College and Research Libraries cross references abounding in the text are not incorporated in the index. These criticisms are made on the hypothesis that one may be using these guides without having in hand the documents described—a situation in which one needs all the help from an index that one can get. So far, what has been said about the con- tents of the work under review merely ap- praises its component parts as pieces of fine craftsmanship. What raises them above this level to that of distinguished compilation is the presence on every page of timely and re- vealing data concerning the publications de- scribed. These data are the products of painstaking research and a keen and unerring sense of what is relevant, bibliographically speaking. Such a sense is the result of a com- bination of permeation by a subject and assur- ance in the use of prescribed forms and is the factor which causes some bibliographies to be long remembered as outstanding. Perhaps the greatest contribution of the series so hap- pily inaugurated by the three sections reviewed here is to have introduced meaning and order into a field of publication where, from the point of view of the average user in the United States, a state of confusion possibly approach- ing chaos has prevailed up to now.—Violet Abbott Cabeen. Library as a Teaching Instrument The Library as a Teaching Instrument. State University of Iowa. University Library Planning Committee. 1945. 14P. The University Library Planning Commit- tee of the State University of Iowa has issued a brief but compact outline of its program and the principle upon which it intends to con- struct its new library building. As a pre- liminary step to any building program, the University of Iowa has set up a model of pro- cedure from which other colleges and univer- sities planning a new building might well benefit by first analyzing their program and aims of the institution. The physical struc- ture will be based throughout on a modified version of the unit type of construction. This type of building will permit the library to do everything it can think of now and will also, since the interior will be flexible and adapt- able, meet the needs of the university for a long time to come. Rather than a great archi- tectural monument, the building will be a sensible workshop in which the instructor and the student can work together in the midst of the book resources of the university, assisted by the latest audio-visual aids to learning and by adequate facilities for group and individual study. The program sets up principles which attempt to place within one building all the academic activities, including much of the in- struction, which may wish to utilize media of communication now available for educational purposes. It has high aims which, as they become successful, will bid fair to revolution- ize our present library programs and build- ings on the campus. The needs of the college freshmen are to be met by the establishment of a "heritage" li- brary within the main building. This library collection will be arranged around eight peri- ods or historical moments from that of Early Man, Greek and Roman, to Contemporary. For each period not only the books will be used but all the dramatic visual aids such as models, maps, pictures, posters, phonograph records, slides, objects, moving pictures, etc. This heritage library is tied up with the "core curriculum" of the arts college and has the objective of helping the students become ac- quainted with their backgrounds as well as aware of the critical issues of their own times. The adaptation of the library to the new cur- riculum is typical of the progressive thinking of the whole program, from the needs of the college freshmen up through those of the graduate student, the research scholar, and even beyond to the needs of the citizens of Iowa. Such a program will demand new tech- niques and training for librarians. The li- brarian will become an integral part of the program of instruction. Less emphasis will be placed on library housekeeping functions and more on the professional aspects of the li- brary. Books, however, do not tak'e care of themselves, and it is not too clearly stated just how this housekeeping is going to be elim- inated from the working day of librarians. An experiment on as large a scale as this one will inevitably have its influence on the 286 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES planning of many of the new libraries in col- leges and universities throughout the country. Higher education in America is seeking for new solutions to the problems of curricula, instructional aims and methods, and faculty- student relations. President Virgil M . Hancher in the introduction to this pamphlet foresees the library in relation to those de- partments which use books and other written records for research and instruction, as labor- atories are now successfully used by doctors, dentists, engineers, psychologists, artists, and musicians. The program is one of a pioneer- ing university not as yet tied down by tradi- tions in its buildings or in its thinking and yet one whch has successfully pioneered in other fields. More and more emphasis is being placed on the instructional functions of the library in the curricula of our colleges and universities. The new building at the State University of Iowa is a step in this direction and its program should be read with care by all librarians in academic institutions and be brought to the attention of their administra- tion. It is hoped that as the plans progress and the building materializes more detailed information will be published.—Charles' M. Adams. American Historical Societies American Historical Societies, 1790-1860. By Leslie W . Dunlap. Madison, Wis., Pri- vately printed, 1944. M r . Dunlap, who defines a historical society as an association of individuals organized primarily to collect, preserve, and make avail- able the materials for the history of the United States or a section of it, divides his informed and useful essay into two parts: first, a general account of the origin, diffusion, aims, activities, and struggles for existence of the sixty-five societies established in this coun- try between 1790 and i860; second, a particu- larized account of the founding and growth of each of the sixty-five societies. The latter, though it provides much convenient and useful data, was the easier and less important task. For the attempt to outline this particular segment of our cultural history as set forth in the first part is beset with all of the difficulties that face any historian who deals with cul- tural growth—the intangibles of motivation, influence, relationships, and institutional evo- lution. M r . Dunlap's essay is the most satisfactory account available for the early history of the societies founded before i860, for he has grounded his work on an extensive examina- tion of both the publications of these useful institutions and the minutes and correspon- dence in their archives. But the chapters forming the first part of his essay are less satisfying than the factual account of the societies in the second part. Both contain much interesting and fresh data—some of it no doubt informative even to those who now have custody of these societies—yet the ac- cumulation of facts is not the most valuable part of cultural history. On the important question of origins and causative factors, for example, M r . Dunlap merely points to an incipient interest in American history (it was much earlier and much more vigorous than he indicates), to the need for preserving his- torical sources, to the absence of research libraries, and to the requirement of establish- ing new agencies—hence the formation of his- torical societies. This obviously leaves much to be desired in answer to the question why and when these interests and needs originated. Again, the changes of emphasis or interest that sometimes pass for growth in a society, though extremely difficult to chart, are unsat- isfactorily presented. M r . Dunlap, I fear, has less respect for the early founders than I have. Their circular letters asking for source material he finds undiscriminating; to me they appear to be remarkable for their catholicity, their broad and inclusive definition of history, and their sense of contemporaneity—qualities often sadly lacking in these same societies once they have acquired age, respectability, speciali- zation of interest, and comfortable endow- ments with well-trained staffs. The early societies were founded by vigor- ous, enlightened, public-spirited men. Even at the end of M r . Dunlap's period there are signs of hardening of the arteries in some of the more venerable institutions. But the clini- cal analysis of this ageing process as per- formed by M r . Dunlap is often less flattering to youth than to age, and wisdom does not JULY, 1946 1 287