College and Research Libraries


508 I College & Research Libraries • November 1978 

conducted by ARL and ACRL. The analysts 
settled on one method of gathering data, by 
position level, and then could not use exist-
ing data. 

Throughout the report, data are dismissed 
as being irrelevant for one reason or 
another. Again anq again, the key issues 
were dismissed, such as sexual discrimina-
tion, because of the difficulties the analysts 
had in dealing with the issues. The techni-
cal advisory committee, which did include 
librarians, met for the first time four months 
prior to the deadline for the report, and 
drafts of the report were issued to them just 
four d~ys before the committee's final meet-
ing. Therefore, one assumes that the librar-
ians were unable to enlighten the authors. 

The report concludes that even though 
California community college librarians earn 
20 percent more than librarians in the 
four-year institutions, the salaries are 
adequate to draw qualified candidates, and, 
after all, there is a surplus of librarians in 
California. A major oversight in the report 
was in not addressing the effect uc· s and 
CSUC' s low salaries have had on affirmative 
action. These institutions have not been 
able to draw minority candidates the way 
the community colleges have. 

The problem with a report such as this, 
which was prepared by those who do not 
understand librarianship, is that it is read 
by others who do not understand it but who 
are reading the report ostensibly to gain 
understanding. The report's damage is al-
ready done. One could spend hours point-
ing out the errors, inconsistencies, and 
prejudices in this report, but all this defen-
siveness will not lead to greater understand-
ing. It is important for California librarians, 
and indeed all librarians in higher educa-
tion, to prepare reports that clearly and fac-
tually address the issue of adequate com-
pensation for the responsibilities we assume 
and the services we provide.-Janice ]. 
Powell, University of Maryland at College 
Park. 

New, Peter G. Education for Librarianship: 
Decisions in Organising a System of Pro-
fessional Education. With specialist con-
tributions from D. W. Langridge, C. D. 
Needham, B. L. Redfern. London: Clive 
Bingley; Hamden, Conn.: Linnet Books, 

1978. 174p. $10. LC 77-19198. ISBN 
0-85157-250-2 [Bingley]; 0-208-01548-5 
[Linnet] ~ 

This rather brief introduction to library 
education, presented from a distinctly 
British perspective, makes no pretense of 
offering a balanced review of the field. Its 
174 pages include primarily the personal 
advice and comments of Peter New (cited 
on the dust jacket as "senior member of the 
staff of the Polytechnic of North London 
School of Librarianship"), along with three 
specialized chapters on the organization of 
knowledge, bibliography, and management 
submitted, respectively, by D. W. Lang-
ridge, C. D. Needham, and B. L. Redfern. 

New provides relatively little in the way 
of historical review of the growth of library 
education. His approach is mainly didactic 
and anecdotal, thereby lending the work a 
certain charm as the expression of a clearly 
dedicated teacher, albeit one who might 
seem to American students just a bit old-
fashioned. No documentation, other than 
personal experience and logical argument, 
appears in any of New's writing. The only 
bibliographic citations in the book are those 
provided by Needham. (It does seem ap-
propriate that someone writing on bibli-
ography as a "core subject" should include a 
bibliography, but Needham's full documen-
tation also serves to highlight the absence of 
such material from the rest of the contribu-
tions.) 

The book begins with a fairly detailed 
section about the advantages and disadvan-
tages of taking one's library education at 
home versus going abroad for it. While this 
chapter might initially seem of little value to 
Americans, it contains useful insights into 
the problems of the foreign student that 
may be more easily overlooked in the 
United States, where students from other 
countries are in the distinct minority on 
most campuses. 

New also attempts to treat some of the 
basic questions in library education such as 
the level at which it should be begun, 
whether the same institutions should offer 
training for library technical assistants along 
with the education of professionals, and the 
degree of reliance upon part-time faculty 
fresh from practice versus use of full-time 
academicians. 



