College and Research Libraries Recent Publications BOOK REVIEWS The Collections and Programs of the American Antiquarian Society: A 175th Anniversary Guide. Worcester, Mass.: American Antiquarian Society, 1987. 183p. $12.50 (ISBN 0-912296-92-3). LC 87-14480. The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), one of the premier independent research libraries and learned historical societies in the United States, has never lacked, quite correctly, for the documenta- tion of its own progress. In this century alone, even without regard to its own pro- ceedings and transactions ( which were first produced in 1820' and continue to the present), proud librarians of AAS have had their say at successive intervals. These watershed dates in the society's long past were marked by histories, guides, and exhibitions of this fabled col- lection of Americana. Such "memoirs" of AAS occurred, for example, in 1937 when, in its 125th year the society produced R. W. G. Vail's Guide to the Resources of the American Antiquarian Society. Within four years of AAS' reach- ing its 150th anniversary, Clarence Brigham produced his remarkable autobi- ography as librarian of the society, Fifty Years of Collecting Americana for the Library of the American Antiquarian Society, 1908-1958. Then in 1969, a decade after AAS' current director and librarian, Mar- cus McCorison, arrived in Worcester, Massachusetts, to labor in the venerable institution, an exhibition catalog of truly memorable proportions was published- A Society's Chief Joys. Today this catalog re- mains a model for this type of oft- produced "treasures" catalog, the kind that aspires to become a contribution to the greater accessibility of a collection. As all good exhibition catalogs do, these works innately provide a special service to those scholars needing an overview of a li- brary's subject strengths. Each of these publications in their own time, in their own way, possessed a com- mon purpose of collection promotion for usage and visibility and further develop- ment. The differences in the personalities of the writers or the circumstances of indi- vidual contexts do not obscure this singu- lar similarity. In this way these works are part of a broader literature of research li- brarianship and library history that tends to be overlooked because it is so taken for granted. Such well-produced and well- described collection guides and rules of access, those maps to the great collections generated most vigorously between 1930 and 1970, unfortunately in most cases, badly need revision toward current stan- dards, viewpoints, and changes. The atti- tudes of research librarians and their pa- trons over the last twenty years need betterrepresentation. However, great and humble libraries alike can still profit from examining such classic publications as Op- portunities for Research in the John Carter Brown Library, the Newberry Library's An Uncommon Collection of Uncommon Collec- tions, or The Widening Circle: The Story of the Folger Shakespeare Library and Its Collections as models for their own collection sur- veys. 365 366 College & Research Libraries In the publication of The Collections and Programs of the American Antiquarian Soci- ety: A 175th Anniversary Guide, the tradi- tion of celebrating a great research li- brary's acquisitional genius has been reaffirmed, not simply for the society's own collection, but for the other indepen- dent research libraries, as well. As a joint effort of the entire professional staff of AAS, this guide delineates this collection for today' s researchers. Married to this main concern, photography is used to de- . pict the building housing so much primary-source material for early Ameri- can history. And over the entire produc- tion, the institutional ''folk memory,'' the attitudes of past staff members and cur- rent ones, of the former heads and current librarian McCorison' s summations are al- lowed to show through. The work, thus, becomes a true history of the collections amassed and not a mere guide to them. While it revises older publications, this Guide depicts a research institution truly representative of the future potential of American historical scholarship in the context of the libraries that house the raw materials for future analysis of the na- tion's past. In the last generation, AAS staff has more than doubled; its endow- ment is over ten times as large as it was in 1970. Indeed, the current achievement is underscored, not slighted. AAS has always been an institution that collected assiduously by the broadest sweep and, conversely, down to the most imaginatively resourceful, topical detail. Up to 1876 as a general collection cut-off date, there is no better library to turn to for studies concerning American imprints and U.S. printing history, for research de- pendent on almanacs and early newspa- pers, for early American municipal rec- ords, for trade catalogs of all sorts, for the social history of the original English- speaking center of settlement in America. Counterpointing this impressive, broadly defined collecting are the detailed treat- ments that each of AAS' individually identified subjects afford for scholarly in- vestigation. American social history is en- riched accordingly by the organization that AAS has put on its collections of American political and intellectual docu- July 1988 ments, its religious history, and its literary and cultural records. These subjects have been treated in this collection guide with appropriate background history and pur- pose, along with thorough descriptions. A blueprint for the past, current, and future trends in scholarship is thus created for important library collections of the soci- ety, as well as a formal statement for fu- ture collection development. The considerable care with which the numerous black-and-white photographs were taken indicate, as intended, visually how the library looks at this stage in its history. These images form a fitting com- panion to collection descriptions pre- sented by curators. In fact throughout the Guide, in photographs, preface, chapter, and list, perhaps the main strength of the work, one that fulfills its purpose to be a commemorative piece is the work's hon- esty, its candidness. We see the over- crowded stacks, the imperfections of the folio bindings, the tatters, as well as the treasures. We