reviews.indd Book Reviews America’s Membership Libraries. Ed. Richard Wendorf. New Castle, Del.: Oak Knoll, 2007. 354p. alk. paper, $39.95 (ISBN 1584561998). LC 2007- 45691. America’s Membership Libraries is an im- pressive book that details the history, organization, collections, memberships, and current status of those independent libraries that service a distinct, private clientele and are most commonly called athenæums, library societies, and mer- cantile and mechanics libraries. Edited by Richard Wendorf, Stanford Calderwood Director of the Boston Athenæum, with a Preface by Nicolas Barker, Chairman of the Committee of the London Library, the primary contributors are directors of membership libraries but also include trustees, members, and library assistants. The Library Company of Philadelphia, founded by Benjamin Franklin and friends in 1731, is acknowledged as the first American membership library and the principal model for those that fol- lowed. The Library Company, however, is excluded from detailed discussion because it has developed into a major research library whose mission lies out- side the general purview of the sixteen libraries covered. The chapters are arranged chronologi- cally from the date of organization of each library. There is, then, the sweep of history and national settlement as these cultural institutions cross the continent from the Redwood Library and Athenæum (1747) in colonial Newport, Rhode Island, to the gateway to the west, the St. Louis Mercantile Library Association (1846), to the post-Gold Rush Pacific coast, the Me- chanics’ Institute of San Francisco (1854). Also, as America evolved from being primarily an agricultural to a commercial and industrial nation, the express mis- sion of these libraries changed. The New York Society Library (1754) was founded by young professionals to promote intellectual inquiry in the early commercial cen- ter, whereas the Mercantile Library of New York (1820), now the Mercantile Library Center for Fiction, was ex- pressly formed for young clerks as a place where ambitious young men could become learned. The Library of the Gen- eral Society of Mechanics & Tradesmen (1820), also in New York, was expressly created to “improve educational and cul- tural opportunities for working people in New York City.” An alternating rhythm of good fortune and misfortune is shared among virtually all the membership libraries: initial enthu- siasm and early success, later decline, and subsequent revitalization. Membership in the Charleston Library Society (1748) was a measure of social importance in its early years, but the American Revolution—and, later, the Civil War and Reconstruc- tion—nearly led to the Society’s demise. A merger with the Apprentices’ Library Society saved both these early institu- tions. A yellow fever epidemic in 1822 nearly finished the New York Mercantile Library as its membership fell from 308 to 189. Frequently, membership libraries had to deaccession important holdings to ensure their survival. Both the Salem Athenæum (1810) and the Providence Athenæum (1836) sold their copies of Audubon’s The Birds of America, the former in 1923 for $2,000 and the latter in 2005 for $5 million, but in each case the funds ensured financial solvency. In the 1950s, the Lanier Library Association (1889) of Tryon, North Carolina, sold a copy of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Fanshawe, applying the funds to the Association’s endowment. Happily, all the libraries included in this volume seem to be thriving, and many are adjusting their mission to con- 384 temporary conditions. Although private institutions, the membership libraries’ collections are generally available for researchers, and, over hundreds of years, collections of special interest and great strength have been developed such as George Washington’s personal library at the Boston Athenæum (1807) or the extensive Western Americana holdings at the St. Louis Mercantile Library As- sociation. Other membership libraries have expanded their programming to include broader cultural offerings for their communities. The Mercantile Li- brary of Cincinnati (1835) inaugurated its Niehoff lecture series in the 1980s and has brought such writers as Saul Bellow, Wil- liam Styron, Joyce Carol Oates, and John Updike to its home city. The Athenæum Music & Arts Library (1899) of La Jolla, California, sponsors classical and jazz music programs. Many of the membership libraries have become as much museums as libraries. The furnishings, paintings, and statuary are important to each institution, but of greater importance are the library build- ings themselves, which are the visible emblems of each membership library. The buildings that house these libraries are a lesson in the history of American archi- tecture from the mid-eighteenth century through the end of the nineteenth century. The Athenæum of Philadelphia (1814), designed by John Norman, is one of the first American buildings in the Italinate Palazzo Revival style; the Portsmouth Athenæum (1817) in New Hampshire was designed by Bradbury Johnson in the Neoclassical style; and the St. John- sbury Athenæum (1871) in Vermont was designed by John Davis Hatch III in the Second Empire Baroque style. In spite of the luxuriously designed buildings and finely furnished interiors, these institutions have retained an es- sential American democratic impulse, an important attribute in the era prior to the public library movement. The New York Society Library “was always intended to be open to anyone—free of Book Reviews 385 charge—for research, with circulation and other services supported by fees, as is the case today.” The Library of the General Society of Mechanics & Tradesmen had a separate room for women, and “males of African descent” were admitt ed begin- ning in 1861. Today, membership libraries continue outreach programs, such as the Charleston Library Society’s Junior Liter- ary Club, founded in 1990, and the Salem Athenæum’s monthly book group and film society, both formed in the 1990s. America’s Membership Libraries is a handsome book with lavish photographs illustrating the buildings, furnishings, paintings, and, of course, books and docu- ments of these institutions. For scholars of American library history and reading culture, this extensively indexed and well-referenced volume will be of great research value.—Geoffrey D. Smith, The Ohio State University. Budd, John M. Self-Examination: The Pres- ent and Future of Librarianship. West- port, Conn.: Libraries Unlimited (Beta Phi Mu Monograph Series), 2008. 281p. alk. paper, $60 (ISBN 1591585910). LC 2007-19948. Professor John M. Budd introduces his latest book, Self-Examination: The Present and Future of Librarianship, not simply with a summary of chapters, but with a rousing elbow into the ribs of a profession that seems to dismiss the work of its most im- portant thinkers (such as Michael Gorman and Jesse Shera) “as mere ruminations or reminiscences.” Budd suggests that their thought—and, by association, his thought as well—is critical to founding a professional philosophy for librarianship, a philosophy that is long overdue. From the earliest pages, Budd implicitly asks his readers to join him in his “quest for meaning in the profession” and to keep the phrase “consciousness of purpose” always at the front of our minds. To do so, we must be willing to question our own beliefs and our own actions (which may in fact contradict our stated beliefs), and even the professional associations