College and Research Libraries


be used in conjunction with the exhibition, 
this catalog stands by itself as a fine descrip-
tion, in word and picture, of what is surely 
one of the best privately-owned collections of 
manuscripts, and as such, it will retain its 
meaningfulness and usefulness long after 
the manuscripts have been removed from the 
exhibition cases.—Joan H. Baum, Depart-
ment of Special Collections, Columbia 
University Libraries. 

Library Resources 

Studies in Library Resources. By William 
Vernon Jackson. Distributed by T h e 
Illini Union Bookstore, Champaign, 
Illinois, 1958. 62p. (Photolithoprint-
ed). $1.75. 

Six papers are published in this booklet, 
four of them for the first time. They present 
the results of research in a variety of tech-
niques, applied to individual institutions, 
and then to a specific subject area. T h e au-
thor is assistant professor of library science 
at the University of Illinois Library School. 

A review article, "Four Aspects of Library 
Cooperation," is a summary of available 
studies on interlibrary services. I t discusses 
in turn union lists, union catalogs, guides to 
collections, and interlibrary loans; and con-
cludes with a statement of the principles 
which have made for success in recent co-
operative ventures. 

T w o papers report on an examination of 
library resources at Northwestern Universi-
ty. T h e first, " T h e Development of Library 
Resources at Northwestern University," is 
reprinted from University of Illinois Library 
School Occasional Papers, No. 26 (February 
1952). I t surveys the historical development 
of the collections, emphasizing their rapid 
growth since 1920 and describing briefly 
certain outstanding collections. 

A statistical analysis of the collections of 
the University Library at Northwestern Uni-
versity is summarized in "A Case Study of 
Growth in Library Resources by Subject." 
T h e Library has maintained since 1918-19 
statistics showing the number of cataloged 
volumes by classes. Using these and other 

data, mainly unpublished, D r . Jackson has 
examined all subject classes to determine 
patterns of growth. H e finds that most sub-
jects did appear to follow definite patterns, 
that certain subjects have regularly shown 
growth superior to the general rate of incre-
ment, and that others have regularly lagged 
behind. T h e factors which have influenced 
this growth are reviewed in concluding para-
graphs. 

A n experiment using the shelf list of the 
library is described in the paper, "Subject 
Distribution of the University of Illinois Li-
brary." T h e result of this investigation is a 
tabular presentation for twenty-nine subjects, 
showing the number of volumes and the per-
centages of the total. Comparison of this ta-
ble with tables for the Harvard University 
Library and the libraries of Northwestern 
University, reproduced here, show certain 
"striking similarities." However, "the small 
sample makes further investigation necessary 
to determine whether they represent a pat-
tern characteristic of university libraries." 

"Resources of Midwestern Research Li-
braries in the Hispanic Literatures" is re-
printed from Hispania, X X X V I I I (1955), 
476-80. Data furnished by nine university li-
braries and the Newberry Library, and by 
the appropriate faculty members, were used 
for a statement of specific strengths and 
weaknesses in peninsular Spanish literature 
and in Spanish-American literature. For the 
latter subject, a test was also made of the 
extent to which acquisitions programs were 
bringing currrent books to the area. Titles 
of 169 monographic items from the 1949 
Handbook of Latin American Studies were 
checked against holdings. This check showed 
that the libraries as a group held ninety-five 
titles. 

T h e same list of current books was also 
the basis of an experiment reported in 
"Spanish American Literature in Five Euro-
pean National Libraries." A check of the 
catalogs of Libraries in Madrid, Paris, Brus-
sels, London, and T h e Hague showed that 
these libraries as a group held only a third 
of the titles, fewer than the research libraries 
of the Midwest. 

T h e Studies make several contributions to 
the understanding of library resources. They 
are informative in new ways about the col-

258 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



lections of the institutions studied. As exam-
ples of quantitative measurement, concisely 
reported, they provide models and lines of 
inquiry for further investigation. Finally, the 
conclusions set down, scrupulously drawn 
from the evidence presented, are matter for 
reflection by all librarians concerned with 
acquisitions policy and its implications.— 
Harry W. Hart, Columbia University Librar-
ies. 

International L a w 

Classification 

Classification for International Law and 
Relations. 2d ed., rev. and enl. By Kurt 
Schwerin. New York: Oceana Publica-
tions [1958]. 

This work is based on the classification 
scheme developed for the University of Vir-
ginia Law Library, originally published in 
1947; it is currently used at the Northwestern 
University Law School Library. 

T h e schedule is divided into three parts: 
treatises on international law, treatises on 
international relations, and official publica-
tions, reports, and documents. Private inter-
national law, included in the first edition, 
has now been dropped; it is suggested that 
it be classed with domestic law. This ar-
rangement follows the practice of the ma-
jority of law libraries which generally sepa-
rate documentary materials from commen-
taries and treatises. I n international law, its 
wisdom is open to serious question since it 
separates items published by the League of 
Nations, United Nations, and other agencies 
from works about these organizations. T h e 
Library of Congress J X scheme keeps such 
materials together and appears superior in 
that respect. Furthermore, the distinction be-
tween international law and relations is of-
ten arbitrary. Books on international dis-
putes, for example, are classed with inter-
national law; boundary disputes, however, 
with international relations; treaties and al-
liances appear in both sections. 

T h e scheme uses a two-digit decimal nota-

tion with expansions up to five digits, with-
out a decimal point. Letter codes for interna-
tional agencies and their organs are provided 
whenever applicable; a general list of coun-
try symbols is appended to the schedule. 
Mnemonic features are few; i n fact, the 
decimal principle appears to have been used 
primarily because of the flexibility it offers 
in interpolating new numbers and expand-
ing the schedule as new topics arise; its other 
outstanding features have not been fully 
utilized. 

A comparison with the first edition shows 
that the expansion has been considerable: 
the index about doubled in size, the number 
of assigned symbols (without country or 
agency subdivisions) has grown from over 
one hundred and fifty in the first edition to 
over two hundred and fifty in the second; 
more than one hundred and ten numbers 
have been added, ten dropped, about five 
changed (relocated). T h e revision was neces-
sitated not only by the rapid growth of inter-
national agencies after W o r l d W a r I I , but 
also by the oversimplified approach of the 
original edition to the arrangement of the 
League of Nations documents which have 
now been completely reorganized. 

T h e schedule has many outstanding fea-
tures: a comprehensive index, a complete list 
of country symbols, helpful examples of call 
numbers, and an extremely useful scheme 
for publications of the various international 
organizations. Its author recommends it for 
small libraries which might find the Library 
of Congress J X classification too detailed and 
too cumbersome to handle. One cannot help 
wondering about the wisdom of labeling an 
international law collection as "small" for, if 
it has research uses, it is bound to grow in-
definitely and to reach the complexity of a 
"large" library. T h e 100-per cent expansion 
of the scheme under review, apparently indi-
cated after ten years, strongly suggests that it 
would be safer, for any research library, to 
adopt the detailed classification of the Li-
brary of Congress which has the additional 
advantage of a continuous revision. T o an 
undergraduate library, however, the Schwerin 
classification should provide a comfortable 
framework, in many ways superior to the 
current edition of the Dewey Decimal scheme. 
—Vaclav Mostecky, Harvard Law School. 

MAY 1959 259