College and Research Libraries


art, colleges of technology, technological 
universities, and polytechnics. Consequent-
ly, the descriptions may be helpful to those 
interested in British higher education and 
its libraries, and a library seeking exhaus-
tive coverage of British librarianship may 
wish to acquire the book despite its medi-
ocrity.-W. L. Williamson, The Library 
School, University of Wisconsin at Madison. 

Danton, J. Periam. The Dimensions of 
Comparative Librarians hip. Chicago: 
American Library Assn., 1973. 184p. 
This is a landmark book which will be 

cited for many years to come. Troubled by 
the confusion in thinking over the past two 
decades as to the meaning of "comparative 
librarianship," Professor Danton here sets 
out on a rigorous exercise in logic and argu-
ment to determine its proper definition and 
nature, and he succeeds admirably. He 
groups the main body of his comments into 
five parts: 

1. He points out the benefits enjoyed by 
other social sciences (law, sociology, educa-
tion, linguistics') from the application of 
the comparative method. 

2. He finds variety, unclarity, and con-
tradiction in the library community as to 
the meaning of comparative librarianship, 
and he proposes a definition. 

3. He reviews the several purposes and 
values to society which can result from the 
study of comparative librarianship. 

4. He examines the present state of edu-
cation, research, and publication in com-
parative librarianship and finds it wanting. 

5. He discusses the comparative method 
as it can and should be applied to librarian-
ship. 
He concludes with seven recommendations 
for gaining greater attention to compara-
tive librarianship, and he appends a fine 
outline for a seminar on the subject, a brief 
bibliography, and an index. 

This book accomplishes in large measure 
its primary implicit intent of clarifying a 
previously muddled area of our discussion 
and doubtless also of our thinking, and it 
should go far toward bringing greater com-
monality of direction to this meaningful but 
inadequately developed aspect of librarian-
ship. 

Yet it is also in some ways a painful book 

Recent Publications I 215 

to read. Seemingly as though he did not 
wholly trust his very considerable powers 
of logic and dispassionate persuasion, Pro-
fessor Danton frequently resorts for empha-
sis to the use of italics, emotion-laden ad-
jectives, and broad generalities, which will 
to some readers make his book seem more 
hortatory than reasoned. He .finds state-
ments of other authors "absurd," "at best 
misleading and at worst self-contradictory," 
"completely counter to accepted defini-
tions," and having "no logical justification." 
He condemns much existing literature for 
not having been comparative when it was 
neither intended nor claimed by its authors 
to be comparative. He discounts by name 
Munthe's American Librarianship from a 
European Angle, Bostwick's Popular Li-
braries of the World, Asheim' s Librarian-
ship in Developing Countries, Esdaile's Na-
tional Libraries of the World, and others 
of similar authority and significance as not 
being "useful . . . in the sense of advancing 
the profession in fundamental ways" be-
cause they were not comparative in accord 
with his definition. 

That is pretty sweeping stuff, and al-
though this reviewer for one does not think 
Professor Danton means it in quite the way 
it sounds, it could lose him some friends as 
well as, more importantly, fail to gain ad-
herents to his cause, and that would be a 
pity because his cause deserves adherents. 
Comparative librarianship, he proposes, 
"may be defined as the analysis of libraries, 
library systems, some aspect of librarian-
ship, or library problems in two or morena-
tional, cultural, or societal environments, 
in terms of socio-political, economic, cul-
tural, ideological, and historical contexts. 
This analysis is for the purpose of under-
standing the underlying similarities and dif-
ferences, and for determining explanations 
of the differences, with the ultimate aim of 
trying to arrive at valid generalizations and 
principles" (p.52). With the possible ex-
ception of substituting "or" for "and" as the 
antepenultimate word in the first sentence, 
most will doubtless feel that this is a pretty 
good definition.-David Kaser, Graduate 
Library School, Indiana University, Bloom-
ington. 

Lee, Sui H., ed. Planning-Programming-