College and Research Libraries 424 I College & Research Libraries • September 1975 The Expansion of an Industry, 1865- 1919. New York: Bowker, 1975 . . 813p. $29.95. (LC 71-163903) (ISBN 0-8352- 0489-9) It was a pleasant surprise to all persons interested in the history of the American book when the first volume of this impor- tant work appeared in 1972 and its high quality was determined. It is even more surprising to see this second volume appear so soon after the first, and it is equally pleas- ant to note that it is of a quality commen- surate with its forerunner. May the author be similarly successful in his projected third and final volume! Make no mistake about it, this is a big book, probably exceeding 350,000 words of text in the one volume alone, plus ex- tensive appended bibliographic parapher- nalia. It is so big, in fact, as to raise a ques- tion as to just what readership the author is addressing. It is too extensive to serve as a textbook, and few readers are likely to sit dow~ and read through its 800 full pages, despite the fact that it is very well written -even exciting in spots-and the typogra- phy and design are carefully chosen to fa- cilitate its reading. The projected trilogy will certainly serve as a reference set, as virtually all aspects of American publishing history are covered in a comprehensive and balanced manner. Since the text is arranged topically into chapters-except for one section which consists of anecdotes culled chronological- ly !rom PW -the reference user is heavily rehant upon the index. The index is very full, however, covering more than sixty pages, so it can be expected to serve this purpose admirably. The volume consists primarily of a large number of extensive essays on different as- pects of the A~_erican publishing scene from the Civil War to the end of World War I. There are accounts of marketing mechanisms; distribution problems; ac- counting practices; the economics of pub- lishing, bookselling, and authorship; the rise of the literary agent; and the origins of the university press (Cornell, 1869). There are descriptions of music, textbook, and reli- gious publishing; of the publication of chil- dren's books and paperbacks; of labor dis- putes in the printing industry; of serializa- tion of novels · and attempts to control p~ces; of the development of modem copy- nght; and the sad and usually silly history of censorship. Of considerable reference value is the large number of cameos- three to ten pages in length-of the major publishing houses of the era. And there is a nostalgia trip for those who were reared o~ The Prisoner of Zenda, Alice of Old Vmcennes, When Knighthood Was in Flower, and other books of that ilk. The author has sought widely for materi- al, with the files of PW, newspapers, and literary periodicals serving as his main pri- mary sources. He has also exploited what monographic scholarship has been accom- plished on the subject, although these sources are interlarded with the many, usu- ally less reliable, house histories sponsored by the houses themselves. In a few cases where nothing better was available, he ha~ had to use wholly unreliable local, city, and county histories, but he has done so cautiously. Statements drawing upon these latter two kinds of sources especially will be subject to future correction. The volume is an excellent, comprehensive, well-re- searched, and nicely written account of a key period in the development of the Amer- ican book.-David Kaser, Graduate Li- brary School, Indiana University. Slote, Stanley J. Weeding Library Collec- tions. (Research Studies in Library Sci- ence, no. 14) Littleton, Colo.: Libraries Unlimited, 1975. 177p. $10.00. (LC 74- 23062) (ISBN 0-87287-105-3) As the budgetary noose tightens, librari- ans are looking 'harder and harder for ways to realize greater cost efficiencies. Among the many solutions proposed is that capital outlay costs be deferred by transferring in- frequently used materials to compact or re- gional storage areas. Though it was long felt that such weeding was a complex task to be done only by subject experts, it is now becoming clearer that the use criterion pro- vides a simple and satisfactory way of iden- tifying materials to be weeded. The theory upon which use-oriented weeding rests traces back to Bradford's '~law of scatter- ing," which was given mathematical shoring by Coffman and first applied to actual li- brary weeding routines by Trueswell and Buckland. Slote's book, basically a reworking of his frequently cited dissertation, shows that the fiction collections of several New Jersey public libraries conform in general to the "law of scattering" observed in other sub- ject areas and other kinds of libraries. In brief, since recently used books are most likely to be reused books, they should con- stitute any library's "core" collection. Un- used books should be stored or discarded. Since Slote intends his book to be a text- book, he also gives a brief history of weed- ing, a review of weeding literature, a re- buttal of other weeding criteria, and a clear description of "scientific" weeding routines. On the practical side, Slote' s weeding method is sensible and workable. As a text- book, however, the book is weakened by its narrowness of vision. For example, stu- dents need to consider at length the impli- cations of. the very real conflict that exists in academia between those who see the li- brary as a repository and those who see it as a use-oriented knowledge dispenser. Stu- dents should also think about the peculiar coincidence that the no-growth model of the library has emerged simultaneously with the emergence of the no-growth model of the economy at large. That is, are we in- novating or are we merely being swept along? On the mathematical side, surely graduate students should at least be shown ~~mathematical proofs," no matter if, as Slot~. says (p.64), they are "difficult to fol- low. Such general questions aside, the book is badly organized, repetitive, and unneces- sarily combative in tone. Rigorous editing could have reduced it to a longish how-to- do-it article for one of the general library periodicals. As it stands, it is a disappoint- ing handling of an important idea, especial- ly when compared with so solid a book as Buckland's Book A1)ailability and the Li- brary User (Pergamon, 1975) which de- velops this subject (as well as others) with such greater incisiveness.-Peter Dollard, Monteith Library, Alma College, Alma, !Jfichigan. Buckland, Michael · K., Book Availability and the Library User. New York: Perga- mon, 1975. 196p. '$7.50 pa. (LC 74- 8682) . (ISBN 0-08-017709-3) (ISBN 0- 08-018160-0 pa.). Recent Publications I 425 Although the publisher's price of $7.50 for the paperback edition may appear a bit steep for a 196-page monograph, this book should · become a Classic. The investment in · a personal copy should not be be- grudged; it is a small price to pay for pro- fessional survival. The point may be ar- gued, but I believe that Buckland's great- est contribution is his ability to develop a perspective on libraries and their problems which is thoroughly modem. For example, Buckland recognizes and accepts a fact which much of the profes- sion tries to ignore: that libraries are finite in nature, that there must and should be limits to their growth. Recognition of our limits must increase our awareness of the need to structure the library within those limits so that the best · possible service can be provided to library users. Service to users is, after all, the means by · which most libraries today justify their existence and their annual budget requests. Yet as Buckland points out, there remains a great disparity in the attention paid by the profession to intellectual access and physical access or availability. The prior- ities assigned by users, and by funding agencies as well, have been clear for quite some time. What has been written on a subject, or even what the library owns on a subject, is generally a matter of less inter- est than what the library has available on the subject to meet a need at a specific time. For those librarians ready to accept the concept of the limited library with service to users as its objective, Buckland suggests a number of methods for improving service and -measuring it which have been devel- oped through his own research and that of others. Even a partial list of these tools is impressive. One may determine what the optimum size of the library should be, what titles it should contain, and how long those titles should be retained. It is possible to directly measure user frustration with the library and to quantitatively measure the library's performan~e by its ability to make materials available when needed and to satisfy itS users on a continuing basis. The key to availability lies in understand- ing the relationship betWeen user demand, loan period, and duplication policy. Clearly the -level of demand will vary from title to