Awe, Susan C.

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Research Library Trends, 1951-1980 and Beyond: An Update of Purdue's "Past and Likely Future
of 58 Research Libraries" (Book Review)

Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship Repository

708 College & Research Libraries but not surprisingly, these vary in tone and quality. They range from a brief over-view of evaluation by Mary Jo Lynch enti-tled "Measurement of Public Library Ac-tivity: The Search For Practical Methods'' to a long survey article entitled "Evaluat-ing the Collection" by George S. Bonn. Also included is a particularly good work called ''Personnel Evaluation as an Impe-tus to Growth" by Ernest R. De Prospo. Because the intended purpose of the course was to provide an overview of eval-uation to a wide audience of practitioners, efforts have been made to show applica-tions in a variety of library settings: public, academic, and school. As such, some of the examples may appear less appropriate than others. This shouldn't deter the reader, however, because the authors have done a good job of presenting their information in an appropriate and very readable format. They have taken a com-plex process and made it understandable to the general reader. Unfortunately poor proofreading mars this otherwise admirable effort. Numer-November 1989 ous errors occur, the worst of which is missing or altered wording making some sentences totally unintelligible. It is too bad that some of the same thoroughness advocated for the evaluation process couldn't have been applied to the produc-tion of this work.-Robert Logsdon, Indiana State Library, Indianapolis. Seibert, Warren F., and others. Research Library Trends, 1951-1980 and Beyond: An Update of Purdue's "Past and Likely Future of 58 Research Libraries" (Lister Hill Tech-nical Report, LHNCBC 87-2). Washing-ton, D.C.: Department of Health and Human Services, 1987. 181p. As the title indicates, this report is an update of the earlier title, Research Library Trends, 1951-1980, published in 1965. The original data spanned the years 1951 through 1964 and were the foundation for forecasts of selected trends through 1980. The Purdue studies (p.xii) also updated the statistics through 1972. This volume presents some estimates of future trends through 1990. r ~OLLECTION ~ANALYSIS You need reliable quantitative data to justify collection management decisions. You need a flexible analysis system designed with your library's goals in mind. How does your collection measure up? Introducing ........................ OCLC/ AM/COS Collection Analysis Systems. Collection Analysis CD compares your holdings against those of similar institutions, using a subset of the OCLC database on compact disc. Tap~ Analysis gives you a custom-designed MARC tape analysis for your library or group. A Tape Match against Books for College Libraries is also offered. OCLC/ AMIGOS Collection Analysis Systems Available exclusively in the U.S. from AMIGOS Bibliographic Council, Inc. 11300 North Central Expressway, Suite 321 Dallas, Texas 75243 (800)843-8482 (214)750-6130 E CAS DOCUMENT DELIVERY ~ Soviet documents ~ Articles from any iufAOf,11tl~i:' American Chemical ~ Other documents 710 College & Research Libraries The introduction (p.1) states: "library growth is described as rapid, accelerating,. daunting, and destined to remain that way," but "the statistics used to measure growth are not well-defined and hence, their results cannot be trusted." Follow-ing this ambiguous beginning is a discus-sion of American college and university li-brary statistical studies dating back to a book published in 1940 and ending with articles printed in 1986. This study was published in 1987 and therefore was timely. However, trends in current re-search libraries are changing more quickly than ever before due to automation, pro-liferation of information, funding or the lack of it, and so on, and even 1986 statis-tics are of limited use in 1989. "The principal study results describe 35 years of growth and change in library holdings, gross volumes added, profes-sional and non-professional staff size, and in three expenditure categories-salaries, materials and binding, and total, as well as November 1989 university/main campus total and gradu-ate enrollments, and Ph.D. degrees awarded" (p.iii). Rapid growth in many areas is shown from 1951 through 1970, but very