College and Research Libraries 194 College & Research Libraries service agreements for sound reproduc- ers and other reading equipment. A glossary, an extensive bibliogra- phy, and a detailed index are included. This book will be useful to any library providing services for the blind and other physically disabled persons, to administering and funding agencies, to human service organizations, and to in- dividuals concerned with library ser- vices for people with disabilities. These standards and guidelines are indispens- able to any library.-Samuel T. Huang, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb. Reference Sources for Small and Medium- Sized Libraries. 4th ed. Comp. by the Ad Hoc Committee for the Fourth Edi- tion of Reference Sources for Small and Medium-sized Libraries, Reference and Adult Services Division, American Li- brary Association. Chicago: American Library Assn., 1984. 268p. $20. LC 84- 6513. ISBN 0-8389-3293-2. This book is the fruit of the labor of an ad hoc committee of the Reference and Adult Services Division of the American Library Association. First published under the ti- tle Reference Books for Small and Medium- sized Libraries in 1973, this new, updated version now includes "sources" in non- print formats, such as microforms and databases, in addition to traditional refer- ence books. The coeditor notes in the pref- ace that there has been an 80 percent in- crease in the number of entries in this edition, compared to the most recent 1979 edition (from 1,048 to 1,788). Not only have nonprint sources been added, but the scope of the work has also been ex- panded to include reference materials for children and young adults as well as out- of-print reference books considered to be essential to a basic reference collection. Public libraries, college libraries, and large secondary school libraries are expected to find this a useful source for collection de- velopment purposes. The cutoff date for publications included in this book was 1982, but some 1983 imprints are in- cluded. For each title, the standard biblio- graphic elements are there: author, title, publisher, date of publication, number of pages, price, ISBN, or ISSN. If the particu- March 1985 lar source is available online, that fact is also noted. Finally there is an author/title index. The twenty-two chapters are organized by Dewey Decimal Classification subject divisions, with both format and subject subdivisions. Each chapter has been com- piled separately by one of the six editors, and each chapter begins with a brief intro- duction describing the nature and scope of the listings. One of the appealing aspects of this work is that both the annotations and introductions go beyond description into the realm of helpful evaluation and judgment. For example, the annotation of The New Encyclopedia Britannica states that ''Articles are accurate and objective with the exception of those written by Eastern bloc contributors, who offer slanted ver- sions of culture, social conditions and in- tellectual accomplishment in Eastern Eu- rope and the U.S.S.R." Whether or not one agrees with this characterization of the Britannica, it is refreshing to read an annotation that has a critical bite to it. Or again, the chapter on education sources begins with this useful advice: "Librari- ans should be wary of investing large amounts in sources that will become quickly dated, and care should be taken to update sources regularly, especially direc- tories and catalogs. Since many sources have some overlap in coverage, perhaps a policy of selective purchase with a priority on updating the purchased titles would be the wisest course.'' The editors of this work have substan- tially updated this edition with both new sources and new topics of current interest. For example, chapter 12 includes a com- pletely revised list of sources relating to computer science. At the same time, the limited utility of this book for academic li- braries must be kept in mind. Of the twenty-seven bibliographies listed under the heading "Collection Development Sources," the vast majority relates to use by either public or school libraries to de- velop collections for children and young adult readers. Thus, for college libraries, this book may best be seen as a useful sup- plement to Sheehy's Guide to Reference Books. -Bart Harloe, University of the Pacific.