College and Research Libraries


either w h o l l y lacking or seriously deficient in 
description and e v a l u a t i o n . " 

T h e w o r t h of a new j o u r n a l cannot, obvi-
ously, be intelligently evaluated on the basis 
of a single issue. T h e "unique characteristics" 
of Library Trends which presumably justified 
its birth, w e r e announced as reviewing, synthe-
sizing, evaluating and predicting the f u t u r e of 
c u r r e n t developments in librarianship. E a c h 
issue w i l l have an editor chosen because of his 
or her competence in the area to be covered 
by the issue and the guest editor w i l l be re-
sponsible f o r the selection of the contributors. 
T h e idea of limiting each issue to a single 
topic, patterned a f t e r the Annals of the Ameri-
can Academy should make it possible f o r 
l i b r a r i a n s to have at hand in a single source 
an up-to-date analysis of those subjects cov-
ered by Library Trends. V o l u m e I , number 
I , stands up rather w e l l to these announced 
criteria. N o one could question the compe-
tence of issue editor, R o b e r t B . D o w n s , D i -
rector of the U n i v e r s i t y of Illinois L i b r a r i e s , 
and D i r e c t o r of the School of L i b r a r y Science 
at the same institution. L i k e w i s e , the roster 
of contributors to the initial issue promises the 
authority demanded of a professional j o u r n a l . 

T h e question may be raised, h o w e v e r , as to 
w h e t h e r both college and university libraries 
should have been included in one issue. T h e 
contents are definitely weighted on the side of 
the university l i b r a r y . S w a n k and V o s p e r 
explicitly limit their discussions to university 
libraries and M c A n a l l y ' s paper on o r g a n i z a -
tion and C o n e y ' s on management deal pri-
m a r i l y w i t h developments in the l a r g e l i b r a r y . 
In his resume of the financial support of col-
lege and university libraries, M c C a r t h y illus-
t r a t e s his text w i t h ten tables, nine of which 
present data almost exclusively f o r university 
libraries. In several papers, of course, the 
topics themselves dictate this e m p h a s i s — f o r 
the problems of administrative organization 
and management presume an institution of a 
certain size. W i t h o u t impugning the objec-
tivity of the w r i t e r s , it also seems plausible 
that the f a c t that ten of the eleven practition-
ers come f r o m the university l i b r a r y field 
might contribute to the issue's preoccupation 
w i t h the university l i b r a r y . 

F u t u r e numbers of Library Trends w i l l 
cover m a j o r types of libraries, including 
special libraries, school libraries, public li-
braries. T h e s e publications w i l l lay the 
foundation f o r later treatment of more 

specialized topics, such as education f o r li-
brarianship, library personnel administration, 
cataloging and classification, among others. 
Such subjects are of constant interest to li-
brarians, and re-evaluation of practices and 
the basic assumptions underlying them and 
their f u t u r e developments w i l l be valuable. 
I t is hoped, h o w e v e r , that w h e r e feasible, the 
analyses w i l l d r a w upon l i t e r a t u r e relevant to, 
though not necessarily produced by, l i b r a r -
ianship. F o r example, the library problems 
of personnel selection and administration, and 
w o r k simplification, to name but two, could 
certainly benefit f r o m knowledge of some of 
the f u n d a m e n t a l and operational research 
done in business and industry. T h e l i b r a r y 
profession needs access to such information 
and Library Trends should be an excellent 
medium to supply such i n f o r m a t i o n . — R o b e r t 
T. Grazier, University of Florida Libraries. 

Notre Dame Survey 
Survey of the Library of the University of 

Notre Dame. B y L o u i s R . W i l s o n and 
F r a n k A . L u n d y . Chicago, A m e r i c a n L i -
b r a r y Association, 1 9 5 2 . xiii, I95p. $2.00. 
T h i s report, prepared by t w o experienced 

librarians and surveyors, cannot f a i l to help 
both the administration at N o t r e D a m e and 
the l i b r a r y professional elsewhere w h o is f a c e d 
with similar problems. 

T h e Survey is comprehensive in its v i e w 
and coverage of the N o t r e D a m e situation; it 
is even repetitious, although this is probably 
more a precaution than a f a u l t . A s w e all 
know, administrators w h o must read and use 
such surveys, inevitably have to skim and skip 
about among the sections. 

T h i s review of the Survey, h o w e v e r , is 
directed t o w a r d librarians, w h o w i l l rightly 
w a n t to use it as part of our professional 
l i t e r a t u r e . A s such, the survey deserves at-
tention f o r the long and generalized comments 
on the essentials of a university l i b r a r y pro-
g r a m , the government of a university l i b r a r y , 
and its means of serving a campus community. 
T h e s e cover f o u r chapters ( I I - V ) and extend 
over f i f t y pages, which make c l a r i f y i n g and 
down-to-earth reading f o r any campus l i b r a r -
ian. F o r example, w h a t are those elements of 
its l i b r a r y ' s government which should be 
spelled out in a university's basic s t a t u t e s ? 
Repeatedly throughout the Survey, similar 
administrative theories and problems are 

JANUARY, 1953 101 



simply, even bluntly stated, f o r use as a w o r k 
pattern and in a style no l i b r a r i a n - t o - l i b r a r i a n 
exposition w o u l d use. U s u a l l y the statements 
h o w e v e r are the c l e a r e r f o r this type of w o r d -
ing, and make good reading, even when set-
ting the reader to a r g u i n g with the s u r v e y o r s . 

