College and Research Libraries 560 I College & Research Libraries • No vember 1979 International Agricultural Librarianship: Continuity and Change. Proceedings of an International Symposium Held at the National Agricultural Library, November 4 , 1977 . Edited by Alan Fusonie and Leila Moran. Sponsored by the Associates of the National Agricultural Library , Inc. , and the National Agricultural Library. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Pr., 1979. 127p. $18.95. LC 78-67916. ISBN 0-313- 20640-6. There is an agricultural product long on the market using a catchy se lling line ap- propriate to feminists that can aptly be applied to agricultural librarians and librar- ies. "You've come a long way , baby ," tells much about th e past of agriculture and those librarians who serve it. For too long both have carelessly been taken for granted. The symposium papers published in this volume only start to tell of the increasing importance agricultural information services have assumed in the struggle to feed a hun- gry world. International exchange of information on agricultural research is not a new idea , however; for many years such research was a national expression with little regard being given to other countries. Creation of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations eventually focused worldwide concerns and planted the seeds of international agricultural bibliographical information exchange . The International Association of Agricul- tural Librarians and Documentalists created in 1955 brought librarians together to pro- mote needed global exchanges and worked with F AO to develop the International In- formation System for the Agricultural Sci- ences and Technology (AGRIS ), which is now issuing a computer-produced index to the world ' s agricultural lit e rature called AGRINDEX (Agricultural Research Infor- mation Index). Along with national and in- ternational organizations , se veral regional centers contribute input that is processed by the U . S. Departme nt of Agriculture. For some years I have attended various symposia and later read the printed pro- ceedings. Seldom have I found the printed word capturing the spirit of interchange of ~ swets subscription service ~ A DIVISION OF SWETS & ZEITLINGER B.V SWetS PO. Box 830, 2160 SZ Lisse-Holland Phone02521-19113 I Telex41325 Swets North America lnc.-PO. Box 517, Berwyn, Pa 19312, U.S.A.Jel. 215/644-4944 ' ideas, the kindling anew of purpose that oc- curs with face to face encounters. Interna- tional Agricultural Librarianship: Con- tinuity and Change falls into this dilemma that most likely has no answer. Still, the papers are well written and tell a story long in need of telling. Perhaps the most sig- nificant part of librarianship, computerized bibliographies-wherein agricultural librar- ies, if not forming the crest of the wave , were alongside others in pushing the many aspects of computer use-are somewhat minimized in these papers. Not ignored, but not exalted and perhaps this reveals a sophistication long needed. Awe of the computer is going if not gone. Someday will it be just a fancy electric typewriter? The longtime former librarian of the Na- tional Agricultural Library Foster E. Mohrhardt was honored by this symposium and from his rich background gave a review of early bibliographic efforts. Other speakers , J. Richard Blanchard, Richard Chapin, Paula Scott , James Rhoads , John Sherrod, Donald Leatherdale, Frank Hirst, and Wal- lace Olsen, covered topics from one library's various methods of providing literature for agricultural scientists to what the next thirty years will require. Because the symposium was a one-day affair the volume is slim. Still , its subject is significant and in the world food picture , weighty. -Albert C. Strickland, Unit;ersity of Florida , Gaines- ville. Garrison, Dee. Apostles of Culture: The Public Librarian and American Society, 1876-1920. New York: Free Press, 1979. 319p. $14.50. LC 78-66979. ISBN 0-02- 693850-2 . The author of this important contribution to library history is a young scholar (with no librarianship background) who is on the his- tory faculty at Rutgers University. In this study she attempts to revise the standard conception of the public library as a product of democratic idealism and shows the im- portant effects of sex roles and social class in the formation and growth of the public li- brary and in the ideology of its leaders. Her analysis is based on an examination of social ideals held by the leadership. The primary sources are the library reports and professional journals of the period and the Recent Publications I 561 published and unpublished statements by and about the individual library leaders. Garrison's work is well documented with ex- tensive notes and sources. There is also an appendix that lists public library leaders and provides brief biographical information . The book is presented in four major sec- tions. Part 1 gives a profile of the selected leaders and discusses the " missionary phase" of librarianship and the "gentry stage" of library professionalism. Part 2 de- scribes how the public library's attempts to lessen the influence of "immoral" literature were slowly replaced by a less paternalistic approach. Part 3 provides a perceptive ex- amination of the career and impact of Melvil Dewey. Part 4 gives the reader an assess- ment of the impact of feminization on the public library and on librarianship as a pro- fession. Readers of College & Research Libraries will find this book of interest and value even though its emphasis is on public librar- ies. The influences that Garrison traces also had their effects on academic libraries , and many of the leaders were also involved in academic libraries. This is a scholarly, yet readable, work that should be in the holdings of any library which includes even a modest library sci- ence collection. It will also be of interest to students or readers of history , sociology, and women's studies.-George S. Bobinski , State University of Neic York at Buffalo . Welsch , Erwin K. Libraries and Archives in France: A Handbook. Rev. ed. New York: Council for European Studies, 1979. 146p. $6. (Available from: Council for European Studies , 1403 International Af- fairs Building, 420 West 118th St., Co- lumbia University, New York, NY 10027 .) This workmanlike guide, first published in 1973 and now greatly revised and ex- panded, is a succinct, practical handbook for American investigators in the social sci- ences. Although written for the neophyte who is planning a first expedition to the ar- chives and libraries of France, where stan- dardization is not so highly regarded as in the United States, more seasoned scholars should also find much time-saving informa- tion in it. Following a general introduction on the