College and Research Libraries


able debt to Lee Ash mounts.-Marc Git-
telsohn, University of California, San Di-
ego. 

Prentice, Ann E. Strategies for Survival: 
Library Financial Management Today. LJ 
Special Report #7. New York: Library 
Journal, 1978. 56p. $5; cash with order, 
$3.95 ISBN 0-8352-1144-4. ISSN 0362-
448X. 
A fairly current and well-balanced selec-

tion of principles, techniques, and meth-
odologies to aid the library administrator in 
financial decision making during times of 
fiscal stress, this concise "report" could 
serve as a handy outline of some major 
management issues facing library directors 
today. 

The Delphi technique, community 
analysis, program and performance budget-
ing, ZBB, model building, and other cur-
rently sexy economic analysis techniques are 
sketched. (For an antidote see De Gen-
naro's masterful put-down of same in the 
December 15, 1978, Library Journal.) How 
budget cuts may affect various personnel 
management issues and what the library can 
do to maintain control in this area are the 
subject of Sheila Creth' s (University of 
Connecticut Library) chapter. 

A discussion of some library services that 
ma"y be contracted out or implemented 
through automation is nicely balanced by a 
chapter on ways to raise money within the 
library (fees, Ms. Blake). 

Further potential for easing the financial 
burden on libraries is seen in the chapters 
on resource sharing and "Architectural Con-
siderations," the most useful of which are 
conducting an "energy audit" of the library 
and determining the cost of renovation ver-
sus construction. Some general advice on 
the cost of automating services is only min-
imally useful. 

Evaluation of services, the one area in 
which libraries traditionally have been 
weak, is the subject of the last chapter. (Un-
fortunately, Lancaster's important work, The 
Measurement and Evaluation of Library 
Services, is not included in the bibliogra-
phy.) 

Within such short chapters Prentice and 
others manage to balance their presen-
tations with relevant con arguments and 

Recent Publications I 381 

cautions. One strain that comes through all 
ten chapters is the suggested analytical and 
quantitative approach to economic decision 
making in libraries and the implication that 
seat-of-the-pants, intuitive management is 
inadequate to deal with complex library 
problems. 

Armed with a fleshed-out understanding 
of the ideas presented here in skeletal form 
(the bibliography items are c;gsP..ntial reading 
for anyone wishing to go beyond Prentice's 
treatment), the neophyte may gain a good 
understanding of the major issues and 
trends in library management today, 
whereas the seasoned administrator could 
use the "report" to fill in some gaps in his 
or her knowledge.-Albert F. Maag, Capi-
tal University, Columbus, Ohio. 

COM Systems in Libraries: Current British 
Practice. Edited by S. J. Teague. 
Guildford, Surrey: Microfilm Association 
of Great Britain, 1978. 49p. £4 (£3 to 
MAGB members). ISBN 0-906542-00-6. 
(Available from: Microfilm Association of 
Great Britain, 8 High St., Guildford, Sur-
rey GU2 5AJ.) 
This pamphlet contains seven articles dis-

cussing computer output microfilm (COM) 
applications at seven British libraries. Ad-
vantages and disadvantages of COM are dis-
cussed within the specific setting outlined at 
each institution. Limited insight into the au-
tomated library system behind each applica-
tion can be gained by careful reading of 
each article. 

This reviewer is particularly impressed 
with the cooperation of British libraries, 
wh~ch several of these articles discuss·. Each 
library's operation is different, yet each has 
elements of commonality. The meeting, 
which was attended by most of the libraries 
represented in this publication, with COM 
vendors provides insight into the British li-
brary scene. This type of activity produced 
excellent results in Britain. 

Advantages and disadvantages are dis-
cussed from the viewpoint of each COM 
application. A general theme is evident in 
the change from film to fiche, either com-
pleted or planned at each library. The rea-
sons cited for this change to fiche are as 
valid in the U.S. as Britain. 

The reasons given for the change to fiche 



382 I College & Research Libraries • July 1979 

are: (1) cost of fiche equipment is lower, (2) 
fiche equipment has less mechanical prob-
lems, (3) the cost of COM fiche is cheaper 
than COM film, and (4) the library's users 
found fiche easier to use. 

