College and Research Libraries 90 College & Research Libraries ever, I suspect that administrators will not take the time to read the entire book. Most useful to them will be Joanne Buster's essay, which describes the reori- entation of the library from the store- house to the gateway model, Carla Stoffle and Kathleen Weibel's essay which de- scribes possible avenues for funding and emphasizes the need to incorporate tech- nology into the budget rather than de- pend on donor support for automation; and Paul M. Gherman' s and Robert C. Heterick's concluding essay, which probes the increasingly intimate relation- ship between the library and the campus computing service The book concludes with a summary review of the literature concerning the current issues in academic librarianship and a very good annotated bibliography that mirrors the chapter headings.-Eva M. Sartori, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. International Book Publishing: An Encyclo- pedia. Eds. Philip G. Altbach and Edith S. Hoshino. New York: Garland, 1995. 736p. $95, alk. paper (ISBN 0-8153- 0786-1). This ambitious volume calls upon a cadre of international specialists, ranging from scholars to practitioners, to inform the reader about the past and future status of book publishing. Recognizing the dearth of research and analysis devoted to book publishing as both a commer- cial and cultural endeavor, editors Philip G . Altbach and Edith S. Hoshino have constructed a balanced and timely state- of-the-art review that is useful in not only library reference collections but also the offices of acquisitions librarians, collec- tion development managers, area stud- ies specialists, editors, publishers, book- sellers, and savvy suppliers. Equally important, the encyclopedia may also serve as a course of study for students of publishing, the book trade,librarianship, area studies, and comparative education. Virtually all the essays are well docu- mented, and frequently accompanied by January 1996 bibliographies for further research, and the excellent index facilitates access to complex subjects. Even the appendix is a valuable research tool-a major com- pilation of book production statistics by . region and country from the Unesco Sta- tistical Yearbook, 1970 to 1990. In his introductory essay, "Research on Publishing: Literature and Analysis," Philip Altbach, professor of higher edu- cation at the School of Education, Bos- ton College, and director of the Research and Information Center of the Bellagio Publishing Network, sets the philosophi- cal and scholarly context for the encyclo- pedia, discussing why book publishing has received so little analytic attention and recommending ways "to expand the network of research and analysis con- cerning publishing and book develop- ment." This well-tempered advocacy piece lends coherence and strength to the main body of the encyclopedia, which is organized into two parts. The first part, "Topics in Publishing," consists of thirty-four essays on types of publishing (e.g., college textbook, elec- tronic, reference, university press); sociopolitical aspects of publishing (e.g., copyright, freedom of the press, publish- ing in the Third World); and the econom- ics of publishing (e.g., book marketing, bookselling, international book produc- tion statistics). There is a refreshing ar- ray of "voices" among these essays, rang- ing from the personal conviction of Bill Henderson, founder and publisher of Pushcart Press, in "The Small Press To- day and Yesterday," to the factual elo- quence of WilliamS. Lofquist, commod- ity /industry specialist with the U.S. De- partment of Commerce, in "A Statistical Perspective on U.S. Book Publishing," to the theoretical insights of Shigeo Minowa, dean of the School of Interna- tional Business and Management of Kanazawa University, Japan, in "The Societal Context of Book Publishing." The range of individual perspectives proffered on the future of publishing- in decline, in ascendance, at a standstill- gives credibility to the encyclopedia by acknowledging the varying viewpoints of industry analysts, scholars, and prac- titioners. The second part of the encyclopedia considers the state of publishing from the perspective of six regions-Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and North America-and selected coun- tries (about thirty, including South Africa, Japan, Russia, Nigeria, and Canada). Al- though there is no formula for style or coverage, the reader can reliably expect the historic, demographic, and sociopo- litical background of each country to be explored and relevant current statistical information about publishing to be pro- vided. These country-based essays de- scribe at length the cultural context that characterizes book publishing. Even the most cosmopolitan of readers will have something to learn: why some experts guard against African indigenous pub- lishers "leapfrogging" over conventional book production methods directly to new electronic technologies; the lack of trained publishing professionals in devel- oping countries, such as copyeditors in India; how the distribution system in Ja- pan, which is based on consignment sales, affects book selling; the significance of "komiks," derived from the American comic book, in the Philippines; or why Great Britain and France have displaced Mexico and Argentina as the leading countries importing books from Spain. The shortcomings of the encyclopedia are few; however, the following are wor- thy of mention. Among world regions, Africa and Asia receive the most exten- sive consideration. Europe lacks the over- view essay that other regions receive- an instance where the significance of the European Union as a publisher might have been articulated. The Middle East consists of merely three essays and only the contribution on "Israel" by Irene Sever is new. "The Arab World" and "Egypt" figure among seven reprints in Book Reviews 91 the encyclopedia, three of which are from Altbach's Publishing and Development in the Third World (1992). The contribution on the United States is largely a financial statement, devoid of philosophical or cul- tural context. The other regional essays are so informative that the reader longs for comprehensive geographic coverage. Topics lacking treatment include eth- nic publishing in the United States and an overview of official and intergovern- mental publishing. Most subjects are suf- ficiently introduced within the typical double-column, six- to twelve-page, length, but others are perhaps too com- plex to explore within these confines. Al- bert Greco's "Mergers and Acquisitions in the U.S. Book Industry, 1960-89" falls short of a satisfactory examination of eco- nomic concentration in the publishing in- dustry; the reader expects more precise documentation for some of the tables and would be grateful if the appendix of mergers took into account the seminal work of Elin Christianson, "Mergers in the Publishing Industry, 1958-1970," Jour- nal of Library History (1972). Through the range and diversity of topics and countries covered, common themes emerge-discussions about the stakeholders in international copyright debates from various regional perspec- tives; the importance of autonomous in- digenous publishing; and the value of the book as a cultural asset weighed against its viability as a commercial product. In- ternational Book Publishing: An Encyclope- dia is greater than the sum of its parts and should stimulate further research.-Mar- tha L. Brogan, Yale University, New Haven, Conn ecticut. Reference and Information Services: An In- troduction . 2nd ed. Eds. Richard E. Bopp and Linda C. Smith. Englewood, Colo .: Libraries Unlimited, 1995. 626p. $47.50 cloth (ISBN 1-56308-130-X); $35 paper (ISBN 1-56308-129-6). If the year 1876 counts as the Big Bang of United States librarianship, arguably the