C h a p t e r s V I to X I I cover specific recom-
mendations f o r reader services, technical 
services, finances and building. Y o u r re-
v i e w e r feels that only the l i b r a r y staff and 
university administration at N o t r e D a m e can 
k n o w the ultimate w o r t h of these, but they 
seem generally judicious, except f o r one item. 
T h e book f u n d s w o u l d have to be more gener-
ous than those named, especially in the sci-
ences, to achieve the goals f o r the collections 
which the f a c u l t y described and the s u r v e y o r s 
accepted. 

A l t h o u g h A L A s u r v e y s f o l l o w a necessarily 
set f o r m and the N o t r e D a m e survey is 
properly standard in this respect, it does o f f e r 
an unusual number of obiter dicta of much 
g e n e r a l professional w o r t h to l i b r a r i a n s . In 
some cases, as f o r example on the page about 
C a t h o l i c censorship of books, the survey gives 
an explicit statement on the issue involved 
which your r e v i e w e r believes may be unique 
in general l i b r a r y l i t e r a t u r e . — J o h n H. Mori-
arty, Purdue University Library. 

Problems in Bibliography 
Nineteenth-Century English Books. Some 

Problems in Bibliography. B y G o r d o n N . 
R a y , C a r l J . W e b e r and J o h n C a r t e r . 
U r b a n a , U n i v e r s i t y of Illinois P r e s s , 1 9 5 2 . 
88p. $ 3 . 0 0 . 

T h e s e third annual W i n d s o r L e c t u r e s in 
L i b r a r i a n s h i p exhibit three d i f f e r e n t a n s w e r s 
to the perennial question, Should lectures be 
p r i n t e d ? P r o f e s s o r G o r d o n N . R a y ' s paper 
on " T h e Importance of O r i g i n a l E d i t i o n s " 
w a s surely the most enjoyable to hear. H i s 
knowledge is not limited to T h a c k e r a y , w i t h 
whose name he threatens to become synony-
mous. In a n s w e r to one of this century's 
stupidest d i c t a : " T h o u shalt not covet . . . to 
have the l a r g e s t number of unused books in 
y o u r l i b r a r y , " as reported in Newsweek as 
coming f r o m D r . E r n e s t C . C o l w e l l , P r o f e s -
sor R a y outlines some of the scholarly uses to 
which a collection of original editions of E n g -
lish nineteenth-century books can be put w i t h 
a most interesting example f r o m the English 
translations of Z o l a ; authors' o w n revisions 
are cited f r o m G e o r g e M o o r e ; and a plea is 

made f o r the ephemeral m a t e r i a l occasionally 
surrounding or only quoted by acknowledged 
l i t e r a r y w o r k s of art. A f t e r hinting that uni-
versity libraries should buy w h a t is tempo-
rarily unfashionable and hope f o r the r a r i t i e s 
as g i f t s f r o m collectors, D r . R a y ends with 
one delicious quotation f r o m the never con-
sciously amusing M r . F . R . L e e v i s and another 
f r o m the pen of M r . W i l m a r t h L e w i s , w h o 
never deviates into nonsense. T h e lecture 
must have been most agreeable to hear and is 
all too short to read. 

J o h n C a r t e r ends the group w i t h a series 
of penetrating, though f a i r l y miscellaneous 
suggestions f o r f u r t h e r discussion, called 
" S o m e Bibliographical A g e n d a . " T h e s e topics 
range f r o m innovations in printing technique 
to the need f o r " a modern M c K e r r o w . " On 
the w a y there are glances at binding in cloth, 
definitions of the w o r d edition, the need of 
better author bibliographies, original boards, 
books issued in parts, cancels, binding v a r i a n t s , 
inserted advertisements, and dust-jackets. 
T h e examples are chosen as only M r . C a r t e r 
could choose them, but I feel sure the audience 
l e f t with its collective head swimming. T h e r e 
are not too many dates—but there are surely 
too many questions f o r one lecture. T h e s e are 
questions the a u t h o r — a n d thousands m o r e — 
w a n t answered and w e should all be glad to 
have this list set down in print. L e t us hope 
that in f i f t y y e a r s it w i l l seem incredible how 
little w e know today about book production in 
the last century. 

T h e central essay in the volume and the one 
with most m a t e r i a l to hear and to read is 
P r o f e s s o r C a r l J . W e b e r ' s on " A m e r i c a n 
Editions of English A u t h o r s . " P r o f e s s o r 
W e b e r ' s name has been most f r e q u e n t l y linked 
to that of T h o m a s H a r d y , but here are f a s c i -
nating examples f r o m B r o w n i n g , Dickens, 
Scott, B y r o n , W o r d s w o r t h , T h a c k e r a y , F i t z -
G e r a l d and H o u s m a n as w e l l . T h e h o r r o r s 
of a w o r l d w i t h o u t copyright, flagrant a l t e r a -
tions of the authors' texts, changes of i l l u s t r a -
tors, the beginnings of the cheap paper-
backed novel, altered endings, retitled poems 
and r e w r i t t e n lines all add to the pleasures of 
this essay. T h i s seems f a r better read than 
heard, although the hearing must have be-
guiled the hour. I t seems quite sure that the 
audiences w i l l be among the f i r s t to buy this 
handsome volume. Anyone else interested in 
nineteenth-century English books w i l l do w e l l 
to f o l l o w t h e m . — D o n a l d G. Wing, Yale Uni-
versity Library. 

102 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES