College and Research Libraries


Theory of Knowledge Classification in 
Libraries. By Anand Prakash Srivastava. 
New Delhi: Lakshmi Book Store, 1964. 
206p. $6.75. 

In the field of classification, provision of 
good textbooks for beginning students has 
lagged far behind the output of advanced 
works describing research. Mr. Srivastava 
has been teaching for some years in the 
Virkram, Delhi, and Rajasthan universities, 
and has now published this book on the 
basis of his lectures and seminars. It goes a 
long way towards filling the gap, and pro-
vides a useful introduction to the science 
of classification, particularly as developed in 
India under the influence of Professor S. R. 
Ranganathan. 

There are five main sections and a useful 
(if somewhat limited) glossary. The book 
opens with a discussion of the structure of 
knowledge and the nature and role of clas-

' sification schemes in ordering knowledge in 
documents for shelf arrangement and for 
the subject approach to books. The next 
two sections cover analysis into categories, 
or "facets"; the qualities of a classification 
scheme; terminology; and notation. These 
are followed by a more detailed account of 
the structure of a faceted scheme, and the 
final section deals with the procedure in 
classifying documents. 

The approach is generalized, but the ex-
amples are all taken from the Colon and 
Decimal classifications. Although the author 
is wholeheartedly of the Ranganathan 
school, he has some criticism for CC and 
some praise for DC; and the book is ded-
icated to Melvil Dewey. He shows a good 
knowledge of current classification litera-
ture (especially British), and has clearly 
read H. E. Bliss's books with a sympathetic 
understanding. The exposition is lucid and 
shows a good grasp of the principles of 
teaching. 

Criticism of the work derives mainly 
from its place of origin. It is written very 
much within the school established by Ran-
ganathan, and may therefore appear new 
and strange to American students; the text 
is not free from errors in the use of English, 
or misprints. Though an elementary work, 
therefore, it is not easy to read. I am con-

142/ 

Book Reviews 
vinced, however, of the value of the work 
it describes, and recommend it to teachers 
in American library schools who are look-
ing for a simple account of the principles 
of facet analysis. For anyone willing to 
make the effort to master the style and ap-
proach-remembering that the author is not 
writing in his mother tongue-the book re-
pays study.-D. ]. Foskett, University of 
London. 

A Searcher's Manual. By George Lowy. 
Hamden, Conn.: Sho.e Strong Press, 1965. 
104p. $5. ( 65-16218). 

Mr. Lowy has produced an interesting 
guide to the principles and practices of 
bibliographic searching. The guide is di-
vided into three main parts: ( 1) the intro-
duction, which includes the function of the 
search and principles of card catalog en-
tries; (2) the technique of the search, includ-
ing a comparison of procedures followed 
in several libraries, use of the main card 
catalog, use of bibliographies and catalogs, 
illustrative searches, search of the outstand-
ing order file, serials and series and final 
steps; and ( 3) an appendix, which includes 
sections on the most frequently used biblio-
graphic tools and selective lists of national, 
trade, and specialized bibliographies. 

This slender volume should prove help-
ful in the training of new bibliographic 
searchers if used with established guides 
and if it is emphasized to the trainee that 
some of the principles stated are not uni-
versally accepted but may be . practices of 
one library. No distinction is made, for ex-
ample, between American-British and 
foreign authors in the rule for filing names 
with a prefix, and also the modification of 
letters is not disregarded in all libraries. 
The material is generally well organized, 
and good use is made of samples and 
tables throughout the text. Each chapter is 
summarized but in most cases the summary 
is too brief to be very useful. The chapters 
on basic principles and card catalog entries 
are well done except for the fact that the 
author fails to mention the best searcher's 
manual available-the ALA Cataloging 
Rules for Author and Title Entries. 

Not all bibliographic searchers will agree 

'