College and Research Libraries Recent Publications BOOK REVIEWS Libraries and the Learning Society: Papers in Response to A Nation at Risk. Chi- cago, Ill.: American Library Assn., 1984. 151p. $9. LC 84-11163 . ISBN 0- 8389-3313-0. The five papers included in the work un- der review here constitute the first step in the response to the failure of the commis- sion responsible for A Nation at Risk to ac- knowledge adequately the role of libraries in the educational program of our coun- try. In addition to this title, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education but is- sued by the ALA, the Department of Edu- cation has also published Alliance for Excel- lence: Librarians Respond to A Nation at Risk (64p.), which contains thirteen recom- mendations for action on the part of librar- ians, parents, educators, and citizens, by which "Libraries, newly organized, freshly chartered, can become centers of the learning society.'' This publication is now out of print at the Government Print- ing Office but has been reprinted and is being distributed through the good offices of World Book Inc. In addition, ALA has published Realities: Educational Reform in a Learning Society, a statement by ALA's Task Force on Excellence in Education (13p. single copy, free; 2-10, 50¢ each; 11-99 copies, 30¢ each). The latter publica- tion is intended to be used as a basis for study and discussion by groups of citizens and others concerned. With these re- sources, 1985 is obviously the "Year of Dissemination'' for libraries and the learn- ing society. Libraries and the Learning Society presents analyses by five leaders of the profession that were used as the basis of five semi- nars held at the invitation of the U.S. De- partment of Education in as many locali- ties around the country during the months of January through March 1984. Readers of this journal may be most in- terested in Richard Dougherty's thought- ful analysis, "Stemming the Tide of Medi- ocrity: The Academic Library Response.'' He provides a survey of the seminal stud- ies on use of academic libraries whose "lessons and recommendations have gone largely unheeded." Patricia Knapp, Louis Shores, and E. J. Josey are among those whose work he cites. Dougherty's major recommendation for improving the impact of academic libraries is one that has been urged for years, one might almost say for generations: "There should be a logical progression in the teaching of li- brary strategies beginning with primary schools, and continuing steadily through college." Among problems that must be met by academic libraries, Dougherty cites the need for more effective programs for educationally disadvantaged students and recognition of the need to involve li- brarians more actively in the educational role of institutions of higher education, which he says is not "just a matter of sta- tus but also a matter of turf and roles." He notes especially the need for state agen- cies and tenure and promotion commit- tees to be willing to alter academic reward systems. It is no criticism of this author's work to say that his paper has little in it new or original; rather it is a further evi- dence of organizational resistance to change in academic institutions. Douglas L. Zweizig, in his paper "Pub- lic Libraries and Excellence: The Public Li- brary Response to A Nation at Risk," em- phasizes throughout the importance of 361 362 College & Research Libraries the public library's role in eradicating adult functional illiteracy, although he points out at the same time that "public li- braries themselves have yet to play a ma- jor role in the achievement of adult liter- acy." Zweizig is concerned also with the continuing constriction in economic sup- port for public libraries and notes the growing tendency in public libraries to eliminate young adult services. He elabo- rates on the increasing sameness of avail- able information and, as a result, the obli- gation of the public library to enhance the diversity of information available to the general public. His emphasis on this in- creasing sameness is of particular interest but contrasts with the fact that the amount of information has tripled in the number of titles published annually in the past twenty years. His recommendations in- clude several mentioned in other papers: diversification of content, longer hours, joint planning with community schools for the information requirements of stu- dents, and more active planning between teachers and librarians. Zweizig's discus- sion of the public library's role in planning points up, as Dougherty did, the need for cooperation and coordination of programs and services between school, academic, and public libraries. Peggy Sullivan's paper, "Libraries and the Learning Society: Relationships and Linkages among Libraries," brings out a number of points already mentioned. In discussing the role of library instruction, she claims that "School and public li- braries probably do their most effective job in this area at the elementary level." Access to computers, the function of li- braries to serve as bridges to the English language for new residents in the U.S., and the formation of library networks to . provide better service are among the spe- cial points she makes. She notes, how- ever, that "school libraries are tradition- ally the last type of library to be included in any multi-type cooperative (although there are some indications, as in New Jer- sey and New York, that this condition is changing)." Sullivan makes special men- tion of the fact that two stereotypes still ex- ist and continue to delay the incorporation of school libraries into networks: the no- July 1985 tions that all ''school library collections are alike so they won't have much to offer, and school libraries are self-sufficient be- cause of the limited demands made upon them." Sullivan, like other authors in this series, promotes the role of library educa- tion in providing leadership in developing the function of libraries in a learning soci- ety. In discussing the role of library schools in higher education, she points out that library schools are ''lacking in the numbers and clout that would make their institutional integrity clearer and their ex- istence more secure.'' She questions the wisdom of returning school library educa- tion programs for housing exclusively in schools of education. This is one of the many recommenda- tions made. by Jane