College and Research Libraries ryphal and help to emphasize the problems. This text should supersede many of the earlier (and poorer) articles in the field and should be basic reading, for some time, for North American map librarians, whether experienced or beginners, and for nonmap librarians who want to know what is hap- penging in the field.-joan Winearls, Uni- versity of Toronto . The Information Society: Issues and An- swers. American Library Association's Presidential Commission for the 1977 De- troit Annual Conference. Edited with a Preface and Introduction by E. J. Josey and a Foreword by Clara Stanton Jones. A Neal-Schuman Professional Book. Phoenix, Ariz.: Oryx Press, 1978. 133p. $11.95. LC 78-17708. ISBN 0-912700- 16-5. The ALA program in Detroit two sum- mers ago attempted an ambitious departure from the usual Annual Conference format: an ali-day, plenary, think/talk session de- voted to an examination of some major problems librarians face in the emerging "post-industrial society." Five major speakers followed in the wake of a keynote address by Norman Isaacs, a communications specialist from Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism (who ha- rangued the gathering on those shortcomings of librarians-negativism, ar- rogance, self-serving behavior, absurd bureaucratic routines-he presumed must stand in the way of libraries becoming "working community centers," a function he saw as their higher calling). OCLC director Fred Kilgour briefly re- viewed past applications of technology to li- braries, chiefly in cataloging, and invited participants to speculate on the fountain of beneficial effects about to shower forth as computer technology moved librarianship into "another of its great ages." New York State Senator Major Owens lambasted li- brarians for failing to r~spond positively to social change during the past twenty years and, with the White House Conference in mind, called for· greater participation by li- brarians in the government's policy-making procedures in order to overcome public in- difference. Thomas Buckman, president of the Foun- Recent Publications I 13 dation Center, treated information as a commodity and discussed the economic im- plications posed by new technology; Gerald Shields of the School of Information and Li- brary Studies, SUNY Buffalo, invited analysis of the new role of librarians result- ing from that technology; and Fay Blake of the School of Library Science, University of California at Berkeley, warned that public access to information must be determined, not by technology, but by librarians with a clear notion of their patrons' need. Following each address, the audience of some 1,500 participants broke up into small group discussions and proceeded to kick around these and other topics. It was, as one participant said, "the world's largest reactor panel." It is chiefly as a record of the event that publication of conference proceedings must be judged, and as a record this one is intel- ligently designed, well edited, and thor- ough. Feedback from the discussion groups is summarized and presented along with the texts of principal speeches; the editor's in- clusion of reviews of literature prepared as handouts for the discussion sessions-and in some instances the review essays were more stimulating than the formal addresses themselves-gives the volume some claim to utility. Predictably, although some of the funda- mental concerns are shared by academic li- brarians (especially the identity crisis of the professional librarian caught up in a chang- ing economic and technological environ- ment), the public library context of the ses- sion, as well as its necessarily superficial and hortatory treatment of issues, made it-and makes its tardy report-of only in- cidental interest to the vast majority of readers of this journal.-W. A. Moffett, State University of New York, College at Potsdam. Conroy, Barbara. Library Staff Develop- ment and Continuing Education: Princi- ples and Practices. Littleton, Colo.: Li- braries Unlimited, 1978. 268p. $17.50 U.S. and Canada; $21 elsewhere. LC 78- 18887. ISBN 0-87287-177-0. This book provides an in-depth presenta- tion of all aspects of establishing staff de- velopment and continuing education pro- 74 I College & Research Libraries • January 1979 grams. The material is divided into three major areas: planning, implementation, and evaluation. Within these broad areas, spe- cific and detailed information is provided. Part I covers planning and addresses the topics of determining needs , developing program objectives, identifying resources, and designing a program. Part II deals with program implementation and includes mate- rial on determining administrative respon- sibilities, the selection of educational staff, the involvement of learners in an adult edu- cation environment, and the provision of facilities, equipment, and materials. Part III is focused entirely on the important area of program evaluation and contains information on the design of evaluation tools and the collecting, analyzing, and utilizing of evalua- tive information. The differences between staff develop- ment and continuing education are estab- Operating Budget Cuts? Less staff for equal work? Save time and trouble, get the most for your money with service designed to meet your needs. Reduce staff time in claim work and direct or- dering - let us do the work. Any book in print (U.S. and Canada) can be supplied with custom invoic- ing and prompt, accurate reporting of back ordered titles. Give us a trial order and see what our "Con- cerned Service" can do for you! Call 517-849-2117 Collect - the BOOK HOUSE SINCE 1962 JOBBERS SERVING LIBRARIES WITH ANY BOOK IN PRINT 208 WEST CHICAGO STREET JONESVILLE. MICHIGAN 49250 lished in the introduction. Conroy describes staff development as the "effort intended to strengthen the library's capability to fulfill its mission effectively and efficiently by en- couraging and providing for the growth of its own human resources." The responsibil- ity for initiating learning opportunities within a staff development program rests with the employing library. Continuing education is