College and Research Libraries


448 I College & Research Libraries • Septe1nber 1969 

Carnegie Libraries; Their History and 
Impact on American Public Library 
Development. By George S. Bobinski. 
Chicago: American Library Association, 
1969. 257p. $·8. ( 68-54216). 

In this adaptation of his doctoral disser-
tation Mr. Bobinski treats in factual detail 
the history of Carnegie public library phi-
lanthropy in the United States. His com-
prehensive study of the expenditure of 
more than $40,000,000 for the erection of 
1,679 public library buildings in 1,412 
communities, covering all aspects of the 
subject, including a survey of 225 com-
munities which had Carnegie grants avail-
able and did not use them, is both detailed 
and yet easy-to-read and charming. Per-
haps the only faults one might find with it 
are in the relatively short six-page "per-
sonal appraisal of Carnegie's philanthropy" 
and, in light of the emerging social con-
sciousness of librarians, in his dismissal of 
the lack of influence that Carnegie exerted 
on the provision of integrated library serv-
ice for Negroes in the South and of the 
question that was raised in some communi-
ties of the source of Carnegie's wealth. His 
comment is that, "It seems unnecessary 
now to consider the question of how Car-
negie made his money and whether it was 
morally right for communities to accept it 
as library philanthropy. Andrew Carnegie 
was no worse, and perhaps even better, 
than the other capitalists and indusb·ial 
leaders of his time in respect to wages and 
working conditions" (p. 186-7). More per-
sonal comments and evaluation on a num-
ber of the matters dealt with, especially on 
these two matters of social significance, 
would have added a great deal to the 
book. 

~.- There is little in this book of specific in-
terest to the academic or research librarian . 
Apart from a paragraph on a few joint use 
facilities, such as that provided for Cornell 
College and the community of Mount Ver-
non, Iowa, academic libraries are entirely 
outside the scope of this book; and as Car-
negie's aim was to improve popular access 
to books, his grants to large city libraries , 
such as the New York Public Library, to 
which he gave over $5,000,000 in 1899 to 
build sixty-six branch libraries, were gen-

erally to provide for branches and other 
facilities to be used by the general public 
rather than to provide for research facili-
ties. Carnegie's philanthropy did have an 
impact on academic libraries. Primarily in 
the period between 1902 and 1908 some 
$4,283,048 was given toward the construc-
tion of 108 academic libraries; and, while 
Bobinski stresses the fact that grants were 
not made to public libraries for collections, 
311 academic libraries, mainly in the 
1930s, did receive grants totaling $2,592,800 
for library development which, in general, 
meant the purchase of books. Hopefully, 
someone will devote the same care and 
effort to that aspect of Carnegie philan-
thropy as Mr. Bobinski has to the public 
library aspect, for that story is as important 
and worthy of study and could well result in 
as pleasant .and readable a book as this one. 
-Norman D. Stevens, University of Con-
necticut. 

Library Effectiveness, A Systems Ap-
proach .. By Philip M. Morse. Cambridge: 
M.I.T. Press, 1968. 207p. $10. ( 68-
25379). 

Professor Morse has attempted the most 
difficult task of bridging the gaps between 
the librarian, the systems analyst, and the 
operations researcher. The latter two in 
some areas are considered to be synony-
mous. His book, divided into two cate-
gories (namely, the theoretical models and 
the application of theory) , is well organ-
ized and provides an introduction to th e 
theory before it is discussed and applied 
to the libraries at the Massachusetts Insti-
tute of Technology. It would appear from 
the standpoint of reviewer, however, that 
to comprehend the material fully the read-
er should have at least one semester of 
probability theory. The librarian with little 
or no mathematical background will have 
considerable difficulty comprehending the 
models, although the b·ained systems an-
alyst and the operations researcher will 
comprehend them with little or no difficul-
ty. It would seem that the book is more 
readily suited to the systems analyst and 
the operations researcher who currently are 
workfng in library systems analysis. The 
book is of value to the librarian only to the 



extent that it exposes him to the kinds of 
analyses that are possible when one ap-
plies the techniques of operations research 
and systems analysis to a library system. 
Such applications are long overdue, and 
the potential results should improve the ef-
fectiveness of libraries severalfold. 

This book could be used as a beginning 
text in a course in library science in the 
area of library systems analysis. However, 
additional material would be needed to 
supplement it and to describe some of the 
other studies that have been done in li-
braries. A reviewer probably should make 
some critical comments even about a good 
book, and therefore my only comment 
would be that more material could have 
been included about other studies and 
models. For example, there are possible 
applications of non-linear programming to 
such inventory areas as journal and serial 
purchasing and selection. However, this is 
the kind of criticism that can be made of 
almost any book, namely, that it could 
have been more comprehensive. 

An overall evaluation finds the book to 
be an excellent contribution to the field of 
library science which will undoubtedly 
help to bring more science back into the 
field of library science.-Richard W. Trues-
well, University of Massachusetts. 

Oregon Imprints 1845-1870. By George N. 
Belknap. Eugene: University of Oregon 
Books, 1968. 305p. $10. 

Slowly, painstakingly, methodically, we 
are covering the nation. Someday the good 
work begun by Roorbach and Kelly, con-
tinued by the American Imprints Inven-
tory, and advanced by the intrepid Mc-
Murtrie, will be complete, and thereafter 
we will know with ninety-nine per cent 
certainty the work of the early printers and 
publishers who peopled this nation's mov-
ing frontiers. 

George N. Belknap's Oregon Imprints is 
the latest in a long series of volumes re-
cording the early publications of the re-
spective states, and it is a good one. Im-
printophiles will relish the compiler's ac-
count of his own seduction: 

About a year before Douglas McMurtrie's death 

Recen.t Publications I 449 

in September 1944, the manuscript of his Ore-
gon Imprints 1847-1870 was accepted for publi-
cation by the University of Oregon. As Univer-
sity Editor, I had expected that my part in the 
making of the book would be merely the routine 
checking of copy. But I did not know McMur-
trie. Questions on some minor details sent me 
to the University of Oregon Library. A report 
to Chicago of two or three small errors in 
descriptions-probably with a transparent note 
of editor's oneupmanship-brought flattering 
thanks for my diligence and sent me back to 
the Library for further checking. And then I 
found an imprint "not in McMurtrie" and an-
other, which, after an exciting exchange of let-
ters, went into the manuscript. Now I was 
hooked ... 

Sound familiar? 
During the subsequent fifteen years the 

compiler added 967 imprints to McMur-
trie's original 589 and deleted thirty-five 
for a final total of 1,521 entries. His dis-
coveries pushed the earliest known printing 
in the state back two years to 1~845. The 
resulting volume will stand for a long time 
as the definitive enumeration of early Ore-
gon printing, although one can imagine 
that somewhere the game has probably al-
ready begun of reporting a title "not in 
Belknap." 

The introduction to this work records 
the adventures and trials of the compiler 
rather than the standard historical essay on 
the first printing in the state. The illustra- · 
tions are well selected, clearly reproduced, 
and keyed to the text. The appendix com-
prises a list of 142 lost Oregon imprints. 
The indexes, both of subjects and of print-
ers and publishers, are comprehensive and 
accurate. 

Bibliographical description of the 1,521 
entries is appropriately full, including 
main entry, title page transcription includ-
ing line endings, printers' devices, pagina-
tion and size, frequent descriptive and his-
torical as well as contents notes, and loca-
tions of copies. It is done in the best biblio-
graphical and scholarly tradition and rep-
resents an important advance in our grow-
ing knowledge of our printing history. The 
volume is well designed and handsomely 
printed. May there be morel-David Kaser, 
Cornell University. • •