A particularly interesting aspect of the 
work is the description of the relatively in-
dependent library schools that have 
emerged in the United Kingdom. This 
model, probably thanks to the 1923 
Williamson study, is not found in America; 
but there are some aspects of the independ-
ent school that merit attention and maybe 
even envy. 

Of the other contributors, only Redfern 
espouses a truly contemporary approach to 
an analysis of the philosophy of teaching 
librarianship. Earlier, however, New has 
warned the reader that he disagrees with 
Redfern, preferring to improve upon the 
basic lecture techniques of the past rather 
than move into new, less controllable meth-
odologies. 

Taken as a whole, the book can be 
characterized as easy reading, undergirded 
by good common sense and the wisdom that 
comes with reflection on experience. There 
is no support in it, however, for student-
controlled learning or faculty participation 
in the administration of library education. 
The point of view is mainly a conservative 
one which American students would proba-
bly consign to the category of "old boyism." 
Still, it is good to read such opinions, if only 
to force oneself to think through the reasons 
for disagreeing with them. -Doralyn ]. 
Hickey, North Texas State University, 
Denton. 

Katz, William A. Introduction to Reference 
Work. 3d ed. Volume I: Basic Informa-
tion Sources. Volume II: Reference 
Services and Reference Processes. 
McGraw-Hill Series in Library Educa-
tion. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1978. 2v. 
V.I, $13.95. V.II, $12.95. LC 77-12539. 
ISBN 0-07-033331-9 (V.I); 0-07-033332-7 
(V. II). 
Many authors are understandably reluc-

tant to tamper with a successful book by 
making major revisions in ne~ editions. 
William Katz is not. The first edition of his 
two-volume Introduction to Reference 
Work, published in 1969, quickly became a 
standard text. The second edition featured 
massive revisions. Indeed, even the purpose 
of the second edition differed. From a con-
cern with the "principles, practices, and 
methods of efficient reference service," as 

Recent Publications I 509 

stated in the first edition, the intent of the 
second was broadened: "an overview ... of 
the possibilities which the mastery of the 
essentials makes possible." 

While the intent of this latest edition re-
mains the same as that of its predecessor, 
the content has o'nce again undergone con-
siderable revision. The nature and extent of 
the revisions are of interest because these 
revisions allow us to watch the evolution of 
Katz' ideas about the fundamental questions 
facing reference librarians. Katz' changes in 
perception are also illuminated by the 
sources he cites and by the "Suggested 
Readings" that follow each chapter. Many 
of these are as current as midyear 1977. 
Added emphasis on computer-assisted ref-
erence work and a greater concern with 
evaluation and measurement of reference 
services are representative ex~mples of what 
Katz sees as evolving issues of fundamental 
concern. 

The third edition of Introduction to Ref-
erence Work is organized in the same way 
as its predecessors. Volume I, Basic Infor-
mation Sources, is a guide, arranged by 
form, i.e., bibliographies, indexes, etc. 
Here, currency is of great importance and 
Katz has included titles (Filby's American 
and British Genealogy and Heraldry, 2d 
ed., for example) received for review in RQ 
in only the last twelve months. The evalua-
tive comments on reference tools are suc-
cinct, informative, and laudably readable. 
Even the most skilled and knowledgeable 
reference librarians will be reminded of im-
portant features of standard tools by reading 
Katz. As in the second edition, prices of ti-
tles discussed are included to facilitate com-
parison and evaluation. 

Volume II, Reference Services and Refer-
ence Processes, will likely succeed the sec-
ond edition of the same work as the 
standard text for introductory reference 
courses. At a minimum, the consideration of 
the reference interview and the search 
process ought to be required reading. The 
balance struck between theory and practice 
here is just right. While acknowledging the 
importance of kinesics, or body language, in 
the interaction between patron and librar-
ian, he none too gently cautions against the 
studies that daim "it is possible for the li-
brarian to interpret every gesture, twitch,