College and Research Libraries ministrator to examine continually how people work within space and then to con- sider rearrangement of space so that it works better for people and people work better within it. The book has equal applicability to all kinds of libraries. By numerous diagrams and black-and-white and occasionally color illustrations, the book describes in readable terms the theoretical .,aspects of building construction. For instance, in discussi_ng lighting the authors describe the visual com- fort probability index (VCP). A VCP of 70 or better is good; it means that 70 out of the 100 people are comfortable in the light broadcast by a certain fixture. On the practical size, a section of the book includes useful energy-saving tips. It may come as a bit of a shock to librarians and some architects when the authors state that sealed structures are more energy hungry than those fitted with windows that open! One very helpful section deals with color and graphics, the latter being more impor- tant to libraries than most other buildings, but often poorly treated in new libraries. Architects do not like to distract from their work of art with signs, while many librarians create distracting visual noise by overuse of poor signs. Although some might have different opin- ions on minor details, this volume is a most reliable, useful, and up-to-date guide. If I had only one handbook with which to plan a new library or rehabilitate or renew an old one, Designing and Space Planning for Li- braries would be my choice.-Selby U. Gration, State University of New York, Col- lege at c ortlana. "Library Buildings," edited by Nancy Fjallbrant. IATUL Proceedings. V.ll, 1979. Goteborg, Sweden: International Assn. of Technological University Librar- ies, Chalmers Univ. of Technology Li- brary, 1979. BOp. The papers presen~ed at this meeting of technological universfty librarians contain information about new library buildings- four British, one Danish, one Swedish, and a general description of seven German li- braries. British librarians in general pay scant attention to U.S. librarianship on the assumption that it is not pertinent to them, Recent Publications I 177 and the rest of Europe does not seem to be aware of the extent of the vast and sprawl- ing experimentation in library buildings that was generated in the United States by about five billion dollars' worth of construction during the 1960s. As a consequence, our cousins abroad go right on perpetuating the mistakes we made during that period, which I, among others, have been in the process of criticizing for the past fifteen years. While I do not rec- ommend it for many things, I certainly rec- ommend the second half of the twentieth century for its achievements in kno~ledge of library construction. But to read this pub- lication is to realize how slowly much of the world is emerging into this period. What age is reflected in these words in a professional article: "The main aim of the li- brary is to provide users with information. The reference and bibliographical collec- tions . . . are therefore regarded as the core collections" (Loughborough)? With how much sympathy can we regard arguments expounding the usefulness of open stacks (one whole article and parts of most others), or of giving up large reading rooms and distributing seating around the perimeter, about offering reference service that reaches out (or any reference service), or using movable furniture? The libraries displayed repeat building elements that are demonstrably bad prac- tice, such as overuse of office landscaping, which does not provide privacy of conversa- tion (despite architect Faulkner-Brown's claim); dependence on natural light for read- ing at the building's periphery; main entrances below main floors; inadequate il- lumination intensities (thirty-seven footcan- dles recommended by Faulkner-Brown); high-glare fixtures. The photographs of the buildings reflect a much higher quality of architectural design on the Continent than in Great Britain. Of the libraries accompanied by floor plans the best by far is the Nottingham University li- brary whose exterior and cross section, de- rived heavily from the Colorado College li- brary in Colorado Springs, adapt well to a completely new, highly functional interior layout. The worst by far is at Loughborough University, designed by the very same firm, which is an architect's extravagance rem- 178 I College & Research Libraries • March 1980 iniscent of the worst excesses of our odd- shaped high: school libraries in the 1960s . But in this case the twist is even more per- verse, since they have converted a square- floor-plan building into twin triangles on each floor. To be highly commended is the British tendency in the polytechnic universities to mount their library science school quarters on the top floor of the library, which is used aggressively as a workshop-teaching facility for library science students, a bedrock- sound practice that has long been aban- doned by American schools of librarian- ship.-Ellsworth Mason , University of Colorado at Boulder. Microforms Management in Special Librar- ies: A Reackr. Edited by Judy H. Fair. Microform Review Series in Library Mi- crographics Management, 5. Westport , Conn.: Microform Review, 1979. 272p. $21.95 . LC 78-13494 . ISBN 0-913672- 15-7. This reader is a heterogeneous collection of thirty-one essays from a wide variety of periodicals and monographs published be- tween 1966 and 1978 in the United States, Australia , and Great Britain . The authors are associated with law, music , map , busi- ness , hospital, local history, education, sci- ence, and engineering libraries. There are articles on equipment, user attitudes , and computer output microforms applications. The essays are organized into five sec- tions, each with a short introduction and a bibliography compiled by the editor. Collec- tively, these and other bibliographies in this volume could serve as basis for a historical reading list on microforms and some special applications. Some of the essays are infor- mative and up to date; others on specialized resources, equipment, and procedures are dated. Information contained in essays on the general topics of microforms in libraries is repetitive. Although the book and all sec- tion titles contain the word management, it is neither a central nor unifying theme. In the foreword , the editor states that the search for articles for inclusion in this vol- ume revealed a scarcity of writing on the principles of microform use in special librar- ies , but she hopes that one or more of the pieces will provide the inspiration for more communication on microforms. The book lives up to that hope and promise.-Leo R. Rift, Ithaca College , Ithaca , New York . The Map Librarian in the Modern World. Essays in Honour of Walter W. Ristow. Edited by Helen Wallis and Lothar Zogner. Presented by the IFLA Section of Geography and Map Libraries. Munich, New York: K. G. Saur, 1979. 295p. $26. ISBN 3-598-10063-9. This festschrift was compiled to honor Walter W. Ristow upon his retirement as chief, Geography & Map Division, Library of Congress . As with most festschriften, this is a mixed bag. Four LC staff members give a brief his- tory of the Library of Congress Geography & Map Division from 1897; Helen Wallis of the British Library tells of map librar- ianship' s coming of age; Lothar Zogner of the Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulter- besitz discusses the training of map librar- ians ; Roman Drazniowsky, curator of the AGS collections , describes the American Geographical Society collections now at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; David Woodward of the Newberry Library de- scribes the He-rman Dunlap Smith Center for the History . of Cartography ; Joan Winearls of the University of Toronto de- scribes map collections and map librar- ianship in Canada; Ib Kejlbo of the Royal Danish Library describes map libraries in Denmark ; Edmond Pognon of the Bib- liotheque Nationale describes its map de- partment; Anna Kozlowa of the Lenin Li- brary describes the map collection in that institution; the late Ann-Mari Mickwitz writes of the N ordenskiold Collection in the University of Helsinki; Antoine De Smet of the Albert I Royal Library in Brussels dis- cusses the sixteenth-century cartophile Viglius ab Aytta; Hans van de Waal of the Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht describes the Dutch union map catalog; and Emil Meynen discusses the cataloging of thematic maps. Walter Ristow's forty-year career as a map librarian has witnessed the rise and matura- tion of the map library profession, and he has helped to shape and direct this growth. In a brief preface, Daniel Boorstin, Librar- ian of Congress, calls Ristow a " scholar-