College and Research Libraries


Orleans, L i t t l e R o c k , a n d Galveston; a n d i n 
such smaller t o w n s as Orangeburg, S. G ; 
W a r r e n t o n , Va.; G r e e n v i l l e , Ga.; Milledge-
ville, Ga.; G a l l a t i n , T e n n . ; a n d Jonesbor-
o u g h , T e n n . T h e fact of a p u b l i s h i n g busi-
ness in some of these S o u t h e r n towns is un-
d o u b t e d l y e x p l a i n e d by C o n f e d e r a t e efforts 
to establish an i n d e p e n d e n t literature as w e l l 
as an i n d e p e n d e n t n a t i o n , b u t n o t all the 
p u b l i c a t i o n s were w i t h i n the war period, a n d 
the war certainly does n o t e x p l a i n p u b l i s h i n g 
efforts at Manchester, N . H . ; T i d i o u t e , 
P e n n a . ; Mansfield, O h i o ; R i c h m o n d , Ind.; 
or Galesburg, 111. 

B o o k catalogs have b e e n described as the 
most d u l c e t of reading. H o w m u c h m o r e can 
be said for a bibliography; w h a t vistas of the 
i m a g i n a t i o n it o p e n s w i t h o u t e v e n d e m a n d -
i n g that its books be read! T h e r e is fascina-
tion e n o u g h in just the title of such books 
as The Fiend's Delight, or The Chester Fam-
ily; or, The Curse of the Drunkard's Ap-
petite, The Physiology of New York Board-
ing Houses, Kick Him Down Hill, Ten Old 
Maids, and Five of Them Were Wise and 
Five of Them Were Foolish, a n d The Masked 
Lady of the White House. 

For years "not in W r i g h t " has b e e n an 
aimed-for n o t e of b o o k dealers. T h e publica-
t i o n of American Fiction, 1851-1875 will m a k e 
such a n o t e m o r e desirable t h a n ever to 
them. I n truth, however, such a n o t e usually 
m e a n s that a title was l e g i t i m a t e l y rejected 
from Mr. Wright's list. Such is the q u a l i t y of 
his work that the n o t a t i o n of a book's W r i g h t 
n u m b e r is accolade e n o u g h . — R i c h a r d B. Har-
well. 

Norwegian Librarianship 
United States Influence on Norwegian Li-

brarianship, 1890-1940. By J. Periam D a n -
ton. Berkeley a n d Los A n g e l e s , U n i v e r -
sity of C a l i f o r n i a Press, 1957. x i i , 91 p. 
$2.00 ( U n i v e r s i t y of C a l i f o r n i a Publica-
tions in Librarianship, vol. 2, n o . 1). 

D u r i n g the past o n e h u n d r e d years or m o r e 
the U n i t e d States a n d the S c a n d i n a v i a n 
countries have i n f l u e n c e d each o t h e r in m a n y 
different areas—political, religious, h u m a n i -
tarian, scientific a n d technical, cultural, a n d 
e d u c a t i o n a l . Q u i t e properly scholarly atten-
t i o n first t u r n e d to the o v e r w h e l m i n g fact 

of e m i g r a t i o n f r o m S c a n d i n a v i a to the 
U n i t e d States w h i c h i n v o l v e d t h e m o v e m e n t 
of a b o u t t w o a n d a half m i l l i o n p e o p l e 
f r o m these small countries to n e w h o m e s in 
N o r t h America. T h e classical A m e r i c a n 
works o n this subject by such scholars as 
T h e o d o r e B l e g e n a n d George M. S t e p h e n s o n 
b e g a n t o a p p e a r in the early 1930's. Since 
then scores of articles a n d books have b e e n 
p u b l i s h e d o n b o t h sides of the A t l a n t i c deal-
i n g w i t h various aspects of the i n t e r a c t i o n 
b e t w e e n the S c a n d i n a v i a n N o r t h a n d Ameri-
ca. For e x a m p l e , o n e m i g h t m e n t i o n Einar 
H a u g e n ' s work o n the N o r w e g i a n l a n g u a g e 
in America, Franklin D. Scott's survey of 
Swedish s t u d e n t reactions to the U n i t e d 
States, a n d most recently Carl A n d e r s o n ' s 
study o n the acceptance of A m e r i c a n litera-
ture i n S w e d e n . 

