College and Research Libraries


which Professor Buck set for the Harvard 
library: adequate financing, · a capable staff, 
well-selected and accessible collections, re-
sponsiveness to the needs of users, and an 
informed constituency. In working effective-
ly toward these goals and in helping those 
both inside and outside the library to un-
derstand them Professor Buck has served 
Harvard well and has earned the respect of 
all academic librarians-Andrew ]. Eaton, 
Washington University. 

Technical Libraries: Users and Their De-
mands. By Margaret Slater. Aslib, 1964. 
126p. 26s. 

This report gives the chief results of a 
pilot study on the use made of a selected 
number of technical libraries located in 
Greater London during 1962 and 1963. The 
study was carried out by the Aslib research 
department of which Miss Slater is a staff 
member. Since a subsequent larger-scale 
study is to be undertaken the author cau-
tions the reader that this is an interim re-
port and that the findings are preliminary. 

The three prime aims of this study are: 

1. "to discover what items of information or 
documents customers seek, why they 
seek them and how they obtain them." 

2. "to test a hypothesis; that it is possible 
to classify customers into user groups 
possessing recognisable common features 
and characteristic behaviour patterns, 
and to classify group needs." 

3. "to measure the demand on librarians 
and libraries, in terms of expenditure of 
their time and skill, and use of stock 
made by different user groups." 

Responses were obtained from the users 
of libraries of thirteen industrial firms ( 212 
users), six academic institutions ( 223 us-
ers) , four ·learned societies ( 79 users) , and 
two government laboratories (75 users). 
Broad subject coverage was achieved as 
practically all types of scientific and tech-
nical backgrounds were represented in the 
583 persons conb·ibuting directly to the 
study. The questionnaire sought to deter-
mine: ( 1) background information about 
the respondent; ( 2) information about the 
particular demand on the library service 
described in the questionnaire (purpose, re-
lationship to user's normal work, degree of 
success, category of document used, search 

Book Reviews I 337 

time taken, etc.) ; and ( 3) information 
about the extent of participation of librarian 
arid user in the search. 

Analysis of the data gathered was carried 
out by discipline, by type of employer, and 
by type and level of job. The results reveal 
nothing particularly different from those 
produced by previous use studies of tech-
nical libraries. Periodicals remain the chief 
vehicle for the transfer of scientific and 
technical information. Most data sought is 
directly related to the immediate work of 
the individual involved. Needed data first is 
sought in personal files, by questioning col-
leagues, or in handbooks, before the search 
is carried to the library. Many users do not 
use the services and skills of the librarian 
efficiently. The scientist relies less on the 
librarian for help than does his engineer 
counterpart. Most users seldom go beyond 
their own library in the search. Eighty-three 
per cent report success in their searches 
and, in general, the user feels that the li-
brary service rendered is excellent. An ac-
cessible location is a tremendous incentive 
to frequent library use. 

These are some of the findings. None are 
really new or startling. Little real evidence 
is offered to support the hypothesis that 
customers of technical libraries can be clas-
sified into meaningful user groups. Never-
theless, administrators of technical libraries 
will find this to be an interesting and, per-
haps, useful report. It brings together in 
one cover information on the habits of the 
users of several kinds of technical libraries. 
While it may not provide sufficient evidence 
for the general application of its finding to a 
particular technical library it does by rais-
ing many questions provide library admin-
istrators with a checklist of pertinent points 
which should be considered for efficient and 
flexible service. It is hoped that the project-
ed larger study will provide more answers 
to many of the questions raised in this pilot 
report.-E. G. Roberts, Georgia Tech. 

Libraries and Automation. Proceedings of 
the Conference on Libraries and Auto-
mation Held at Airlie Foundation, War-
renton, Virginia, May 26-30, 1963. 

The Airlie Conference on Libraries and 
Automation was held in the summer of 
1963 under the sponsorship of the Library 
of Congress, the National Science Founda-
tion, and the Council on Library Resources. 



