College and Research Libraries


282 I College & Research Libraries • July 1970 

in the network. In this instance, it is diffi-
cult to separate the agriculturalist's basic 
information need from that of any other 
scientist. If that is so, the advancement of 
this particular network only fragments fur-
ther the larger information problem of 
control and dissemination. 

Until a more coordinated national ef-
fort is offered, however, this proposed net-
work is a forward step toward access to 
the totality of resources. At least with this 
kind of a system, we could have available 
a model to test involving the use of re-
gional resources of a land-grant institution 
on a contractual basis. Whether such a 
network will result in an increase in self-
sufficiency, a relaxation of demands upon 
the larger land-grant institutions, and a 
greater utilization of the National Agri-
cultural Library remains to be seen.-Le-
M oyne W. Anderson, Colorado State U ni-
versity. 

Suppressed Commentaries on the Wiseian 
Forgeries~ Addendum to an Enquiry. 
By William B. Todd . Austin, Texas: Hu-
manities Research Center, The Univer-
sity of Texas, 1969. 49p . (77-89555). 

"Of making many books" we are told on 
good authority (Eccles. 12: 12), "there is 
no end." So it is apparently going to 
be with the Wise saga. William Todd ded-
icates this Addendum, "To John Carter 
and Graham Pollard Whose Original En-
quiry Will Lead to Endless Addenda on 
the Work ofT. J. Wise." 

There have already been a flood of 
books and articles on the subject since 
the Enquiry's original publication in 1934. 
An interesting aspect of this phenomenon 
is the fact that the book itself, though 
raising great interest in the book collect-
ing world, and printed in a small edition, 
was a slow seller, taking perhaps two dec-
ades to go out of print; and it has not, to 
this day, seen a second edition. 

William Todd here documents "four dif-
ferent campaigns undertaken by American 
nationals for or against the cause of T. J. 
Wise," two by Charles Heartman, and the 
others by Gabriel Wells, both booksellers. 
In addition Heartman edited the Ameri-
can Book Collector and was a noted gad-
fly. Texas has acquired his files and corre-

spondence about the magazine, from 
which Todd usefully reprints and annotates 
his correspondence with Wise, including 
a revealing article which Wise wrote (or 
had written for him) with the important 
sentences: "My own private opinion is that 
the Browning Sonnets is not genuine. The 
question is where did Mr. Forman obtain 
the 'Remainder' from." This article was 
never published, as Wise demanded its 
return, which he got, but not before 
Heartman retained some sort of copy. Miss 
Fannie Ratchford had seen this docu-
ment, as Todd points out in a footnote, 
but failed to appreciate its significance. 

Throughout the article Wise refers to 
Carter and Pollard as "the authors." In 
other correspondence I have seen, he 
called them "sewer rats." 

The Gabriel Well's crusade (Todd calls 
it "folly") to vindicate Wise, . which is 
documented, sprang from reasons not re-
vealed in this Addendum. 

The Ashley Library was the most spec-
tacular one of the kind of books which 
were in fashion during the decades it was 
being formed and there was considerable 
speculation over its eventual disposal. 
Wells was, at that depression time, the 
most active dealer in Americana and the 
general opinion among his fellow dealers 
was that his defense of Wise was simply 
a ploy on his part to ingratiate himself 
with Mrs. Wise and others so he would 
be regarded favorably by them when and 
if an opportunity came along to purchase 
the collection. The Heartman correspon-
dence with Wise is important to the saga, 
that of Wells is not. 

Todd concludes with a "Postscript on 
The Story of a Lie" which documents 
Wise's methods of handling potentially 
dangerous problems, in this case, W. F. 
Prideaux's forthcoming bibliography of 
R . L . Stevenson. 

