College and Research Libraries


tive public library. The commitment of 
the BdF to collect other media, to start an 
aggressive effort to digitize texts and 
manuscripts and to serve as an informa-
tion node for the wider distribution of 
these electronic documents to public 
and university libraries within France 
and to major research libraries abroad, 
led one critic (Jacques Julliard) to ex-
claim that the "BdF would become the 
Disneyland of reading." 

In 1992 Gattegno was asked to leave 
his position, an indication that the direc-
tion of the project was about to change 
significantly after the failure of various 
attempts to compromise (e.g., estab-
lishing separate reading rooms for the 
general public and for researchers). In 
January 1994 Dominique Jamet was also 
replaced. More importantly, the BN and 
the BdF were merged into a single ad-
ministrative entity: the Bibliotheque Na-
tionale de France (BNdF). Emmanuel Le 
Roy Ladurie was appointed president 
of the Conseil Scientifique, an an-
nouncement that will not have come as 
a surprise to Gattegno. In his estimation, 
the dismantlement of a "library of a 
completely new type" to a BN bis had 
been completed.-Kurt De Belder, New 
York University, New York, New York. 

Musmann, Klaus J. Technological Innova-
tions in Libraries, 1860-1960: An An-
ecdotal History. Westport, Conn.: 
Greenwood, 1993. 245p. $55 (ISBN 0-
313-28015-0). 
Librarians assume too easily that to-

day's technological challenges and 
promises represent something new for 
libraries. We look back nostalgically to 
the stability of the library world prior to 
the 1980s (the era of bibliographic utili-
ties, online catalogs, COs, CD-ROM), or 
the 1970s (when circulation systems, on-
line searching, and videocassettes came 
into use), or the 1960s (when LPs and 
early automation were introduced). 
Klaus Musmann reminds us that techno-
logical change is not a phenomenon of 
the past thirty years: he argues that 
changes around the turn of the century 
were quite as revolutionary as anything 
in the present. He cites as examples the 

Book Reviews 271 

impact of cheap, safe artificial light; 
proper ventilation for large library 
spaces; even the standardized 75-by-125 
millimeter catalog card. Musmimn 
points out that librarians have always 
faced technical difficulties, e.g., how to 
disinfect returned books, how to man-
age newspaper collections before micro-
film or how to deal with the "library 
hand" before typewriters were wide-
spread. 

Nor is the feeling that the printed 
book is doomed anything new. In 1918 
Ho~er Croy was convinced that print 
would be replaced by motion pictures. In 
1926 Melvil Dewey had us outgrowing 
books within fifty years. In 1936 Stephen 
Gaselee "expressed some doubts whether 
the book would survive as a popular me-
dium for the diffusion of knowledge dur-
ing an age of broadcasting and television." 
In 1938 Alice Farquhar asserted that radio 
had decreased public library circulation, 
that people could not be expected to read 
books and magazines on current affairs 
when the radio offered "last minute in-
formation fascinatingly presented," and 
asked "Why read a mystery when you 
can get your hair to stand on end, just 
passively listening to 'Lights Out'?" 
Similarly, G. D. Richardson contended in 
1951 that television would entirely re-
place recreational reading. Since the 
1930s librarians have suggested that mi- · 
croform publications would or should 
replace books-and in 1935 Louis 
Hewitt Fox wrote that "the average 
reader prefers the film to the book." 

Musmann begins his book with a dis-
cussion of technological innovations, 
revealing a somewhat downbeat atti-
tude about the significance of libraries: 
surely it is an overstatement that pub-
lic libraries are no longer "an impor-
tant force in the leisure time activities 
of the public-at-large" in many cities and 
towns. Still, the book offers its own 
grounds for optimism. The second chap-
ter, "Librarians in an Age of Technologi-
cal Change," deals not with the present 
but with the period from 1887 through 
1958. If librarians survived that age 
and used technological change to im-
prove library holdings and services, 



- --~--- -- -------------------------------

272 College & Research Libraries 

why should we do less in the next fifty 
years? 

Six chapters deal with varieties of 
technology: the physical environment of 
the library (lighting, ventilation, and the 
spread of disease); streamlining library 
processes (appliances, contrivances, and 
gadgets); photographic processes; new 
communications devices (telephone, 
phonograph, and typewriter); the li-
brary and radio; and motion pictures 
and television. Musmann concludes 
with a chapter on the future of the li-
brary and its technology. 

This book is indeed "an anecdotal his-
tory," much of it derived from library 
periodicals from the century under con-
sideration (186Q-1960). The book is full 
of quotations and comments, footnoted 
to a fare-thee-well. The style is suffi-
ciently informal to be readable, and 
Musmann does a good job of organiz-
ing and commenting on the array of 
sources. While most of the discussions 
lack in-depth statistics to place specific 
anecdotes in context, this weakness is 
almost certainly a realistic reflection of 
the library world's sketchy historical 
record. Do we really know how many 
libraries had in-house radio broad-
casts in 1936-and do we have any 
idea how many libraries currently circu-
late CD-ROMs? 

After reading this book, I have a much 
better sense of the field's technological 
concerns through the century before I 
began to work in libraries. It has been 
clear for some time that ongoing change 
and increasing complexity-the contin-
ued importance of print, but also an array 
of new media and access mechanisms-
are the only plausible future for librar-
ies. This book reminds us that libraries 
have never been the stable, unchanging 
institutions that some people assume, 
and that there have always been com-
mentators looking for a single, simpler 
future that was never in the cards. 

If you are concerned about the future 
of the book and the ability of libraries to 
cope with the onslaught of technology, 
you should read this book. Yes, it is library 
history-but it is history that provides a 
worthwhile perspective on today' s fash-

May1994 

ion for doom-crying and self-doubt 
among librarians.-Walt Crawford, The 
Research Libraries Group, Mountain View, 
California. 

Women, Information Technology and 
Scholarship. Ed. H. Jeanie Taylor, 
Cheris Kramarae, and Maureen Eb-
ben. Urbana, Ill.: Center for Advanced 
Study, 1993. 127p., $10 + $2 shipping 
and handling (ISBN 1-882875-00-1). 
Academic libraries have succumbed 

to a romance, indeed an obsession, with 
technology. Yet how often do we stop to 
contemplate the profound implications 
of this information "revolution"? Do we 
ever pause to ask what should be critical 
questions: "Revolution by and for 
whom"? Do we dare to link this brave 
new library and information world with 
our professed commitment to "diver-
sity" and equity? As we welcome the 
potential of powerful new information 
technologies and the resulting changes 
in the nature of scholarly research and 
practice, we must also pay close atten-
tion to the power relations embedded in 
their development, deployment, and 
use. All the more welcome, then, is this 
volume which tackles head on the pro-
foundly political nature of information 
technologies and the implications for 
university policy. 

In September 1991, at the University 
of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, an inter-
disciplinary group of thirty-three fac-
ulty and academic professionals, 
including five librarians, gathered 
around a common goal to "help insure 
that new communications technologies 
will be structured and used in ways 
beneficial and equitable for all." Women, 
Information Technology, and Scholarship, 
sponsored by the Center for Advanced 
Study, draws from the first year (1991-
92) of their ongoing colloquium. 

Four articles by colloquium partici-
pants or collaborators anchor the vol-
ume, followed by six colloquium digests 
and an extensive bibliography. In the 
first article, Maureen Ebben and Cheris 
Kramarae offer an overview highlight-
ing issues of particular concern for 
women in four key areas: difficulties en-