College and Research Libraries


618 College & Research Libraries 

the product presented here seems to show 
that the doctors and saints of this event, 
like Omar of yore, went out by the same 
door where in they went. 

Nevertheless, there is plenty of worth-
while reading in this book for academic li-
brariai)s who take their profession seri-
ously. The six background papers that fill 
most of the pages provide, collectively, a 
treasure of carefully considered, even in-
spired, organization and interpretation of 
information bearing on the future of uni-
versities and their libraries. The papers are 
by three university presidents: William 
Gerberding (University of Washington); 
John Brademas (New York University); 
and Steven Muller (Johns Hopkins Uni-
versity) and three vice-presidents: Gerald 
Stevens (Yale); William Schaefer (UCLA); 
and Howard Resnikoff (Harvard). Their 
presentations overlap in scope, but they 
focus on different aspects of the outlook 
for universities: economic and political en-
vironments, future student population, 
information technologies and their im-
pacts, and prospects for academic pro-
grams and organizational structures. 

The panorama suggested by this group 
of presentations is one in which we will 
see universities adapting, perforce and 
clumsily, to: continuing technological and 
social revolution, fairly static instructional 
volume and older students, proportion-
ally more foreign students, uneven prog-
ress in accommodation of minorities, un-
likely restoration of generous government 
support for students or institutions, grow-
ing demand for vocational instruction, 
shrinkage in areas of liberal arts and social 
science, aging faculties, competition from 
commercial providers of vocationally ori-
·ented instruction, increased cooperation 
with industry as a way C?f securing sup-
port, increased conflict of interest be-
tween faculty and institution, and slowed 
growth of basic scholarship and research. 
Universities will need to revise dramati-
cally their instructional methods and 
adapt their organizational structures in or-
der to coordinate broad information activi-
ties based on technology. Academic li-
braries, if they are perceptive and 
adaptable, can avoid sliding into irrele-

November 1986 

vance by becoming the multifaceted infor-
mation hub of the emerging university. 
These prospects, and what can be done 
about them by universities and libraries, 
are elaborated to different degrees in the 
several papers. 

So far, in the passage of time since origi-
nal presentation of these papers, no im-
portant surprises or omissions have 
turned up to diminish the authors' credi-
bility. Their insights are of the kind that 
trigger creative thinking about useful 
courses of action for education and aca-
demic librarianship .' 

Readers must depend on their own in-
genuity for integrating related passages 
from the several papers. Expect no help 
from the subject index, which is vapid and 
usually fails to link discussions of similar 
concepts when the speakers used differ-
ent phraseology or contexts, but the name 
index could conceivably help some 
readers.-Ben-Ami Lipetz, School of Informa-
tion Science and Policy, State University of 
New York at Albany. 

International Librarianship Today and 
Tomorrow: A Festschrift for William J. 
Welsh. Comp. by Joseph W. Price and 
Mary S. Price. New York: K.G. Saur, 
1985. 174p. $32.50. ISBN 3-598-10586-X. 
In his preface to Index to Festschriften in 

Librarianship, J. Periam Danton character-
izes festschriften and provides the basis 
on which to judge this genre. A festschrift 
is meant to honor "a more or less distin-
guished individual'' with a volume of con-
tributions //by the honoree/s friends and 
colleagues who are also usually promi-
nent in their fields,'' and to have lasting 
significance. A biography of the honoree 
is usually present; a bibliography of his or 
her work is always present. Danton adds, 
however: "In the field of librarianship, at 
least, there is a considerable number of 
works in which both are lacking. Indeed in 
a few Festschriften there is no indication 
whatever, either on the title page or in the 
preface, introduction, dedication, fore-
word, text, or appendix-of who the hon-
oree is, where he was active, or in what 
field!" 

The compilers of this volume have not 



been quite so neglectful, but readers must 
look elsewhere for both a biography and a 
bibliography. This is a pity, because Wil-
liam F. Welsh's career at the Library of 
Congress, which now spans thirty-nine 
years and is far from over, is incomparable 
in the annals of American librarianship for 
its impact and vision. One or the other 
would have added to the lasting qualities 
of this volume. 

In 1970 Danton lamented the absence of 
bibliographic control accorded festschrif-
ten and the resulting obscurity of the con-
tributions. Practice has not changed. Un-
fortunately, only the few serendipitously 
blessed will be able to find the provocative 
and stimulating thoughts_ embedded in 
this volume, thoughts contributed by 
some of the most eminent and distin-
guished practitioners of and thinkers 
about international librarianship, whose 
life work is dedicated to making knowl-
edge accessible. William 0. Baker, of 
AT&T Bell Laboratories, observes that the 
information age is unlike previous ''ages'' 
that were rooted in natural phenomena, 
all of which exist independently of hu-
mankind. Products of the information 
age, in contrast, are artifacts of the human 
brain and only partly, if at all, derived 
from natural phenomena (p.9) . Martin M. 
Cummings, director emeritus of the Na-
tional Library of Medicine, concludes that 
''The Library of the future should serve as 
the principal node in the information sys-
tems of universities" (p.40) . Franz George 
Kaltwasser provides an absorbing per-
spective on the development of German 
libraries and points out the contrasting na-
tionallibrary philosophies. The Library of 
Congress, for example, allows individuals 
unhindered admission but is basically ali-
brary of reference only. European li-
braries, on the other hand, restrict admis-
sion but lend their materials freely. In 
Germany, the lack of a national library 
and the existence of a liberal interlibrary 
loan policy led to the planning and devel-
opment of union catalogs that were to 
compensate for the lack of a national li-
brary. Hermann Liebaers' overview of Eu-
ropean research libraries is written with 
insight and charm. Some contributions, 