described as "those learning opportunities utilized by individuals in fulfil- ling their need to learn and· grow following their preparatory education and work ex- periences." These programs are produced by library associations, state library agen- cies, and graduate library schools. A number of sample forms are presented to illustrate a specific procedure or meth- odology, and examples of specific staff de- velopment and continuing education pro- grams are also presented. A wealth of refer- ence resources are also provided on each topic covered. The organization and the scope of the ma- terial combine to make this a useful re- source tool for those with responsibilities in staff development and continuing education. This book can serve as a manual in directing libraries and library associations and schools in formulating their own needs, approaches, methods, and activities within the areas of staff developqtent and continuing education. Because of the author's detailed approach and her emphasis on planning, Conroy's book should stimulate a more thoughtful consideration of the role that staff develop- ment and continuing education play in maintaining and advancing library service. It should also encourage librarians to ap- proach both areas in a more systematic and organized manner. While the book contains an overwhelming amount of jargon and detail and could have profited from greater brevity in places, it does offer a sound basis for approaching staff development and continuing education, as well as considerable information on the par- ticulars of developing, implementing, and evaluating such programs. This should be required reading for library staff with re- sponsibilities in either of these areas. It would be advantageous if all library staff could read this in order to gain a better understanding of the effort that is required to present quality programs, as well as the responsibility of participants in such programs.-Sheila Greth , University of Connecticut, Storrs. National Library and Information Services: A Handbook for Planners. Edited by C. V. Penna, D. J. Foskett, and P. H. Sewell . London, Boston: Butterworths, 1977. 231p. $16.95. LC .76-54296. ISBN 0-408-70818-2. (Available from Butter- worths, 19 Cummings Park, Woburn, MA 01801.) Librarians familiar with the works of C. V. Penna will find that this volume is an elaboration and expansion of his theories and earlier works on planning library ser- vices for underdeveloped nations. In this handbook , in collaboration with P. H . Sewell, formerly senior library advisor in the Department of Education and Science in Great Britain, and D. J. Foskett, librar- ian of the University of London Institute of Education, Penna makes a case for " con- scious and systematic" planning of. national library and information systems at the high- est government level. The authors propose, furthermore, that effective and efficient systems can only be developed if planned within the nation's so- cial and economic structure and submit that these systems are successful only if manage- rial control is similar to that used in large- scale industry. ., Librarians, interestingly enough, are not the target audience for this book. The au- thors state that , in their treatment of this topic, they have deliberately catered to the "political, educational and administrative au- thorities who, in many cases, have had to assume responsibility for LIS planning with very ·little information or precedent to guide them." They hasten to add, however, that they recognize that library professionals have been trained by many library schools in the principles and techniques of planning but unfortunately have had few occasions to use their expertise. The authors have likewise been careful to point out that centralized planning is more apt to take place in countries such as the USSR where centrally planned economies are the norm , rather than in countries such as the United States and western Europe Recent Publications I 15 whex:e national libraries and information centers have developed in a decentralized and more happenstance fashion. Although extremely informative, the scope and content of the handbook are so · broad that coverage of each topic is uneven. At times it appears that the authors cannot decide whether they are writing a textbook or a handbook and end up doing a little bit of both. Educators can find a list of topics useful for teaching a course in planning li- brary information systems; others will find this a compact guidebook. Two-thirds of the book deals with meth- odology, principles, and techniques of plan- ning; the preparation of plans and matrixes; policy making ; the relationship between formulation of policy and financial control; and the relationship of library and informa- tion systems to other government agencies. The authors touch upon problems unique to underdeveloped nations such as lack of pub- lishing houses, use and maintenance of nonbook materials, accountability, and dif- ficulties of forecasting manpower needs and supply. Only the last chapter of the book deals with implementation and hastily covers such topics as staffing; acquisitions and selection policies and procedures; cataloging and bib- liographic control; the variety of classifica- tion schemes that lend themselves to sys- tematic arrangement of an information sys- tem ; abstracting and indexing; thesauri ; and use of automatic data processing. It is unfortunate that, although the au- thors appear to have used an extensive amount of documentation in collecting data for this volume, they chose to limit their bibliography to a few selected items. In spite of its limitations, the handbook is a worthwhile addition to library collec- tions.-Sylvia G. Faibisoff, Northern Illi- nois University , De Kalb. Books Are for Use. Final Report of the Subject Access Project to the Council on Library Resources. Pauline Atherton, Di- rector. School of Information Studies, Re- search Studies #4. Syrac.use, N.Y. : School of Information Studies, 1978. 172p . $10 (10% handling costs and N .Y. sales tax if applicable). (Order [IST-10] from: Printing Services, Syracuse Univer-