College and Research Libraries


484 I College & Research Libraries • September 1980 

that are made "upon a shared misappre-
hension of reality." 

Published proceedings of conferences 
miss the spontaneity and personality of 
"live" speakers, but in these days of dwin-
dling travel budgets they are better than 
not knowing what is being discussed.-
Christine Bulson, State University of New 
York, College at Oneonta. 

Improving Library Instruction: How to 
Teach and How to Evaluate. Papers pre-
sented at the Eighth Annual Conference 
on Library Orientation for Academic Li-
braries held at Eastern Michigan U ni-
versity, May 4-5, 1978. Edited by 
Carolyn A. Kirkendall. Library Orienta-
tion Series, no.9, Ann Arbor, Mich.: 
Pierian Press, 1979. 142p. $8.50. LC 79-
87707. ISBN 0-87650-109-9. 
Over the years, and with few exceptions, 

the presentations from the annual confer-
ences on Library Orientation for Academic 
Libraries at Eastern Michigan University 
have provided academic librarianship with 
noteworthy and pertinent information and 
reportage. Beginning in 1971 with the first 
conference, entitled "Library Orientation," 
the succeeding sessions have extended a 
variety of focuses on library instruction. 

As noted by the editor, Carolyn Kirken-
dall, this latest volume in the series is still 
labeled "orientation" even though most 
librarians now prefer to utilize other termi-
nology, including the popular "bibliographic 
instruction" and "user education." 

The eighth annual conference provided 
attention for "how to" teach and evaluate. 
The perspectives given included learning 
and motivation, Project LOEX, instruction 
with slides, freshmen programs, and the 
British scene, to name a few. 

The chapter on LOEX and the national 
scene by project director Kirkendall in-
cludes information on current trends. 
LOEX now is listed as being in contact with 
some 1,600 academic libraries that are de-
veloping or giving some form of library in-
struction to collegians. Kirkendall correctly 
states that all of the areas she covers within 
these trends seem to emphasize the propen-
sity exhibited toward the continuing support 
for such services. Most programs that have 
shown promise now have administrative 

backing of some kind. Last , Kirkendall 
states that "Instruction itself is not just a 
frill . . . or a ploy . . . or a gimmick . . . or 
a convenient bandwagon onto which the 
ambitious reference librarian can jump to 
be seen. It is an essential service of the 
academic library." 

The reflections of Edward G. Holley in 
terms of the past and future are very aptly 
set forth. In summation he stipulates some 
queries that should be addressed, including 
one that refers to future patterns of at-
tempts to serve users in academic libraries. 
He does not sally forth with definitive 
answers but brings his positivism via a Jus-
tin Winsor dictum: "A collection of good 
books, with a soul to it in the shape of a 
good librarian, becomes a vitalized power 
among the impulses by which the world 
goes on to improvement." 

Some of the sections read slowly because 
they were initially intended to be heard. 
The annotated review of the literature by 
Hannelore B. Rader has extended, updated 
sources that will continue to prove useful to 
many instruction librarians. 

As expected, Carolyn A. Kirkendall has 
edited another outstanding compilation of 
succinct speeches (she notes that they are 
not papers) from the Eastern Michigan con-
ference. This volume is recommended for 
all those involved with some type of library 
instruction program.-Barbara Grippe, 
Edinboro State College , Edinboro, Pennsyl-
vania. 

Rogers , A. Robert . The Humanities: A 
Selective Guide to Information Sources. 
2d ed. Library Science Text Series. Lit-
tleton , Colo.: Libraries Unlimited, 1979. 
355p . $19.50 cloth , $13.50 paper V.S. 
and Canada; $23 cloth, $16 paper else-
where. LC 79-25335. ISBN 0-87287-206-8 
(cloth); 0-87287-222-X (paper). 
The first edition (1974) of The Humanities 

opens with the statement that the work "is 
planned as a text rather than a research 
treatise. " The present edition makes no 
such claim; in fact, it does not mentio~ its 
intended audience or purpose. Since , 
however, the approach, format, and content 
are so similar to those of the earlier edition 
and since the work is in the publisher's Li-
brary Science Text Series, one can surmise 



that the readership is meant to include both 
library science students and practicing li-
brarians. 

