College and Research Libraries Recent Publications ·coLLEG·e 17 RESEARCH LIBRARIES Comaromi, John Phillip. The Eighteen Editions of the Dewey Decimal Classifica- tion; revie~ed by Phyllis A. Richmond . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 Dewey, Melvil. A Classification and Subject Index, reviewed by Phyllis A. Rich- mond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 Wiegand, Dietmar. ProfesSioneller Status und Kontrolle ilber ein (symbolisches) soziales Objekt am Beispiel des wissenschaftlichen Bibliothekars, reviewed by Eric von BrockdorH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 Dranov, Paula. Microfilm: The Librarian's View, 1976-77, reviewed by William Saffady . . . . . . ·. . . . . . . . . . 163 Advances in Librarianship, Volume 6, reviewed by E. J. Josey . . . . 164 Shera, Jesse H. Introduction to- Library Science, reviewed by Martha Boaz . 164 Gates, Jean Key. Introduction to Librarianship, 2d ed., reviewed by Martha Boaz ·. 165 Rayward, W. Boyd. The Universe of Information, reviewed by J. M. Perreault . . 165 World Guide to Technical Information and Documentation Services, 2d ed., re- viewed by Josephine Riss Fang . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 Dowell, Arlene Taylor. Cataloging with Copy, reviewed by John L. Sayre . 167 Studies in Library Management, Volume Three, reviewed by J. K. Roberts . 168 Archive-Library Relations, reviewed by Richard C. Berner . . . . . . . 169 Rosenberg, Kenyon C., and Doskey, John S. Media Equipment: A Guide and Dictionary, reviewed by· Thomas L. Bonn . . . . . . . . . . 170 Robinson, Arthur H., and Petchenik, Barbara Bartz. The Nature of Maps: Essays toward Understanding Maps and Mapping, reviewed by Alan Edward Schorr . 171 .A Reader in Library Management, reviewed by Ralph D. Arcari . . . . . 171 Taubert, Sigfred, ed. The Book Trade of the World; Volume II, The Americas, Australia, New Zealand, reviewed by Marc Gittelsohn . . . . . 172 American Library History; 1876-1976, reviewed by Kenneth G. Peterson . . . 173 Williams, James G. Simulation Activities in Library, Communication, and Informa- tion Science, reviewed by Barbara Slanker · . 17 4 The · ALA Yearbook: A Review of Library Events, reviewed by Johnnie E. Givens 175 BOOK REVIEWS Comaromi, John Phillip. The Eighteen Edi- tions of the Dewey Decimal Classifica- tion. Albany, N.Y.: Forest Press Division, Lake Placid Education Foundation, 1976. xiv, 678p. $10.00. LC 76-10604. ISBN 0-910608-17-2. Dewey, Melvil. A Classification and Subject Index for Cataloging and Arranging Books and Pamphlets of a Librarg. Am- herst, Mass., 1876. Dewey Decimal Cen- tennial 1896-1976. Facsimile reprinted by Forest Press Division, Lake Placid Education Foundation. Printed . and bound Kingsport Press, Inc. Kingsport, Tenn. 44p. $5.00. Nothing could be more fitting during the 100th anniversary of the Dewey Decimal Classification than a facsimile reprint of the first edition and a complete history of the classification down to 1976. Both hand- somely bound volumes look sturdy enough to survive the use they almost certainly will get. Comaromi' s history begins with Dewey's idea of using a positional decimal notation for organizing all knowledge. Then he looks critically irito the idea's possibie sources, both acknowledged and unacknowledged. In the process, the "inverted Baconian" no- tion is rejected, to the delight of this re- viewer who finds it extremely difficult, when explaining Bacon's system, to see any clear relationship, inverted or otherwise, be- tween that and Dewey. Comaromi covers the first and second editions at considerable length (126p.) be-: cause the basic outline and principles of the classification were determined in these two. After the publication, in 1885, of the sec- ond edition, the system was reasonably /161 162 I College & Research Libraries • March 1977 complete. It is interesting to note that there were over eighty-four relocations and over 100 insertions or enlargements in the sec- ond edition. Comaromi comments that "li- brarians must have been stupefied by the extent of change in subject location." Dewey promised this would be a one-shot rearrangement, and librarians did what li- brarians have done ever since-accommo- dated to the new order. But not without some clamor. The chief opponents' views are described in an amus- ing chapter. A third edition came along three years later, perhaps to reassure critics that the . second was only provisional after all, (Dewey was a hard person to put down. Besides promoting his system and training people to use it, he also bought the pub- lishing company when the publisher went broke just as the third edition was about to appear.) Edition followed edition, and Comaromi, working with primary sources, manages to make the publishing history of each much more lively than might be ex- pected. Serious criticism from Rider, Bliss, Sayers, and others began with the seventh edition in 1911 and mostly concerned the need for major revision to keep up with the advance of knowledge, an unsolved prob- lem that continues to plague classification and indexing systems to this day. It is interesting to note that Dewey had introduced into the seventh edition no less than ten of the auxiliary symbols which are now claimed to be one of the chief advan- tages of the Universal Decimal Classifica~ tion system. The chapter on the relations between DDC and the Classification Deci- male (forerunner of UDC) is one of the most entertaining in the book. Among other things, it contain~ correspondence between Dewey and the editor, Dorcas Fellows, both writing in his simplified, telegraphic style English (thoughtfully translated by Comaromi). The editor, who held that position for al- most two decades, was a strong-minded in- dividual. Godfrey Dewey got exactly nowhere when he tried to persuade her to stop using the classification to advance spelling reform. Similarly, criticisms by Grace Osgood Kelley were ignored because Miss Fellows disliked her and "was at war" with her superior at the Crerar Library. Nevertheless, Dorcas Fellows was one of the best editors the classification had. The history of recent editions (16th- 18th) is covered in the last third of the book. A large number of readers will be fa- miliar with the system, its advisors, officers, and major practitioners, so that this part is virtually current history-well documented. Comaromi is to be congratulated for writing an excellent history and a lively · and entertaining book on a subject not usually considered to be very exciting. We look forward to more work of this caliber from his pen.-Phyllis A. Richmond, School of Library Science, Case Western Reserve University. Wiegand, Dietmar. Professioneller Status und Kontrolle iiber ein ( symbolisches) soziales Oh;ekt am Beispiel des wissen· schaftlichen Bibliothekars: Ein Beitrag zur professionssoziologischen Theorie und Kasuistik. Europaische Hochschulschrif- ten, .Reihe XXII, Soziologie, Bd. 16. Bern: Herbert Lang; Frankfurt/ M. und Miinchen: Peter Lang, 1976. 193p. ISBN 3-261-01937-9. In case the title, which in English means Professional Status and Control over a (Symbolic) Social Object as Illustrated by the Example of the Academic Librarian, does not tip unwary readers off, let them be warned that this book is a doctoral dis- sertation in sociology: Its language is not the King's English or the Kaiser's German but German sociologese. And .if that is not enough to scare readers off, let them be further warned that the author has broken the book down into decimally numbered sections, sub-sections, even sub-sub-sub- sub-sections, giving it the forbidding ap- pearance of a book-length outline or table of contents. The two main parts are of almost equal length. The first is a survey of the sociology of professions. After considering various traits which might distinguish a profession from an occupation, e.g., the existence of a body of theoretical literatUre or of a pro- fessional organization, and finding these traits wanting, Dr. Wiegand comes down on the side of the American sociologist Everett C. Hughes and his students who