College and Research Libraries 418 I College & Research Libraries • September 1978 have managed to frustrate every attempt at fundamental change, turning graduate re- search education into a training ground for practice and directing research efforts to- ward management studies designed to in- crease the efficiency of an agency, the li- brary, whose fundamental character is taken to be fixed as it has been handed down from the past. Library schools suffer most strongly, for they were set on their way by that ultimate trade-school promoter, Melvil Dewey, but the schools' ills are only a reflection of the ills of librarians hip itself. Until the profes- sion is reformed, library schools will be able to do very little . Chicago · was indeed a unique opportunity for a group of library school educators to chart a new course and, in the event, even that supremely inde- pendent institution was unable to stand against the practicing librarian who, as Pierce Butler said almost half a century ago, "is strangely uninterested in the theoretical aspects of his profession ... [who] appar- ently stands alone in the simplicity of his pragmatism: a rationalization of each im- mediate technical process by itself seems to satisfy his intellectual interest" (Introduc- tion to Library Science , p.xi, xii). Houser and Schrader's effort at reform is probably doomed by its abrasiveness, its awkwardness, and its overstatement, but it bears the marks of deep conviction, and it makes points of considerable validity. Li- brarianship would be advanced if the en- trenched forces that have frustrated every effort of this sort in the past were to listen carefully to the underlying message and re- spond to it. Although that outcome is un- likely, the book will at least have raised some stimulating questions. Everyone who has a serious interest in the profession should read it thoughtfully, with the toler- ance for its defects that will permit hearing the message it seeks to convey.-W. L. Williamson, University of Wisconsin- Madison. Grieder, Ted. Acquisitions: Where, What, and How. A Guide to Orientation and Procedure for Students in Librarianship, Librarians, and Academic Faculty. Con- tributions in Librarianship and Informa- tion Science, no. 22. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1978. 277p. $18.95. LC 77-84762. ISBN 0-8371-9890-9. ISSN 0074-9243. The lore of the acquisitions librarian comes to the fore. Ted Grieder presents us with a picture of how to run a university li- brary acquisitions department good. His display is based upon his experiences and the lore that has developed in libraries over the past half·century. Unlike Ford's The Acquisition of Library Materials , with its philosophical foundations and theory in the open, Grieder shows the practical workings involved in daily operations of the univer- sity library's acquisitions department. His emphasis upon bureaucracy, which accom- plishes the library's mission, distinguishes Acquisition: Where, What, and How from Melcher on Acquisition. Grieder's approach is to give general ideas about the nature of acquisitions and its various tasks and then to explain by example. The first part of the book is a de- scription of the acquisition task and its loca- tion within the library structure, specifically within the technical services division; this is the "where" and "what" of acquisitions. Part two gets into specifics by way of a checking manual (roughly one-third of the book) and chapters on how to set up other important manuals and operations, nitty-gritty admin- istrative procedures, and even "How to Choose a Job." One is constantly aware · of the experi- mentially-based and nontheoretical na- ture of present-day acquisitions work. From the small chapter on job descriptions and salary considerations for clerical workers, we are struck with the value of experience vis-a-vis professional education: A senior li- brary assistant with five or more years of experience should receive more salary than a neophyte M. L. S. Throughout the book Grieder seemingly qualifies all of his state- ments about procedure by the profession's ubiquitous imprecision: "varies from library to library." For sure, details do vary from library to library; yet, and herein lies the value of Grieder, those details serve an overarching goal: to acquire materials for the users of any given library. The student librarian should find this text helpful in giving handles on procedures within the acquisitions operation, which procedures receive only theoretical treat- ment by Ford. Indeed, Ford's work should be read prior to taking on Grieder because of its discussion of the various types and needs of libraries and of the ways to acquire the diverse types of library materials. Grieder provides a case study, as it were, of one library's operation, and thereby gives the student hands-on practice with acquisi- tions. The assumption of a university envi- ronment may create overly explicit reading but provides enough insight to the process of acquisitions for the sharp student to gen- eralize for theory and then particularize to smaller operations . The practicing librarian will find the work useful for review and perhaps restructuring · forms , statistics gathering, and attitudes within his or her library . Because of Grieder's experience with faculty , the book comes off less than helpful for " academic faculty." The lore of the profession is re- plete with tales of faculty errors in ordering materials and in requesting materials for re- serve; Grieder makes us abundantly aware of faculty weaknesses in these matters . I Recent Publications I 419 question the public relations value of hand- ing any faculty member this text.-James E. Weaver , Whitworth College , Spokane , Washing_ton. Information Work with Unpublished Re- ports. Part I , Work in 'Large National In- formation Centres , by A. H. Holloway , Elizabeth H . Ridler, Domenic A. Fuc- cillo, and Marvin E. Wilson . Part II , Work in Company-Based Information Units, by B. Yates . A Grafton Book. In- stitute of Information Scientists , Mono- graph Series. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, in association with the Institute of Information Scientists, 1977. 302p. $18.50 . LC 76-43306. ISBN 0-89158- 717-9. The management of scientific and techni- cal information poses special problems when the medium used is not conventional. Un- like journal articles and books, unpublished reports are not available to the public as a matter of right . This may be the reason why the book trade does not handle them. Their circulation is controlled by the originators to The newest title on Faxon's reference team ... Index to Outdoor Sports, Games, and Activities . by Pearl Turner Joining the Useful Reference Series of Library Books, this new title indexes nearly 500 publica- tions and seven periodicals on out- door sports and activities, from the most popular competitive team sports to the most exotic in- dividual pastimes. From baseball to skin diving, soccer to kayaking, football to falconry - the Index to Sports provides quick complete access to information sources for amateur athletes, armchair sports en- thusiasts, and busy reference librarians. The Index includes rules, techniques, skills and equipment necessary for outdoor games and sports. 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