College and Research Libraries


The volume is extremely weli done in 
what it does include. However, the title 
implies that this volume will discuss COM 
applications to library activities. Several li-
brary applications are alluded to in this vol-
ume, but none are handled in depth. This 
lack does not overshadow the importance of 
the hardware and software of the COM 
process to libraries. 

Most library COM activities will probably 
be handled by a service bureau. But librar-
ians have to deal with the service bureaus 
and with the computing staff developing the 
software. The volume is a needed tool for 
the librarian contemplating COM applica-
tions. 

The value of this volume to COM users 
outside the library field should not be over-
looked . All COM users need to have a gen-
eral understanding of the technical side of 
the process. 

This type of publication would have been 
a very useful tool for those who pioneered 
COM applications in libraries. Librarians 
currently anticipating the use of COM 
should refer to it. The value of this publica-
tion will, of course, be limited by the 
changing technology in the COM area. Cer-
tain capabilities of COM service bureaus are 
not mentioned, since their development and 
availability have occurred in the last few 
months. Because the whole area of com-
puter usage and COM applications by li-
braries is changing rapidly, more books of 
this type are needed.-Helen R. Citron, 
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta. 

Perreault, Jean M. The Idea of Order in 
Bibliography. Sarada Ranganathan Lec-
tures, no. 9 . Bangalore: Sarada Ran-
ganathan Endowment for Library Sci-
ence, 1978. 135p. $8.50 
This set of six lectures is a heavily 

philosophically oriented disquisition on the 
significance of order in bibliographic files . 
The fundamental thesis is that, for searching 
to be successful, the searcher must be able 
to predict the location of an item in a file, 
requiring that the file be designed with this 
need in mind. The work is limited to alpha-
betically ordered files. 

The subject matter of these lectures is ex-
tremely important. One wishes that all 
those responsible for file arrangement un-

Recent Publications I 69 

derstood and applied the points the author 
is making. Unfortunately, the practical 
cataloger and head of cataloging who stand 
most in need of the points elucidated are 
unlikely to wade through the rather 
abstruse philosophical arguments. Fur-
thermore, having done so, they will find lit-
tle practical assistance; only readers who are 
prepared to apply philosophical abstractions 
for themselves will be able to profit. 

The lectures are approximately equally 
divided between subject and non-subject 
cataloging. The work of several other au-
thors is criticized in a very thoughtful fash-
ion (the reader should find these criticisms 
quite useful), but the basis for selection of 
the works criticized seems idiosyncratic. 

The thoughts and ideas presented in this 
work are valuable and will reward the 
reader who has the patience to work 
through them. It would be a service to the 
profession if the author would undertake to 
re-present his ideas in a form more suited 
to those who need to hear them.-]essica L. 
Harris, St. John's University, New York, 
New York . 

How to Start an Audiovisual Collection. 
Edited by Myra Nadler. Metuchen, N.J.: 
Scarecrow, 1978. 157p. $7. LC 78-1993. 
ISBN 0-8108-1124-3. 

Cabeceiras, James. The Multimedia Library: 
Materials Selection and Use. Library and 
Information Science. New York: 
Academic Press , 1978. 275p. $13. LC 
77-11209. ISBN 0-12-153950-4. 
Other than the fact that they are both 

committed to the concept of multimedia li-
brary service, these two books really have 
very little in common. Nadler's book is a 
collection of essays (each by a different au-
thor) intended to help launch a public li-
brary audiovisual program . The choice of 
audiovisual in the title is deliberate; this is 
a book about how to add nonprint services 
to an already functioning print collection. 
The Cabeceiras book, on the other hand, is 
a systematic treatment by one :iuthor of the 
characteristics and utilization of various 
forms of media in a generalized library set-
ting; this author uses the umbrella term 
multimedia to emphasize the fact that he is 
dealing with library programs where print 
and nonprint resources exist as coequals. 