338 I College & Research Libraries • July, 1965 

The objective was to relate present library 
operations and needs to the capability of 
modern computer technology. From the 
papers and discussions it was hoped that a 
more fruitful and meaningful dialogue be-
tween librarians and technologists would 
ensue. Participants were therefore selected 
to represent both library and technical per-
sonnel, with a ratio of about two technol-
ogists to each librarian. Discussion leaders 
were library-oriented persons with instruc-
tions to summarize the technical papers and 
make explicit their relationship to library 
situations. 

The keynote address by Dean Don R. 
Swanson is intended to bridge the gap be-
tween library requirements and their tech-
nological implementation. Swanson foresees 
users seated at input-output consoles either 
in the library or at a remote location. The 
consoles are linked to an automated catalog 
and other bibliographic tools of a library or 
system of libraries. The system provides a 
series of rapid and repeated searches with 
the console displaying to the user the re-
sults of his inquiry in a variety of formats. 

The console acts in the manner of a 
teaching machine permitting programmed 
interrogation of the library. "Any rational 
question addressed to the system should 
evoke a response which instructs the re-
quester as to the type of question he should 
ask next and which presents him with a set 
of choices from which he makes a selec-
tion." Browsing is facilitated "with the help 
of information clues, such as 'chains' of re-
lated subjects, use-history, citation patterns, 
and other means." 

Consoles would have six "process control" 
keys representing the type of operation de-
sired: Specific Work, Subject Selection, Pre-
vious Use, Similarity Selection, Microform 
View, and Delivery. 

The technology for implementing library 
automation is discussed at length in a num-
ber of state-of-the-art papers: "Index Files, 
Their Loading and Use"-Patrick and 
Black; "Automated Storage and Access of 
Bibliographic Information for Libraries" 
and "Mechanization of File Storage and 
Access"-Libby; "Current Status of Graphic 
Storage Techniques: Their Potential Appli-
cation of Library Mechanization"-Alexan-
der and Rose; "Output Printing for Library 
Mechanization"-Sparks, Berul, and Waite; 
"Library Communications" -Emling, Har-

ris, and McMains; "Automation of Library 
Systems" and "Mathematical Models and 
Systems Design"-King. 

As a group the papers present an excel-
lent inventory of present and potential ca-
pabilities of machines, although the techni-
cal papers tend to be somewhat unrelated to 
librarianship. Yet this was after all the pur-
pose and justification of initiating a dialogue 
between technologists and librarians. The 
resulting dialogue, however, appears to be 
more of a monologue with the technologists 
doing most of the talking. The admonitions 
of the machine- and systems-oriented par-
ticipants that librarians should achieve a 
greater clarity in defining library objectives 
and priorities went unheeded. 

The essential drift of the discussion was 
captured, typically, by Mortimer Taube: 
"At meetings like that we invariably get a 
standoff between the machine man who 
says, 'You tell me what you want and I 
will do it; and the librarian who says, 'Tell 
me what your machines can do, and I will 
see if they fit.'" 

It is evident from the discussions inter-
spersed throughout the Proceedings that 
many of the library participants were in fact 
thinking of potentialities of automation in 
terms of making their jobs, as presently con-
ceived, easier, rather than extending the 
capabilities and dimensions of library ser-
vice. Some members of the library con-
tingent at Airlie appear to have reserved 
for themselves the same functions in an 
automated library as performed in present 
nonautomated libraries. 

The principal issues from the librarian's 
point of view are not so much related to the 
technical feasability and mechanics of auto-
mation but rather to the desirability of 
automation. How is automation related to 
the goals of librarianship? Is automation of 
a given function worth the cost? Would the 
conversion of the National Union Catalog 
to a machine-readable form at a cost of 
$570,000 be worthwhile in terms of library 
objectives? Do consoles provide for satis-
factory access to libraries-better than pres-
ent arrangements? Can library processes be 
formalized and standardized to pave the 
way for automation? Are librarians willing 
to adapt to the performance of different 
tasks in the library assuming that much of 
their present activity can be structured and 
formalized? Such problems must be dis-

-



+ 

cussed in addition to the mechanical details. 
These points are touched upon briefly in 

the Proceedings. There is room for another 
conference to digest the data and opinions 
brought into the open at Airlie. The Pro-
ceedings constitute a most valuable source 
of data and opinion relating to library auto-
mation.-Alan M. Rees, Western Reserve 
University. 

