College and Research Libraries 586 I College & Research Libraries • November 1981 cational approach. One gathers that prior to World War II, U.K. university libraries were well-selected, carefully targeted research col- lections primarily for use by faculty scholars. Afterwards, with the expansion of enroll- ments and the emergence of new universities, librarians had to pay more attention to un- dergraduates. Thanks to the University Grants system, there was a brief period of expansion in the sixties. However, like U.S. librarians, the U.K. librarians had to con- tend with declining financial resources in the seventies and the future seems unpromising. Nonetheless, as the editor notes, the best evi- dence that university libraries will maintain the advances made in the last few decades may well be "the record of their achieve- ments in the face of past adversity." Perhaps the reviewer should end on that optimistic note. In concluding, he does sug- gest that this is a very good book for those pondering the future of university library de- velopment in both the U.S. and the U.K. If read along with Arthur Hamlin's recent book, The University Library in the United States, this book might provide a better per- spective not only on where we've been but on where we might be going.-Edward G. Hol- ley, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Coburn, Louis. Classroom and Field: The In- ternship in American Library Education. Queens College Studies in Librarianship, no.3. Flushing, N.Y.: Queens College of the City University of N.Y., 1980. 77p. $7.50, paper. LC 80-25608. ISBN 0- 930146-14-X. ISSN 0146-8677. In his introduction to Classroom and Field: The Internship in American Library Education, Dr. Louis Coburn, a professor of library science at Queens College, states that his purpose in writing the volume was to pro- vide impetus to a reappraisal of the intern- ship process in library education. Since so many schools have introduced or reintro- duced the internship into their programs and increasing numbers of educators and librar- ians are involved, the material presented should be of interest to a larger audience than library school faculty. The first chapter of this slim volume gives an overview of internships and field experi- ence from the time of Dewey (who, as is well known, advocated a system of apprentice- ships) to survey studies of the mid-seventies. It is a succinct, well-documented account of the research, literature, and personal opin- ions of librarians and educators on where field experience belongs in the curriculum, and would make a good starting point for learning or refreshing one's memory on the topic. The main part of the work is devoted to a study of the present status of the internship in the accredited library schools. The data are based primarily on the results of a question- naire which Coburn sent to the schools in De- cember 1977. Additional information was found in the official bulletins of the schools. Of the sixty-three schools queried, thirteen indicated that no formal internships were of- fered. Five of the thirteen, however, were · Canadian schools with two-year programs which generally expect students to acquire experience on their own sometime before graduation. In addition to the text, tables and charts show details on various aspects of the internship programs such as amount of credit offered, hours of service required, whether remuneration is expected or al- lowed, grading practices, and the evaluation process. Since Coburn's major interest was in t4e evaluation, all of chapter III is devoted to this topic. Rating scales and other types of evaluation forms both for supervisors and for students are discussed. Also considered is the thorny question of students' rights with re- gard to the disposition of such records. In the fourth chapter the author presents a case study of the internship program at Queens Coflege from its inception in 1973 to the time of writing. Details are given on where the students interned, the types of evaluations used, how the students were rated, the term paper requirement, and the students' evaluation of their experience. The final chapter, followed by an extensive bibli- ography, summarizes the findings and makes some specific recommendations based on them. The work is well written in a straightfor- ward style and should be helpful. both to fac- ulty and library supervisors. The many refer- ences both in the notes and the bibliography will direct the reader to other studies for fur- ther information. Its main drawback, how- ever, is that it is based on data gathered in 1977-78 and schools have undoubtedly made changes since then. Also, the study seems to be based on some assumptions that may not be valid: that all interns are working in li- braries (many are in other types of informa- tion agencies); that interns generally follow a pattern of varied experiences such as rotation among departments (a fair number now in- tern only in government documents, special collections, or some other specialized area), and finally that information gleaned from questionnaires and bulletins reflects an accu- rate picture (bulletins are often out-of-date as soon as they are published because of the va- garies of the printing process in many institu- tions, and questionnaires are sometimes an- swered by harried library school admin- istrators who answer the questions the way they believe things to be without checking with the people involved). For these reasons and because of the many variables inherent in any internship program, a series of case studies such as the one presented on the Queens College program might be more helpful than an overview of all the programs. Recent Publications I 581 Nonetheless, the present study is worth read- ing, especially for those newly involved in internship programs.-Lucille Whalen, State University of New York at Albany. Essays from the New England Academic Li- brarians' Writing Seminar. Edited by Nor- man D. Stevens. Metuchen, N.J.: Scare- crow, 1980. 230p. $12.50. LC 80-21502. ISBN 0-8108-1365-3. Why don't librarians write well? How can they improve their writing skills? These ques- tions intrigued University of Connecticut li- brarian Norman D. Stevens. Stevens, himself a writer with numerous publications to his credit, reasoned that a setting promoting pro- fessional growth and interchange would prove ideal for a writing seminar. He had known such an environment while serving on the executive committee of the New England library cooperative (NELINET), and he felt that in a similar setting a small group of li- brarians could work together to improve their writing. A grant from the Council on Library Re- Only The superior serials management system F. that evolves with your changing needs. Get the complete story on LINX. There's no competition! On 0 OATALINX for direct access to computerized Faxon data bases and files. uld 0 LINX SC-10 for on-line check-in CO and claiming. 0 LINX for instantaneous elec- tronic messages and comprehensive, Mail coupon to: Faxon 15 Southwest Park Westwood, Massachusetts 02090 USA Tel: 800-225-6055 (toll-free) 617-329-3350 (collect in Mass. and Canada) ha' ~e on-line training. (...1,, ~ r--------------, ~1h d Name I creme II =:::ry/Information Center II ~~~~~~i7l; Address I LIN}\ _j ~ ~:::phone ( Su