The "Notes," of which there are forty-
seven, are occasionally inadequate, or in-
accurate, where contemporary personages 
are involved. Wilfred Partington is con-
fused with (presumably) Henry M. Part-
ridge. Certainly Mrs. Gertrude Hills and 
the equally formidable Leonard L. Mack-
all could be more satisfactorily identified, 
and Arthur Swann (of all people!) \Vas 



not, in 1934, "President of the Swann gal-
leries." He was, at that time, a bookseller 
and the Swann galleries, with which he 
never had any connection, was not in 
existence. These are minor blemishes on 
an interesting contribution.-David A. 
Randall, The Lilly Library~ Indiana Uni-
versity. 

An Introduction to Scientific Research in 
Librarianship. By Herbert Goldhor. Final 
Report, Project No. 7-1271, Contract No. 
OEC-1-7-071217-5113. U.S. Department 
of Health, Education and Welfare, Office 
of Education, Bureau of Research. Dis-
tributed by Illini Union Bookstore. 

This brief survey of research methods 
is designed for doctoral students in librar-
ianship and for practicing librarians who 
would like to become more critical con-

. sumers of research. Dr. Goldhor begins 
with a discussion of the basic approaches 
to knowledge and truth, and proceeds to 
describe and evaluate the methods used 
in the approach which he defines as sci-
entific research. The ful£llment of such 
a broad assignment in the space of 201 
pages results in exactly that which is sug-
gested by the title-an introduction. This 
is neither a textbook nor a manual, but an 
exposition for the beginner on the mean-
ing, goals, and limitations of scientific re-
search in librarianship. 

With topics ranging from historical re-
search to statistical inference, the treat-
ment is much too general to aid the stu-
dent in developing practical methodologi-
cal or critical skills. Dr. Goldhor's book 
rather serves to point out the techniques 
which the student should master in order 
to become an accomplished researcher. It 
also aims at developing a realistic attitude 
towards research, including an under-
standing that awesome patience is re-
quired to perform it properly, and an ap-
preciation of the fact that no single study 
is likely to resolve any significant research 
question . While there are some solid 
guidelines on how to identify a research-
able topic and how to approach the plan-
ning and design of a study, the serious 
student would need to go beyond Gold-
hor to the more detailed and t echnical 
works listed in his bibliographies. For a 

Recent Publications I 283 

general text, this reviewer's preference is 
Fred Kerlinger's Foundations of Behavior-
al Research. 

There are several notable and welcome 
emphases in Goldhor's work. Planning 
and design of the research study is given 
equal treatment with data collection and 
analysis. Hypothesis testing is emphasized. 
While Goldhor' s idealistic description of a 
hypothesis as a statement of relationship 
which is "universal, invariant and causal" 
will find only rare application in librarian-
ship, the use of less ambitious hypotheses 
as focusing devices would improve many 
studies in librarianship. The frequent 

· lack of a formal hypothesis statement in 
library research is related to the wide-
spread use of inadequate designs. 

Goldhor also emphasizes theory-orient-
ed research. The development of theory is 
necessary to amend perhaps the major de-
ficiency of library research in general, the 
fact that " ... most library research con-
sists of single studies whose results are not 
cumulative." If a unified, cumulative re-
search effort is to be sustained in any 
area of librarianship, it will occur only 
when some form of theory, good or bad, 
has been posited. For that reason Goldhor's 
emphasis on a theoretical orientation is 
precisely what is needed at this point. It 
serves as another reminder that research 
in librarianship still has a long way to go . 
-]oe HewiPt:, Univ ersity of Colorado. 

Magazines for Millions: The Story of 
Specialized Publications. By James L. C. 
Ford. Carbondale, Ill.: Southern Illinois 
University Press, 1969. 320p. $11.75. 
(79-76187). 

There is much in this book which will 
be of interest to librarians working with 
serials and to students and faculty in jour-
nalism and communications as well as to 
the lay reader concerning specialized 
magazines. It is a comprehensive study of 
the multimillion dollar business of pub-
lishing journals aimed toward the special 
interests of millions of readers. Mr. Ford's 
work is well organized and very readable 
-a difficult feat to accomplish as this type 
of material could easily end up in a form 
of bibliographic cataloging interspersed 
with statistics. Much of the information was