College and Research Libraries alive because of a real interest in the particu- lar library under consideration. In this re- spect the library survey has a great deal in common with many other measurements, such as the audit, for example, or perhaps, the growth record of one's infant—exciting meas- urements, which, however, seem to leave our neighbors severely calm. Since the library survey is such a particu- larly individualized undertaking, its adequacy must be determined in relation to the institu- tion under study. The University of South Carolina survey could hardly be improved upon in regard to the selection of study objec- tives, devices for measurement, manner of approaching the problems, and in its patient (but not laborious) teaching. The South Carolina library survey escapes the principal danger, ever-present in such a work, of hav- ing the surveyors' recommendations dis- counted as extreme, when the surveyors merely intended to be substantial. Another escaped danger is that of ignoring, at any time, the fundamental fact that the university library is an institutional service agency. The greatest contribution toward implementation which a survey can make is methodically to show the faculty, the deans and directors, and the administration, once and for all, that the library budget is not competitive. The sur- veyors in this instance never lose sight of this fundamental fact and each item of increased expense is justified on its service basis. In leaving out any lengthy history of the insti- tution, and even of the library, those responsi- ble for the survey show a satisfying sense of institutional awareness. This same aware- ness is shown throughout the survey, and no recommendation is so designed or so phrased as to affront the fine traditions of the state's university. T r u t h , however, has by no means been compromised and a careful rereading of some of the milder sounding passages will show anyone at all familiar with the Univer- sity of South Carolina libraries that certain recommendations are indeed radical, in the Conant or Jeffersonian sense, at least. The overtone is one of general helpfulness, to an institution that is trying to help itself, as is, indeed, precisely the case. It may well be, after all, that the best way to judge the effectiveness of a survey is to wait five years and then see what actually happens. In the case of South Carolina the outcome may not prove to be very embarrassing; for some of the recommendations made by the surveyors are already under serious consideration by the university and several are already under way. In this last connection the survey is slightly vulnerable, as not too fine a line is drawn between what should be begun and what should be simply completed. The authors acknowledge a certain indebtedness to the recent Peabody survey, which attempted to sketch all six state tax-supported institutions of higher education in South Carolina, but they fail to take advantage of some of the corrected data of comparison with other Southern state universities. T o these two negative comments might be added a third: it is unfortunate that the report was mimeo- graphed with such apparent haste that it was not too carefully proofread. Despite the fact that a few innovations in survey technique are observable here, it must be admitted that surveys are very much alike —unless, as already mentioned, one has a particular interest in the library being sur- veyed. But to add that "to have read one is to have read all" is about as supportable as to contend that one need not hear Heifetz the fourth time, since, after all, he is merely the same man, playing the same old tunes, on the same old fiddle. In the South Carolina study Dr. Wilson and D r . Tauber have attained a certain artistic perfection with that increasing- ly popular—and effective—instrument, the li- brary survey.—William H. Jesse. T h e University at the Crossroads The University at the Crossroads. Addresses and Essays. By Henry E. Sigerist. New York City, Henry Schuman, 1946. i62p. A few far-sighted educators of our country today are aware of the shortcomings of edu- cation with respect to both aims and methods. They are actively attempting to implement the rediscovered purpose of education with the 366 COLLEGE AND RESEARCLI LIBRARIES new vision demanded by the developments in atomic research. Now the emphasis is on the development of the whole man—intellectually, culturally, socially, politically, spiritually, and no longer on the pragmatic, on technical skills—on the individual. Educational skepti- cism ushered in with Dewey seems to be gradually giving way to vision in education: dynamic leadership has already made great inroads into one weakness, the freely elective collegiate program; but even here much re- mains to be accomplished. In the levels of formal education, emphasis appears to have been on undergraduate education, while sec- ondary and graduate education have been almost totally neglected. Yet graduate edu- cation is vital to the advance of civilization, to culture, to the ultimate and lasting peace of the world. We knew this, had taken it for granted, and many of us had become com- placent about the job graduate education was doing. Only a few educators were dissatis- fied with the direction university education was taking: their cries of alarm on its ills have begun to sharpen our dulled critical attitude on the subject. Outstanding among these few men of vision is Henry E. Sigerist, the author of the book under review. He is no vague theorist, no mere educationist, but rather, a successful administrator, a pains- taking and fertile researcher, an educator with sound and practical ideas. His cries of alarm—never Macedonian—concerning the disintegrating forces assailing our university were uttered during the war years (1939-45) and published almost entirely in The Bulle- tin of the History of Medicine, factors which unfortunately limited his readers both as to number and kind. Bringing together in this slender volume these pertinent essays and ad- dresses on