College and Research Libraries of personnel cases may be considered a drawback, but assuming that role playing involves people, it is perhaps inevitable. The volume should prove valuable to li- brary educators and administrators who seek to use the case study-role playing technique for training their students or staff. It is a valuable work in its own right and not dependent on the set for its strength. On the other hand, it comple- ments the other three . volumes very ef- fectively and libraries should consider the entire set as a homogeneous unit worth purchasing.-Ann F. Painter, Graduate School of Library Science, Drexel Univer- sity, Philadelphia. Veaner, Allen B. The Evaluation of Micro- publications: A Handbook for Librari- ans. Chicago: American Library Asso- ciation, 1971. 59p. $3.25 (LTP Publi- cation no.17). If the question were posed as to who is the most knowledgeable librarian in this country to write a book about micropub- lications, the answer would have to be Al- len B. Veaner. Based on his experience in administering a photoduplication service and in acquiring microforms at both Har- vard and Stanford University libraries, his many previous contributions to library lit- erature regarding library microforms, his activity in ALA and in numerous other professional organizations, and particularly his able chairmanship of the ALA, RTSD Micropublishing Subcommittee for the past six years, Veaner is eminently qualified to author this handbook. Veaner's gift for at- tention to pertinent detail is abundantly evident in this work which will serve as a bible for many years to come for anyone seeking information about micropublications. In fifty-nine pages this deceptively small booklet is crammed with a wealth of in- formation for those responsible for acquir- ing, reviewing, evaluating, or producing mi- cropublications. Veaner demonstrates the rare ability to present the many fine de- tails that go into the production and eval- uation of micropublications and yet to bal- ance this with the perspective necessary to assess these in the proper light from the li- brary administrator's point of view. The handbook is divided into two ma- jor sections: ( 1) Micropublishing and Mi- Recent Publications I 241 cropublications, and ( 2) Evaluation Pro- cedures. The first twenty-two pages are de- voted to a discussion of the micropublish- ing industry, microformats, film size and image legibility, film generations and po- larity, the registration and preservation of master films, locating original material, pro- duction of hard copies, types of film, film stock, film coatings, archival permanence, and use of resolution charts. In the latter half of this booklet a complete step-by- step procedure for the evaluation of micro- publications is presented, including how to review the publisher's prospectus, how to seek any additional information that may be necessary, and how to conduct the ac- tual physical inspection of the micropub- lication by an inspection of the packaging of the product, inspection by a '1ight box," and a final inspection on a microviewer. The librarian and even the technician need not be embarrassed at feeling over- whelmed by this handbook. It could have been entitled "Everything You Ever Want- ed to Know About Micropublications" b e- cause its coverage is that complete. How- ever, this is not a criticism but a testimony to the expertise and thoroughness of the author. Veaner in essence has been writing this booklet for ten years and it is the right book by the right author at the right time. With reports due to be published shortly as a result of OE grants to ARL for studies on the bibliographical control of microforms and on the establishment of a permanent national microform agency, with the Den- ver Research Institute seeking to establish The Organization for Micro Information (OMI), with the quantity and variety of micropublications proliferating, as best il- lustrated by the GPO decision to make government documents available to depos- itory libraries in microform, and with li- braries and publishers increasingly being driven to micropublishing because of shrink- ing acquisition budgets and library space, events have conspired to make this L TP publication timely indeed. Those respon- sible for producing, acquiring, or review- ing micropublications will find this publica- tion indispensable. Every medium- to large-sized library should acquire this es- sential reference work.-Robert C. Sullivan, Order Division. Library of Congress.