Library Review

GILL, PHILIP

1979 Library Review

doi: 10.1108/eb012679

THERE have been many theories of book selection. I do not intend to venture into the field of selection by algebraic formulae. I have no practical experience of this method, and I believe it to be an arid approach to an exciting process. I want to look at some of the practical problems of public library book selection, to suggest some solutions and to examine some of the old wives tales which surround this evergreen subject.

MOWAT, IAN R.M.

1979 Library Review

doi: 10.1108/eb012680

While the architect members of the Adam family have been subjected to considerable scrutiny over the years, architectural historians seem to have overlooked the information to be gleaned from the 1883 catalogue of the Blair Adam library, a copy of which is held in the National Library of Scotland. Of course a catalogue printed almost a hundred years after the death of the last of the architects in the family is hardly a totally reliable guide. Nevertheless, if used with care and in association with other surviving evidence, it can shed additional light on a number of aspects of Adam biography.

GEDDES, GEORGE

1979 Library Review

doi: 10.1108/eb012681

What to do about preparing librarians for handling nonbook media has been the most vexing problem to face the library schools in the past five years. Or has it Janet Andrew's plea that nonbook materials should be treated as what they aregenuine library materialsdeserving of attention throughout any course designed to educate or train librarians produced, in the same issue of Audiovisual librarian in which it appeared, a response from the educators themselves to be accurate, from ten of the fifteen schools to whom the preprint of the article was circulated, and from an eleventh in a subsequent issue. Some respondents outlined their school's policies others questioned the validity of Ms Andrew's criticisms. If anything emerged from the debate, it was that that there is no consensus as to whether or not librarianship education should take special account of nonbook media, or if so, how this should be carried out.

PETTY, M.J.

1979 Library Review

doi: 10.1108/eb012682

Within the framework of the Reference, Special and Information Section, the Library Association now has an organisation which can put the views of librarians who have special responsibility for local studies. It has become apparent that the problems facing such librarians in metropolitan areas differ somewhat from the situation experienced by local studies librarians in the Shire Counties. The organisation of local studies differs widely both between these types of authority and within authorities themselves.