College and Research Libraries


66 I College & Research Libraries • January 1977 

the Countway collection, the data were 
used to formulate predictions about future 
circulation behavior in those subjects, and 
the predictions were confirmed by subse-
quent analysis of actual circulation. Given 
the fact that the data base at Countway 
was significantly larger and diHerent in type 
from that of Morse's original study, the 
models appear to have a general validity. 

Chen reports some rather interesting in-
formation, not directly related to the test-
ing of the models, on retention of materials, 
user identification and use patterns, etc. 
Again there are some problems with jargon, 
but a careful study of the text and the sev-
en appendices is worthwhile. 

Section three will be of most immediate 
interest to practicing librarians. Chen is ab-
solutely correct in her assertion that "in or-
der to provide maximum services to users 
of a library and to develop an optimum col-
lection with the least cost, librarians must 
have a thorough understanding of its op-
erations as well as an awareness of the cur-
rent and future user needs and require-
ments." She uses the results of the Count-
way study to illustrate the implications of 
this kind of operational knowledge for de-
cision making in such areas as library 
budgets, selection and duplication policies, 
weeding, and so forth. 

Few would deny that many librarians, 
including those whose positions carry spe-
cific responsibility for the task, know less 
than they should about library operations. 
And clearly knowledge about library op-
erations can only be developed through re-
search about those operations. Chen argues 
convincingly about the need for increased 
operational research, but is less compelling 
about the need for increased application of 
those specialized mathematical techniques 
we calr "operations research." 

In her introduction, Chen repeats some 
familiar claims about the value of opera-
tions research techniques, i.e., that they 
contributed mightily to Allied successes in 
World War II, and that "an increasing 
number of experts have become persuaded 
that the procedures of operations research 
would be effective in solving some of the 
problems of the public sector." O.R. also 
has its critics who claim that we won the 
war despite operations research rather than 

because of it and that operations research-
ers have been forced to direct their atten-
tion to the public sector because the wel-
come mat is no longer out at private indus-
try.-Robert L. Burr, Circulation Librarian, 
The College of William & Mary, Williams-
burg, Virginia. 

Jovanovic, Slobodan; and Rojnic, Matkos, 
comps. A Guide to Yugoslav Libraries 
and Archives. American Council of 
Learned Societies and Social Science Re-
search Council. Joint Committee on East-
ern Europe. Publication Series, no.2. Co-
lumbus, Ohio: American Association for 
the Advancement of Slavic Studies, 1975. 
113p. $4.00. 
On the basis of this Guide and the na-

tion's library literature, one may judge that 
librarianship in the Yugoslav republics has 
made significant advances in the last three 
decades. The librarians of Yugoslavia have 
created a corps of exceptionally competent 
professionals without the benefits of formal 
graduate education for librarianship. Very 
few went abroad to study, while others 
have attained advanced education at home. 
The library specialization came to many 
through systematic study q.nd on-the-job 
training. As for their libraries, it would ap-
pear that they are better managed than 
they are supported. 

This work is an abridged version, edited 
by Paul L. Horecky and translated by Eliz-
abeth Beyerly. Horecky correctly observes 
that it is "a mere introduction to the sub-
ject." 

The libraries of Yugoslavia are organized 
and governed by the individual republics 
or provinces. Each republic has its own li- . 
brary association. The umbrella organiza-
tion is the Federation of Library Associa-
tions of Yugoslavia. The table of contents 
of this Guide reflects this pattern of orga-
nization, alphabetically by republics: Bos-
nia and Hercegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, 
Montenegro, Serbia (with autonomous 
provinces of Kosovo and Vojvodina), and 
Slovenia. Within each unit the arrangement 
is alohabetical by cities and then by select-
ed libraries, followed by principal archives. 
Each section has a brief historical intro-
ductory sketch of library and archival de-
velopment with bibliography. Individual li-



hraries and archives are listed under the 
original name with address, the name of the 
chief officer, and library hours. The infor-
mation about photocopying is given where 
such facilities exist. The method of individ-
ual library description is historical with the 
current status of holdings. A pertinent bib-
liography is also supplied. 

