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 



the book is based upon British conditions. 
I t d r a w s heavily on the a u t h o r ' s personal 
experience and the examples are, t h e r e f o r e , 
examples of British conditions, some of which 
may be different f r o m those in this country. 
T h e terminology will not always be f a m i l i a r 
to the American r e a d e r . F o r example, the 
number of scientific staff in private industry 
research is given as an F . B . I , estimate, which 
refers, of course, to an estimate of the F e d -
e r a t e d British Industries, not to the F e d e r a l 
B u r e a u of Investigation. 

I t is difficult to determine the most likely 
field of usefulness of this book, which falls 
between available t r e a t m e n t s of how to per-
f o r m research, how to organize f o r research 
and how to administer research. P e r h a p s it 
will be of most interest to an audience, as the 
a u t h o r suggests, of "young people j u s t enter-
ing the field of r e s e a r c h " ; or, as D r . J . W . 
T . W a l s h in the f o r e w o r d suggests, to busi-
ness men w h o influence or control research 
p r o g r a m s . — R a l p h R. Shaw, U. S. Department 
of Agriculture Library. 

Books for the A r m y 
Books for the Army. By J o h n Jamieson. 

N e w Y o r k , Columbia University Press, 
1950, xiv, 334p. $4.50. 
T h i s is the best and most complete history 

of the A r m y L i b r a r y Service in W o r l d W a r 
I I which has yet appeared, and it is likely to 
be the definitive one. Jamieson, on the staff 
of the h e a d q u a r t e r s unit of the service, has 
had a foundation g r a n t to p r e p a r e this vol-
ume, and he has apparently used all available 
sources of information. T h e result is a read-
able history of the A r m y L i b r a r y Service 
between 1941 and 1946, which names names 
and dispenses an even-handed justice in point-
ing out failures as well as achievements. All 
in all, it is a creditable piece of w o r k and 
one which is valuable to the profession as it 
should be also to the A r m y in guiding the f u -
t u r e development of its library p r o g r a m in 
peace or in w a r . 

P e r h a p s the most r e m a r k a b l e thing about 
the A r m y L i b r a r y Service in the last w a r 
was t h a t it existed at all, operated as large a 
pr ogram as it did (1200 librarians, 
$21,000,000 and 225,000,000 books), and per-
formed its job as well as it did under the 
circumstances. W a r t i m e demands on the 
service w e r e always g r e a t e r than could be 
satisfied, often completely unpredictable, usu-
ally w o r l d - w i d e in scope, and not seldom 
yielded only to approaches f a r different f r o m 
traditional library practice. Add to this the 
simple fact t h a t the provision of books and 
libraries w a s inevitably a very small p a r t of 
the w a r effort. 

B u t the simple fact remains t h a t many men 
had access to very few or no books f o r many 
months, and t h a t f o r most men ". . . the fail-

ures of the library service overseas over-
shadowed the successes." (p. 11). In p a r t 
this w a s due to mistakes in the over-all or-
ganization of the A r m y L i b r a r y Service and 
in p a r t to the slowness with which the people 
in t h a t service solved the problems they faced. 
T h e m a j o r successes in this l a t t e r direction 
w e r e t w o : the magazine kits and A r m e d 
Services Editions distributed directly to all 
units overseas by mail, and the packaging and 
processing of hard-covered books into self-
contained units before delivery to the indi-
vidual installation. N e i t h e r of these w e r e 
worked out early in the w a r or carried as f a r 
as they might have been, but they solved the 
w o r s t problems. 

Jamieson discusses these various develop-
ments in a roughly chronological order and in 
sufficient detail to give the background of each 
development. H e displays a nice style of w r i t -
ing and exhibits skill in presenting the com-
plicated organizational picture of the A r m y 
clearly. H e exercises r e s t r a i n t in discussing 
such imponderables as w h e t h e r soldiers' read-
ing tastes w e r e altered by w a r t i m e library 
service, and he views the record of achievement 
with a reasonably objective a t t i t u d e ( f o r ex-
ample, in recognizing t h a t some of the heavy 
use of A r m y libraries w a s due to the absence 
of other recreational facilities). T h e r e are a 
f e w blemishes, such as direct quotations f r o m 
unnamed sources, uncritical acceptance of 
testimony and some typographical e r r o r s ; 
but, so f a r as this reviewer is able to judge, 
the facts given are correct. 

T h i s is a good s u m m a r y and review of the 
operations of the A r m y L i b r a r y Service. As 
a technical report it could serve any country 

90 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES