College and Research Libraries


Review Articles 

"Mostly Mearns" 
Largely Lincoln. By David Chambers Mearns. 

New York: St Martin's Press, [1961] xi, 
227 p. $6.00. 

Largely Lincoln is "Mostly M e a r n s . " T h a t 
means it is a combination of good humor, 
sound scholarship, and a feeling for the tell-
ing incident or appropriate anecdote that 
adds up to a delightful book. I t is a good 
representation in book form of the genial 
master of manuscripts at the Library of Con-
gress, a happy reminder of a warmly erudite 
personality for all who know him and a 
wonderful introduction to him for those 
unfortunate librarians who have not yet had 
the pleasure of hearing him tell in person 
such stories as they will here find in print. 

Dave Mearns is a much more serious 
scholar than he looks, but it is his sparkling 
puckishness that is reflected in the warmth 
of his face, the warmth of a greeting in his 
office, the warmth with which he helps one 
scholar after another at the Library of Con-
gress, which is also so well reflected in this 
volume. Readers can turn to his other works 
to measure his stature as a historian (of the 
Library of Congress as well as of President 
L i n c o l n ) ; let them turn to this book for his-
tory with hilarity and librarianship with 
laughter. 

I n Largely Lincoln nine of the essays are 
about the wartime president. All of these 
are entertaining, and most of them develop, 
gently and amusingly, little known points in 
Lincoln's life that verify the claim of Earl 
Schenck Miers' introduction that: " M u c h 
of what is revealed will come as a delightful 
surprise, rewarding the reader with insight 
into L i n c o l n and his age." 

T h e other six essays are equally delightful 
and equally rewarding. His story of D. P. 
Gardner, " t h e New England Soap M a n , " is 

worthy of the late J a m e s T h u r b e r ; and his 
account of the seventh annual convocation 
(1907) of the Boston Authors' Club is as 
rollicking an excursion into a by-way of 
American literary history as is likely to be 
found. Every essay can easily be a favorite—• 
mine or yours—but no bookman, so-called, 
self-styled or real, can afford to miss the one 
called " A Neglected B o o k m a n : Calvin Cool-
idge." I t is a gem. 

T h i s is a happy book and one to recom-
mend to all lovers of books. B u t I do have 
one cavil with the author: H e is such a good 
historian, such a lover of books, such a 
scholar himself, why does he bang the worn-
out drum that librarians are enemies of 
books, are neither readers n o r scholars? I 
wish he could be as proud as the library pro-
fession is proud for him, that it is librarian-
ship that led Dave Mearns down the paths 
of scholarship to the point that he himself 
disproves his charges against librarians. L e t 
him stand up and be counted as the fine li-
brarian he i s . — R i c h a r d Harwell, Bowdoin 
College Library. 

Science Literature 
Collecting Science Literature for General 

Reading; Papers presented at an institute 
conducted by the University of Illinois 
Graduate School of Library Science, No-
vember 6-9, 1960. Champaign, 111.: I l l i n i 
Bookstore, 1961. 186p. Paper, $2.00. 

T h i s collection of papers of the seventh 
Allerton Park Institute is apt to be the most 
timely and popular topic of the annual 
series. At all age levels and in a broad range 

1 7 4 C O L L E G E A N D R E S E A R C H L I B R A R I E S 



of cultural groups, the varied aspects of sci-
ence are today eagerly read about and dis-
cussed. F o r many a beleaguered librarian 
this volume will provide comfort and guid-
ance, wise counsel, and useful clues to po-
tentially i m p o r t a n t new directions. Readers 
will find different papers of greater interest, 
depending upon their primary field of serv-
ice; however, certain of the papers are of 
wide application and will have enduring 
usefulness. 

T h e first paper, "Classics in Science," by 
R o b e r t B . Downs, provides in a simple 
dozen pages a synthesis of the early record 
of scientific theory, ingeniously tying to-
gether in historical perspective the printed 
landmark works described. I n his usual thor-
ough manner, he enumerates the thirty-
three classics in a bibliography following his 
narrative. 

T w o short papers follow, the first by a 
scientist who works on an i n t e r n a t i o n a l 
plane and the second by an early well-known 
popularizer of science. T h e paper of Fred-
eric Seitz seeks to orient us to the place of 
science in o u r world, in our particular so-
ciety, and in our own time. W i t h a brief nod 
to the future, the author suggests no appar-
e n t goals for libraries in the grim future. 
T h e other paper, by Watson Davis, develops 
a life-long thesis of its author. M r . Davis 
has for decades been a one-man factory for 
the promotion of universal diffusion of pop-
ular science. His suggestions here do not 
fail to demonstrate his indefatigable drive. 
Briefly, he renews his well-known claims for 
"auxiliary p u b l i c a t i o n " as a device for avoid-
ing full and costly publication in science, 
and proposes " a n inclusive scientific news-
paper potentially capable for circulation to 
every scientist and engineer . . . in the na-
t i o n " . T h e r e is little in these two papers to 
relate them to the tasks of libraries. 

A n o t h e r small group of papers follows 

dealing with the special problems of creat-
ing and serving interest in science in chil-
dren specifically, young people (broadly de-
fined as from the sixth grade to senility), 
and a very brief report of some effective 
promotion by the use of audio-visual meth-
ods. T h e first and second of these chapters 
are particularly allied to p u b l i c and school 
library practice; the last apparently de-
pended largely for its effectiveness upon a 
filmstrip, which, unfortunately, could not 
be demonstrated to the reader with the text. 