the shortcomings of university (specifically graduate) education, author and publisher have contributed a timely service to the many heretofore unreached readers, not the least of whom were those recently occu- pied with pressing duties in the defense of their country. Disintegrating forces are assailing the uni- versity from all sides. In language clear, pointed, concise, the author convincingly shows in his essay written in 1944, "The University at the Crossroads," what these forces are. Inasmuch as the author presents his more pregnant ideas on the ills of education in this essay, the reviewer considers it pertinent to deal at length with its contents. Of the factors which have set university education back, one, the author states, is the loss to research of many of the more mature faculty members who, misled by a misguided patriot- ism, had entered the armed forces or had engaged in some kind of war work. Another disturbing factor threatening the university, the author points out, is the uncritical ac- ceptance by many members of university facul- ties of the ingenious teaching methods that have been devised for the services with such surprisingly good results. But let us not be fooled, Sigerist warns, for there is a world of difference between these new methods and the methods which help students to develop a critical attitude toward the world and to develop their own philosophy of life: it is the difference between indoctrination and educa- tion, a difference which the services themselves recognized. The author further views with alarm the tendency for our universities anxiously to avoid touching upon any subject that seems in the least controversial. But academic research in a free country, the author elaborates, is characterized by the seeking for truth for truth's sake, irrespec- tive of whether the results may have any practical consequences or not. The clash of ideas, the frank unrestrained academic dis- cussion, is a way to bring us closer to the truth. Although the university is at the crossroads and the disintegrating forces that are assail- ing it from all sides are overwhelming, the author thinks we can save it by: (1) ensuring that it, and particularly the graduate schools, remain the nation's most active centers of independent scholarly research and be ready to approach any important subject even if it should happen to be controversial at a given moment; independent research institutes should supplement but should not supplant these centers because such a development would be fatal to the university; (2) ensuring that graduate education be infinitely more than the imparting of technical knowledge: it must be education, it must prepare students training for the professions to play their part in society. To assist in accomplishing this the author is convinced that we shall have to emphasize the study of the classics in the various disciplines. That is to say, education OCTOBER, 1946 367 must be built upon a historical foundation, else the students will not be able to under- stand or appreciate the present society in which they are called upon to play an intelli- gent part, for a study of contemporary life without historical and philosophic foundations remains superficial and meaningless. T h a t this rediscovered objective is valid can be seen, in this reviewer's opinion, in its active endorsement by a growing number of our leading, enlightened universities. And it is encouraging to see this objective play such an increasingly important role in our library schools. In another far-sighted essay, "The Univer- sity's Dilemma," written in 1943, the author is concerned that faculty members outstanding in research abilities are being "rewarded" with administrative duties in the form of de- partment headships with the consequence that they are thus removed from the ranks of the creative and fertile researchers. This has produced the dilemma about which Sigerist feels deeply, for unless a solution is found, the researchers will desert the universities and these, because university education be- comes sterile the moment it is divorced from research, "will become educational mills im- parting second-hand knowledge" (p. 62). The reviewer sees great possibilities in the author's suggestion of a solution wherein he envisions the university department "not in terms of a hierarchy but of a cooperative, highly specialized group in which the main re- searchers will have the least administrative burden" (p. 65). Throughout this essay the author logically elaborates the thesis ( F . A. Ogg, Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences) currently gaining favor in educa- tional circles—even among deans of library schools—that the best teachers are the ones who are active researchers. T h e reviewer quite agrees with Sigerist that we must look to our new university to produce the enlightened leaders which our country urgently needs, the university whose objective is to produce the educated man and not merely highly competent technicians and specialists "imbued with traditional preju- dices, unable to think independently outside of their narrow specialty, and frequently in- different toward public affairs" ("Failure of a Generation," p. 7). This has special and significant application to the library profes- sion. Who can refute the author's charge that the dearth of able leaders during the second to fifth decades, when the world was—and still now is—in an upheaval, must be laid at the doors of the university of that day which then was motivated by "educational" utili- tarianism? T h a t our universities have been guilty of just this, producing narrow special- ists unprepared for civic duties, unwilling to assume responsibility, and entirely ready to leave the welfare of society in the care of professional politicians, is the core of the author's address entitled "University Educa- tion" (1939). One of the chief offenders in this respect, it is encouraging to see the library profession and its schools currently de- emphasizing mere training in techniques and giving greater