College and Research Libraries 158 I College & Research Libraries • March 1980 able observation that the exposition of the case for terse communication is itself any- thing but terse. The second half of the book deals not with overlap but with cogency and examines motivations, psychological bases for com- munication, attitudes, beliefs, and the de- sire to persuade as the basis for cogency. The authors point out, quite correctly, that we are persuaded not only by the message but also by the source of the message. This is in many ways an interesting book, but it is frustrating because no clear solution plans are proposed. We are left with gen- eral admonitions such as " the subject of message variables is complex, but we be- lieve a careful study of these factors will pay dividends in increased cogency." Perhaps the authors point to the source of the difficulty in their introduction, by stating that the book itself is an example of the cul- tural lag that they identify as part of the difficulty, and that it could have . been writ- ten thirty-five years ago. This reviewer fears that some form of it may be written again thirty-five years from now. The work contains a useful appendix, ref- erences, and bibliography and appears com- petently researched. It is therefore some- what surprising to find in it a number of un- supported and unattributed statements , in- troduced by " somebody has said" and "it has been said. " The book, makes interesting reading for those of us who worry about the problems in information transfer and read- ing overload, but it offers only general so- lutions to these pervasive concerns. Its ref- erence value is therefore limited.-Herbert S. White , Indiana University, Bloomington. The Osler Library. Montreal: McGill Uni- versity, 1979. 64p. $10 plus $1 postage and handling. ISBN 0-7717-0046-6. (Or- der from: Osler Library, McGill Univer- sity, 3655 Drummond St., Montreal, PQ H3G 1Y6.) On · the occasion of its fiftieth anniversary the Osler Library at McGill University has published a small but elegantly printed and handsomely illustrated book describing the library and giving its history. Just as the Osler Library itself has been an inspiration to many librarians in the United States and Canada, so this book will be something to study and try to emulate in the future. Sir William Osler (1848-1919) had been connected with a number of medical schools, both as student and as teacher. He received his medical degree at McGill, taught there for some time, moved to the University of Pennsylvania, then to the new Johns Hopkins Medical School, and finally was chosen regius professor of medicine at Oxford University. Always, however, McGill remained his first love, and when he died his wide collec- tion of rare books in medicine was found to be bequeathed to that institution-but with the proviso that it ~ should be cataloged be- fore it was dispatched overseas. His nephew William W. Francis, his cousin Archibald Malloch, and R. H. Hill (with the shadowy figure of Leonard Mackall in the back- ground) worked for about eight years on the Bibliotheca Osleriana, the catalog of almost 8,000 volumes that were finally in place in the new quarters erect~d for them a.t McGill in 1928. Together with the collec- tion and its catalog came Francis as curator and honorary librarian, who stayed until his death some thirty years later and who in turn left his books and his name to a new wing of the library. The Bibliotheca Osleriana is arranged as Osler saw the literature of medicine, in eight large groups: prima, secunda, lit- teraria, historica, biographica, bibliographia, incunabula, and manuscripts. Such an idiosyncratic classification is characteristic of Osler, who was interested in the problems of libraries and who had his own ideas about how things should be done. In many cases, however, the reasons for assigning works in one or another category were known only to Osier-though sometimes the annotations (many of which he wrote himself) explain what Osler thought of the work. In any case, the original collection is kept in the order of the Bibliothec.a in the pres- ent Osler Library, much as archives are kept in the order in which they are received in a library even tOday. To browse through the pages of the Bibliotheca, however, is to view the history of medicine and its cognate sciences through the eyes of one who inti- mately knew the importance and worth of each of the iterris and who could bring to ~~~~ ~~~~Ill~~~ ~~~~n~~ BECAUSE REAL ESTATE IS A CONTINUING CONCERN This year- as always- real estate is a major concern for nearly everyone whether it's in the form of housing or investment. That makes real estate appraisal a continuing concern whenever real property is ORDER FORM taxed, insured, bought or sold. The American Institute of Real Estate Appraisers, the oldest organization of professional appraisers and the only one· affiliated with the National Association of Realtors, has for nearly fifty years been the authoritative voice in valuation procedure and techniques. Pioneering in appraisal education, it has published its professional quarterly, "The Appraisal Journal," for most of those years. Containing carefully researched and documented articles on current practice, it is written and read by the experts in. real estate and related fields. As a reference, it presents a comprehensive picture of appraising over nearly half a century. Annual subscription: $15 To supplement "The Appraisal Journal," AI REA also publishes "The Appraiser"- a monthly 12-page news bulletin covering real estate related happenings and trends. Annual subscription: $7.50 INTRODUCTORY SUBSCRIPTION RATE for both "The Appraisal Journal" and "The Appraiser": $20 Send for a free sample copy on both. Send to : AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF REAL ESTATE APPRAISERS 430 N. Michigan Ave. , Chicago, IL 60611 Please enter my subscription for : Please send a free copy of : 0 "The Appraisal Joumal" & "The Appraiser"- $20 0 "The Appraisal Joumal " & "The Appraiser" 0 "The Appraisal Joumal" only- $15 0 AI REA Publication Catalog (Add $1 for foreign subscriptions) 0 "What to Look For in an Appraisal " 0 "The Appraiser" only- $7.50 0 Payment is enclosed 0 Please bill me _::ress ______ IJI) ~ C_i-'-ty,_S_ta_te_, --'Zip ___________________ " e "'""' ~ Name ~------------------------------------------------------------- 160 I College & Research Libraries • March 1980 the collecting process the knowledge of the field that few . specialists in books itself have. Osler comes through the pages as a nineteenth-century Renaissance man not likely to be seen again, what with changes in costs and the dimension of time for active practitioners in any field. As many other libraries have found out, the example of the donation of one person's collection leads to donations by others. The Osler Library is thus more than just Osler's collection: besides the Francis library, al- ready mentioned, it has been ~iven all the papers used by Cushing in writing his fa- mous Life of Sir William Osler; a large col- lection of Sinhalese medical olas and books on ophthalmology by Dr. Casey Wood; the Frank Dawson Adams collection in the his- tory of science and medicine; engravings and portraits from the Kalz collection formed in Czechoslovakia in the nineteenth century; other forms of pictures in the great collection of the cancer expert, Dr. John Howell Evans; manuscripts (including the famous poem "In Flanders Fields") by the Montreal General Hospital pathologist Dr. John McCrae; as well as all the books in the McGill University Medical Library pub- lished before 1850. The Osler Library has become the focus of material on Norman Bethune, who did such outstanding work in China both before and during the Mao Tse- tung revolution. To help keep up the li- brary, the Friends of the Osler Library have been constituted, and their contributions are a small steady source of annual funds. The Osler Library is described on the cover as "a pictorial tour with stories about manuscripts, books, and people involved in the Library's growth." No author is given, but whoever was responsible for the grace- ful prose and the magnificent illustrations should be encouraged to do the same thing for other libraries elsewhere. At $10 a copy, the book is a delightful bargain.-Estelle Brodman, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri. Bahr, Alice Harrison. Automated Library Circulation Systems, 1979-80. 2d ed. Professional Librarian Series. White Plains, N.Y.: Knowledge Industry Publi- AMBASSADOR BOOK SERVICE, INC. ; AMBASSADOR BOOK SERVICE, INC. "serving academic and research libraries" 42 Chasner Street • Hempstead, NY 11550 Call us 516/489-4011 collect!