College and Research Libraries


The Librarian and the Machine: Obser-
vations on the Applications of Ma-
chines in Administration of College 
and University Libraries. By Paul Was-
serman. Detroit: Gale Research Com-
pany, 1965. 170p. $5.75 (65-25320). 

This is a sane book in the insane world 
of academic librarianship. Temperate and 
calm, it is eminently readable,' has a useful 
"reading list," and is adequately indexed. 
Without entering the soggy field of library 
philosophy and arraying our Big-endians 
against our Little-endians, Dr. Wasserman, 
presently dean of Maryland's graduate 
library school, believes we must adapt the 
machine to do our data processing even 
while we wait, in civilized expectancy, to 
be shown whether it can indeed retrieve in-
formation from large general collections at 
a price we can afford. His evaluation of 
the advantages automation will bring and 
his words of caution regarding expectations 
and operations are judicious and thought-
ful. The academic librarian would do well 
to force the book upon his computer science 
people and the faculties of his science de-
partments. It might spare him the vast 
amount of gratuitous but frequently fatuous 
advice he receives in such quantity. 

The author looks both backward and for-
ward. He notes the belated impact the com-
puter has had on libraries. He also exam-
ines the Florida Atlantic experiment, the 
Columbia-Harvard-Yale medical libraries 
project, and a few of the other attempts to 
cope not only with the so-called informa-
tion explosion, but, more importantly, with 
the burgeoning record-keeping accompany-
ing it. He reports, but does not really judge, 
or even evaluate, these efforts. Since his 
book was conceived there have been small 
indications, at least, that some of the efforts 
are not achieving the success we had hoped 
they would. None of us is likely to tout his 
failures, but Dean Wasserman pays indirect 
tribute to those who have made our mis-
takes for us. Dean Wasserman briefly but 
specifically surveys coordinate indexing, the 
key-word-in-context indexes, MEDLARS, 
and selective dissemination of information. 
This is a useful summary, but more im-
portant is his recognition of the profession's 

488/ 

Book Reviews 
desperate need for user studies. He is prob-
ing one of our sore spots here, but perform-
ing a service the while. 

The various roles our professional organi-
zations, the computer companies, research 
scientists, and business and industry have 
played in bringing us to an awareness of 
what computers can do for librarianship are 
touched on. While recognizing, but not 
belaboring, the fact that librarians are wary 
of computers, Dean Wasserman, perhaps in 
charity, does not finger the library schools 
as the villains of his piece. He recognizes 
that our whole profession suffers from the 
fact that for years non-selective admission 
policies and low financial rewards have pro-
duced librarians sketchily educated in the 
genteel disciplines (English, history, music, 
or even, heaven forfend, French!) who are 
hostile to machine techniques. He has sym-
pathy for the human problems involved, 
but is hopeful that an increasing awareness 
of the need for experimentation and change 
will move us further along the road from 
amateurism to professionalism. 

If the book has a fault, it is that his com-
ments on the quality of the new men-that 
exciting bunch of madmen and mechanics, 
dreamers and scholars-who hopefully will 
give us the leadership we need so badly, 
are curiously understated. Perhaps he is 
going out of his way to reassure those of 
us who do not know COBAL from Cockney 
that we need not fear for the traditional 
value and functions of librarianship. In 
fact, the growing number of lively young 
men like those in the select Committee on 
Library Automation is one of the bright 
spots of the profession. Not only have they 
"savvy" and style, but they know library 
problems and have demonstrated an im-
pressive professional competence. A few of 
them are even bookmen! 

Paul Wasserman merits our thanks for 
his "observations."-Stuart Forth, Univer-
sity of Kentucky. 

Ontario Libraries, a Province-wide Sur-
vey and Plan, 1965. By Francis R. St. 
John Library Consultants, Inc., Toronto: 
Ontario Library Association, 1965. 182 
p. $2. (Cover-title: A Survey of Libraries 
in the Province of Ontario) .