College and Research Libraries


sion of other approaches. Again librar-
ianship needs all the theory and invention 
it can obtain, but it would be unfortunate 
if there should be as universal devotion 
to any single approach as there has been to 
the experience approach among librarians 
generally. 

The most important need of library 
administration is for studies of, say, law 
in relation to library experience, sociologi-
cal and economic backgrounds, and 
theories and invention. A Metropolitan 
Library in Action has set the pattern by 
its admirable synthesis of the various ap-
proaches. It is to be hoped that other 
similar contributions will follow.-E.W. 
M cDiarmidJ University of Illinois Li-
brary School. 

The Chicago College PlanJ by Chauncey 
Samuel BoucherJ Revised and Enlarged 
after Ten Yearl Operation of the Plan. 
A. J. Brumbaugh. University of Chi-
cago Press, c1940. 413p. $3. 

THE FIRST EDITION of this work pre-
sented a description of the organization of 
the Chicago College Plan and its first years 
of operation, a discussion of the philosophy 
and content of its curriculum, a descrip-
tion of its personnel and materials, and 
of the many problems and difficulties of its 
operation. The present edition adds to 
the first work the record of successful ad-
ditional years of operation of the plan, and 
some highly important as well as highly 
interesting material concerning the guid-
ance and personnel work, the four-year 
junior college, the student evaluation of 
the program, and the modifications and 
additions to the original program brought 
about by study of that program in opera-
tion. 

At first glance, this work seems to be 
for the professional educator. To li-

brarians the volume is extremely disap-
pointing since the discussion of the library 
facilities of the University of Chicago 
College is limited to sixteen pages. Taken 
apart from the rest of the volume, these 
pages present little to us, it is true, beyond 
a record of circulation and a description 
of library materials and their organization. 
A thoughtful reading of the whole 
volume, however, gives meaning to the 
library statistics-so much so, in fact, 
that the reviewer ventures the opinion 
that this volume is one of the best availa-
ble discussions of the objectives and prob-
lems of college library administration. 

The materials of a college library are 
its books and its readers, and its field of 
operation is the contact between the two. 
Whether we think of reading in the criti-
cal, analytical sense used by some, or in 
the recreational and dilettante senses used 
by others, this contact between the book 
and its user is the opportunity and the 
responsibility of the college library. 

The Chicago College Plan places a 
heavy emphasis on the careful, critical 
reading of books. It does not presuppose, 
as some people seem to think, that good 
reading is all that is required for an educa-
tion. It does, however, make that con-
tact between the book and its reader a 
highly important step in the educational 
process. Consequently, this descriptive 
volume about the plan has much to say 
about the methods and results of reading, 
and, both directly and indirectly, about 
the problems, the methods, and the 
achievements of the library. 

For example, in the discussions of the 
philosophy and content of the curriculum, 
and the organization and presentation of 
course materials, considerable emphasis is 
placed on the suitability of books to their 
users and to their purposes. Again in 

74 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



the chapter "Student Guidance and Per-
sonnel Work," much attention is given 
to identifying the student's previous and 
present use of books, to measuring various 
factors which go to make up his total 
reading ability, and to using information 
thus gained to further· the individual's 
educational progress. In the section 
"Special Instructional Material," constant 
reference is made to the relationship of 
books to other methods of presenting edu-
cational materials. The full, excellent 
documentation in the Appendices also 
contains much information and many sug-
gestions regarding the selection, organiza-
tion, and use of books in the college pro-
gram. 

In a narrow sense, this book is a de-
tailed description of a single institution 
of higher education. In a larger way, the 
book is a significant contribution in the 
field of American democratic education, 
and in that sense, for the librarian is a 
significant contribution in his own field. 
The college librarian today is constantly 
faced with the problem of defining his 
position and that of his unit in the college 
community. The problem is largely that 
of defining the objectives of the college 
library, and the methods of reaching those 
objectives in practice. If the librarian 
will study this volume on the Chicago 
College Plan with the words "Books" and 
"Reading" ·in mind, he will find a large 
portion of his own difficulties discussed 
there, and many suggestions for his own 
procedure.-G. Donald Smith, lJ1ary 
Washington College Library, Fredericks-
burg, Va. 

To THE EDITOR: 

In the June issue of College and Re-

DECEMBER, 1941 

search Libraries, there was a review of 
our publication, Review Index. May I 
have the opportunity to reply to two of 
the criticisms made in that review? 

One criticism was that the reviews of 
foreign books are very important, but that 
Review Index does not list foreign 
periodicals. At the price for which we 
are furnishing Review Index, it is im-
possible for us to index foreign language 
periodicals. Another reason for not in-
cluding this type of material is the 
European war, which makes receipt of 
most foreign publications quite uncertain. 
We believe it should be pointed out that 
Review Index, unlike the Book Review 
Digest, indexes reviews of all foreign 
books which appear in the periodicals on 
our desk. This fact gives Review Index 
a decided edge over Book Review Digest 
in the matter of Foreign Book Reviews. 

Our second point is that the reviewer 
mentions only the number of titles ( 1500) 
which Review Index gives in addition to 
the Book Review Digest. 

Our main purpose is not to provide re-
views of titles not found in the Book 
Review Digest. Rather, Review Index 
proposes to provide critical, professional 
reviews for every book it lists. Therefore, 
we believe it should be mentioned that 
Review Index lists more than 5000 re-
views per year which cannot be found in 
the Book Review Digest. 

The editors of Review Index agree with 
H. S. Canby that only a specialist can 
write a reliable review, and, therefore, 
Review Index proposes to index reviews 
written by specialists rather than those 
written for the more popular book review 
periodicals.-Lyman W. Newlin, Business 
Manager, Follett Book Company. 

75