T h e n e x t two long papers, one by J o s e p h 
C. Shipman and the other by George S. 
B o n n , are alone worth the cost of the whole 
volume. Each will probably remain a classic 
in library literature. 

J o e Shipman, librarian of the L i n d a H a l l 
Library in Kansas City, reviews " P u b l i s h i n g 
of Scientific M a t e r i a l s " from the earliest rec-
ords to modern times, introducing repre-
sentative measures of publication in the sev-
eral fields of science and in various areas of 
the world. O n e startling fact reported is 
that, " T h e Russian totals of scientific books 
represented more than one-third of all the 
books printed in the U.S.S.R., while copies 
of American scientific and technical books 
represented only about 3 per cent of all the 
books produced in this c o u n t r y . " T h i s is 
only a fragment of the vivid picture of mod-
ern science literature provided by M r . Ship-
man as a setting for the exhaustive treat-
m e n t of " T h e Aids of S e l e c t i o n " presented 
by M r . B o n n , the chief of the science and 
technology division of the New York P u b l i c 
Library. H e opens his paper with an enu-
meration of six cardinal criteria for selec-
tion and then proceeds to list, in a series of 
appendices, general and specialized tools, 
book-reviewing journals, and other useful 
types of aids. T h e net result of this scrupu-
lously detailed and thoughtfully discussed 
bibliographical effort is an impression of a 

M A R C H 1 9 6 2 1 7 5 



rare combination of Helen Haines and R . R . 
Hawkins, with some traces of Besterman. All 
frivolity aside, these papers provide sub-
stance for future planning. 

T h e remaining papers touch on special-
ized types of public and peripheral types of 
material. In W i l l i a m S. Budington's "Prob-
lems of Selection in S c i e n c e " one can read-
ily sense the particular public of a J o h n 
Crerar type of library. " T h e Components of 
the Science C o l l e c t i o n " reflects accurately in 
its enumeration of types of materials the 
long experience of Irene Strieby in special 
libraries and their needs. T h e brief sketch 
of "Science Fiction as L i t e r a t u r e " is lesser 
fillip, the frosting on the cake, bringing this 
collection to its conclusion, succinctly out-
lined by Harold L a n c o u r with his customary 
Gallic humor. T h e conclusion, that "Science 
belongs in every library", and " L i b r a r i a n s 
will need, in the immediate years ahead, to 
inform themselves as never before about the 
world of science," is not itself news or a 
great contribution. A considerable contri-
bution has been made, however, in adding 
to library literature an up-to-date, authori-
tive handbook to enable those less knowl-
edgeable in the sciences to cope with the 
needs of our changing p u b l i c . — J e r r o l d 
Orne, University of North Carolina. 

Circulation Systems 
Study of Circulation Control Systems. George 

Fry 8c Associates, Inc. (Library T e c h n o l o g y 
Project Publications, n u m b e r 1) Chicago: 
Library T e c h n o l o g y P r o j e c t of the Ameri-
can Library Association, 1961. 138p. $2.50. 

T h i s attractively designed workbook is 
the end result of a long-awaited and com-
prehensively carried out study of circulation 
systems by a private management group in 
cooperation with an advisory committee of 
librarians. I t is also the first publication to 
appear under the aegis of the Library T e c h -
nology Project. T h e final product contains 
three manuals with tear-away worksheets for 
comparing systems in use, plus a truly im-
pressive amount of statistical data. 

George Fry & Associates, management con-
sultants, were commissioned for this detailed 
analysis of circulation in the field by the 
Council on Library Resources in coopera-
tion with the Library T e c h n o l o g y P r o j e c t 
of the American Library Association and the 
Special Libraries Association. Limited in 
scope to only the operations of borrower 
registration, charging and discharging of 
books, handling overdues and reserves, and 
circulation statistics, the study also involved 
sending some 4,585 questionnaires to varied 
libraries. T h r e e hundred and thirty-one of 
these went to college and university librar-
ies. T h e s e questionnaire results are tabu-
lated in the study. During the actual study, 
seventy-three public libraries were visited, 
along with nineteen college and university 
libraries and twelve special libraries. 

Actually, the report, conceived as a "guide 
in h a n d " for administrators instituting or 
revising present circulation systems, is di-
vided roughly into two halves. T h e first 
covers the procedures under which the study 
was conducted, together with a review of 
current circulation control practices and 
recommendations as to modifications and 
improvement. T h e second (and larger half) 
consists of the three manuals, complete with 
indented, numbered tabs, provided proce-
dural and cost information on the leading 
circulation control systems and their varia-
tions for public, college and university, and 
special libraries. T h e practical core of each 
manual is a number of blank work sheets, 
with accompanying explanatory samples, in-
tended to be filled out when studying one's 
own needs with a view to estimating costs, 
modification, or consideration of a new sys-
tem. T h e entire report is bound in plastic 
spiral so that these work sheets, one to be 
used for studying each charging point in the 
library, may be easily removed. 

B o t h the Council on Library Resources 
and L T P are to be commended for their 
foresight in initiating this project and in 
providing the wealth of comparative infor-
mation brought forth. T h i s reviewer was in-
trigued by probable uses of the work sheets, 
although broad use and reports of resulting 
savings and modifications will necessarily 
first have to be evaluated for full practical 
evidence. Nevertheless, it is reassuring to see 
the potentials of management analysis ap-

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