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170 

BOOK REVIEWS 

Basic FORTRAN IV Programming, by Donald H. Ford. Homewood, Illi-
nois: Richard D. Irwin, Inc., 1971. 254 pp. $7.95. 

FORTRAN texts are now quite plentiful, so the main question in the 
reviewer's mind is: What does this book have to offer that no other book 
has? Regrettably the answer must be nothing. There are many other good 
FORTRAN books available. This has very little to distinguish it. That is 
not to say that it is not a good book. The quality of the book is good, the 
text is very readable, and there has been very good attention to the exam-
ples and proofreading. The book is suit able for an introductory course, 
or for self study. It does not go completely into all the features of the 
language, as these are usually best left to the specific manuals relating to 
the machines available. 

The book does bring the student to a level where he will be able to use 
those manuals and the level where he will need to use those manuals. The 
book does come to the level necessary for the person who writes his 
programs with professional assistance. 

The author has chosen ANSI Basic FORTRAN IV to be discussed in 
the book. In particular he relates this to the IBM/360 and 370 computers. 
This is a common language and is available on most machines with only 
minor modifications. This was a good choice for the level of book he 
intended to write, since he didn't want to go into the advanced features 
of the language. The author goes quickly to the heart of the matter in 
FORTRAN programming, so that the reader can start using the computer 
right away. The basic material is well covered and gives a good introduction 
to the more advanced features which are available on most machines. The 
examples are well chosen so that they do not require any specialized 
knowledge ; therefore the emphasis can be put on the programming aspects 
of the examples. He also has very good end-of- chapter problems, ranging 
in difficulty from straight repetition of text material to programming 
problems which will require a considerable amount of individual work. 

He has a good discussion of mixed mode arithmetic, one of the more 
difficult topics of FORTRAN to explain. He also has a good discussion of 
input/output operations, and an explanation of FORMATting which is 
very good. This again is a difficult area of the language and has been well 
explained. Discussing each of the statement types in FORTRAN, he begins 
by giving the general form of the statement in a standardized way, which 
is very good for introductory purposes and for review and reference. The 
index in the book doesn't single these out, so somebody who wanted to use 
the book as a reference should make a self-index of these particular areas 
of the book where the general forms and statements are given. This is a 
good feature of the book. 

Robert F. Mathis 



Book Reviews 171 

Films: A MARC Format; Specifications for Magnetic Tapes Containing 
Catalog Records for Motion Pictures, Filmstrips, and Other Pictorial Media 
Intended for Pro;ection. Washington: MARC Development Office, 1970. 
65 pp. $0.65. 

This latest format issued by the MARC Development Office is similar 
in organiza tion to the previously issued formats, describing in tum the 
leader, record directory, control fields , and variable fields. Three appendices 
give the variable field tags , indicators, and subfield codes applicable to 
this format , categories of films , and a sample record in the MARC format. 

In addition to the motion pictures and filmstrips specified in the subtitle, 
the coverage of this format includes slides, transparencies, video tapes, 
and electronic video recordings. Data elements describing these last two 
have not been defined completely as the MARC Development Office feels 
that further investigation is needed in these areas. 

The bibliographic level for this format is for monograph material, i.e., 
material complete at time of issue or to be issued in a known number of 
parts . 

Since most of the material covered by this format is entered under title, 
main entry fields ( 100, 110, 111, 130 ) have not been described. This 
exclusion also covers the equivalent fields in the 400s and 800s. Main entry 
and other fields not listed in this format but required by a user can be 
obtained from Books: A MARC Format. 

This format describes two kinds of data: that generally found on an 
LC printed card and that needed to describe films in archival collections. 
Only the first category will be distributed in machine readable form on 
a regular basis. 

One innovation introduced in this format that can only be applauded 
by MARC users is the adoption of the BNB practice of using the second 
indicator of title fields (241, 245, 440, 840, but not 740 where the second 
indicator had previously been assigned a different function) to specify 
the number of characters at the beginning of the entry which are to be 
ignored in filing. It is to be hoped that in the future this practice will be 
applied to books, serials, and other types of works as well as to films. 

Judith Hopkins 

U.K. MARC Pmiect, edited by A. E. Jeffreys and T. D. Wilson. Newcastle 
upon Tyne: Oriel Press, 1970. 116 pp. 25s. 

This volume, which reports the proceedings of a conference on the U.K. 
MARC Project held in March 1969, may be of as much interest in the USA 
as in Britain; although the intake of British libraries is much smaller and 
the money available for experiments much less, the problems of developing 
and using MARC effectively within these constraints are for this very 
reason of special interest. 



172 Journal of Library Automation Vol. 4/3 September, 1971 

A. J. Wells opened the Conference with a paper introducing U.K. MARC 
and closed it with a paper stating its relationship to the British National 
Bibliography. Points of interest are the need for standardisation among 
libraries (not smprisingly, this theme occurs throughout) and the differ-
ences between U.K. MARC and L.C. MARC (the latter being the odd one 
out, in its departures from AACR 67). Disappointingly, no hint is given of 
additional national bibliographical products that might come from MARC, 
such as cumulated and updated bibliographies on given subjects, or listings 
of children's books, etc. Richard Coward, with his usual clarity and con-
ciseness, explains the planning and format of U.K. MARC, in which he 
has been so centrally involved. As he says, "we have the technology to 
produce a MARC service but we really need a higher level of technology 
to use it at anything like its full potential." 

R. Bayly's paper on "User Programs and Package Deals" is disappointing, 
dealing only with ICL 1900 computers, and not comprehensively or clearly 
even with them. Two papers discuss the problems of actually using MARC: 
E. H. C . Driver's "Why MARC?", which concludes that "the most efficient 
use of MARC will be made by large library sys tems or groups of libraries," 
and F . H. Ayres' "MARC in a Special Library Environment," which con-
cludes that eventually all libraries will use the MARC tape. Mr. Ayres 
discusses the proposed use of MARC at A WRE Aldermaston, and also 
gives a general (and highly optimistic ) blueprint of the sort of way MARC 
could be used in an all-through selection, acquisition and cataloging system. 

(The four American experimental uses of MARC reviewed by C. D. 
Batty-at Toronto, Yale, Rice and Indiana- are probably well enough 
known in the USA and Canada.) Keith Davidson's discussion of filing 
problems is first class-and his paper is just as topical as when it was 
written, because little progress has been made since then. Peter Lewis, in 
"MARC and the Future in Libraries," makes the point that whereas BNB 
cards provided a ready-made product for libraries, MARC tapes will merely 
offer them a set of parts to put together themselves. 

Of special interest to American audiences may be Derek Austin's paper, 
"Subject Retrieval in the U.K. MARC," since the PRECIS system to which 
it forms an introduction may represent a major breakthrough in machine 
manipulable subject indexing. 

MARC and its uses constitute one of the most rapidly developing areas 
of librarianship. Regular conferences of this standard are needed to review 
progress from time to time. 

Maurice B. Line