College and Research Libraries Review Articles A History of Libraries A History of Libraries. By Alfred Hessel, translated, with supplementary material, by Reuben Peiss. Washington,, D.C., Scarecrow Press, [ C 1 9 5 0 ] . v,i98p. $ 4 . 0 0 . T h e establishment of Ralph R. Shaw's Scarecrow Press is perhaps more significant than its first imprint. If M r . Shaw's only contribution to bibliothecal science had been t h e m a g n i f i c e n t Bibliography of Agriculture, his fame would have been secure even without the useful and promising machines he has developed. N o w he offers librarianship something we have sorely needed during the past years when rising costs of book produc- tion have forced many agencies, public and private, to curtail their publication programs and compelled university presses to forsake their original purpose of subsidizing scholar- ship and, instead, to demand subsidies from scholars. M r . Shaw proposes to publish scholarly works and other contributions to librarianship in relatively small editions with no subsidy. If he is successful, and it ap- pears as though he will be, this reviewer nominates him as the professor-in-charge to run a workshop f o r directors of university presses. T h i s is a serious proposal. I t is unfortunate that the work chosen to launch the Scarecrow Press was not a better one; and it seems to be rather a shame that M r . Peiss did not elect to apply his obvious talents as a translator to Joris Vorstius' ex- tremely useful Grundziige der Bibliotheks- geschichte, a book of about the same size which is a f a r better introduction to library history. Even so, however, M r . Peiss has corrected to some extent the deficiencies of the original which were pointed out by Georg Leyh in his detailed review in the Deutsche Literaturzeitung, n . F . :3 : i 1 2 9 -1 1 3 4 , J u n e 12, 1926. T h i s review should be cited to begin- ning students of library history who may be referred to this book as collateral reading. M r . Peiss has made a straight translation of the first eight chapters of the original w o r k ; but since the ninth chapter was w r i t - ten before 1925, he has written "the great bulk of the text" of that chapter but at the same time used Hessel's original material. H e has corrected statements which were true about G e r m a n libraries in 1925 but not a f t e r the collapse of 1945, and he has brought in accounts of many events of significance in the world of librarianship during the two decades subsequent to the publication of the original work. T h i s chapter is a real contribution to the literature and serves to mollify somewhat one of the points on which Leyh criticised the book originally. M r . Peiss has also added bibliographical footnotes and "expanded and rearranged" the original bibliography, thus meeting at least in part one more of Leyh's objections to the original. Although M r . Peiss feels that the bibliography should be "useful to the general reader," it shows the marks of a somewhat haphazard selection (e.g., in the Festschriften analyzed). Moreover, there is serious doubt as to just how many American students will wish to read or even check the titles in French, German, Latin, Italian and Swedish which make up such a large proportion of the bibliography. A purely English-language bib- liography would seem to have been better for a manual of this sort, although reference (with contents notes or annotations) could be made to the more important foreign-lan- guage jubilee volumes and reference works. T h e illustrations in the original have been omitted. It is regrettable that the entire work, but especially the notes and bibliography, was not carefully proofread. Again, the best of luck to the Scarecrow Press in the fulfilment of its high objectives. M a y its lists wax long and tantalizing!— Lawrence S. Thompson, University of Ken- tucky Libraries. 88 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES Library Education for Librarianship. By J . P e r i a m Danton. Unesco Publication 388. [ P a r i s ] Unesco, 1949, 97p. 45^. T h e encouragement of a strong public li- brary development throughout the world as an implement to the adult education program of Unesco was first expressed in the summer school for public librarians held in England in 1948. T h e present pamphlet is one of a series of manuals suggested by the summer school and which will outline some of the funda- mental areas of library work. In his " F o r e w o r d , " D r . Jaime T o r r e s Bodet, director-general of Unesco, states: "At present it is unfortunately true that there are few countries in the world where the full possibilities of public library work are under- stood and there are many parts of the world where public library services can as yet be hardly said to exist." T h e present manual by Danton should serve as an excellent guide to institutions and governments where library education is emerging as preparation for pro- fessionalized librarianship. T h e nine chapters which divide the manual illustrate the concrete approach which it makes to the problems attending the blue- printing and administration of a school of li- Education brary science. These a r e : I. Background: T h e M o d e r n L i b r a r y ; I I . T h e Library School —Creation and Objectives; I I I . Curriculum and Methods of Instruction; I V . Faculty and Staff; V. Students—Recruiting and Selection; V I . Resources, Q u a r t e r s and Facilities; V I I . Administration, Finance, Records; V I I I . Placement; I X . Professional Education O u t - side Library Schools. This final chapter in- cludes such vehicles as conferences, institutes, in-service training, and workshops. A selected bibliography is included. T h e booklet will be read with interest by all who are concerned with library education. It will be especially valuable, however, to the increasing number of foreign directors of li- brary schools and faculty who are visiting this country under the auspices of the United States Department of State and allied agen- cies toward the end of constructing or reor- ganizing library training facilities abroad. It may also serve as a useful point of departure for agencies such as the Board of Education for Librarianship of the American Library Association in drawing up standards of prac- tice and quality for schools in this country.— Kenneth R. Shaffer, School of Library Science, Simmons College. Principles of Research The Principles of Scientific Research. By Paul Freedman. Washington, Public A f - fairs Press, 1950, 222p. $3.25. Aimed primarily at the young man em- barking upon a career of scientific research, this is a fairly generalized treatment of the subject, ranging from a brief review of the history of research to advice to the young re- search worker on how to get along with his patrons and his seniors. Chapters I to I I I attempt to develop defi- nitions of "science" and of "scientific re- search" through an historical summary. Chapter I V covers the mental attributes requisite to research. Chapters V and V I cover the planning of research, giving the categories of research by type of results an- ticipated; the determination of probable sources of e r r o r ; and the production and control of the desired conditions for research. Chapter V I I treats of the organization of JANUARY, 1951 research teams, enumerating four main types of organization. Chapter V I I I emphasizes the value of discussion of research projects with fellow scientists, recommending the Socratic method. Chapters I X and X treat the determination of the degree of accuracy required and of the minimum number of ob- servations essential to achieve it. T h e final chapter treats sources of funds for research, the conditioning of research by sources of funds and the relationship of the young scien- tist to his patron and to his seniors. T h e author limits his field to research in the physical sciences and states that the book is meant to be read as a whole rather than for use as a reference tool. T h u s no subject index is provided for fear that passages might thus be taken out of context and might pro- duce impressions quite different from those intended. Although published in the United States, 89