College and Research Libraries


80 I College & Research Libraries • January 1977 

is the paper on computer-aided instruction. 
The final contribution, by the editor, 

F. Wilfrid Lancaster, to a degree corrects 
a fault of the rest of the collection. Where-
as most of the other papers give interesting 
conclusions without discussion of the pros 
and cons of the issues involved, Lancaster 
brings out some of the points which should 
be debated if com·puterized library refer-
ence services are to be expected to move 
from the realm of "acceptable," which ad-
mittedly has only recently been reached, 
to a level of excellence. 

In spite of the rapidity of the develop-
ment of the field of on-line systems, with 
which most of the papers primarily deal, 
and the fact that the meeting at which they 
were presented took place over a year ago, 
the papers included in Lancaster's book are 
not yet dated, and much of the information 
contained in them will be relevant and use-
ful for some time to come. 

David M. Wax, who contributed one of 
the papers in Lancaster's collection, has re-
cently produced a book entitled, A Hand-
book for the Introduction of On-Line Bib-
liographic Search Services into Academic 
Libraries. Based on the experiences of the 
Northeast Academic Science Information 
Center (NASIC) over the past three years, 
this handbook is intended for "library ad-
ministrators who are planning to initiate the 
provision of commercially available on-line 
interactive search services." Topics covered 
in the brief but concentrated text include 
discussions of the staffing, training, organi-
zation, costs, and logistics of providing such 
services. Any library which is either plan-
ning or presently involved in on-line search 
services would be wise to pay close atten-
tion to this small but significant book. Both 
the Lancaster collection, from more of a 
theoretical viewpoint, and the Wax book, 
from a very practical perspective, are con-
tributions to their field.-Randolph E. 
Hock:~ University of Pennsylvania Libraries, 
Philadelphia. 

Ross, Murray G. The University: The Anat-
omy of Academe. New York: McGraw-
Hill, 1976. 310p. $11.95. (LC 75-43957) 
(ISBN 0-07-053876-X) 
Murray George Ross, President Emeritus 

of Canada's York University, who holds de-

grees from two universities in Canada 
(Acadia and Toronto) and two universities 
in the U.S. (Chicago and Columbia), has 
written an excellent study of the university 
in three English-speaking countries-Eng-
land, Canada, and the United States. In his 
preface Ross says, "This is a book for those 
who have a general interest in the growth 
and development of the university, the 
problems and issues it faces, the future it 
confronts." And so it is. But it is much 
more-it is a book that both recalls and in-
terprets events that have profoundly affect-
ed universities in the past and will continue 
to affect them in the future. It is a book 
that emphasizes certain basic issues in high-
er education and provides the historical 
context needed to evaluate these issues and 
to assess their meaning and importance. 

As Ross sees it, the principal issues fac-
ing the university are four: goals, govern-
ance, academic freedom, and the state. For 
each of these he provides a summary of 
key events and a careful review of the 
pertinent literature. Such an approach has 
its dangers of necessary but tiresome de-
tail, but the pace and vitality of Ross's writ-
ing and his graceful style circumvent all 
hazards. Perhaps Ross succeeds because he 
recognizes an element of narcissism in aca-
demic people and skillfully exploits the 
tendency of the university to take great in-
terest in itself. This is not to imply that the 
book is so specialized as to be of interest 
only to those in academic life. On the con-
trary the book will have broad appeal not 
only because it is well written, but because 
it is highly informative. 

Ross treats thoroughly the great changes 
that are reshaping the universities, and he 
does so by extensive quotation from many 
of the active participants in the academic 
drama as well as many of its most astute 
observers. Moreover, the book is marked 
by great freshness and contemporaneity. Al-
though it begins with a whole section de-
voted to the origin and evolution of the 
university and ends with a chapter on the 
future, in between it is laced with refer-
ences so current as to suggest something 
one might have read in last week's issue of 
The Chronicle of Higher Education. 

The author claims to have arranged the 
book for reference purposes, and indeed the 



copious footnotes to each chapter, the 
lengthy bibliography, and the detailed in-
dex . support this assertion. The generous 
use of quotations almost suggests "a reader" 
on the university, but as Ross himself notes, 
"there is far too much of the author's own 
words and analysis to permit such a desig-
nation." Still, many of the great names are 
here-Trevelyan, Haskins, and Armytage; 
Ladd and Lipset, Fritz Machlup, L. R. 
Veysey, Christopher Jencks, Amitai E·t-
zione, Daniel Bell, MacGeorge Bundy, and 
Clark Kerr, to name a few-and they are 
all well used by Ross. 

Librarians will look in vain for direct ref-
erences to libraries or books, but neither is 
there any mention of computers or non-
print media . Ross is not concerned with 
facilities and services, nor with any of the 
material aspects of university life . He does 
not discuss athletics, and he barely men-
tions the financial side of the academic 
coin. His concern is with students and pro-
fessors and the issues that unify or divide 
them. His concern is with issues that chal-
lenge or threaten the university. And his 

Newfrqm 
Columbia 

Recent Publications I 81 

concern is with the successes and failures 
of universities and with their past accom-
plishments and future opportunities. 

For all his pains where, finally, does 
Ross arrive? What does he see ahead for 
the university? He sees an absolute neces-
sity for the university to clarify its purposes, 
to establish an effective structure for gov-
ernance, and to set goals which society will 
perceive as valuable and supportable. Only 
then will esprit de corps be restored to the 
academic enterprise.-John P. McDonald, 
Director of University Libraries, The Uni-
versity of Connecticut. 

Young, Harold Chester. Planning, Program-
ming, Budgeting Systems in Academic 
Libraries: An Exploratory Study of PPBS 
in University Libraries Having Member-
ship in the Ass-ociation of Research Li-
braries. Detroit: Gale Research, 1976. 
227p. $15.00 (LC 76-10667) (ISBN 
0-8103-0264-0) 

This volume is a descriptive account of 
planning, programming, budgeting systems 
(PPBS) in academic libraries just as the 

A new and updated edition of an invaluable reference tool· 

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