Some 100 library school faculty and 
"several reference librarians" were polled 
for their comments in the preparation of the 
second edition. As a result of these con-
sultations, one major revision has been the 
elimination of the "trends" chapters of the 
first edition. Also, the rather lengthy listing 
of LC subject headings in the earlier edition 
for each humanities area is now reduced to 
one: philosophy. (Given that library science 
students and librarians alike have easy ac-
cess to LC subject heading lists, it seems 
superfluous to fill more than four pages of 
text reproducing the many headings and 
subheadings of even one subject.) 

The introduction serves as an informative, 
yet succinct, bibliographic essay. As in the 
first edition, the "humanities" include: 
philosophy, religion, visual arts,· performing 
arts, and language and literature. Special 
concerns and problems of the humanities 
scholar are underscored, notably "the pecu-
liarly personal and individualistic nature of 
humanistic research," which mandates that 
the humanities scholar cannot delegate bib-
liographic searching to others. 

Following a chapter on "General Refer-
ence and Selection Aids in the H umani-
ties," there are major sections treating each 
of the areas covered. Each subject area is 
then divi9ed into distinct chapters on ac-
cessing information (an introductory biblio-
graphic essay to the subject), and principal 
information sources (annotated entries, 
chosen for selection or reference value, in 
each subject area). 

The final chapter, "The Computer and 
the Humanities," also revised, provides an 
updated discussion of research trends and 
electronic data bases in the humanities and 
points to another perennial problem of the 
humanities researcher: the "occasional in-
compatibility between scholarly needs and 
available computer-based information 
sources." The author-title and subject in-
dexes are complete, well organized, and 
essential for ready reference purposes. 

From the standpoint of the practicing 
librarian, surely the 1,200 annotated entries 
constitute the heart of the work. Many of 
the entries of the first edition that have 

Recent Publications I 485 

been eclipsed or surpassed are subsumed 
into the annotations of the newer entries. 
The annotations tend to be chiefly descrip-
tive, with evaluative comments in many 
cases lim ted to "a first choice," "vital," 
"useful, " "essential." The length of anno-
tated comment apparently bears little rela-
tionship to the judged value of an entry. 
For example, The New Cambridge Bib-
liography of English Literature is deemed 
"of fundamental importance," yet rates but 
a short paragraph, while Cabeen's Critical 
Bibliography of French Literature ("of 
prime importance") rates almost an entire 
page of annotation. One item that could 
well have been included with the numerous 
checklists of literary criticism is Kearney & 
Fitzgerald, The Continental Novel: A 
Checklist of Criticism in English, 1900-
1966. 

This second edition of The Humanities is 
especially welcome to reference librarians in 
academic (and public) libraries as a selection 
and reference aid. As a classroom text in 
library science, the usefulness and applica-
tion seem less clear.-Charles E. Perry, 
North Texas State University, Denton. 

The Role of the Humanities in the Public 
Library. Edited by Robert N. Broadus 
with the assistance of Brian Nielsen. Pro-
ceedings of a conference sponsored by 
the School of Library Science, University 
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, March 
5-7, 1978. Chicago: American Library 
Assn., 1979. 213p. $20. LC 79-24117. 
ISBN 0-8389-0297-9. 
Although the purpose of this conference 

was to "analyze the problems faced by the 
public library as it seeks to promote the 
humanities to the adult non student and 
suggest creative ideas which public libraries 
might use to this end" (p. v-vi), the dis-
coveries presented can be used readily by 
academic libraries in their charge to bring 
students to a humanistic approach in their 
daily lives. There is value in searching 
through the papers from this conference, if 
only to check on one's collection-building 
program. 

We all can agree with Dan Lacy on the 
need for serious books on popular topics for 
the general public, "the thoughtful com-
munity at large." There are numerous ~ays