College and Research Libraries


.. 
and practicing librarian or information 
specialist.-Audrey N. Grosch, University 
of Minnesota, Minneapolis. 

Dewey, Melvil. Melvil Dewey: His Endur-
ing Presence in Librarianship. Edited by 
Sarah K. Vann. The Heritage of Librar-
ianship Series, no.4. Littleton, Colo.: Li-
braries Unlimited, 1978. 278p. $17.50 
U.S. and Canada; $21 elsewhere. LC 77-
21852. ISBN 0-87287-134-7. 
Here is another worthwhile contribution 

to a growing body of works by and about 
the bearer of the best-known name in 
American library history. From Grosvenor 
Dawe' s official eulogy, published under the 
Lake Placid Club imprint the year after 
Melvil Dewey's death, to this latest compi-
lation, biographers have given as much at-
tention to revealing the man through his 
writings as through their own narratives. 
Small wonder, for while the bulk of Dew-
ey's publication during his lifetime is sub-
stantial, that of his unpublished correspon-
dence, notes, and diaries is even greater 
and harder to access because of its disper-
sion and difficult shorthand. 

The editors of this work, and of the series 
to which it belongs, disclaim having pro-
duced the definitive study "so badly 
needed." Yet Sarah Vann researched an im-
pressive list of sources to give us a concise 
biography, a useful selection from Dewey's 
library writings, and a nearly definitive 
chronological bibliography. She mentions, 
but does not attempt to document, such 
other enthusiasms as simplified spelling, the 
metric system, and the Lake Placid Club. 

This biobibliography adds nothing star-
tling to our general acquaintance with a 
nineteenth-century titan. Ardent, industri-
ous, high-principled, optimistic, hyperac-
tive, and opinionated, Dewey deliberately 
chose librarianship as his primary sphere of 
action. He was not merely a joiner but also 
a founder of lyceums, societies, and clubs. 
He planned, organized, and administered at 
every opportunity, attracting loyal support-
ers and antagonizing other strong-willed as-
sociates throughout his long career. He was 
more an activist than a contemplative 
scholar or researcher. His writings tend 
toward exhortation, bolstered by fairly ab-
solutist pronouncements based on shrewd 

Recent Publications I 377 

practical observation. Yet through the famil-
iar idiosyncrasies of his nature and his 
milieu emerges a picture of a genial, just, 
dedicated, and effective man. 

Following a short but revealing biography 
in part I, part II, which forms the bulk of 
the volume, groups selected professional 
papers of Dewey into fourteen subtopics, 
each prefaced by a brief critical commen-
tary. They cover his views on the American 
Library Association, women in librarianship, 
education for librarianship, library coopera-
tion, cataloging and classification, the Li-
brary of Congress, public and academic li-
braries, and glances toward the future and 
the past. The bibliography in part III first 
identifies extant Dewey manuscript collec-
tions. It next cites in chronological order his 
editorial achievements and his library-
related publications. Finally it gives a useful 
survey of works about the man. The book 
closes with a general index. 

Few readers will proceed straight through 
this book from cover to cover. It is more a 
source for reference and browsing. Its chief 
impact will be to remind us how little in li-
brary theory and practice is new. Terminol-
ogy and modes of expression alter, but the 
issues are perennial, resulting in solutions 
that frequently become cyclic. That is, the 
issues transcend our temporal solutions. 
They must be faced and "solved" by each 
new generation. Historical perspective be-
comes, then, not an excuse for skepticism or 
irresponsibility, but an opportunity to learn 
from the experience of the past. Melvil 
Dewey packed into his eighty years a great 
deal of observation and common sense that 
can inform and guide us today.-] eanne 
Osborn, The University of Iowa, Iowa City. 

"Libraries and Society: Research and 
Thought." Phyllis Dain and Margaret F. 
Stieg, issue editors. Library Trends 
27:221-417 (Winter 1979). $5. ISSN 
0024-2594. (Available from: Univ. of Illi-
nois Pr., Urbana, IL 61801.) 
The need for librarians to study their re-

lationship to society in these changing times 
is of prime importance. The library's role in 
our sociocultural milieu is dependent on 
varied circumstances, technological ad-
vances, changing human thought and be-
havior, to name but a few factors. This issue