Better Libraries Make Better SchoolsReview by: Margaret GriffinThe Library Quarterly, Vol. 33, No. 3 (Jul., 1963), pp. 280-281Published by: The University of Chicago PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4305371 .

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280 THE LIrBRARY QUARTERLY

ernment documents. Mr. Andriot, an old docu- ments librarian, formerly documents expediter at the Library of Congress, has likely been working up to this set for some time. He has previously published some helpful tools on United States Government documents but nothing of this caliber.

KENNETH W. SODERLAND

Graduate Library School University of Chicago

Better Libraries Make Better Schools. Selected by CHARLES L. TRINKNER. Introduction by JOHN DAVID MARSHALL. ("Contributions to Library Literature," No. 4.) Hamden, Conn.: Shoe String Press, 1962. Pp. xxiii+335.

For the first time in this series of antholo- gies Marshall, general editor, has left the se- lection of articles to another person. Trinkner is chairman of the Library Services Division of Pensacola Junior College, Pensacola, Flori- da; has held teacher and librarian positions in Florida, Texas, and Arkansas public schools; and during the summer of 1955 was visiting professor of library science at Texas Woman's University.

In the introduction Marshall points out that this collection of seventy articles is the first made on the subject of school librarianship and that it has been assembled principally with the library school student and beginning librarian in mind. He suggests that for them it can serve several purposes-"as a volume of supplementary readings for course work, as a 'handbook' of useful information to be carried into the field, or simply as a morale- builder."

It was Trinkner's purpose to bring together the "chief 'working' concepts of school librar- ianship as an aid to progressive librarians re- sponsible for building better libraries." Selec- tions were made from publications printed between February, 1955, and June, 1960.

With an organization directed toward "capi- talizing on ideas, stimulating rethinking, and advancing the cause of librarianship," Trink- ner has arranged the numbered selections under three main headings: "The Ideal Library," "Improving Library Administration," and "The Library and Reader Service." Rec- ognizing the importance of intelligent book selection in providing successful library serv-

ice, he includes in an appendix two schedules aimed at holping librarians choose materials "in an orderly and unprejudiced fashion." Both are reprints from a statement published by, and presently available from, the Ameri- can Association of School Librarians.

On the whole the articles are less well written than those to be found in previous volumes of the series; this weakness may in large measure result from the general low literary quality of periodical articles in the area of school librarianship. Most of the selec- tions have something significant to say. Un- fortunately, however, monotonous repetition occurs in the course of the seventy articles.

The volume should prove to be useful, though certainly not indispensable, to the audience for which it was planned. Forty-nine per cent of the selections were taken from the Wilson Library Bulletin (twenty-four items) and Library Journal-Junior Libraries (ten), both of which are readily available to progressive librarians. Another 27 per cent were reprinted from ALA Bulletin (seven items), Library Journal (five), School Librar- ies (four), and Southeastern Librarian (three), which, with the first two titles mentioned, would be in any self-respecting library school collection. An additional 10 per cent have appeared in special issues of Builletin of the National Association of Secondary-School Printcipals (four items) and National Elemnen- tary Principal (three), both of which are often found in school principals' offices and are regularly acquisitions of library schools. The remaining 14 per cent were first published in High School Journal (four items), School Executive (two), California Journal of Sec- ondary Education (one), Junior College Jour- nal (one), Nation (one), and School Activities (one), journals that are certainly not rare in schools or colleges. In some library schools one or more copies of this anthology will be welcomed as a means of relieving the load fre- quently placed on the more commonly used journals.

The writer is aware that no two people would agree on the contents of an anthology of this type; however, it seems in order to make some suggestions for additions and subtractions. Although the title Better Librar- ies Make Better Schools technically covers the entire content of the book, it does not prepare the reader for the inclusion of articles on college librarianship. Thus it appears that the

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REVIEWS 281

few selections devoted specifically to the small and medium-sized college library might well have been saved for another volume.

"Central Library on a Low Budget: with Tips on Planning, Staffing-and Sharing," written by W. A. Kincaid and Mamie Ingram, superintendent and librarian, respectively, of Hempstead, New York, public schools, seems a poor selection. The kind of half-measure decentralized elementary-school library pro- gram described therein is out of line with today's philosophy of a total program com- monly accepted by forward-looking adminis- trators and librarians.

The practical aspects of school librarianship are for the most part adequately covered, but one important area, library planning and equipment, is omitted, except for occasional paragraphs relating to standards.

Technical errors, especially in the form of misplaced punctuation marks occur here and there in the volume. Confusing to the reader is the misplaced title "Playground Fun in Storyland," which appears on page 259 in connection with the article "Guiding Children's Reading."

One cannot help wishing that the publishers of the series could see fit to provide a subject index in any future anthologies. The use of Better Libraries Make Better Schools as a handbook is hampered by the lack of a means of locating quickly any particular ideas ex- pressed on a given subject. The titles cannot give an idea of the real gems of thought and practical information scattered within the individual articles. In lieu of an index in this book, consideration might have been given to adding subheadings within the table of contents.

MARGARET GRIFFIN

Division of Library Science Indiana University

Book Selection for School Libraries. By AZILE

WOFFORD. New York: H. W. Wilson Co., 1962. Pp. 318. $5.00.

Book Selection for School Libraries has twenty chapters which cover such topics as aids for selection, reference books, easy books, fiction, non-fiction, periodicals, classics, com- ics, and books for the retarded and for the gifted student. Attention also is given to Book

Week, National Library Week, and Medals and Awards.

In treating problem areas in book selection (such as demand versus quality, series books, books for beginning readers, original classics versus retold classics, and the censorship of library books), Miss Wofford tends to quote others on touchy matters. She gives the argu- ments for and against the selection of these books and clearly attempts to steer a middle course. She restricts herself to selection, and includes no information on the acquisition process.

The criteria of selection are discussed in nine pages, and Miss Wofford nowhere for- mulates specific standards. This treatment makes Book Selection f or School Libraries essentially an elementary manual for the li- brary science student and possibly for the librarian of a small school library.

A chapter on reference books lists the basic volumes for school libraries with only a few serious omissions. For instance, no mention is made of any geographical dictionary and gazetteer other than the expensive Columbia Lippincott Gazetteer. The new third edition of Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language is dismissed with a few lines while the second edition is described in detail. No mention is made of the new reference work Contemporary Authors, which was in process when the book was written. In addi- tion, the chapter listed several reference books that were either outdated or out of print.

The chapter on periodicals questions the number of magazines suggested for the school library by the American Library Association School Library Standards. However, the Sub- ject Index to Children's Magazines (which was omitted from the discussion of periodical indexes) lists about fifty magazines of which approximately thirty might be of use in school libraries. These, together with adult periodi- cals, should permit any school library to ap- proximate the numbers set by the standards.

In format and typography the work is neat and attractive, and it is written in clear and simple language. However, it is not a book for the experienced professional book selector be- cause of certain distinct limitations. It fails to mention (1) the effect of television and/or team teaching on reading, (2) the publishers that have subject specialities, (3) the selection and use of paperback books, and (4) the part weeding and discarding plays in the process of

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