College and Research Libraries


414 I College & Research Libraries • September 1982 

considerable literature devoted to periodi-
cals weeding. He also makes no mention of 
the American Library Association's recent 
Guidelines for Collection Development 
(American Library Assn. Resources and 
Technical Services Division, Collection De-
velopment Committee. Chicago: American 
Library Assn., 1979), which contains a chap-
ter on "Review of Library Collections." 
These guidelines see review (weeding) as part 
of the collection-management process and 
would be more useful than Slate's work to 
most academic librarians contemplating 
weeding. This book is recommended only for 
academic collections supporting a library-
science program or to individuals with a 
strong interest in the subject of weeding.-
Barbara A. Rice, State Library Cultural 
Center, Albany, New York. 

Boss, Richard W., and Marcum, Deanna B. 
"On-Line Acquisitions Systems for Li-
braries," Library Technology Reports 
17:115-94 (March-April 1981). Single is-
sue, $40. 
Attendance at meetings devoted to discus-

sions of automating acquisitions indicates 
that librarians need current and accurate in-
formation in this area. The authors of this re-
port attempt to provide information to help 
librarians evaluate acquisitions systems. 

The authors first list seven categories of 
automated systems: in-house, transferred 
software, software houses, integrated, turn-
key, utility, and jobber. They then describe 
twenty specific automated acquisitions sys-
tems, divided into these seven categories. 
The depth of the description varies depend-
ing on the operational status of the specific 
system. 

The rest of the report is designed for librar-
ians planning to choose automated acquisi-
tions, with sections on questions to ask in or-
der to evaluate a system, and specific steps to 
take in procurement. Boss and Marcum con-
clude that libraries will benefit in the long 
run from integrated systems, and should 
pressure suppliers of automated systems to 
provide them. 

The appendix has some sample screen dis-
plays; a list of WLN charges; general specifi-
cations for DataPhase's and OCLC's acquisi-
tions systems; names, addresses, and contacts 
for the twenty systems described; and a bibli-

ography on automated acquisitions. 
Unlike a famous winegrower, this L TR re-

port was issued before its time. The purpose 
of L TR is to provide librarians with "author-
itative information" on products so that in-
formed purchasing decisions can be made. 
This report fails to provide this information. 
Many of the automated systems described 
were still under development in 1981, and 
descriptions of these systems are not critical, 
but simply state what the company hopes the 
system will do when (and if) operational. Af-
ter reading this, the librarian is no better off 
than if he or she had read publicity releases 
from the company. The items in the appen-
dix provide little helpful information, and 
the bibliography, with citations easily found 
in other sources, lists only two articles pub-
lished after 1978. In order to provide the crit-
ical evaluations which are needed, this re-
port should be redone next year, 
emphasizing major operational systems. In 
the meantime, librarians needing guidance 
on automated systems will find the papers 
presented at the LIT A Institute on Auto-
mated Acquisitions (published in ]OLA, 
V.13, no.3 and no.4, Sept. and Dec., 1980) 
more useful than this L TR- William Z. 
Schenck, University of Oregon Library, 
Eugene. 

International Handbook of Contemporary 
Developments in Librarianship. Ed. by 
Miles M. Jackson. Westport, Conn.: 
Greenwood, 1981. 619p. $65. LC 80-
27306. ISBN 0-313-21372-0. 
This is a collection of thirty-four original 

articles by fifty-one authors, on libraries and 
librarianship in sixty-five countries. Editor 
Miles M. Jackson, professor of library studies 
at the University of Hawaii, states that the 
purpose of the volume is to present an "over-
view of the major developments and most 
significant trends in librarianship since 
1945." He adds that the book is concerned 
with international librarianship and is "not 
intended as a work of comparative library 
studies." Actually it is a kind of one-volume, 
long-article encyclopedia of libraries and li-
brarianship by country. 

Typically, each article provides brief his-
torical, geographic, and occasionally politi-
cal background, followed by information on 
the national library and on university, pub-