see the staff's pride in a col- lection that is used-and used frequently by scholars-as well as the obligatory scenes of conservators . and scholars at work, of computerized online projects, a crucial pioneering effort for other rare- book institutions in this country. And overall, we see a staff and a library thoroughly enchanted by its own great history. The previous staff and past events are not forgotten, but commemorated in the context of future opportunity. Even McCorison' s description of the society's buildings and grounds is embued with this long-range view based on a thorough respect for the past. In this way the 175th Anniversary Guide, becomes not only a me- morial to a great independent research in- stitution for humanistic endeavor, founded generations ago on the most al- truistic notions and conceptions involving cooperation between the private and pub- lic sectors, but to general American library history as well. Such "private" institutions should be regarded as the most "public" or civically spirited organizations of the early Repub- lic. In the last generation they have rightly begun to receive appropriate federal sup- port for programming. But even in an ear- ACQUISITION PERSPECTIVES 3. We provide each customer a list- ing of books not immediately available from the publisher. This monthly open order report assures you we have re- cently taken effective action towards earliest possible delivery of your or- ders. Publisher stock status and addi- tional information are available on a continuous computer printout or on individual 3 x 5 slips for easy filing. We cancel only publisher-documented out-of-print or out-of-stock-indefinite- ly titles. Eliminate your claiming and begin receiving your open order reports from Book House. CALL TOLL-FREE TODAY 1-800-248-1146 In Canada & Michigan CALL COLLECT (517} 849-2117 OCLC Vendor No . 17397 SAN 169-3859 the BBOK H USE JOBBERS SERVING LIBRARIES WITH ANY BOOK IN PRINT SINCE 1962 208 WEST CHICAGO STREET JONESVILLE, MICHIGAN 49250 368 College & Research Libraries lier day, great public officials-past Amer- ican presidents in fact-were numbered on the boards and councils of such institu- tions as the American Antiquarian Soci- ety. A partnership in cooperation has al- ways been recognized, at least tacitly. If there were any defect in an otherwise flawless production, this fact could have been better understood and expressed in the book's foreword, since it was broached. As Vail called it in 1937, "This great public, reference library" will be helped by a Guide that furthers the goals of a research collection which has, as its greatest tradition, the strengthening of the links between Americans and their ownpast.-JohnNealHoover, St. LouisMer- cantile, Library Association, Missouri. Conference on Integrated Online Library Systems. Proceedings, St. Louis, Mis- souri, September 23 and 24, 1986. Ed. by David C. Genaway. Canfield, Ohio: Genaway & Assoc., 1987. 460p. $39.95 (ISBN 0-94397-005-9) . A genre of research literature that de- serves more attention than it gets is con- ference proceedings., At first glance, one might dismiss the papers delivered at a conference in favor of data from mono- graphic or scholarly journal sources, as- suming that most published proceedings are essentially the same. In fact they are not, and the possibilities for potential re- search value are numerous. These confer- ence proceedings reflect that value. The underlying purpose of this confer- ence on integrated online library systems, and therefore of its proceedings, is tore- flect on the trend toward ''open'' library systems and linkages to other systems . Contained in the proceedings is informa- tion for people who have already selected and installed a system as well as introduc- tory information for those in the process of acquiring a new or replacement system. While some papers deal with the selection and implementation of library online sys- tems and subsystems, others focus on the human element of automation and postin- stallation concerns. This is a very basic book. Proceedings are by nature a hybrid, part instruction manual and part textbook. The contrib- July 1988 uted papers and plenary session papers cover the entire spectrum of data on inte- grated online library systems. In these proceedings, there are a great number of articles that cover a multitude of related interests including the evaluation, selec- tion, and installation of IOLS; developing RFPs; staff policies; impact of library auto- mation on management; data conversion; and requirements for subsystems . The question logically arises: What makes this book such a good investment given the fact that the same information is also available in the journal literature? The answer is that while the information can be found in journals, the scope of this book and the fact that it is in one published volume make this purchase worthwhile. There are thirty-one papers divided equally between plenary sessions and contributed paper sessions. Excluding the "how we do it better" articles, a surpris- ing number of contributions are outstand- ing. Richard Boss' article ''Corporate Mer- gers and Consolidations and Coming Trends in Integrated Online Library Sys- tems" merits consideration as does the eminently readable "Impact of Library Technology on Management'' by Dwayne E. Webster. W. David Penniman's paper "The Effect of ISDN and LAN on Inte- grated Online Library Systems" also is good as is Robert Walton's contribution, "Microcomputer Library Systems and Subsystems: State of the Art Review.'' In the contributed papers section, John Cor- bin's superb twenty-page paper is what its title states-a primer in evaluating, select- ing, and implementing an integrated on- line library system. Donald Riggs' article on ''Transformational Leadership and the Electronic Academic Library'' is also highly instructive. The balance of the pa- pers of note cover a variety of subjects such as record ownership, psychological preparation for automation, requirements for interfaces with acquisitions subsys- tems, retrospective conversion, and the human and organizational aspect of tech- nological issues, just to name a few. One minor drawback is the 1986 date of the conference. Another caveat is that as with journal literature, there is an uneven quality to any group of published papers.