weight to the dual requisites: (1) a broad education with its attendant awareness of the political, sociological, civic, economic, cultural, religious implications on society (its clientele) ; and (2) subject special- ization with its attendant research implica- tions. T w o essays, " W a r and Culture" (1941) and "Commemorating Andreas Ve- salius" (1943), deal wth the importance of culture in the reconstruction work ahead. W h a t institution other than the university, this reviewer asks, is so well equipped—with its teachers and its books—to carry the torch of culture in these dark days? Since the library implements the aims of the university, the implications of Professor Sigerist's volume for the library profession are clear. The problems and crises confront- ing the university must demand the immediate and closest cooperation of the university li- brarian as well as that of the educators and administrators if the university is not to de- cline as an active center of research, as the source of first-hand knowledge. The univer- sity librarian must assist in finding the solu- tions to these problems if the very prestige and stature of his office, the importance of his growing collection of source materials, the significance of the library itself as an institu- tion, are not to diminish and fall away. This timely, challenging volume contains essays and addresses which are masterpieces, of clarity, simplicity, and objectivity—and in this last respect, a sharp contrast to Abraham Flexner's not impersonal charges against the American universities {Universities: Ameri- can, English, German)—the while penetrating to the core the more glaring shortcomings of 368 COLLEGE AND RESEARCLI LIBRARIES university (specifically graduate) education in this country. It is the reviewer's convic- tion that it will become clear to all who read, understand, and evaluate this volume that the university is needed today more than ever, and especially as an agent in preserving the peace, nor is it too late, so it seems (the undersigned is optimistic), for the university to help secure it! The author has given us a solid, penetrating, valuable volume on a timely subject. The reviewer considers it a power- ful and significant addition to the small but growing literature produced by thinking men who, mindful of the dangers besetting the uni- versity, are doing something to save it.— William A. Kozumplik. College and University Libraries College and University Libraries and Librar- ianship. An Examination of their Present Status and Some Proposals for Their Fu- ture Development. P r e p a r e d by the Col- lege and University Postwar Planning Com- mittee of the American Library Association and the Association of College and Refer- ence Libraries. William H. Carlson, chair- man. Chicago, American Library Associa- tion, 1946. The publication of full-fledged volumes in the college and university library field occurs rather infrequently. Consequently the appear- ance of a new addition to our bibliography is something of an event and is bound to be seized upon eagerly by academic librarians. When such a new publication offers less than we had hoped, disappointment is correspond- ingly keen. The disappointment involved in the volume under review lies in the fact that the study offers virtually nothing which will be new to college and university librarians who are acquainted with our professional literature of the past decade or two. Such persons will presumably already be familiar with what has been written concerning the "fundamental principles which have governed, or should govern, the sound administration of libraries," and will find little with which they are not already familiar in the "extensive attention and evaluation . . . given to the past and present status of college libraries and librar- ianship" (Preface, p. v). The statement just made certainly applies to the chapters on "Acquisition, Organization and Use of Li- brary Materials," "Cooperation and Coordin- ation in the Profession," "Philanthropy and College Libraries," "Professional Organiza- tions," "Professional Literature," and "The College Library Building." These chapters constitute more than two-thirds of the study. While the work is avowedly directed to the practicing librarian, it is the reviewer's opinion, for the reason already stated, that it is much more likely to be useful to library school students and to those just entering upon their professional careers. T o such per- sons the historical discussions of the subjects taken up in the chapters referred to should be of real help, obviating the necessity of wading through a large amount of periodical and pamphlet publication. The present status, as well as the historical aspects of these topics, is covered adequately and comprehensively, though succinctly. Three chapters which are of more than historical interest and do provide a consider- able amount of new or newly-treated ma- terial are those on "Library Expenditures and Standards of Support," "Books in the Li- braries," and "Characteristics and Education of Personnel." The subject matter of these chapters, which is probably sufficiently indi- cated by their titles, is especially well han- dled. Many of the data and the conclusions and opinions based upon them are challeng- ing and thought-provoking. Comments and questions on a few specific statements may be in order: Although total expenditures in proportion to population for college and university libraries have increased, as the study points out, during the past fifteen years, that increase is in absolute figures and it is problematical whether there is anything like a corresponding increase in the materials and services that libraries have been able to procure as a result (p. 11); the inclusion (p. 18-19) of recommended standards promul- gated twenty years ago is of doubtful value since those standards, if not in need of upward revision at the least, now demand reappraisal and re-evaluation; librarians of the great university and other scholarly libraries will OCTOBER, 1946 369