Recent Publications 619 

such as Elsa Granheim's "Special Prob-
lems of Libraries Serving a Linguistic Mi-
nority: The Norwegian Experience," may 
appear too specialized but do present gen~ 
uinely interesting and thought-provoking 
problems. 

The view of international librarianship 
presented in this volume, perhaps not 
surprisingly considering the nature of the 
genre, favors developed countries, 
English-speaking countries, and western 
European countries. The exceptions are 
Kenya and the USSR. Most of Africa, and 
all of South America, Asia, and the Indian 
subcontinent are absent. Also, the past 
and the present loom larger than the fu-
ture in the majority of the papers. A more 
accurate title might have been" Aspects of 
International Librarianship Today and 
Day After Tomorrow." 

The compilers might have taken more 
care. How can it be that we who spend so 
much time describing books do so poorly 
at making them? Copy editing might have 
been better. The typos are many, but have 

The Academic 
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620 College & Research Libraries 

a certain international flavor: ''about 66% 
of the total working populations ist doing 
information handling services" (p.13); 
and "National Library of Medecine" 
(p .108). An index would have been useful. 
And so would a foreword acknowledging 
the fifteen contributors by title and pro-
viding some context about the preparation 
of this work. The book was presented to 
Welsh at a special reception sponsored by 
the publisher, K. G. Saur, during the 
Fifty-first Council and General Confer-
ence of the International Federation of Li-
brary Associations and Institutions (IFLA) 
in August 1985. Was this festschrift pre-
pared especially for this event? 

Honoring Bill Welsh requires no justifi-
cation, of course. The wonder is that 
honor isn't done more often. His achieve-
ments should be more widely acknowl-
edged and appreciated outside library cir-
cles. This book is a fine tribute.-Nina W. 
Matheson, William H. Welch Medical Library, 
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Mary-
land. 

Harman, Keith and Charles R. McClure. 
Strategic Planning for Sponsored Project 
Administration: The Role of Information 
Management. Westport, Conn.: Green-
wood, 1985. 279p. $45. LC 85-9881. 
ISBN 0-813-24931-8. 
This is another quality and timely prod-

uct of the prolific McClure publication fac-
tory. The team of Keith Harman, director 
of the Office of Educational Grants at 
Southeast Missouri State University, and 
Charles McClure, associate professor in 
the School of Library Science at the Uni-

. versity of Oklahoma, has produced a 
"theoretical treatise and a desktop hand-
book" to assist sponsored-project admin-
istrators in their understanding and use of 
strategic planning and information man-
agement techniques. 

As the premier volume in the new 
Greenwood Press series, Emerging Pat-
terns of Work and Communications in an 
Information Age, the work focuses on es-
tablishing a conceptual framework for 
core organizational and management 
concepts-systems theory, strategic plan-

. ning, boundary spanning, organizational 
culture, contingency management, orga-

November 1986 

nizational role and information manage-
ment-and on outlining the key elements 
of the strategic planning process and -of 
decision support systems. What distin-
guishes this treatment of these now very 
familiar concepts and techniques is the ef-
fective and essential link drawn~between 
information resources management and 
strategic planning and the focus on ad-
ministrators working with grants, con-
tracts, and cooperative agreements sup-
porting research and development 
projects. 

The authors recognize that significant 
changes are taking place in the grants en-
vironment, as the interests and support 
levels of federal agencies, foundations, 
and corporations shift dramatically. They 
also note that the role of the project ad-
ministrator in many organizations has ex-
panded from management of single proj-
ects to organization-wide responsibility 
for sponsored-project performance. These 
developments demand new approaches 
and the promotion of a "planning cul-
ture" characterized by effective informa-
tion identification, acquisition, organiza-
tion, evaluation, and dissemination. 

The central premises are summarized 
early in the volume, on page 52: "through 
a decision support system, sponsored proj-
ect administrators may arrange and interre-
late the information-processing mecha-
nisms and tools needed to provide timely, 
valid and reliable information .... Bound-
ary spanning offers a means by which 
sponsored projects administrators may 
communicate relevant information regard-
ing sponsored projects to key clients (fun-
ders), constituents (organization decision 
makers), support staff/units, and project 

· personnel. Contingency management pro-
vides an administrative posture which em-
phasizes a situational or adaptive ap-
proach. Strategic planning serves as the 
fulcrum or transforming agent by produc-
ing ongoing plans which help identify 
those environmental factors, organiza-
tional resources, problems, and opportuni-
ties most relevant to the organization's 
sponsored projects effort.'' 

Subsequent chapters provide detailed 
discussions and prescriptive information 
about these concepts and their underlying