College and Research Libraries


58 I College & Research Libraries • ]anum·y 1972 

which stems from legislative concern and 
multicampus systems. Such systems have 
not yet gone very far in management, but 
now that their building programs are over, 
they probably will. The result is less au-
tonomy for the local campus and less au-
thority for the local president (p.26). To 
hasten innovation and reform the report 
calls for the educational entrepreneur but 
recognizes that "Entrepreneurs rarely thrive 
in a climate of detailed budget review, 
pressures for equal treatment, statewide in-
terest groups, flagship campus dominance, 
or concern for political expediency." (p.27) 
Among the other bureaucracies needing at-
tention is the interlocking directorate of 
universities and accrediting agencies. Medi-
cal licensing is a national scandal but is far 
from the only one (p.41). Moreover, the 
relationship between academic training and 
success in a profession is not nearly as di-
rect as is frequently assumed (p.39-40). 

The Newman task force suggests that the 
time is critical for change in the system, 
though it does not underestimate the diffi-
culties. What can one do about all these 
problems? Society can create new enter-
prises with different missions and provide 
new enterprise funding. State governments 
can utilize competitive grants similar to 
foundation grants or to the University 
Grants Committee in Great Britain (p.65; 
cf. Ashby, p.85-89). Federal funding can 
adopt a marketing approach where the stu-
dent takes an institutional grant plus his 
own grant and selects the institution best 
for him (p.65-66). Universities can diversi-
fy their faculties by bringing in "practition-
ers who are outstanding in their jobs, and 
... given full status within the institution." 
(p.77) They can also reduce discrimination 
against women and older students and 
adapt minority education to the students 
rather than making the student conform to 
the traditional mold (p.79). Most of all, of 
course, institutions can reexamine their in-
dividual missions, especially necessary if 
cost effectiveness is to work in academic 
programs. Community colleges, for example, 
must cease being dominated by the four-
year institutions and meet the specific needs 
of the students they serve (p.60). For the 
real problem is "How can skill in resource 
utilization become a factor in the system 
of academic rewards?" (p.86) All of this 

is a rather large order, but the task force 
is not pessimistic about solutions, if they 
can stimulate debate on the problems. For-
tunately, their report is short enough and 
inexpensive enough to be placed in the 
hands of all those interested in the future 
of higher education. That group should 
surely include academic librarians and the 
professional associations to which they be-
lang.-Edward G. Holley, University of 
Houston. 

Tales of Melvil's Mouser; or Much Ado 
About Libraries. Paul Dunkin. New 
York: R. R. Bowker Co., 1970. 182p. 
Q. Pimbran Thotwon put down the book. 

Heady stuff, this. 
A book by a librarian ( P. Dunkin, to 

woe and to wit) could and did declare out-
rageously tongue-in-jowl war upon the host 
of sacred cows to which we all ( 'cept you 
'n me) bow down. Why, is nothing sacred 
anymore? quoth Thotwon queryingly. In-
deed, a perusal of the tome revealed that 
Melvil's Mouser was indeed a clever cat: 
he several times took poor Thotwon for a 
dunking in his own chuckling perplexity. 

Surely it cannot be a verity that the 
venerable NLA always comes out third-
best in every two-sided battle? And yet, 
pondered Thotwon ponderously, perhaps 
there is something peculiar about an institu-
tion which seems ever on the brink of dis-
covering that it is! 

Surely, stammered Q. Pimbran, some li-
brarians have been overeager to snatch at 
schemes: but surely only some catalogers 
have sat at the stoop of the Seer of the 
East and swallowed the many facets of the 
Five Laws ... ? 

Surely, turbulated Thotwon, IMCs (Q.P.T. 
knew what that meant even in his sleep-
Instructional Materials Centers) do need 
promotion: after all, aren't we all heathen 
looking toward the salvation of the funny-
looking missionaries? (Somehow Thotwon 
was dimly aware that his words had tripped 
up somewhere-but never mind, he'd read 
it somewhere.) 