T h e remarkable i n f l u e n c e of A m e r i c a n 
librarianship in N o r w a y has, u n t i l n o w , b e e n 
o n l y briefly n o t e d in A m e r i c a n library litera-
ture. T h e work u n d e r review is a d e t a i l e d 
i n v e s t i g a t i o n of this i n f l u e n c e , s h o w i n g h o w 
seventy-one N o r w e g i a n librarians, w h o stud-
ied i n the U n i t e d States at various times 
d u r i n g a p e r i o d of fifty years a n d w h o later 
b e c a m e leaders i n their profession, b r o u g h t 
a b o u t a r e v o l u t i o n i n library practice in 
their o w n c o u n t r y t h r o u g h the i n t r o d u c t i o n 
of A m e r i c a n b i b l i o t h e c a l m e t h o d s a n d ideas. 
As the a u t h o r indicates, this g r o u p , in ab-
solute terms, seems to be small a n d insigni-
ficant, but he a m p l y illustrates that its m e m -
bers had a positive effect o n the cultural l i f e 
of N o r w a y w h i c h was far o u t of p r o p o r t i o n 
to their n u m b e r . 

T h e study b e g i n s w i t h a brief summary of 
N o r w e g i a n library history a n d is f o l l o w e d by 
an e x p o s i t i o n of the activities of the t w o pi-
oneers of the N o r w e g i a n library r e v o l u t i o n : 
H a n s T a m b s Lyche, e d i t o r of the i n f l u e n t i a l 
N o r w e g i a n f o r t n i g h t l y r e v i e w Kringsjaa 
w h i c h carried m a n y articles familiarizing its 
readers w i t h A m e r i c a n libraries a n d librar-
ianship, a n d H a a k o n N y h u u s w h o in 1898 
b e c a m e director of Oslo's m u n i c i p a l Deich-
m a n Library. Lyche came to the U n i t e d 
States i n 1880 a n d stayed several years. H e 
was first e m p l o y e d as a railroad e n g i n e e r a n d 
later served as a U n i t a r i a n minister. Al-
t h o u g h n e v e r a librarian he was always an 
alert observer of cultural activities in general 
a n d libraries in particular. N y h u u s became a 

MAY 1958 257 



cataloger at the N e w b e r r y Library, C h i c a g o 
i n 1891 a n d there c a m e i n t o contact w i t h 
a n u m b e r of A m e r i c a n c o l l e a g u e s w h o w e r e 
especially a b l e a n d progressive. T h r o u g h 
t h e m h e was s o o n i n t r o d u c e d to the k i n d of 
l i b r a r i a n s h i p t a u g h t at the first A m e r i c a n li-
brary school i n A l b a n y . B o t h m e n r e t u r n e d 
to N o r w a y . c o n v i n c e d that the o u t m o d e d li-
brary systems i n their c o u n t r y s h o u l d be re-
f o r m e d . T h e articles o n A m e r i c a n libraries 
w h i c h L y c h e p u b l i s h e d i n Kringsjaa, m a n y 
of t h e m translations a n d s u m m a r i e s from 
o r i g i n a l p i e c e s by such m e n as J o h n C o t t o n 
D a n a a n d H e r b e r t P u t n a m , a n d later, the in-
n o v a t i o n s that N y h u u s i n t r o d u c e d at the 
D e i c h m a n Library, a w a k e n e d an interest in 
A m e r i c a n library t r a i n i n g a m o n g o t h e r Nor-
wegians, a n d s o o n they c a m e to the n e w 
A m e r i c a n p r o f e s s i o n a l schools i n greater 
n u m b e r s t h a n d i d s t u d e n t s f r o m a n y o t h e r 
E u r o p e a n country. T h e author's third chap-
ter analyzes the flow of these s t u d e n t s to 
t h e A m e r i c a n schools, a n d an a p p e n d i x 
gives a list of the faculty m e m b e r s b e l i e v e d 
to have b e e n most i n f l u e n t i a l i n their train-
ing. 

