Cammack, Floyd M.

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Flying Buttresses or Vending Machines?

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elusion in UNESCO's Index Transla-tionum.41 filled. Among the most pressing desider-ata, in addition to those already men-tioned, are regional bibliographies, in-cluding comprehensive bibliographies on certain regions, as well as bibliographies on certain subjects available within those regions. Despite these shortcomings the outlook for the future is promising. The National Conference of Library Author-ities, 1962, has given new 'impetus to bib-liographical work. Among the conference resolutions is one recommending the formation of a Bibliographical Bureau which will plan, promote, and coordinate bibliographical services. The country is geared for many new bibliographical de-velopments and South African librarians look forward with enthusiasm to the phase which lies ahead. • • Subject bibliographies in other fields have increased copiously in recent years. Much good work has been done by post-graduate students in librarianship at South African universities in fulfilment of courses which require the compilation of a bibliography under supervision. Many subjects which would otherwise not have been covered bibliographically have been done in this way. These and all other important subject bibliogra-phies are listed in the Bibliography of African Bibliographies mentioned pre-viously. There are still many lacunae to be 41 Index Translatio·num: repertoire internationale des Tradttctions, new series, vol. 1, 1948- (Paris: UNESCO, 1949- ). Flying Buttresses or Vending Machines? 500 MoRE AND .MORE we find that goals based on our best estimates of future develop-ments tend, in a few short years, to be outdistanced by an overambitious and often disrespectful reality .... While cost figures presented by the Council on Library Resources for books vs. microfilm make excellent sense in a general way, and while it is comforting to those who must plan ahead for library facilities to know that the codex is something to be counted on, there are still certain specific areas where rather radical changes in format are both possible and probable . . .. Far too little has changed in academic library work since the thirteenth century ... . We are still at the stage of the old medieval builder ... who constructed flying buttresses by trial and error, piling on far more stones than were ever necessary. When the forms were removed he would stand back (at a good distance), put his fingers in his ears, shut ·his eyes and hope for the best. .. . In the general academic library, we are still at the stage of piling on more and more volumes . ... Since most of the newly-developed machinery for information control depends heavily on numerical volume for its effectiveness, average mean circulation fig-ures preclude such machinery from general academic libraries for some years to come. Not so ... for the high-pse_ portions of an undergraduate library .... The reduction of standard undergraduate collections to microcards has been under way for some time, and it now appears that the development of a practical reader is nearing completion .... The possible effects of microcard vending machines in college libraries would be tremendous. For one thing, the "Reserve Book Room" as we know it would disappear .... But, as with all other such innova-tions, in order to be most effective, it must be additive and not replacive. Were such a possibility to become a reality ... it would not change the number of volumes on the shelves. It would certainly change the ratio of titles to volumes, however. Duplication of titles could be reduced by oyer eighty per cent, and still the student would have freer access and longer access to the materials he uses most often. At the same time, the undergraduate collection could be a richer, more varied source for other types of reading.-Floyd M. Cammack, "Goals for the 60's," Hawaii Library Association journal, Spring 1963. • • COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 

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Flying Buttresses or Vending Machines?

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IDEALS @ Illinois

Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship Repository