Hannigan in her wordy and discursive paper, "Vision to Purpose to Power: A Quest for Excellence in the Education of Library and Informa- tion Science Professionals.'' In discussing a "Specialty Scenario: School Library Me- dia Education," Hannigan states forth- rightly, "I would move all educational re- sponsibility for this profession to schools of education,'' basing her argument on the assumption that II school library media specialists are properly a part of schooling and their allegiance should be primarily in education." Other aspects of library edu- cation discussed by Hannigan include the need for curriculum planning, increased faculty productivity, and continuing edu- cation for faculty members, as well as deans! The paper by James Liessner on "School Library Media Programs in an Information World'' is based on a thorough exposition of the research that has been-done in this field in recent years and emphasizes (like Dougherty and Z weizig) the need in both teaching and testing for library instruction programs to concentrate on higher levels of skills as well as on basic skills. His dis- cussion of the role of information use and users in school media centers and its rela- tion to the reference function in schools, leads to his assertion that "School library media programs need to be brought into the main stream of library information ac- tivity.'' He believes that all professional education should be moved to the gradu- ACQUISITION PERSPECTIVES 6. Book House is in its fourth gen- eration of automation . Our custom software allows us the flexibility to accept orders generated through your computerized system or in the mail. Our policy is to develop a working compatibility with the automated sys- tem in your library to facilitate receiv- ing orders, transmitting open order re- ports and invoices electronically. Let's explore interfacing your auto- mation with ours. CALL TOLL-FREE TODAY 1-800-248-1146 In Canada & Michigan CALL COLLECT (517) 849-2117 OCLC Vendor No. 17397 SAN 169-3859 the BSOK H IJSE JOBBERS SERVING UBRARIES WITH ANY BOOK IN PRINT SINCE 1912 208 WEST CHICAGO STREET JONESVILLE, MICHIGAN 49250 364 College & Research Libraries ate level and that the ''discipline of the li- brary media specialist is the discipline of any library and information specialist ex- cept that the particular application is in this case in the school. II The question of library education for school media specialists seems to this re- viewer to be the most important, and ap- parently the most controversial, discussed in these five papers, with Hannigan opt- ing for putting the school librarians in schools of education and Sullivan, but particularly Liessner, coming down strongly for graduate level professional education as a part of the library and infor- mation specialist program. This reviewer is strongly in favor of Liessner' s stand. Here is where the customers are, and, as in the past, this is where the leaders in the school library field have been and should be educated. These five papers present a variety of as- sessments of librarianship today and an equal variety of recommendations for the achievement of excellence in the learning society. We owe a special debt no.t only to the authors of these papers but also to the staff of the Center for Libraries and Educa- tionimprovementin the U.S. Department of Education, as well as to the ALA and its Task Force on Excellence in Education. The three publications that have been pro- duced provide a wealth of opinion and data for use as a basis of discussion. But they will be worth the effort that has been put into them only if the profession takes action to correct the problems and meets the challenges that have thus been high- lighted. As Norman Stevens wrote in the Wilson Library Bulletin (Nov. 1984, p.221): ''The material should be of substantial benefit in awakening our consciousness and in teaching us how to present our views to others in a forthright fashion. II- Mary V. Gaver, Past President, ALA, and Professor Emeritus, Rutgers the State Univer- sity of New Jersey. Abstracting and Indexing Services in Per- spective, Miles Conrad Memorial Lec- tures. Ed. by M. Lynne Neufeld, Martha Cornog, and Inez L. Sperr. Arlington, Va.: Information Resources Pr., 1983. July 1985 312p. $27.50. LC 82-084484. ISBN 0- 87815-043-9. "Americans of all ages, all conditions, and all dispositions, constantly form asso- ciations. They have not only commercial and manufacturing companies . . . but as- sociations of a thousand other kinds .... The Americans make associations to give entertainments, to found seminaries, to build inns, to construct churches, to dif- fuse books, to send missionaries to the an- tipodes .... If it be proposed to inculcate some truth, or to foster some feeling by the encouragement of a great example, they form a society. Wherever, at the head of some new undertaking, you see the government in France, or a man of rank in England, in the United States you will be sure to find an association,'' observed Alexis de Tocqueville (Democracy in Amer- ica, Book II, chapter 29). Tocqueville' s observation is as true to- day as it was in 1835. Responding to the shock of the surprise Soviet launching of Sputnik and to the increased awareness of the value of bibliographic control over sci- entific and technical research, representa- tives of fourteen American indexing and abstracting services met to establish a fed - eration in 1958. They intended to cooper- ate in order to resolve inadequacies in the coverage of scientific literature, to explore applications of mechanization, and to seek joint solutions to other problems. This collection of essays commemorates the twenty-fifth anniversary of the found- ing of the National Federation of Abstract- ing and Information Services (formerly the National Federation of Science Ab- stracting and Indexing Services). The three parts of this volume are (1) papers detailing the history of the federation writ- ten by current and past officers, (2) brief personal statements by past presidents and executive directors of NFAIS on the silver anniversary of the organization, and (3) the fifteen Miles Conrad lectures. Miles Conrad (1911-64) was director of Biological Abstracts and a founder and first president of NFAIS. Since 1968, an expert in index- ing, abstracting, or information service has been invited to address the annual meeting to honor Conrad. These lectures