College and Research Libraries


278 I College & Research Libraries • May 1976 

Dunkin, Paul S. Bibliography: Tiger or Fat 
Cat? Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books 
1975. 120p. $7.50. (LC 75-5634) (ISBN 
0-208-01519-1) 
Paul Dunkin's final book (unless there 

is a manuscript to be published posthu-
mously) leaves us continuing evidence of 
his concern for bringing a degree of com-
mon sense to the often tortuous task of 
combining the esoterica stemming from the 
physical characteristics of a book with the 
usually more mundane record which de-
dares that a book exists and is available for 
use. 

Ranging through the spectrum separat-
ing the bibliographer and the cataloger, 
here is a relaxed observer commenting ran-
domly on such diverse and familiar aspects 
of bibliography as cast-off copy, press fig-
ures, and skeleton forms-intermingled 
with doubts as to the wisdom of the ISBD 
and musings on what bibliographers will 
make of th& new printing with computer 
and film. 

A major portion of the slim volume con-
sists of quotations from many of the bibli-
ographers' "greats," assembled and juxta-
posed to demonstrate discrepancies, incon-
sistencies, and contradictions among them 
which have piqued the author's interest; 
one can enjoy the sound of the quiet pop-
ping of pricked balloons as Dunkin com-
ments on some of the hypotheses of biblio- . 
thecal Perry Masons which he feels are too 
feebly supported by fact. 

Although Dunkin purports to be writing 
for the armchair bibliographer (even de-
fining "justification" for the novice), this 
book will interest largely those with back-
ground in bibliography, and who in turn 
can add their comment to the reflections of 
the author-and who will argue with the 
author's contention that one of the most im-
portant uses of bibliography is "certainly 
in better cataloging." 

Oh, yes: "Tiger or Fat Cat?" As Dunkin 
says, "Who cares?"-C. Donald Cook, Fac-
ulty of Library Science, University of 
Toronto. 

Cook, Margaret G. The New Library Key. 
3d ed. New York: H. W. Wilson Co., 
1975. 264p. $5.00. (LC 75-11754) 
(ISBN 0-8242-0541-3) 

Downs, Robert B., and Keller, Clara D. 
How to Do Library Research. 2d ed. 
Urbana: Univ. of Illinois Pr., 1975. 298p. 
$3.45 Paper. (LC 74-28301) (ISBN 0-
252-00449-3; 0-252-00535-X pbk.) 

The titles of these two resource guides 
for the serious and intelligent layman might 
better be exchanged: Margaret Cook's 
Tanual !,s, i~ fact, a sensibly explained 
how to, while Downs and Keller's book 

describes more than twice as many ref-
erence "keys" (some fifteen hundred to 
Cook's seven hundred), but without placing 
them in a practical research context. · 

Both works are revisions. The previous 
edition of The New Library Key appeared 
in 1963 and can be traced back to 1928 
when its predecessor, Zaidee Brown's The 
Library Key first came out. How to Do Li-
brary Research, by Robert B. Downs, as-
sisted by Elizabeth C. Downs, was pub-
lished originally in 1966. The current edi-
tions of both guides include new and re-
vised material into 1974. Only Cook, how-
ever, mentions, but declines to evaluate 
Britannica 3 and considers the Social Sci~ 
ences Index ·and Humanities Index as two 
separate Wilson publications. Although 
both books discuss Dissertation Abstracts 
International, neither notes the monumental 
Comprehensive Dissertation Index, pub-
lished in 1973. A random sampling of en-
tries indicates that both guides have been 
carefully revised with many new works and 
editions cited and obsolete ones deleted. 
Cook has increased the total number of en-
tries by one-third from the second to the 
third edition; Downs and Keller have 
added nearly half again as many titles in 
chapters 1 through 12 as were in the earlier 
edition with more than twice as many pages 
now devoted to specialized subject refer-
ence books (chapter 13). 

Margaret Cook views the library as a 
complex yet fathomable whole and the act 
of research as a logical process within that 
whole. The product of this attitude is a 
wide-ranging yet well-organized guide in 
the true sense of the word. She defines her 
audience . in broad terms to include every-
one from college freshmen to "individual 
adults who have not had previous opportu-
nities to become acquainted with the ever-