College and Research Libraries marks, scattered passim, on copyright and electronic publishing. For the academic librarian, the strength of Graham's essays lies in the insight they offer into the rationales and practices that govern management of the publishing business. He approaches these subjects with a mixture of frankness, informality, and sagacity that pushes the reader in in- teresting directions. Still, As I Was Saying fails to lead beyond observations miscel- laneously presented, and Graham ne- glects to link his ideas with arguments capable of clarifying and deepening our understanding of the dynamics of contem- porary publishing.-Henry Lowood, Stan- ford University, Stanford, California. Vickery, Brian C., and Alina Vickery. Information Science in Theory and Prac- tice. 2d ed. New York: Bowker-Saur, 1992. 387p. $95 (ISBN 0-408-10684-0). Despite the promise of the title, this volume is concerned with a broad treat- ment of the essential scientific aspects of information science rather than its prac- tice per se. In their preface the authors call it 11 an attempt to present and discuss a scientific understanding of the proc- esses of information transfer ... [as] a human, social activity .... "As such, it covers a wide range of topics in informa- tion science, but in the context of estab- lished research and not contemporary practice. Its ten chapters deal with three broad categories: information transfer in the wider societal context, information and the individual, and the nature of information systems. Rather than inte- grating disparate studies from fields such as anthropology, psychology, and computer science, the authors focus on more applied aspects of these fields in the formal study of information. This book can rightly claim to be a II core" text on information science as a distinct dis- cipline, not an integration of informa- tion science with these disciplines. Specifically, the authors address the nature of information from the funda- mental exchange of information at the microbial level (including an amusingly disgressive discussion of the reproduc- tion of a bacteriophage that illustrates Book Reviews 571 communication in nature) to the nature of language, logic, basic forms of infor- mation, and the personal semantic expe- rience of information retrieval. This presentation is quickly incorporated into the context of the information sys- tem, with the text as the fundamental type of information considered and tra- ditional publication and libraries as the primary sites of dissemination. Some topics, such as the implications of lin- guistics, necessarily are dealt with su- perficially to allow larger themes to emerge. While the authors discuss elec- tronic interfaces, systems, and data- bases, it is in the context of a much broader understanding of human infor- mation processing and systems. The Vickerys artfully integrate there- sults of hundreds of studies into this broad sketch, providing the reader with both concise summaries of the core re- search in various areas as well as point- ers for further reference and study. At the same time, the omission of the con- text of practice and of an integration of contemporary issues that are rapidly changing the nature of the field may limit the value of this otherwise excel- lent book. To a degree, the authors ac- knowledge this problem, but the work suffers nevertheless from its failure to incorporate the human experiences of recent innovations in technology and their implications for both theory and practice. They tend to rely on older ex- amples of particular technologies, such as MYCIN, an expert system of the 1970s, rather than the many online, CD- ROM, and network-based resources that are now much more familiar. This book is expertly written with a long-term perspective, encapsulating well-established research dating from the emergence of the modern disci- pline of information science in the postwar era to some developments up through the mid-80s. The erudition and experience of the Vickerys are manifest in both the selection of their topics and the formal, polished style with which they are presented. The book skillfully combines the subject areas of traditional library science 572 College & Research Libraries (such as file and record organization, the reference interview, and informa- tion systems databases) with the scien- tific study of information retrieval models drawn from other contexts.- Matthew Wall, Drexel University, Philadel- phia, Pennsylvania. SHORT NOTICES I Luoghi della Memoria Scritta: Ma- noscritti, Incunaboli, Libri a Stampa di Biblioteche Statali Italiane. Roma: Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato, Libreria dello Stato, 1994. 488p. L59,000 (ISBN 88-240-0351-6). A recent exhibition of manuscripts and early printed books from the collec- tions of the Italian state libraries ("the places of written memory" alluded to in the title) documents their role in creating and preserving a cultural heritage. In three sections, each supported by ex- planatory essays, the catalog focuses on the works of early monastic libraries ("I Libri del Silenzio"); the collections of manuscripts and printed volumes of the great Renaissance libraries, such as the Medicea Laurenziana of Florence and Modena's Estense ("I Libri del Decoro"); and treasures from the libraries of Italy's cardinals ("I Libri del Porporo"). Lengthy entries for each manuscript or book exhibited give its provenance, his- torical significance, and place within a particular collection. Bibliographic notes lead the reader to secondary sources. A helpful index of the manu- scripts in the exhibition, arranged by current library location and collection, gives some sense of the riches of each of the major state libraries represented here. The catalog is well designed and beautifully illustrated. GB) Guide to Cooperative Collection Devel- opment. Ed. Bart Harloe. Chicago: ALA, 1994. 35p. alk. paper, $10, $9 member price (ISBN 0-8389-3444-7). November 1994 This booklet, the sixth in the "Collec- tion Management and Development Guides" series, is based on Paul Mosher· and Marcia Pankake' s guidelines pub- lished in the October I December 1983 is- sue of Library Resources and Technical Services. In outline format and very sparse prose it sketches the basics of co- operation: the benefits, the "challenges," (the kinder, gentler '90s term -for the "problems" of the 1983 edition), types of cooperatives, varieties of cooperative . activities, planning and implementing the agreement, assessing and strength- ening resources, and providing bibliog- raphic and physical access. A directory of cooperatives, a glossary, and an exten- sive bibliography complete this care- fully prepared publication. (SL) College and Undergraduate Libraries. Ed. Alice Harrison Bahr. Binghamton, N.Y.: Haworth, 1994- . Semi-annual. $38/year for institutions (ISSN 1069- 1316). Specialized journals of this kind are all but irresistible to their particular target markets, which is not to say that the need isn't real enough. This new journal was conceived to redress the perceived marginalization of college libraries and their concerns in the professional litera- ture. It emphasizes the practical and day-to-day, with a corresponding de- emphasis on what we call "research" and "theory." Articles in the first issue cover topics such as "holistic" librarian- ·- ship, summers off, citation analysis of freshman papers, a bar-coding project, textbooks in the collection, food in the library, library-skill workbooks (plus ~a change ... ), accessing the Internet. Some, but not all of these offer a uniquely "college" perspective, but much of it, at least in this first issue, is depressingly familiar. (SL) Contributed by Jane G. Bryan and Stephen Lehmann.