reviews.indd


392 College & Research Libraries 

measurement processes that will yield 
accurate results. Also informative are the 
chapters on data collection and analysis, 
crucial in determining what the results, 
once assembled, actually mean. 

Ultimately, the underpinnings of any 
successful library evaluation include an 
understanding and articulation of the 
library’s mission, vision, and values, 
as well as its particular purpose. What 
characterizes the library’s users, and what 
stake do they hold in the library’s evolu-
tion? Furthermore, how should a library 
use performance measures to assess the 
success of the newly implemented strate-
gies? Finally, how does a library foster a 
culture of assessment that includes and 
recruits staff members in ongoing moni-
toring of library progress? Without staff
support of strategic plans, the evaluation 
and assessment process is for naught. The 
true strength of this book is the author’s 
expansive knowledge of his subject. Not 
only does he raise signifi cant questions, 
but he also provides valuable answers.— 
Lynne Maxwell, Villanova University. 

Staikos, K. The Mirror of the Library. New 
Castle, Del.: Oak Knoll, 2006. 49p., $45 
(ISBN 1584561793). 

I am not certain that a pamphlet (less than 
fifty pages by definition, though the un-
numbered colophon does bring it up to 
fifty pages, and there is also a separately 
paged foreword by Robert D. Fleck ) 
can be a “coffee table” book—especially 
one without pictures. This homage to 
the book, published as “a private press 
keepsake of significant text and delightful 
design,” certainly should be on the coffee 
table of every collector and book lover. 
The two hundred signed and numbered 
copies and additional seven hundred 
copies printed for the masses will not be 
sufficient to serve all of those who would 
delight in its simple praise of the book. 

Konstantos Staikos’ work in the history 
of the book and library history has been 
published by Oak Knoll previously. His 
contributions in the scholarly realm are 
considerable, and this translation from 

July 2008 

the Greek original by Timothy Cullen is 
elegant. The book itself, as is typical of 
Oak Knoll productions, is a masterpiece of 
the book arts. It is a book that feels right in 
the hand, looks right to the eye, and even 
smells right. It is a physical object that 
completely realizes the author’s and the 
publisher’s commitment to the celebration 
of the book. 

Staikos begins with the conceit derived 
from Stephane Mallarme: “The world 
exists to end in a book.” Every human 
action, every thought, every sin, every 
salvation is recorded. It ends on the same 
mystic note that “all of us … are writing 
chapters in a book that is constantly being 
expanded but never completed.” Earlier 
reviewers of Staikos’ work have objected 
to his somewhat haphazard scholarship, 
but this book cannot be included among 
those. This is not a work of scholarship 
but a hymn of praise to the book and to 
its creator(s). It stands outside the narrow 
realm of scholarship in its antiphonal 
alternation between fact and faith. 

The introduction by Robert D. Fleck, 
founder of the Oak Knoll Press, is equally 
a delight. Few people readily admit to 
reading A. Edward Newton any longer. 
Fewer confess to his having had an influ-
ence on their lives. Newton became the 
preeminent American book collector of the 
first half of the twentieth century largely 
because of his popular books on collect-
ing. The sale of his collection in 1941 was a 
national event (at least, in the book world). 
Newton’s reputation suffered from his 
spirited defense of the integrity of Thomas 
James Wise even long after the evidence 
of Wise’s duplicity was overwhelming, 
and Newton’s books, perhaps partially 
because of this and because of the changes 
in collecting tastes since their publication, 
have fallen into some obscurity. 

This is unfortunate. Newton’s books are 
excellent excursions into the delights of 
book collecting and, if not scholarly, serve, 
as does Staikos’ book, as the inspirational 
literature of the bibliophilic faithful. 

Fleck has named his business opera-
tion after A. Edward Newton’s home, Oak 



Knoll. The Oak Knoll Press and Oak Knoll 
Books, the antiquarian bookselling part 
of the business, have specialized to some 
extent in the works of Newton. Newton is 
primarily known as an author and book 
collector, but his day job was as president 
of the Cutter Electrical and Manufacturing 
Company, and Fleck’s education and early 
career was as an electrical engineer. There 
seems to be a potentially interesting paral-

Book Reviews 393 

lel, if it is not pressed too far. Oak Knoll’s 
bookselling and publishing activities have 
become a major influence in the antiquar-
ian book field. Fleck’s contributions to 
this have been significant, and it would 
seem that the publication of his own story 
would be an important contribution to the 
literature of the field. He does have his own 
press to do it.—Lee Shiflett, The University 
of North Carolina at Greensboro. 

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