reviews Book Reviews 337 namely: Bantus, Nilotes and Cushites”? The reports make suggestions such as the need for the camel service to provide more ma- terial in local languages. This is a valid point, but the frame of reference is too nar- row. There are no linkages to the history of mobile library service in Africa, or indeed to book and library development in gen- eral. The need for relevant material in Afri- can languages, for example, was a guiding principle of the East African Literature Bu- reau, set up in Nairobi as far back as 1948. In North Eastern Province, many of the resi- dents are Kenyan Somalis, and many of those living in the refugee camps are So- malis from across the border. Somalis have a fine oral tradition, but their language was only written down in the early 1970s. The disintegration of the Somali state in the late 1980s and the 1990s did nothing to help the development of printed material in the lan- guage. Accepting that both camels and don- keys bring books to communities that re- ceived none before, the sad fact is that nei- ther, as yet, do more than serve very small parts of very large areas. This is something that could have been made more obvious to readers. Another issue deserves more extensive probing: why camels and don- keys at all? For example, the author of the reports was accompanied on her visit to North Eastern Province by staff from the Kenya National Library Service. Did they all leave their Garissa hotel before dawn and trek with the camels and herdsmen for up to twenty kilometers until their des- tination was reached? One suspects not. If they were able to go by motor vehicle, could not the library books and tents be transported in the same way? Of course, motor vehicles are expensive. They have to be imported. They break down. But none of these factors is a concern when something is rated sufficiently important. Countries under military rule in Africa, the Middle East, or elsewhere want the latest aircraft and tanks for their troops. They do not start donkey brigades. This is not to say that there is no place for camel and donkey library services. They are interesting initiatives, especially the lat- ter. But are they likely to be ever more than peripheral? One advantage for their pro- viders is that people in the West see them as appropriate for Africa’s current stage of development. They attract publicity, and then the donor money follows. These two IFLA reports provide useful information but ask no uncomfortable questions.—An- thony Olden, Thames Valley University. Wagner, Ralph D. A History of the Farmington Plan. Lanham, Md.: Scare- crow, 2002. 441p. alk. paper, $69.50 (ISBN 0810842599). LC 2002-17624. Cooperative efforts by libraries, especially in collection development, have a rich his- tory in theory, but variable results in prac- tice. Most librarians would say that coop- eration is good but in the same breath question its achievability. The Farmington Plan stands as a prime example of this am- bivalence. One might consider Farmington of minimal relevance to current issues in librarianship given a general understand- ing of its purposes and failures, but Dr. Wagner, through illuminating exposition, exhaustive coverage of source materials, and a fresh interpretive perspective, shows how a fair analysis of the development and life of the Farmington Plan is instructive in the twenty-first century. Those who are ac- tively engaged in cooperative work will see their own challenges reflected and may even see elements of a solution. Wagner accomplishes two primary his- torical tasks in the book. The first is to place the Farmington Plan within an overall con- text of precursor cooperative efforts by li- braries that had an impact on Farmington and subsequent cooperative efforts that were influenced by Farmington. The sec- ond is to show the breadth and span of pro- grams encompassed by the plan during its thirty-year active life span. In this, of course, individual librarians and libraries are es- sential protagonists. Chapters 1 through 4 explore early efforts toward nationwide li- brary cooperation, including calls for a na- tional library, cooperative indexing, union catalogs, exchanges, and interlibrary loan programs that span the period from 1842 to 1942. Whether these are direct precursors 338 College & Research Libraries July 2003 of Farmington, they clearly show a general environment of cooperative work. Chapters 5 through 10 cover the developmental stages of Farmington, from the recognition of information needs during World War II, through various (re)workings of appropri- ate means to address these needs (includ- ing input from the Library of Congress, various other large libraries, the Associa- tion of Research Libraries, and the ALA), to actual implementation of subject respon- sibility in 1948. Chapters 11 through 15 map the various stages of Farmington imple- mentation in its first decade: assignment of subject responsibility, expansion to coun- try responsibility, and the emergence of new challenges and issues; and changes that were implemented in its second decade— questions of evaluation, efforts at planning, issues of management control, and the for- mation of other cooperative programs (chapters 16 through 19). Finally, chapters 20 and 21 deal with the “demise” of the plan and its lasting reputation. What emerges from even a simple read- ing of this book is that the Farmington Plan must be seen within historical context, in- fluenced by prior cooperative work such as the National Union Catalog and itself influ- encing later cooperative initiatives such as the RLG Conspectus. It also must be under- stood as an evolving set of operations and programs implemented over time (which many tend not to see) that had more or less success depending on location, perspective, expectation, and choice of measures. Wagner’s argument, that the plan is misun- derstood if it is seen primarily as a failure, seems correct given Farmington’s scope and successes amid numerous and varied chal- lenges. Throughout the book, Wagner adds a layer of insight through his interpretive use of current nonprofit marketing and organization theory to suggest flaws in Farmington planning that are common to attempts to promote altruistic goals in a practical world. Although this might seem an artificial layer, over the course of the book Wagner establishes these theories as relevant through their explanatory power. I would go further to suggest that this his- torical example illuminated by nonprofit marketing and organizational theory can shed light on current attempts at coopera- tion. Attempts in any era to share costs or reduce duplication, whether among branches at the same institution, among close partners such as the Triangle Re- search Libraries Network, or nationally (e.g., DLF, CRL), are going to be problem- atic unless benefits to constituents and their constituencies are clearly defined and marketed, the program is appropriately sized to the problem to be addressed and the internal demands of the partners, and a system of ongoing evaluation is in place to balance costs and utility to each partner organization. It also may be useful to com- pare the challenges that faced Farmington participants to current consortial negoti- ating strategies for expensive electronic re- sources. Libraries ultimately lose if they do not stand together, yet their failure to stand together on some deals likely stems from many of the same underlying issues that afflicted Farmington Plan partner- ships. Now, as then, self-interest and jock- eying for competitive advantage among partners interferes with efforts to engage in fruitful cooperation. More than useful as an explanatory device, nonprofit mar- keting and organizational theory offers a realistic model for mitigating the chal- lenges of altruistic action. Wagner has provided an interesting (re)read on the Farmington Plan. Histo- rians of librarianship will be well re- warded by his careful compilation of material; academic librarians will be startled by the similarities to cooperative attempts in our day and in the electronic environment.—William J. 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