And surely, tremulated Thotwon to him-
self, library education is not in a shambles: 
"The broad sweep of the library universe" 
swam before his ken as he fondly recollect-
ed dear Miss Bittybotty and her class in 
Foundations of Librarianship many years 



previous. What was it dear Miss B. had 
iterated?-that since all libraries have 
books, and since all people read books, 
therefore all libraries are at bottom the 
same. Quondam P. Thotwon for a moment 
experienced the sinking feeling that the 
"continuum curve" of the library cunicu-
lum was rather the center of a motionless 
arc, going nowhere and signifying nothing. 
But only for a moment. 

Thotwon returned from his reverie to the 
book. He was warmly glad that somebody 
had at last blown the whistle upon all those 
librarians who behave like perfectly pom-
pous asses. Which proves, smugged Q.P.T. , 
that they are people. Thotwon was glad he 
wasn't one of them, as he gazed out the 
window and noted the Moon, peering over 
his shoulder. 

If you missed this book, go right your 
mistake right now. Dunkin hits hard at the 
soft underbellies of the human (and inhu-
man) foibles, fallacies, and frumperies of 
our profession. Even if you recall reading 
some of these pieces in Library I ournal, go 
get this collectanea and be shriven once 
again. The message is too important to be 
left in the medium.-William Henry Webb, 
University of Colorado. 

Perreault, Jean M. Toward a Theory for 
UDC: Essays Aimed at Structural Un-
derstanding and Operational Improve-
ment. Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books 
and Clive Bingley, 1969. 214p. $9.00. 
Anthologies, collected works, and readers 

which bring together a number of articles 
and papers on a narrow, specific topic are 
a common form of publication in many 
fields but are relatively new to librarian-
ship. This book by Jean Perreault can be 
categorized as that type of publication. Per-
reault has long been known for his writings 
on classification theory and for his efforts 
in promoting the use of the Universal Deci-
mal Classification system. This volume 
brings together seventeen of his essays on 
UDC. Eleven of these have been published 
previously and six are found for the first 
time in this volume. 

Perreault is quick to point out in his in-
troduction that the book is not a treatise on 
the UDC. One would have to agree. The 
essays are arranged under four headings: 

Recent Publications I 59 

General theoretical background, Structure 
of UDC, Problems of display (notation), 
and UDC and reclassification. The essays 
in the latter category are of a more practi-
cal nature and are more lucid than those 
in the first three. Although a brief introduc-
tion of one page or less is found at the be-
ginning of each group of essays, it is the ar-
rangement which relates them to each oth-
er. The introductions consist of short sum-
maries or statements about each individual 
essay in the group. No attempt is made to 
discuss each group as a whole or to draw 
any conclusions. 

The title, Toward a Theory for UDC, is 
appropriate for the book, if one agrees that 
a body of theory for the UDC is lacking 
and that this book presents new principles 
on which to base theory. However, after 
reading this collection of essays, one does 
not find that the author has added any new 
principles. Therefore, it is necessary to 
question whether or not he has made any 
steps toward a theory for UDC. It should 
be remembered that the book is a collection 
of essays of which two-thirds have been 
published earlier. There is no indication in 
the volume as to which essays have been 
formerly published and which have not. 
Neither is there any indication as to how 
extensively the previously published essays 
have been revised. The author states in his 
introduction that "all of them which have 
been published before-have been strenu-
ously revised." (p.lO) At the same time, 
he fails to give the extent or purpose of the 
revision. Since the source of original publi-
cation is now given, the reader cannot make 
comparisons between the original and the 
revised essays without extensive research. 
Perreault defends this practice by stating 
"part of my intention is to make it possible 
to refer to this volume as a compilation of 
previously published papers in perfected 
form, at the same time making reference 
to the original periodical sources unneces-
sary." (p.lO) Also, there is no indication 
of why the six remaining essays had not 
been previously published. One only can 
assume that they were written for this col-
lection. 

The combination of poor writing, poor 
editing, and extremely bad typography 
makes this a very difficult book to read. 
The reader has the feeling that some of the