College and Research Libraries 364 College & Research Libraries ate level and that the ''discipline of the li- brary media specialist is the discipline of any library and information specialist ex- cept that the particular application is in this case in the school. II The question of library education for school media specialists seems to this re- viewer to be the most important, and ap- parently the most controversial, discussed in these five papers, with Hannigan opt- ing for putting the school librarians in schools of education and Sullivan, but particularly Liessner, coming down strongly for graduate level professional education as a part of the library and infor- mation specialist program. This reviewer is strongly in favor of Liessner' s stand. Here is where the customers are, and, as in the past, this is where the leaders in the school library field have been and should be educated. These five papers present a variety of as- sessments of librarianship today and an equal variety of recommendations for the achievement of excellence in the learning society. We owe a special debt no.t only to the authors of these papers but also to the staff of the Center for Libraries and Educa- tionimprovementin the U.S. Department of Education, as well as to the ALA and its Task Force on Excellence in Education. The three publications that have been pro- duced provide a wealth of opinion and data for use as a basis of discussion. But they will be worth the effort that has been put into them only if the profession takes action to correct the problems and meets the challenges that have thus been high- lighted. As Norman Stevens wrote in the Wilson Library Bulletin (Nov. 1984, p.221): ''The material should be of substantial benefit in awakening our consciousness and in teaching us how to present our views to others in a forthright fashion. II- Mary V. Gaver, Past President, ALA, and Professor Emeritus, Rutgers the State Univer- sity of New Jersey. Abstracting and Indexing Services in Per- spective, Miles Conrad Memorial Lec- tures. Ed. by M. Lynne Neufeld, Martha Cornog, and Inez L. Sperr. Arlington, Va.: Information Resources Pr., 1983. July 1985 312p. $27.50. LC 82-084484. ISBN 0- 87815-043-9. "Americans of all ages, all conditions, and all dispositions, constantly form asso- ciations. They have not only commercial and manufacturing companies . . . but as- sociations of a thousand other kinds .... The Americans make associations to give entertainments, to found seminaries, to build inns, to construct churches, to dif- fuse books, to send missionaries to the an- tipodes .... If it be proposed to inculcate some truth, or to foster some feeling by the encouragement of a great example, they form a society. Wherever, at the head of some new undertaking, you see the government in France, or a man of rank in England, in the United States you will be sure to find an association,'' observed Alexis de Tocqueville (Democracy in Amer- ica, Book II, chapter 29). Tocqueville' s observation is as true to- day as it was in 1835. Responding to the shock of the surprise Soviet launching of Sputnik and to the increased awareness of the value of bibliographic control over sci- entific and technical research, representa- tives of fourteen American indexing and abstracting services met to establish a fed - eration in 1958. They intended to cooper- ate in order to resolve inadequacies in the coverage of scientific literature, to explore applications of mechanization, and to seek joint solutions to other problems. This collection of essays commemorates the twenty-fifth anniversary of the found- ing of the National Federation of Abstract- ing and Information Services (formerly the National Federation of Science Ab- stracting and Indexing Services). The three parts of this volume are (1) papers detailing the history of the federation writ- ten by current and past officers, (2) brief personal statements by past presidents and executive directors of NFAIS on the silver anniversary of the organization, and (3) the fifteen Miles Conrad lectures. Miles Conrad (1911-64) was director of Biological Abstracts and a founder and first president of NFAIS. Since 1968, an expert in index- ing, abstracting, or information service has been invited to address the annual meeting to honor Conrad. These lectures form the heart of the book. They range widely from Phyllis Parkins' history of the professional climate in the 1950s to Dale Baker's contrast of information systems in the USSR and the USA, to Frederick Kil- gour's comparison of cooperation in li- brary book cataloging and the abstracting and indexing industry, to Donald King's diagnosis of the crisis in the information community. One could quibble about two faults of . the book: ironically the index is an after- thought, printed separately and tucked into a pocket. The bibliography, reflecting the wide scope of NF AIS issues- thesaurus construction, coordinate index- ing, content analysis, weighted term searches-suffers from lack of a statement defining its purpose. These oversights do not diminish the in- tellectual and social contribution of the book. Most librarians have been affected by the activities of the NF AIS members and all librarians will recognize that many information issues of the past twenty-five years continue as challenges we must meet. Libraries that have been relatively uncoordinated have begun formalized co- operative ventures to solve problems of finding money to automate large enter- prises, or to design systematic coverage of materials without impinging on local perogatives. Individuals and associations in the library and information professions share common problems and solutions. This book reminds us of how recently we have defined these technical and social problems in information service and how much has been accomplished in the past quarter of a century. Looking back gives another perspective on what lies ahead .- Marcia Pankake, University of Minnesota. Tanner, Terence A. Frank Waters: A Bibliog- raphy with Relevant Selections from His Correspondence. Glenwood, Ill.: Mey- erbrooks, 1983. 384p. $45. LC 83- · 209590. ISBN 0-916638-07-3. Frank Waters has spent virtually all of his long career (he was born in 1902, began writing in his early twenties, and, pre- sumably, is still at work) learning and writing about the people, locales, events, Recent Publications 365 and heritage of the American Southwest. He has won a coterie of admirers-some half-dozen scholars who, during the last fifteen years or so, have devoted much time and effort to studying the author and his works and trying to gain for him the wider audience and recognition they are certain he deserves. Their names appear repeatedly in the brief bibliography of Wa- ters' criticism. Terence Tanner's name has not been among them until the appear- ance of this descriptive bibliography, and yet, without the research grants, sabbati- cal support, and other publishing incen- tives of the academically affiliated scholar, Tanner has written the wm.:k that surely will be the starting point and measure for future Waters scholarship. Tanner's extraordinary accomplish- ment, however, is in producing in the un- likely genre of bibliography, a real "page turner." This aspect of the book's appeal is due to the inclusion of generous "rele- vant selections" from Waters' correspon- dence and to Tanner's own notes. Adher- Heritage on Microfilnt Rare and out-of-print titles and documents on 35mm silver halide microfilm. • French Books before 1601 • Scandinavian Culture • 18th Century English Literature • Victorian Fiction • Literature of Folklore • Hispanic Culture Send for catalog and title information today. ~~t}~[M ~ COv\Pft\JY 70 Coolidge Hill Road Watertown, MA 02172 (617) 926-5557