different trends surface begin-ning in 1971. To illustrate, gross volumes added tripled between 1951 and 1970, lev-eled off or dropped through 1982, and in-creased every year .since; this information was presented in the report's abstract and would be very difficult to find either through scanning the List of Tables or List of Figures. The text and interpretations with the statistics are very brief, and few readers/li-brarians will spend the time necessary to understand and use the mass of informa-tion. The correlational analyses may be valuable, but they are difficult to locate and understand. In general statistical jar-gon, fifty pages of graphs and abbreviated terminology (table 2) tend to lose and con-fuse anyone. More time devoted to ana-lyzing and summarizing the statistics is Plug into KIDSNET with ALANET! KIDSNET is the only database devoted to TV and radio programming for children and young adults, with listings for more than 25,000 pro-grams in more than 150 curriculum areas. Each search saves you hours of searching through distributors' catalogs and provides complete information about content, production, broadcast and non-broadcast rights, and availability of print materials. Subscribe to ALANET and KIDSNET together and receive a 10% discount! For more information, please contact Rob Carlson, ALANET System Manager, 50 East Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611. 312-944-6780 or 800-545-2433 (in Illinois, -2444; in Canada, -2455). DIALCOM 41 :ALA0006. ALANET • 50 East Huron Street • Chicago, IL 60611 called for rather than presentations of data in tables and graphs. Suggestions for further research are in-cluded in the discussion section (p .111). In addition to further research, more expla-nations of the data presented in a readable fashion would make the publication more widely consulted. A good list of references is included. An index would help readers Recent Publications 711 locate information in the text. Library sta-tistics are always useful for forecasting trends and planning future needs in addi-tion to supporting expansion of facilities, increased staffing levels, and more. If re-search library statistics are needed, this re-port may help.-Susan C. Awe, Northern Arizona University. OTHER PUBLICATIONS Acid Rain Abstracts Annual 1988. New York: Bowker, 1989. 222p. $195 (ISBN 0-8352-2640-9). African Book World & Press. Ed. by Hans Zell. New York: Saur, 1989. 340p. $135 (ISBN 0-905450-50-7). Age of Maturity, 1929-1941. V.S. Detroit: Gale; 1989. 426p. $60 (ISBN 0-8103-1820-2). Artificial Intelligence Abstracts Annual1988. New York: Bowker, 1989. 422p. $395 (ISBN0-8352-2639-5). Austrian Fiction Writers, 1875-1913. V.81. Ed. by James Hardin and Donald G. Daviau. De-. troit: Gale, 1989. 405p. $98 (ISBN 0-8103-4559-5). Authors and Artists for Young Adults. V.2. Ed. by Agnes Garrett and Helga P. McCue. Detroit: Gale, 1989. 265p. $55 (ISBN 0-8103-5051-3). Awards, Honors, and Prizes: An International Di-rectory of Awards and Their Donors. Ed. by Gita Siegman. Detroit: Gale, 1989. 1,312p./V.1; 791p./V.2. $165/V.1; $189/V.2 (ISBN 0-8103-5085-8/V.l; ISBN 0-8103-5086-6/V.2). LC 85-070620. Bonn, Thomas L. Heavy Traffic and High Culture. Carbondale, Ill.: Southern Illinois Univ., "'' ~"N ~- ·. ~w£5 \1" socl£rt ~- . Ll~~ ~~110"N \"\FOR c.rt"'liC~L Lis publication brings ,1 ~ r{' ~ r{'l ~~ l t together in one place basic statistics about ~ c; lf'-ll l{N libraries in the United States that describe what f'- ;:J \\.It ~ 1 ~ }_ libraries are and do, how they are used and by C.=.. \\\1\~1., }..t'- whom, what they contain, how they are financed ~ \J }_, l- and staffed, and how they spend their resources. It was compiled, with the aid of a grant from \ h OCLC, for those outside the library community )'j ~ Lyncb ~ Re5earc who wish to know more about libraries as well as • Mary 0 ~ tA Office or for librarians and potential librarians who seek a "irector, ~"'-u summary of the field. • 32 pages • Paperback, 8W' x 11" • Date: 1987 •ISBN: 0-8389-7145-8 ORDER FROM: ALA PUBLISHING SERVICES 50 East Huron Street Chicago, IL 60611 NAME ADDRESS __ Copies @ $4.00 each $ ___ Total CITY STATE ZIP 

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Research Library Trends, 1951-1980 and Beyond: An Update of Purdue's "Past and Likely Future of 58 Research Libraries" (Book Review)

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