College and Research Libraries


Congress and the New York State Library 
in the lavish South Mall in Albany. One 
might, therefore, characterize the practical 
value of this volume of very selective read-
ings as, "too little, too late." Most of the 
articles collected were written at least ten 
years ago. 

What is really needed now is not a repe-
tition of ideas that have already been used 
as a basis for planning the buildings of the 
boom, but a thorough assessment to discov-
er successes and failures of the hundreds 
of buildings conceived and constructed dur-
ing the past two decades. Such an effort 
will be most helpful to those still fortunate 
enough to indulge in new construction, and 
to those usually somewhat less fortunate, 
who will work on addition and rehabilita-
tion projects, and even to the majority who 
will have to simply live with what they 
have, making minor modifications in the 
form of rearrangements of interiors. In re-
gard to the latter, a major gap in this vol-
ume is that nothing of Robert Sommer's 
work on interior environments is included. 
Particularly, his Ecology of Privacy article 
would have strengthened the treatment of 
interior design and arrangements. 

The investment of the $18.95 in this vol-
ume may pay for itself in time that other-
wise would be spent in digging out some 
of the fine articles contained under one cov-
er here and all analyzed by a single index 
including personal and institutional names, 
subjects, and journal titles. The general ar-
rangement of these reprint articles groups 
them under broad headings, such as The 
Use of Consultants, The Building Program, 
Site Considerations, Staff Spaces, Mechani-
cal Spaces, Furnishings and Equipment, 
and Some Considerations for Newer Media 
and Automation Services. As with any book 
of readings, it is almost impossible for the 
editor to avoid some redundancy and un-
evenness. Most of the articles are short; 
some are superficial. 

Besides the editor's initial and heavily il-
lustrated overview encyclopedia article re-
print, the longest and very informative con-
tribution is by Alvin Toffier (Future 
Shock). He traces the functions of U.S. 
academic library buildings in relation to 
their form: from the monumental to the 
modular, from high ceilings to low ceilings, 

Recent Publications I 13 

from closed stacks to open stacks, from uni-
formity and rigidity of space to variety and 
flexibility, and from card catalogs to com-
puter terminals. His contribution along with 
one or two others actually makes for fasci-
nating reading. The other significant arti-
cles by such authorities as Ellsworth, 
Wheeler, McDonald, Poole, and Van Buren 
are more informative than exciting. 

The editor gives Ernest J. Reese's twen-
ty-five year old article on building pro-
grams "classic" status, but the one following 
on the same subject by Ellsworth Mason is 
more up-to-date and helpful to the librarian 
confronted with writing a program. Mason's 
three contributions are all well written and 
to the point. Metcalf's five entries may be 
found in slightly different form in his mas-
sive volume, Planning Academic and Re-
search Library Buildings, an appendix of 
which is reprinted as the appendix of this 
volume (on formulas and tables). A few 
articles are very brief and of small value to 
the library planner. The three page article 
on Layout Planning for Plant Offices does 
not carry over to library offices. 

The emphasis in this volume seems to be 
on academic library buildings. Public li-
brary building considerations are given 
some treatment; school and special library 
considerations are almost totally missing, 
perhaps because they do not usually in-
volve separate buildings. 

It would have been more satisfactory in 
a volume of older reprints if a new contri-
bution (including an updated bibliogra-
phy) had been prepared by the editor or 
someone else to summarize the current state 
of the art of library facilities planning. 
That does not seem to be a characteristic, 
or perhaps purpose, of the Reader Series 
in Library and Information Science of 
which this volume is one of the latest.-
Selby U. Gration, Director of Libraries, 
State University of New York, College at 
Cortland. 