This work will be useful to the student 
of international and comparative librarian-
ship as well as to visiting librarians and 
scholars in Yugoslavia. Those users not fa-
miliar with the Yugoslav languages may 
find this work difficult to use because of the 
retention of the original terms. Thus, it 
would have been better to use: Zagreb. 
National and University Library; or, Beo-
grad. Serbian Patriarchate. I. Library. II. 
Museum of the Serbian Orthodox Church. 
These English equivalents could have been 
inserted parenthetically, both in the titles 
and in the text. The glossary without this 
suggestion, however useful, is inadequate. 
Here and there one encounters ordinary 
misspellings and other inconsistencies: e.g., 
Pravoslavna akademija, p.43; cf. esnab, p.x 
and esnaf, p.84. The indiscriminate use of 
the word "fonds" for the English "holdings 
or stock" is inexcusable. It must be pointed 
out that these shortcomings in no way de-
tract from the value of this addition to the 
library science collections.-Ray R. Suput, 
Department of Library Service, Ball State 
University, Muncie; Indiana. 

Durey, Peter. Staff Management in Univer-
sity and College Libraries. (International 
Series in Library and Information Sci-
ence, 16). Oxford: Pergamon, 1976. 170p. 
$8.50. (LC 75-31515) (ISBN 0-08-
019718-3) 
This book, by the librarian of the U ni-

versity of Auckland, New Zealand, is a 
short but perceptive review of some of the 
problems and issues of contemporary li-
brary management. The author did not, I 
think, undertake to write a "how to do it" 
book, although his opinions and recommen-
dations on the matters he discusses are il-
luminated with great good sense and, ob-
viously, wide knowledge. The book will be 
only of limited help in the warfare endemic 
among academic administrators, faculty, 
and librarians, but it should be of consid-

Recent Publications I 61 

erable value to those new to library admin-
istration; to those new to participative man-
agement, and to students. It could be of 
value to those scores of ignorant critics of 
libraries, librarians, and librarianship found 
on every campus if they would but read it. 

In a simple, direct style, a style enhanced . 
by the author's comments based on his own 
varied experience and on extensive reading 
in the literature of the field (citations are 
to "References" listed after each chapter), 
and further enhanced by a kind of sly wit, 
we are reminded that we have a whole set 
of problems to live with largely unknown 
to our predecessors. The book is not to li-
brarianship what Blau, Simon, Drucker, 
and others, are to management generally, 
but its descriptions of current problems 
and practices, presented with consummate 
sense and dispassion, might well serve to 
encourage more investigation of them. 

In comparative examples drawn from 
practices in the United Kingdom, Australia, 
New Zealand, Canada, and the U.S., Durey 
presents in Part I the organizational frame-
work of libraries and in Part II the human 
aspects affected by the subjects addressed. 

In the former, and by far the better, he 
devotes chapters one through five to ad-
ministrative structure, style of management, 
planning and budgeting, communication, 
and unionization. In Part II, in chapters 
six through ten, he writes on recruitment, 
conditions of service, training, promotion 
and performance appraisal, and, a welcome 
chapter, the problem staff member. These 
latter chapters do have a bit of the "how to 
do it" quality about them, but they may be 
of use to the inexperienced and will be to 
students. 

Durey nowhere states for whom the book 
is written, but it is essentially a primer. It 
might also, however, be seen as an intro-
duction to a more intensive examination of 
some of the problems the profession will ul-
timately have to resolve. To an American 
reviewer, the comparisons among the coun-
tries represented suggest that in the U.S. 
we may be closer to a realization of what 
these problems are and may become than 
our colleagues "down under" and in the 
United Kingdom. 

The author's comments, almost "throw-
away" lines on occasion (e.g., "The criteria