Ralph E. Ellsworth. Academic Library Buildings, A Guide to Architectural Is- sues and Solutions. Boulder, Colo.: The Colorado Associated University Press, 1973. 530 p. Academic Library Buildings is a unique compilation of 1,500 annotated photo- graphs of 130 academic library buildings built primarily during the past five years. The author's intent is described in the sub- title and in his statement in the preface "to present represeutative examples of suc- cessful architectural solutions to the impor- tant problems librarians and architects face in planning new college and university li- brary buildings or in remodeling and en- larging existing structures." In theory, the idea of this book is intrigu- ing, but the end result is somewhat disap- pointing. The culprit is the photograph. Al- though an old proverb says something about a picture being worth a thousand words, a poor photograph can be a bar- rier to seeing, a misrepresentation of what exists, a meaningless gray mass. This is most unfortunate, especially since the knowledgeable Ellsworth has a great quantity of wisdom to impart to us. H e has done an excellent job of encapsulating the basic truths of library planning in the writ- ten portions of his book such as the chap- ters on "Trends and Dilemmas" and "Con- clusions about Planning" and the written portion which begins each chapter. The listing of architectural problems to be re- solved under the heading "Architectural In- tent" which precedes various groups of pho- tos is especially helpful as a checklist for the library planner. However, the greater portion of the book consists of photographs. Ellsworth covered himself in his preface by noting that the photographs are not the work of a profes- sional photographer but are "librarians' working photographs ," but that does not ~ I I _. I I 1 ~