College and Research Libraries


568 f College & Research Libraries • November 1976 

to make pilot versions work may have the 
effect of changing our image of what is 
feasible and desirable. We must not see 
ourselves in a lifeboat that is already so 
overcrowded that accepting more drown-
ing persons endangers the boat and all in 
it, because we can expand its capacity by 
expanding our capacity for more imagina-
tive problem-representations and more cre-
ative ways of coping. 

An appended essay brings us back to re-
ality with some discussion of the economic 
problems involved in a world brain. How, 
for example, shall we adequately compen-
sate creators of information? And then there 
are the much more complex problems of 
hardware and software design compatibil-
ity, the immense costs of data input, and 
such problems as coding for optimum re-
trieval of related information. This review-
er, perhaps too cynical, was reminded m_any 
times during his reading of the old, old JOke 
about the ultimate computer and data base. 
Having designed and built the hardware, 
and having patiently fed it every scrap of 
information known, the information scien-
tists gather round to ask the ultimate ma-
chine the ultimate question: "Is there a 
God?" The machine speaks back in a deep 
rumbling voice, "Now there is!" WISE may 
be wise, but I would judge it to be a step 
nearer to 1984.-W. David Laird, Univer-
sity Librarian, University of Arizona, -Tuc-
son. 

Stecher, Elizabeth. Catalogue Provision in 
Libraries of Colleges of Advanced Edu-
cation. Melbourne: Royal Melbourne In-
stitute of Technology, 1975. 1v. (var. 
pag.) $5.00 Australian plus freight. 
(ISBN 0-909099-00-6) (Available from 
Publishing Dept., Royal Melbourne In-
stitute of Technology, 124 LaTrobe 
Street, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 
3000.) 

A research project to investigate suitable 
methods of production of catalogs for col-
leges of advanced education libraries from 
computer-based data files was undertaken 
by the Royal Melbourne Institute of Tech-
nology Library. This is the report of the de-
tailed study directed by Elizabeth Stecher. 
The project appears to have been per-
formed in a rather elaborate way, and the 

report is w:ritten in a way that makes it 
basically unreadable. 

The findings of the study indicate that 
computer-output-microform (COM) gen-
erated microfilm catalogs have advantages 
over computer-printed book catalogs. The 
cost figures presented in this report have 
no relationship to cost figures available in 
the U.S. In fact, in Australia, according to 
this report, more than twenty copies of a 
microfilm catalog cost more than the same 
number of book catalogs. This fact seems 
unusual even for Australian costs. 

The superficial consideration of micro-
fiche versus miCrofilm that this study re-
ports is the only major area of the study 
that lacks extensive attention. The pub-
lished literature on the kind of microform 
used for catalogs is extensive. The bibliog-
raphy of the current reports cites many _of 
the better-known articles, but the conflict 
of form has not been persued here. 

This in-depth study and the elaborate 
manipulation of the data appears to be 
much more than is needed to arrive at the 
end result. The specific hypotheses that are 
presented and the testing and end results 
are obvious and have been previously 
studied elsewhere. There is little to be · 
gained by every library doing or redoing 
other similar studies. This report does 
not provide any new information.-Helen 
R. Citron, Head of Administrative Services, 
Georgia Tech Library, Georgia Institute of 
Technology, Atlanta. 

Ellsworth, Diane J ., and Stevens, Norman 
D., eds. Landmarks of Library Litera-
ture, 1876-1976. Metuchen, N.J.: Scare-
crow, 1976. 520p. $17.50. (LC 75-
45139) (ISBN 0-8108-0899-4) 
There are those among us who have long 

complained that as a profession we have 
lost our sense of history; that we dissipate 
our energies needlessly ricocheting from en-
thusiasm to enthusiasm, crying "Lo here," 
and "Lo there," making extravagant claims 
of salvation in the name of every cockama-
mie idea that comes to mind. If we can talk 
louder than anyone else, we can make peo-
ple listen, and if we are persuasive enough 
we can get them to follow until they learn, 
as we all have to learn sooner or later, that 
if the idea is worth anything, it will be