F u r t h e r chapters of the b o o k g i v e specific 
e x a m p l e s of t h e ways i n w h i c h these s t u d e n t s 
p u t their A m e r i c a n t r a i n i n g i n t o practice, 
h o w their n e w ideas affected the d e v e l o p -
m e n t of technical processes, readers' services, 
b u i l d i n g d e s i g n a n d the c h o i c e of e q u i p m e n t 
i n N o r w e g i a n libraries and, finally, h o w their 
views i n f l u e n c e d p r o f e s s i o n a l e d u c a t i o n a n d 
organizations. T h e last chapter c o n t a i n s a 
summary, a discussion of causes, a n d con-
clusions. T h e study deals largely w i t h pub-
lic a n d school libraries i n N o r w a y . T h e 
scholarly a n d special libraries were relatively 
little i n f l u e n c e d by A m e r i c a n l i b r a r i a n s h i p 
p r i n c i p a l l y because the chief research library 
a n d the most i n f l u e n t i a l , that of O s l o U n i -
versity, already h a d a century of steady 
g r o w t h a n d t r a d i t i o n b e h i n d it a n d f e l t lit-
tle n e e d of n e w i m p u l s e s . N e v e r t h e l e s s , e v e n 
i n this area, some A m e r i c a n i n f l u e n c e was 
e v i d e n t . Several special libraries a d o p t e d a 
m o d i f i e d D e w e y d e c i m a l classification. Ac-
a d e m i c libraries s h o w e d s o m e interest in the 
o p e n - s h e l f , open-access c o n c e p t , a n d in 1925 
the U n i v e r s i t y Library m o d e r n i z e d its l o a n 
system f o l l o w i n g t h e A m e r i c a n m o d e l rather 
than t h e G e r m a n . Further, a n e w w i n g b u i l t 
for the U n i v e r s i t y Library h a d as its proto-

types the N e w York P u b l i c Library a n d Har-
vard's W i d e n e r Library; the librarian, W i l -
h e l m M u n t h e , h a d c o m e to this country espe-
cially t o study A m e r i c a n university library 
b u i l d i n g s . M e t a l library s h e l v i n g i m p o r t e d 
f r o m A m e r i c a was a d o p t e d at the T e c h n i c a l 
U n i v e r s i t y d u r i n g the a d m i n i s t r a t i o n of a 
N o r w e g i a n g r a d u a t e of t h e A l b a n y school. 
H o w e v e r , the scholarly libraries were gen-
erally o p p o s e d t o the formal e d u c a t i o n of-
fered i n library schools, p r e f e r r i n g instead 
their o w n t r a i n i n g programs. 

T h r o u g h the efforts of L y c h e a n d N y h u u s 
a n d their f o l l o w e r s the "spirit" of the 
A m e r i c a n library m o v e m e n t was b r o u g h t to 
N o r w a y . T h e A m e r i c a n library p h i l o s o p h y 
was a d o p t e d almost w i t h o u t c h a n g e by the 
school a n d p u b l i c libraries, a n d as the au-
thor p o i n t s out, " T h e r e v o l u t i o n was n o t 
solely or e v e n primarily o n e of devices, 
mechanics, a n d procedures, i m p o r t a n t t h o u g h 
these were as a m e a n s to an end. It was, 
rather, a c h a n g e in the c o n c e p t of the role 
a n d f u n c t i o n of the library, a c h a n g e that 
gradually t r a n s f o r m e d the i n s t i t u t i o n f r o m 
the little-used storehouse that it traditionally 
h a d b e e n to the c e n t e r of free, pervasive, a n d 
diversified service that w e k n o w today." T h i s 
result, as d o c u m e n t e d here, is i n d e e d an im-
pressive e x a m p l e of i n t e r n a t i o n a l cultural 
i n f l u e n c e a n d at the same t i m e a significant 
c h a p t e r i n our o w n library history, witness-
i n g to the strength a n d vitality of the 
A m e r i c a n library m o v e m e n t as it was re-
flected abroad. 