70 I College & Research Libraries • january 1979 

Myra Nadler, former chairperson of the 
PLA Audiovisual Committee, has some 
well-known names in public library au-
diovisual work as her contributors . The first 
section, by Helen W. Cyr, gallops through 
the selection, evaluation, and organization 
of a basic audiovisual collection-all in 
twenty-four pages . The second essay is a 
lengthy recapitulation by Leon Drolet of 
audiovisual hardware, complete with mak-
ers ' names , model numbers, and prices. 
The information is highly pragmatic and 
useful-for the moment. Unfortunately, 
such data become obsolete very quickly, 
and the advisability of including them in a 
permanent volume seems questionable. 

Following this , William Sloan considers 
services related to audiovisual materials. He 
singles out reference and advisory service, 
bibliographic aid , outreach activities, and 
the emerging concept of the media study 
center. The fourth chapter, by Patricia del 
Mar , deals with space and facilities re-
quirements. Her primary concern is the 
avoidance of whan Don Roberts has called 
"technocensorship ," or the . impairment of 
effective audiovisual programs by below-
standard production and utilization facilities. 

In chapter 5 Laura Murray looks at basic 
personnel requirements for audiovisual ser-
vices and includes a brief job analysis for 
professional, clerical, technical , and library 
page levels. Mash a Porte has the last essay 
and uses it to set forth some suggestions for 
developing an effective public relations pro-
gram . Many of her ideas relate equally well 
to either print or nonprint services. Defini-
tions and a glossary of terms , contributed by 
Wesley Doak, round out this slim volume . 
Glossaries are useful , but one wonders how 
the inclusion of such terms as accredited li-
brary school will enable a novice au-
diovisual librarian to build a better media 
program. 

While the Nadler book is clearly intended 
as a pragmatic beginner's manual , the 
Cabeceiras book seems designed primarily 
for use as a textbook in classes on library 
materials selection. The bulk of it (chapters 
5-14) is devoted to specific kinds of mate-
rials: periodicals and pamphlets , micro-
forms, 16mm films , 8mm films , filmstrips 
and slides, audio recordings , television, 
globes/maps/games/realia, programmed in-

struction, and books . Other chapters deal 
with selection aids , the learning center con-
cept, local preparation of materials, criteria 
for equipment selection, and the application 
of the systems approach to materials selec-
tion. The entire book, in fact , reflects the 
systems orientation. 

If this book is compared to one of the 
standard texts on materials selection, Build-
ing Library Collections, by Carter, Bonk, 
and Magrill (Scarecrow , 1974 , 4th ed . ), 
some interesting contrasts emerge. The 
older book is print-oriented, devoting only 
one chapter to the selection of audiovisual 
materials; the Cabeceiras book leans heavily 
towards nonprint items and changes the 
balance by disposing of the evaluation of fic-
tion, nonfiction, textbooks , and children's 
books (plus the use and nature of book re-
views) in one solitary chapter. 

Topics such as developing a philosophy of 
selection , the purpose and contents of selec-
tion policies, the importance of community 
analysis, and how to recognize and deal 
with censorship are dealt with in some 
detail by Carter, Bonk, and Magrill; 
Cabeceiras mentions them , but only sum-
marily . For example, on page 205 the librar-
ian is admonished to "know the commu-
nity," but no suggestions or techniques for 
acquiring this knowledge are provided. And 
some topics that one might have expected 
to find included (the publishing industry, 
the producer/distributor network) do not 
appear at all. 

All this is not to say that the book is 
without merit. To the contrary: it has much 
to commend it. The writing style is clear 
and consistent; while greater elucidation of 
some points seems advisable , what is in-
cluded is presented coherently. The stress 
on the characteristics and utilization of dif-
ferent forms of media refl~cts more of an in-
structional technology orientation than a 
library one, but this is not unappealing. 