Encyclopaedias: Their History Throughout 
the Ages. A Bibliographical Guide with 
Extensive Historical Notes to the Gener-
al Encyclopaedias Issued Throughout 
the World from 350 B.C. to the Present 
Day. By Robert Collison. New York & 
London, Hafner Publishing Company, 
1964. 319p. $7.50. 

Mr. Collison, librarian of the BBC refer-
ence library, has compiled several volumes 
for which reference librarians and students 
have been grateful. His most recent contri-
bution puts us further in his debt, for he has 
brought together a quantity of information 
in this book on encyclopedias. It is more 
ambitious in plan and in scope than his 
books on bibliographies and dictionaries, 
since it is in the form of an historical narra-
tive and aims at comprehensiveness. 

The narrative begins with the Greek 
sources of the western encyclopedic tradi-
tion and ends with references to new ency-
clopedias. It includes whole chapters on 
Diderot's Encyclopedie, on the Encyclo-
paedia Britannica, and on the various publi-
cations of the firm of Brockhaus. A chro-
nology of significant dates and an introduc-
tion discussing some of the problems in-
volved in the production of encyclopedias 
precedes the main text, and following it are 
a general bibliography, a list of encyclo-
pedias not mentioned in the text, and a re-
print of Coleridge's "Preliminary Treatise 
on Method" from the Encyclopaedia Metro-
politana. 

The chronological arrangement adopted 
by the author presents difficulties which he 
has not entirely overcome. It is not possible, 
for example, easily to trace the development 
of encylopedia making in any one country 
or culture because the only grouping by 
language is an incomplete list of lesser 
works in the appendix. Mr. Collison's ac-
counts of the Arabic and Chinese encyclo-
pedic traditions are practically worthless 
since he only provides brief descriptions of 

Book Reviews I 339 

individual titles dispersed throughout the 
text. Index entries for languages or coun-
tries would have partially solved this prob-
lem, but the index to the book is limited to 
personal names and titles . It is incomplete 
even in these. 

The author's intention as to scope is not 
clear. The title indicates that the book is 
confined to general encyclopedias but there 
is a section on modem encyclopedias in spe-
cial subject fields at th e end of the last 
chapter. Coverage of Asian works is very 
uneven; for example, no Japanese titles are 
mentioned. Numerous works of minor im-
portance in western langauges are included, 
but others of equal claims are missing. Few 
important titles were overlooked, but surely 
the East German version of "Meyer" is 
worth mentioning. 

The treatment of individual works is 
mostly limited to externals of bibliographic 
detail, publishing history, and arrangement. 
The amount of space devoted to individual 
titles is not always in proportion to their im-
portance-twenty lines is hardly adequate, 
for example, for the Enciclopedia Italiana. 
Judgments expressed are the conventional 
ones, although most read ers would not 
agree that the contents of the eleventh edi-
tion of the Encyclopaedia Britannica "were 
kept within the mental range of the average 
man." 

References are provided in the text and 
at the end of chapters, as well as in the 
general bibliography. Th ey are not as com-
plete or as precise as on e could wish; a list-
ing of Templeman's and Wright's Bibli-
ographies of Studies in Victorian Literature 
is not very helpful, and it is unfortunate 
that the only recent substantial discussion 
of the principles of encyclopedia making 
(in the September 1962 issue of the Amer-
ican Behavioral Scientist) should have been 
overlooked. 

In spite of its imperfections, Mr. Colli-
son's book, as the first attempt at a compre-
hensive account of the d evelopment of the 
general encyclopedia, will undoubtely be 
useful. By indirectly exposing the shallow-
ness of our present knowledge, it can per-
haps serve another purpose in encouraging 
reference librarians and students to under-
take more specialized studies in order to 
enrich our understanding of these important 
reference works.-Marjorie Karlson, Wash-
ington University. · • •