I n retrospect, N o r w e g i a n librarians writ-
i n g recently h a v e expressed the o p i n i o n that 
the A m e r i c a n system was i n t r o d u c e d rather 
uncritically a n d that n o w N o r w e g i a n librar-
ies are m o r e i n d e p e n d e n t of f o r e i g n influ-
ences. I n t e r - S c a n d i n a v i a n c o o p e r a t i o n in li-
brary matters grows i n i m p o r t a n c e today 
w h i l e A m e r i c a n i n f l u e n c e is rapidly declin-
ing. Present N o r w e g i a n librarianship f o l l o w s 
a m i d d l e way b e t w e e n w h a t is regarded as 
the "American t e c h n i q u e of efficiency" a n d 
"traditional E u r o p e a n scholarship in library 
work." 

It may well be that i n f u t u r e years this 
m i d d l e way will attract o t h e r A m e r i c a n li-
brarians to study the library systems of Nor-
way a n d its S c a n d i n a v i a n n e i g h b o r s w h e r e 
o f t e n a h a p p i e r balance has b e e n a c h i e v e d 
b e t w e e n s m o o t h m a n a g e m e n t a n d k n o w l e d g e 

258 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



of books t h a n in s o m e A m e r i c a n i n s t i t u t i o n s . 
I n o n e o t h e r respect too, S c a n d i n a v i a n li-
braries may b e c o m e m o d e l s rather t h a n re-
c i p i e n t s of f o r e i g n influences. As the smaller 
" u n d e v e l o p e d " countries of the w o r l d b e g i n 
to establish their library systems they m i g h t 
logically turn to Scandinavia w h e r e some con-
d i t i o n s prevail w h i c h m o r e closely parallel 
their o w n : the e x i s t e n c e of small b u t dis-
tinctive n a t i o n a l l a n g u a g e groups, i m p l y i n g 
special p r o b l e m s a n d o p p o r t u n i t i e s i n such 
areas as b o o k p u b l i s h i n g a n d bibliograph-
ical control; l i m i t e d financial resources w h i c h 
p r o v i d e c h a l l e n g e s that the S c a n d i n a v i a n s 
h a v e m e t by i m a g i n a t i v e p l a n n i n g a n d in-
t e l l i g e n t state s u p p o r t of their libraries. T h u s , 
b o t h f r o m the p o i n t of v i e w of w h a t w e may 
learn a n d w h a t we can p o i n t o u t to others 
as worthy e x a m p l e s , w e s h o u l d be aware of 
S c a n d i n a v i a n librarianship. T o w a r d this e n d 
we may h o p e that o t h e r studies of this k i n d 
will be m a d e in this country. 

In the reviewer's o p i n i o n this work w o u l d 
have b e e n considerably s t r e n g t h e n e d by a 
c h a p t e r early i n the b o o k r e l a t i n g N o r w e g i a n 
library d e v e l o p m e n t to the broader intellect-
ual a n d social history w h i c h p r e c e d e d it. 
T h e p e r i o d of the " M o d e r n A w a k e n i n g " in 
N o r w e g i a n literature, for e x a m p l e , is m e n -
t i o n e d o n l y briefly i n the last chapter, but 
as H a n n a A s t r u p Larsen writes elsewhere, 
" T h e i m p o r t a n c e of the e p o c h can hardly be 
stressed too m u c h . It is possible t o trace 
every n e w d e v e l o p m e n t in m o d e r n N o r w a y 
to the literature w h i c h i n the 1870's was 
d o m i n a t e d by . . . Ibsen, B j 0 r n s o n , Lie a n d 
K i e l l a n d . " W i t h o u t the f e r m e n t that it 
caused, A m e r i c a n library i n f l u e n c e i n Nor-
way c o u l d hardly have taken root. It is o n l y 
w i t h i n the historical c o n t e x t that the reform 
of N o r w e g i a n libraries b e c o m e s fully under-
standable. T h e A m e r i c a n e x a m p l e i n librar-
i a n s h i p s t o o d ready b u t w o u l d h a v e b e e n 
l e f t u n n o t i c e d if m a n y a Mrs. A l v i n g had 
n o t h a d the courage to read the books w h i c h 
the o l d authoritarian Pastor M a n d e r s con-
d e m n e d w i t h o u t ever e x a m i n i n g . 

