College and Research Libraries ly Catalog, changes in classification, etc.), additional processes (selective cataloging, weeding, binding, etc.), and cataloging and classification by other than the SuDocs sys- tem. The material throughout is very read- able; the clear, seemingly simple descrip- tions are indeed impressive. The most com- plicated procedures are so well described that each appears easy and sensible. Any experienced documents librarian will compare this with Ellen Jackson's A Manual for the Administration of the Fed- eral Documents Collection in Libraries (ALA, 1955). One major criticism of Jack- son's work was that it presented many al- ternatives for processing documents and was not firm on which processes were good and which tended to lead to disaster. Har- leston and Stoffie have contributed experi- ence and judgment, and this manual repre- sents instructions on how-to-do-it right. This reviewer would take exception to only two or three points throughout the entire manual. For example, the authors recom- mend shelving a complete collection of hearings by Congress, session, chamber, committee, and title. They further say only if the collection is incomplete should one shelve by SuDocs number. A major devia- tion such as this from the use of the SuDocs system should be explained. The authors give no explanation nor reasoning for this recommendation. A documents library which depends on its users to work from the Monthly Catalog to the shelf should be extremely careful in making an exception of this magnitude. The authors have been particularly suc- cessful · in including the most up-to-date in- formation. In addition to comprehensive in- clusion of current material, there are many references to works-in-progress and to im- minent changes in the field of U.S. docu- ments. Appendix B is an interesting Bow chart of suggested procedures prepared by Mary Sue Farrell. This chart could be used as a basis for studying an existing operation in view of possible economies or increased efficiency. While there is nothing innovative or startling, this is an excellent, useful addi- tion to the document librarian's professional bookshelf.-]oyce Ball, University of Ne- vada, Reno. Recent Publications I 159 Parish, David W. State Government Refer- ence Publications: An Annotated Bib- liography. Littleton, Colo.: Libraries U n- limited, 1974. 237p. $11.50. The primary purpose of State Govern- ment Reference Publications: An Annotat- ed Bibliography is to "help make the re- sources of state government publications more easily accessible to librarians and pa- trons in all types of libraries." Altogether, 808 entries are given, of which about 445 are serials, and the re- maining are monographs. The 808 entries reflect legislative, economic, scientific, and social activities of state government. The author's aim was to include both important state documents and those representative of the works issued by each state. Impor- tant reports (such as the Alaska Pipeline Report) and documents that might serve as models for other government agencies are included as well. An example of the lat- ter is Use of Land in Ohio, "the first state- wide comparative land-use study." It is not surprising that our two largest populated states have more entries. What is surpris- ing, however, is that Alaska, which ranks fiftieth in population, ranks sixth in the number of entries. Non official state publications (such as state legislative handbooks) are included when they are considered essential. Exclud- ed from the bibliography are college and university catalogs, ephemeral materials, and slip laws. Since the coverage spreads over such a large field of human knowl- edge, and since more than 20,000 state publications are issued each year, a cri- teria statement would have been useful. Arrangement of the entries is first by state and then by main entry. However, nonofficial publications are inserted at the end of each state's listing. It would have been helpful if a note were provided, indi- cating whether or not the publications were still in print. Three appendixes are featured. The first contains a bibliography of writings about state documents. Appendix II, entitled "A Subject Core of State Publications," lists subjects followed by the typical state agen- cy name and a list of types of publications likely to be issued from that agency and is patterned after LeRoy Merritt's The United 160 I College & Research Libraries • March 1975 States Government as Publisher (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Pr., 1943). Appendix III contains a directory of state agencies whose publications are listed in the main bibliog- raphy. State Government Reference Publica- tions contains two indexes-a Personal Au- thors and Titles Index and a Subject Index. It is assumed that the Personal Authors and Titles Index is selective since omissions were discovered (e.g., Telephone Direc- tory, Commonwealth of Kentucky; Manual, General Assembly, Missouri). In spite of minor criticisms, it is the re- viewer's opinion that State Government Reference Publications serves as an excel- lent example of publications being issued by state governments.-Earl Shumaker, Documents Librarian, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green. Stevens, Robert D., and Stevens, Helen C., eds. Reader in Documents on Interna- tional Organizations. (Reader Series in Library and Information Science) Engle- wood, Colo.: Microcard Editions Books, 1973. 410p. $17.95. In their introduction, Dr. and Mrs. Stev- ens note that the data in their book "will allay the fears of the generalist librarian" and provide information on international documents for use in library schools. U nfor- tunately, rather than fulfilling either of these laudable purposes, this compilation would seem more likely to dissuade the nonspecialist from seeking any further ac- quaintance with the documents of interna- tional organizations. Only half the book actually deals with international documents or with libraries' work with these, while the remainder is on international organizations themselves or on their libraries as special libraries, with no particular focus on documents. While no documents librarian would deny the impor- tance of a basic familiarity with an organi- zation's structure and functions, for a gen- eralist or student this aspect can be rather limited, since an understanding of the docu- ments themselves is far more crucial. A nonspecialist might well be daunted to find half the book devoted to organizational ar- ticles, including such facets as the Interna- tional Atomic Energy Agency's first year. The articles on documents vary in qual- ity, but have one thing in common: they are relatively old. Although no one would expect the eleven articles dealing with pre- U.N. documents · to be recent, one would hope for up-to-date information from the fifteen on documents during the U.N. peri- od. However, nine of these were written in the 1940s and 1950s, with the two latest dated 1966. Many of the articles were ex- cellent when they originally appeared, and some are still of value; but, since docu- ments are dynamic, the articles now contain much outdated and erroneous information, inextricably intertwined with data that is still completely valid. Only someone al- ready expert in the material could distin- guish between the two. The editors have occasionally corrected obsolete information, but not on a consistent basis. In a book directed toward the nonspe- cialist, one might question the inclusion of articles dealing with such topics as the ef- fect of World War II on the publication of individual League of Nations series or plans for issuing on microcards me:teorological ob- servations from the 1957-58 International Geophysical Year. Even some of the more general articles could discourage the non- specialist who comes across such items as two pages citing the seventy-four issues of the U.N.'s Disposition of Agenda Items and Index to Proceedings series published as of 1962 or a listing of the sixty-three draft conventions adopted by the International Labour Conference before 1939. Since there is no index, such items could not be readily located for reference purposes. The physical preparation of the book was somewhat casual. There are such typo- graphical errors as "sumbol" (p.134) and "sytle" (p.188). A reference to footnote one appears on page 36, but no footnote accom- panies the article. The wrong author's name appears in the running head on page 58. And did the editors really intend to de- scribe New York University's United Na- tions collection, with its coveted delegation status, as "meager" (p.218) or is this too a typographical error? In an era of straitened library budgets, this $17.95 book cannot be recommended for purchase.-Mary J. Ryan, University of California, Los Angeles.