The author seems quite fond of charts and 
grids for the evaluation of materials. The ef-
fort to systematize the act of evaluation is 
certainly commendable; yet one wonders 
just how successfully the impact or value of 
a work of the imagination may be conveyed 
through quantifiable data and the rather 
rigid fiction-evaluation form suggested on 
page 214 . In short, this title should not be 



used alone as a textbook for materials selec-
tion classes, as too much is omitted or dealt 
with in summary fashion; used in conjunc-
tion with other materials, however, it could 
be a valuable contribution to the literature 
of library materials selection.-Cathleen C. 
Flanagan, University of Utah, Salt Lake 
City. 

The College Library: A Collection of Es-
says. Edited by George Jefferson and G . 
C. K. Smith-Burnett. London: Clive 
Bingley; Hamden , Conn .: Linnet Books, 
1978. 208p . $12.50. LC 78-5945. ISBN 
0-85157-252-9 Bingley; 0-208-01665-1 
Linnet. 
Is a "college" library a unique combina-

tion of resources and services, or is it like 
any other library of similar size forming part 
of an educational institution? The question 
is not posed by the authors of the nine es-
says in this volume, but the libraries they 
describe do belong to a special class. They 
are libraries in colleges of higher education, 
polytechnics, and junior colleges mainly in 
Great Britain . · 

Their closest counterparts on this conti-
nent are to be found in our community col-
leges and junior colleges. Most of these in-
stitutions offer a wide variety of programs to 
a heavy concentration of students who are 
served by a library of core materials, which-
usually contains a high proportion of au-
diovisual material in relation to its holdings 
of the more conventional book stock. 

Although the essays contain many refer-
ences to the North American situation, and 
the last essay is by a member of the staff of 
·a Canadian university library who discusses 
the cooperative programs made possible by 
automation-OCLC , BALLOTS, UTLAS, 
among others-most pages are devoted to 
the growth of the_ college library in Britain 
during the past two decades . 

There is a long essay on the history of the 
college library and others on financing, or-
ganizing, and staffing and on the services 
and training such libraries provide. The 
most interesting essays for the North 
American reader are those devoted to or-
ganizational structure and to staffing. Many 
of the problems defined have a familiar 
ring, and the solutions, though seldom new, 
are refreshingly stated. 

Recent Publications I 71 

The essays are consistent and well writ-
ten, and the emphasis on the British scene 
should present no serious problem for most 
North American readers. There is one an-
noying feature: the rather too g~nerous use 
of acronyms in some essays, which requires 
frequent scurrying to the list in the front of 
the book in order to identify the organiza-
tion or group being discussed. The problem 
is doubtless greater for the North American 
reader, since many of the organizations are 
British and Australian and not commonly re-
ferred to in our library literature. 

The book is essentially factual and de-
scriptive and does not invite much argu-
ment . Each essay is well documented and 
provides a useful bibliography that the 
editors have conveniently left at the end of 
each section. The work is carefully edited, 
only a few minor typographical errors hav-
ing been missed. 

In spite of its positive features , the book 
is not likely to command a wide readership 
in North America. It is mainly useful for the 
student of recent library history or of com-
parativt librarianship and for the beginning 
librarian in a community or junior college. 
-Dorothy F . Thomson , University of Ot-
tawa. 

Larsgaard, Mary . Map Librarianship: An 
Introduction. Library Science Text Se-
ries. Littleton, Colo.: Libraries Unlim-
ited , 1978. 330p. $17.50 U . S . and 
Canada; $21 elsewhere. LC 77-28821. 
ISBN 0-87287-182-7. 
Mary Larsgaard's Map Librarianship is 

the first, and long awaited, North American 
textbook on map librarianship. Its predeces-
sor as the first textbook on the subject is 
Nichols ' Map Librarianship, reviewed in 
the January 1977 C&RL. The Nichols vol-
ume has a strong English bias and , there-
fore, more limited applications in the North 
American context. 

This new book is constructed in an un-
usual but very practical manner. It is basi-
cally a massive review of the literature, with 
footnote references in the form of author 
and date appearing directly after a state-
ment . For knowledgeable map librarians, 
this means that the sources selected as the 
basis for the theory or analysis of a topic are 
immediately apparent. For novices they