College and Research Libraries


348 I College & Research Libraries • July 1977 

The celebration of the American bicen-
tennial sparked a resurgence of interest in 
our national past, a search for national 
identity and viable values in a changing 
world. On a very much smaller scale, the 
commemoration of the centennial of the 
formal founding of the American library 
profession in that bibliothecally fertile year 
1876 stimulated American librarians, also 
groping for a renewed sense of purpose, to 
consider the evolution of their profession 
and the contexts in which it has been prac-
ticed. 

The resultant publications and meetings 
reflect this increased interest among librari-
ans in their collective professional past as 
well as the growing number of scholars 
among them who have been seriously arid 
critically probing that past. A Century of 
Service joins the list of centennial histories 
(among them the July 1976 Library Trends 
devoted to "American Library History: 
1876-1976" and the fine series of articles 
on the history of academic and research 
libraries and librarianship in the 1976 issues 
of College & Research Libraries) that will 
be referred to for information for some time 
to come. 

The editors of A Century of Service 
undertook an ambitious project-the com-
pilation of articles that would survey li-
brarianship in the United States and 
Canada over the past 100 years. It is 
ambitious, not only because the scope is 
large, but because the secondary historical 
literature in the field, while increasingly 
substantial, is not yet rich enough to form 
a wide and firm base for such a survey. At 
the same time, the authors of each article, 
unless they had been immersed in the his-
torical sources for years, could not possibly 
be expected to have done deep research in 
order to write a concise overview of a cen-
tury's history of a rna jor aspect of American 
and Canadian librarianship, though many 
did gather the most significant articles and 
books that deal in a general way with the 
assigned subjects. 

The resulting book is predictably and 
probably unavoidably uneven. The articles 
-altogether eighteen by twenty-one au-
thors and arranged under four rubrics-
clienteles, personnel, facilities, and environ-
ment-range from several written from a 

strongly argued intellectual position to 
those which describe developments in terms 
of broad trends and key issues, to some 
that are mainly compilations of facts or 
weak expositions of complicated subjects. 

The most original pieces are Dee Garri-
son's on women in librarianship (actually 
public librarianship) and Peter Conmy and 
Caroline Coughlin's application of sociolog-
ical theory to the development of library 
associations. Some important topics, like li-
brary resources and bibliographical control, 
could have been thrown into bolder relief 
(though they are covered rather extensively 
in the Library Trends issue), and problems 
of library governance, financial support, 
and libraries in the political and legislative 
process receive not much more than passing 
attention. 

Highlighted are several subjects that 
have needed historical exploration, such as 
library technology in relation to reference 
and technical services and the history of 
services to ethnic minorities, Afro-Ameri-
cans, and the urban masses. Academic and 
research librarians will be especially inter-
ested in the several articles on technology 
and in Samuel Rothstein's survey of services 
to academia, Angelina Martinez' su~vey of 
services to special clienteles, and John 
Cole's article on the national libraries of the 
United States and Canada. 

On balance, A Century of Service is a 
positive contribution to the literature and 
serves to remind us once again of both the 
accomplishments and the problems of our 
profession. One hopes that historical schol-
arship in librarianship, already well 
launched, will mature to the point where 
book-length, integrated, intellectually pow-
erful syntheses can be written without the 
difficulties and pitfalls of collaborative work 
or the superhuman effort of one or two au-
thors.-Phyllis Dain, School of Library Ser-
vice, Columbia University. 

Fang, Josephine Riss, and Songe, Alice H. 
International Guide to Library, Archival, 
and Information Science Associations. 
New York: Bowker, 1976. 354p. $15.00. 
LC 76-2700. ISBN 0-8352-0847-8. 
This International Gui.de is an updated 

and expanded version of a preliminary edi-
tion published in 1973 under the title 



New and recent Reference Works 
KUERSCHNER HANDBOOKS 

Deutscher Gelehrten-Kalender 1976 
(Register of German Scholars and Scientists 1976) 
12th ed. 1976, 2 vols., tog. 4038 pp, cloth, set $119.50 

The 12th edition lists updated biographic and bibliographic data on all living German scholars, 
both alphabetically and according to field of study. The "who 's who" entries occupy 3642 pages; 
other sections include: Necrology (scholars deceased since the 1970 edition), Anniversaries, etc. 
Scholarly publishers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland are listed alphabetically and by field of 
publication. 

Deutscher Literatur-Kalender 
(Register of Gerrmn Literature) 
56th ed. 197 4, 1300 pp, cloth, $91.70 

This is the only complete bio-bibliographical account of contemporary writing in the German 
language, approx. 8000 living authors are listed with the titles of approx. 70,000 literary works. 
The appendix contains a Necrology (authors deceased since the 1967 ed.), literary societies, 
publishers of literary works, as well as literary translators listed by language. 

Deutscher Literatur-Kalender, Nekrolog 1901-1935 
(Register of German Literature, Necrology 1901-1935) 
Reprint of 1936 edition . 1973, 488 pp, cloth, $51.70 

Deutscher Literatur-Kalender, Nekrolog 1936-1970 
(Register of German Literature, Necrology 1936-1970) 
1973,871 pp, cloth, $91 .70 

MINERVA HANDBOOKS 
INTERNATIONAL DIRECTORY OF SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTIONS 
Over 13,000 Scientific Institutions in 132 countries are listed with full address, and are classified 
by country, specialization, etc. 

Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaften (Scientific Organizations) 
1972, 724 pp, cloth , $67.50 

Forschungsinstitute (Research Institutes) 1972, 1160 pp, cloth, $91 .70 

Archive im deutschsprachigen Raum 
(Archives in German-Speaking Countries) 
197 4, 2 vols., tog . 1418 pp, cloth, set $200.00 

PARLIAMENTS OF THE WORLD, A Reference Compendium 
Ed. by the Inter-Parliamentary Union 
1976, 956 pp, cloth, $73.00 

Parliaments of the World is an exhaustive survey of all aspects of the composition, organization 
and operation of 56 Parliaments as well as their legislative, budgetary and control functions. 
It takes the form of a series of 70 tables with country-by-country entries, each table being preceded 
by explanatory text. Parliaments of the World is a reference compendium of lasting interest to 
scholars as well as to parliamentarians, politicians, journalists and all people involved in the work 
and life of parliamentary institutions. 

Walter de Gruyter, Inc. 
SCHOLARLY AND SCIENTIFIC PUBLISHERS 

3 Westchester Plaza Elmsford, N. Y. 10523 



350 I College & Research Libraries • July 1977 

Handbook of National and International 
Library Associations (Chicago: ALA) . It 
now lists a total of 361 organizations, 44 in-
ternational and 317 national, excluding pro-
vincial or local ones. 

Part 1 covers international organizations 
both worldwide (e.g., IFLA) and regional 
(e.g., The Scandinavian Association of Re-
search Libraries), arranged alphabetically 
by the name of the association. Part 2 lists 
national organizations by country. The 
names of the countries are in English 
whereas the organizations are listed under 
their official name, followed by their acro-
nym, if used, and an English translation of 
the name where necessary. Names in non-
Roman script are transliterated. The infor-
mation for each association, where avail-
able, is comprehensive and presented in a 
consistent format. It includes the address, 
names of officers and their terms of office, 
languages used, brief history, aims, struc-
ture, financial resources, membership data, 
major activities, and the name of its official 
journal with full bibliographical detail. Spe-
cial features and indexes are a list of acro-
nyms, a list of official journals of library 
associations, a subject index, and a list of 
associations under their official name with 
reference to the entry under country. 

As is inevitable in such undertakings of 
global scope, there are errors and omissions. 
For a number of countries, there is no more 
information beyond the name and address 
of the national or major library and perhaps 
indication of an affiliation with IFLA. Ten 
countries (Andorra to Tonga) are listed 
separately as "omitted due to lack of infor-
mation." However, while the People's Re-
public of China is included, nothing is said 
about the omission of Taiwan. Northern 
Ireland, Scotland, and Wales each have 
separate country entries (with a "see also" 
from United Kingdom, to be sure). Yemen 
(Arab Republic of) is there, but there is 
no mention of its neighbor, Democratic 
Yemen (formerly Southern Yemen). Grant-
ed, there is not much library activity in 
either country, but fair is fair! A few mis-
spellings and inaccuracies in the form of 
names and in the use of diacritics are per-
haps inevitable in a work using such a va-
riety of languages. 

There is a short bibliography at the end 

of each entry and a six-and-a-half-page 
"General Bibliography, 1965-75," listing 
monographs and articles of international or 
multinational scope published during that 
period. Most citations should be familiar to 
anyone concerned with international library 
matters. It would have been more useful, 
I think, to separate the titles into categories, 
such as international library journals; direc-
tories, annuals, etc.; and writings about pro-
fessional library associations. 

A short statistical data section presents 
the contents of the Guide statistically. It is 
interesting to note that there are a total of 
256 official journals listed, of which 37 per-
cent are indexed or abstracted; not a bad 
ration, in my opinion, considering that 
many represent not very substantial news-
letters. Nevertheless, there may be room 
for improvement here, especially as the 
Guide now provides information on the 
availability of all the journals listed. 

Some of the information contained in the 
Guide is, of course, also covered in two 
other major sources, the Bowker Annual 
and the IFLA Directory. Both these titles 
are published annually and are thus more 
up to date, especially for names of officers 
or addresses for associations without a per-
manent secretariat. However, the Guide is 
broader in scope and detail, and Professor 
Fang and Ms. Songe must be congratulated 
on a unique and useful · compilation that 
should be brought up to date regularly.-
Elisabeth H. Nebehay, United Nations Li-
brary, New York. 

M~rtin, Susan K. Library Networks, 1976-
77. White Plains, N.Y.: Knowledge In-
dustry Publications, Inc., 1976. 131p. 
$24.50 plus $1.00 postage and handling. 
LC 76-29187. ISBN 0-914236-06-7. 

Through expanded coverage, stylistic im-
provement, and a far better integration of 
factual statements with considerations of 
those issues confronting networks, Susan 
Martin has substantially i~proved upon the 
first edition of this publication, which, un-
der different authorship, was unsatisfactory 
in its treatment of library networks during 
1974-75 (College & Research Libraries 
37:77 [Jan. 19761). With some reservation, 
this second edition can be recommended 
to those librarians and readers from com-