T h e v o l u m e is i n d e x e d , has several use-
ful statistical tables a n d a m a p s h o w i n g the 
l o c a t i o n of places m e n t i o n e d i n the text. 
T h e a u t h o r is well a c q u a i n t e d w i t h the Nor-
w e g i a n a n d A m e r i c a n sources of the material 
a n d has carefully a n n o t a t e d his work. A s i d e 
from the reservation n o t e d , this is a most re-

liable i n v e s t i g a t i o n of the subject a n d a 
source of considerable i n f o r m a t i o n a b o u t 
N o r w e g i a n libraries g e n e r a l l y . — T h o m a s R. 
Buckman, University of Kansas Libraries. 

Chemical Literature Retrieval 
Progress Report in Chemical Literature Re-

trieval. (Advances i n D o c u m e n t a t i o n a n d 
Library Science, V o l u m e 1.) G i l b e r t L. 
Peakes, A l l e n Kent, a n d J a m e s W . Perry, 
eds. N e w York: Interscience Publishers, 
1957, 217 p. $4.75. 

I n 1956, over n i n e t y t h o u s a n d articles of 
chemical interest were abstracted i n Chem-
ical Abstracts. If o n e considers the literature 
w h i c h has b e e n p u b l i s h e d , the two-fold prob-
l e m of k e e p i n g u p w i t h the current litera-
ture a n d searching the a c c u m u l a t e d litera-
ture is appreciated. D e s p i t e the fact that 
chemistry is c o n s i d e r e d the best b i b l i o g r a p h -
ically organized science, present m e t h o d s 
of i n f o r m a t i o n storage a n d retrieval i n this 
subject are c o n s i d e r e d i n a d e q u a t e . T h e prob-
lems are c o m p l e x . T h e r e are, for e x a m p l e , 
an e s t i m a t e d six h u n d r e d t h o u s a n d organic 
chemicals, each of w h i c h can a n d o f t e n 
s h o u l d b e - i n d e x e d f r o m a n u m b e r of levels. 

C o n s i d e r a b l e work is n o w b e i n g d o n e by 
industrial libraries, g o v e r n m e n t a l agencies 
a n d o t h e r organizations o n f i n d i n g a n d try-
i n g o u t i m p r o v e d i n d e x i n g m e t h o d s . T h e 
present v o l u m e , w h i c h is based o n t w o sym-
posia of the d i v i s i o n of C h e m i c a l Literature 
of the A m e r i c a n C h e m i c a l Society, describes 
some of this work. I n d i v i d u a l chapters deal 
w i t h case histories of hand- a n d machine-
sorted p u n c h e d card installations, c o d i n g of 
organic chemicals, d e s c r i p t i o n of p u n c h e d 
card e q u i p m e n t , a n d some "long-hair" think-
i n g a b o u t d o c u m e n t a t i o n problems. N o t a b l y 
missing are discussions of m a n u a l correlative 
i n d e x i n g systems (aside f r o m brief c o m m e n t s 
by M o r t i m e r T a u b e ) a n d discussions of tra-
d i t i o n a l library i n d e x i n g systems. 

T w o of the f o u r t e e n chapters (eleven a n d 
thirteen), are almost i d e n t i c a l to t w o chap-
ters i n v o l u m e t w o of this series. ( V o l u m e 
two a p p e a r e d several weeks b e f o r e v o l u m e 
o n e ) . C h a p t e r t w o is very similar to, t h o u g h 
n o t as d e t a i l e d as, two chapters i n Casey a n d 
Perry's b o o k o n p u n c h e d cards w h i c h was 
p u b l i s h e d in 1951. 

MAY 1958 259