All but three of these articles are revised 
versions of papers published in Microdoc. 
This duplication of publishing seems a bit 
unnecessary. However, the collection of 
these articles in one publication may have 
some advantages to British readership. This 
publication would have been greatly en-
hanced for the American library reader if a 
glossary of abbreviations had been included. 

Even with the limitations cited above and 
the additional one of the brevity of each ar-
ticle, this publication has merit for the 
American librarian. The positive points are: 
( 1) the diversity of applications of COM in 
British libraries, (2) the strong trend in 
Britain to COM fiche and reasons for this 
trend, and (3) the cooperative approach to 
library COM problems.-Helen R. Citron , 
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta. 

Morris, John. Managing the Library Fire 
Risk. 2d ed. Berkeley: University of 
California. 1979. 147p. $14. LC 78-22603. 
ISBN 0-9602278-1-4. (Available from: 
Office of Risk Management and Safety, 
469 University Hall, University of 
California, Berkeley, CA 94720.) 
This book may easily become the librar-

ian's best friend by suggesting ways to les-
sen the risk of fire in the library and by 
lightening the director's concern, if disaster 
strikes, about a decision made in a hurry to 
salvage the collection. Recently experienc-
ing the impact of such a burden in directing 
an early Sunday morning rescue operation 
of a water-damaged collection of periodicals, 
I know how soothing it is to be able to 
confirm one's own decision in print. 

Managing the Library Fire Risk is written 
explicitly for library administrators. Its main 
goal is to convince librarians that books do 
burn, that they are very combustive, but 
also that they don't have to be vulnerable to 
fire igniting arson, malfunctioning equip-
ment, or natural causes of damage. Half of 
the book's ten chapters dramatize the im-
mense destructive power of library fires, 
well demonstrated by the Gondring Library 
fire in California that was started by a single 

paper match dropped into a bookdrop, and 
which ended in $200,000 damage (p.100). 

The two introductory chapters of the book 
sketch the extent of fire risk, further 
documented by a historical overview of the 
world's major library fires (chapter IX and 
appendix 6). A case study of Temple Uni-
versity's Law Library fire in 1972 (chapter 
IV) examines in detail the lessons learned. 
A separate chapter on arson (chapter III) 
discusses one of the currently most prevail-
ing causes of library fires. 

The other five chapters of the book deal 
with fire prevention. Fires can be avoided, 
and if started, can be localized. For exam-
ple, 70 percent of all fires in libraries 
equipped with automatic sprinklers are put 
out by .the action of a single sprinkler head, 
minimizing the water damage of the vol-
umes saved (p.29). 

In a seemingly mislabeled chapter, "Al-
ternatives for Protecting the Library Fire 
Risk" (chapter V), Morris reviews available 
fire protection systems, each reducing (not 
protecting) the risk of fires, by improving 
the protection against them. "Disaster Pre-
paredness and Fire Prevention" (chapter VI) 
lists some water emergency and fire preven-
tion guidelines; while the "Automatic Fire 
Protection System" (chapter VIII) discusses 
different types of detection and fire-
extinguishing systems. Additional data are 
also provided by inclusion of manufacturers' 
descriptions of their fire preventive hard-
ware. 

The author's basic optimism is expressed 
in the chapter "Salvage of Wet Books" 
(chapter VII); the optimism is illustrated by 
his reference to a very successful restoration 
of a copy of Merchant's Almanac, recovered 
from a shipwreck sunk more than 100 years 
ago (p.47). The content of the book is 
brought up to date in the last chapter, "Li-
brary Risk Management: Current Topics." 

The publication is richly illustrated with 
most of the same photographs used in both 
the first and the second editions. In fact, 
the present edition does not replace the one 
published in 1975; it merely expands its 
coverage by adding two chapters (chapters 
IX and X) and three appendixes to the prac-
tically unchanged main body of the first edi-
tion. Even the dust jacket of the second, 
bound edition is the same as the cover of