College and Research Libraries 360 I College & Research Libraries • July 1980 systems (UN, FAO, UNESCO, GATT, etc.). Sales catalogs, indexes, and bibliog- raphies are compared according to cover- age, access points, and a myriad of biblio- graphic details, and a small number of such elements are found to be held in common. The work is peppered with eighteen com- plex tables showing these relationships. Introductory sections discuss the patterns of documentation of intergovernmental organization and review the history of and the problems in bibliographic control of such documentation, including a detailing of off-again/on-again semisuccessful cooperative efforts among the various agencies. Prob- lems of availability are recognized briefly as well. Each agency included in the study is briefly reviewed, with mention of its his- tory, purpose, organization, membership, budget, programs, library, and a few impor- tant serial publications. The work concludes with a summation and outlook for the fu- ture, with mention of current work the United Nations is doing in this field. THE FOUR BIBLIOGRAPHIC UTILITIES: A Comparison by Joseph R. Matthews A 97-page report with 77 pages of appendices which include copies of the current contracts and price lists. In Library Technology Reports November/December 1979 Volume 15 Number 6 Single issue price $40.00 Library Technology Reports American Library Association 50 East Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611 The study was quite an enormous under- taking, considering the vast number and type of organizations, personnel, languages, documents, bibliographical tools, and data elements with which she was working. Marulli' s research method included exten- sive preliminary research, a twenty-seven page questionnaire completed as much as possible in advance by herself, and 100 per- cent follow-up interviews. It is unfortunate that the original ques- tionnaire, though lengthy, did not appear in the published study (photoreduction should have been possible). Numerous references led this reviewer to search in vain for it; in- clusions would have aided comprehension in some areas. The author's other sources of information (lists of bibliographical tools analyzed [appended to chapter 3], sources used in compiling the list of elements of bibliographic description [chapter 5], and standards and guidelines consulted [chapter 6]) are included, as are various footnotes and bibliographies. The text is generally packed with in- teresting and useful information readily available only to an individual working in the United Nations system. Unfortunately, much of this information, including the above-mentioned lists of sources, is not readily retrievable despite a detailed table of contents, list of tables, and index. The material would be much more generally useful were the indexing improved. As presently formatted, this volume would primarily be of importance to major library science collections as a well- researched, first-of-its-kind study, and only secondarily to international documents col- lections.-Carolyn W. Kohler, University of Iowa, Iowa City. Recurring Library Issues: A Reader. Edited by Caroline M. Coughlin. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow, 1979. 521p. $17.50. LC 79-14966. ISBN 0-8108-1227-4. This anthology of forty selections from writings on libraries and for librarians cov- ers a forty-two year time span, although at least three-fourths were first published in the past decade. It is designed primarily to be a classroom text on the philosophy and sociology of librarianship, providing "a framework for future reading and discus- sion." A student introduction carefully de- lineates its commitment to continuing education. A faculty introduction justifies the use of a preselected and, to some de- gree predigested, set of readings while giv- ing the geographical and chronological pa- rameters of its coverage. The work of selec- tion was partially supported by a grant from the Hollowell Research Fund of the Sim- mons College School of Library Science. Seven specific "issues" are addressed. Each is covered in three to eight extracts from previously published writings, and prefaced by a half-dozen or so paragraphs of editorial comment. Only one paper was written originally for this volume. Issue I, the United States library environ- ment, is explored in terms of the excite- ment and rewards of historical research, and the problems of defining the intellectual basis of professional expertise. The readings for Issue II, government re- lations, examine past trends toward various levels of government funding for various types of libraries, together with a strong plea for an integrated national library plan. The Issue III, management goals and · standards, readings are selected to show the values, uses, and pitfalls of formal state- mentS\.of standards and plans. The ACRL Standards for College Libraries are in- cluded in toto as a kind of paradigm for dis- cussion and criticism. Selections for Issue IV, creative library service, probe the sources of, and reactions to, recent experiments in people-oriented library programs. Those for Issue V, human resources, ask, and try to answer, questions concerning the librarian's public visibility vis-a-vis his or her self-image. Issue VI, philosophical questions, grap- ples with problems of professional and social responsibility, intellectual freedom, and the content of library education. The final Issue VII, changing boundaries of librarianship, ranges from Vannevar Bush's rather technical World War II pre- dictions of the future course of information retrieval to Karl Nyren's mid-1970s iden- tification of libraries as "low energy proces- ses" to which "society will never devote more than a minor fraction of its resources." Nyren suggests that public ' libraries, which Recent Publications I 361 spend high budget percentages on person- nel and upkeep, may come eventually to follow the academic and research library emphasis on collecting informational mate- rials. While his forecasts are sober, they are by no means despairing. This anthology is supplemented by a list of acknowledgments to the original publica- tion sources, with biographical notes on contributors included. There is no index. A two-page annotated list of books, and another of serials, for further reading com- pletes the contents. While the articles un- deniably contain some discussions directed specifically to the academic milieu, their overall focus lies on the public library, for which the problems of justification and so- cial role are unavoidably more acute, being less structured by the nature and immediate needs of the community served.-]eanne Osbo_rn, University of Iowa, Iowa City. Ehresmann, Donald L. Fine Arts: A Bib- liographic Guide to Basic Works, Histor- ies, and Handbooks. 2d ed. Littleton, Colo.: Libraries Unlimited, 1979. 349p. · The Economics of 0 nline Bibliographic Searching: Costs and Cost Justifications by William Saffady Describes the services currently available and what it takes in terms of equipment, personnel, and training for a library search service to become operational. Saffady's unique contribution is an economic analysis of the various options, including cost comparisons between manual and machine-assisted searching. In Library Technology Reports September/October 1979 issue Volume 15 Number 5 Single issue price $40.00 Library Technology Reports American Library Association 50 East Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611