College and Research Libraries 546 I College & Research Libraries • November 1977 and Lockheed's DIALOG) are discussed briefly but without comparison, and the National Library of Medicine's various MEDLINE services are then described more fully. There is no bibliography, although there are references at the end of each chapter. There is a brief glossary and two appen- dixes that explain binary arithmetic and how to compute a Modulus 11 check digit. For its original purpose-a brief intro- duction to the field for British students- the text is probably adequate. For Amer- ican students, there are better and more pertinent works available; and for those already familiar with the basics of library automation this book offers very little that is new. For the British perspective on library automation, R. T. Kimber's Auto- mation in Libraries is older but more sub- stantial, although Tedd's book provides occasionally useful details on specific Brit:. ish systems. This volume is recommended for comprehensive collections only.-Ste- phen R. Salmon, University of California, Berkeley. Bry, Ilse. The Emerging Field of Sociobib- liography: The Collected Essays of llse Bry. Edited and compiled by Lois Affler- bach and Marga Franck. Contributions in Librarianship and Information Sci- ence, Number 19. Westport, Conn.: .Greenwood Pr., 1977. 251p. $17.50. LC 76-28644. ISBN 0-8371-9289-7. The late Ilse Bry viewed entries in a bib- liography the way an archaeologist views shards-as material traces of an aspect of human activity, capable, like the pottery fragments, of yielding insights into the pur- poses, values, and daily practices of the culture that created and used them. Thus "in sociobibliography, bibliographic data are investigated for a variety of scientific purposes independent of users' needs to consult the publications" ( p.237). General- ly the purpose is to shed light on the char- acter of communication in scholarly disci- plines and the roles played by a discipline's literature in shaping the knowledge to which the field lays claim. The Mental Health Book Review Index, issued from 1956 to 1972 by a committee of librarians headed by Ilse Bry, was a lo- cation tool for reviews of books in the behavioral sciences and also a vehicle for investigation and discussion of the use of bibliography as an analytic instrument. Edi- torials published with the index pointed out trends and relationships discernible in the index listings and considered how these might contribute to greater understanding both of the history and sociology of science, and of the requirements of scientific bibli- ography. These editorials, some of which have been reprinted previously in journals, are here collected in book form under the editorship of two of the principal collab- orators on MHBRI. The essays raise a number of interesting issues: the contrast in purpose and point of view between subject bibliography, as con- ceived by the academic community, and li- brary cataloging (essay 1); the scholarly contribution of book reviews and distortion of their scientific function by evaluative perspectives imported from literary and art criticism (essay 4); ways in which conven- tional bibliographic styles and standards suppress scientifically valuable data about books (essay 7) ; the potential of biblio- graphic organization for shaping the char- acter of a field of study (essay 8) and for illuminating trends in a subject's develop- ment (essays 9, 10, 13). Although the earliest pieces in the book were written nearly twenty years ago, the discussion remains fresh and provocative, characterized throughout by the author's clear-sighted view of the contribution of bibliography to science and her wide-rang- ing historical and philosophical erudition. Indeed, Bry's ideas may be said to have grown in interest and relevance now that the flowering of computers has so greatly multiplied bibliographic possibilities with- out contributing the knowledge needed for intelligent choices. Librarians curious to decipher meaning behind our daily tools, and concerned to make them more effec- tive, will value this book. One complaint: The final essay, which is the most comprehensive statement of the concept of sociobibliography, is included only in summary form. A fuller version may be found in Morris Gelfand, ed., Access to Knowledge and Information in the Social Sciences and Humanities (Queens College Press, 1974) .-Thelma Frei.des, Swarth- more College Library, Swarthmore, Penn- sylvania. 0 DR' rom the early Middle Ages, through the Renaissance and Reformation , the Pope Iilli remained the most powerful sovereign in Christendom . In their ' classic works, Ludwig Pastor and Horace Mann record for posterity the lives of the Supreme Pontiffs and illuminate the far reaching impact of the Papacy on the secular world . Pastor 's and Mann 's interpretations of the Papacy also offer an intimate look at the princes, peasants, artists, writers and philosophers who shaped the pre-modern era . Their schol- arship has retained its force through decades of time and remains unsurpassed and un- duplicated today . li§j or church historians , medievalists, students and scholars of the Renaissance g and Reformation , historians ofWestern civilization ... available again , in a limited edition . This 59 volume work is being offered through 1977 at the introductory price of $1,800. After this time the price will be $2,000. To order, or for additional information write: · Consortium f)mks Box 9001 Wilmington, North Carolina 28401 0 o~------------------------------------------~0