Lubans, John, Jr., and Chapman, Ed-
ward A., eds. Reader in Library Systems 
Analysis. Reader Series in Library and 
Information Science. Englewood, Colo-
rado: Microcard Editions Books, 1975. 
471p. $18.95. (LC 75-6253) (ISBN 
0-910972-45-1) 



74 I College & Research Libraries • January 1977 

The editors, Lubans and Chapman, were 
no doubt eager to utilize the materials they 
assembled while writing their Library Sys-
tems Analysis Guidelines. The result is this 
addition to the Reader series. It is obviously 
a by-product of another research venture 
but, nonetheless, useful. 

The volume contains thirty-four articles 
dealing with library systems analysis, rang-
ing from historical aspects to current day 
case studies. The five major sections into 
which the articles are divided are: Histori-
cal Aspects of Library Systems Analysis; 
General Views of Library Systems Analy-
sis; Ideas, Concepts and Procedures within 
Systems Analysis; Applying Systems Analy-
sis Concepts; and Electronic Data Process-
ing and Systems Analysis. 

While the selection of previously pub-
lished works is quite good, it does seem un-
fortunate that the articles appearing after 
the publication of their earlier book are 
scantily represented. The book covers arti-
cles from 1934 to 1973. The authorities in 
the field are quite well represented, notably 
in articles by Frederick Kilgour, Allen 
Veaner, Richard Dougherty, and Ralph 
Shaw. 

The topics covered include the concepts 
and processes most instructors would want 
to include in a systems analysis course: 
flow-charting, sampling, cost analysis, time-
and-motion studies, automation, data pro-
cessing, and evaluation. The nature of the 
book does not allow, unfortunately, for a 
discussion of these concepts in a unified 
way in order for the library science student 
or librarian new to systems analysis to fully 
understand systems analysis methodologies. 
Going back to the earlier work, however, 
compensates for that. 

I cannot help wishing that the articles 
had been put into a common typeset, al-
though that slight imperfection does not 
affect the readability of the book to any sig-
nificant extent. 

This anthology will be very useful for li-
brary school students in systems analysis 
classes. In addition, librarians wishing to 
become generally familiar with the history 
and development of systems analysis will 
nnd this very usefuL-Deanna Marcum, 
Assistant Director for Public Services and 
Employee Relations, ]oint University Li-

braries, Nashville, Tennessee. 

White, Carl M. A Historical Introduction 
to Library Education: Problems and 
Progress to 1951. Metuchen, N.J.: Scare-
crow, 1976. 296p. $11.00. (LC 75-
28086) (ISBN 0-8108-087 4-9) 
Graduate and professional schools and 

colleges are being assailed by a growing 
number of potent forces. Students are find-
ing graduate education "disappointing and 
damaging"; graduates are finding it increas-
ingly difficult to locate jobs; budgets are 
being reduced; some schools are being 
phased out; and the need for formal cre-
dentials is being disputed. These and other 
similar societal forces are causing graduate 
deans and faculties to review the mission 
of graduate and professional programs. 
They are taking a critical look at the origin 
and growth of the graduate schools and are 
trying to chart a clearer course for their fu-
ture. Those who are making these assess-
ments of library education for the first time 
will find new and helpful information in 
A Historical Introduction to Library Edu-
cation: Problems and Progress to 1951; 
those who have engaged in the assessment 
process before will find little that is new 
and perhaps much to question. 

The first five of the nine chapters of the 
book deal mainly with those ideas and 
topics covered in the author's earlier work, 
The Origins of the American Library 
School, which was published in 1961. Mr. 
White traces again, but in somewhat more 
detail, those social forces and personalities 
which preceded and greatly influenced the 
development of the library school's curricu-
lum. These early social forces and individ-
uals succeeded in casting the library school 
in the mold of the technical programs 
which were so popular during the last quar-
ter of the nineteenth century. 

The remaining four chapters are devoted 
to a development of Mr. White's thesis that 
the main tension generated in the evolution 
of the library school was the result of ap-
propriate efforts to move away from the 
technical school model toward the adoption 
of university standards for the education of 
librarians. The influence of the Carnegie 
Corporation and the founding of the Gradu-
ate Library Schools are other examples