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Presidential Libraries and Collections by Fritz VeitReview by:
Pamela R. McKayThe Library Quarterly, Vol. 58, No. 3 (Jul., 1988),
pp. 308-309Published by: The University of Chicago PressStable URL:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/4308277 .Accessed: 12/06/2014 15:23
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308 THE LIBRARY QUARTERLY
greatest of pleasure that I discovered William Coyle's Libraries
in Prisons: A Bknding of Institutions.
As a former prison librarian in Oklahoma and presently a
consultant with the Colorado State Library, the author is well
qualified to write on correctional librarianship. In his overview
of the history of prison libraries, Coyle notes that, even in the
beginning with the Walnut Street Jail in 1790, a dichotomy of
purpose was already apparent. Was a prison library to be a window
to the world encouraged by reformers, or was it to be a subtle
control mechanism of the punitive school of penologists? He
describes the ongoing efforts of both the American Library
Association and the American Correctional Association to establish
definitive standards for institutional libraries and the resistance
to the imposition of any qualifiable measure. The author correctly
describes Library Services and Construction Act funding as a
catalyst for the professionalization of correctional libraries, but
he seems not to appreciate the importance of the Supreme Court
decisions mandating law libraries. These cases, especially Bounds
v. Smith in 1977, sent formerly disinterested corrections
administrators scurrying to hire librarians and seek professional
advice. Coyle realizes that to be effective in any institution
requires that the support agencies, that is, libraries, must
respond to the goals of that institution. The debate is whether a
correctional library is a library thatjust "happens" to be located
in a prison or whether it is an integral component of the prison's
overall program of rehabilitation. As an answer, Coyle presents a
change-based model for correctional librarianship; a model that is
linked to society's inherent interest in behavioral change of the
criminal. Thus, librarians focus service not to please the inmate
but to participate in this socialization process. For most
librarians educated in library schools with the public library as
the model of service, this concept is confusing and possibly
disturbing. Coyle suggests the establishment of core courses to
train correctional librarians who will be effective in their
profession.
Libraries in Prisons is a valuable book, one that is long
overdue and that should be read by library educators, correctional
administrators, and federal judges. But it seems that those
librarians presently "incarcerated" would most benefit from reading
this work. If there is any criticism at all, it is that the author
re- lies solely on American sources. There is a growing body of
literature, espe- cially from Europe, that could contribute to any
discussion of the subject. But this is a minor point; Coyle has
done well, and Libraries in Prisons is valuable reading.
Stephen Mark Mallinger, State Library of Pennsylvania
Presidential Libraries and Collections. By FRITZ VEIT. Westport,
Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1987. Pp. vii + 152. $29.95. ISBN
0-313-24996-2.
The papers generated during an American presidency reflect the
activities of that office and the political, economic, and social
history of the nation. There- fore, presidential papers are of
interest not only to scholars but also to the general public. To
aid the research needs of presidential scholars and interested
citizens Veit has prepared this overview of the availability of our
former presi- dents' papers. He has covered the presidential
libraries, as well as the collections of presidential papers in the
Library of Congress and elsewhere. It is this "extra" information
that to me is the most useful feature of the book.
Upon his retirement from the presidency in 1797, George
Washington wanted a place to make his presidential papers available
for use. He never got one. A
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REVIEWS 309
presidential library as a government-run institution
specifically and exclusively for the housing, organization, and use
of the papers of a former U.S. president was not seriously
considered until President Franklin Roosevelt proposed such a
structure. The Franklin D. Roosevelt Library was established by a
joint resolu- tion of Congress in 1939. The Presidential Libraries
Act of 1955 authorized the government to accept the maintenance and
upkeep of a presidential library for any future president. All
presidents since Calvin Coolidge (with the exception of Richard
Nixon) have a federally supported and administered presidential li-
brary. (A presidential library for Herbert Hoover was established
in 1962 in West Branch, Iowa.)
Data on these eight institutions (nine including the Nixon
Presidential Materi- als Project) forms the main body of the book.
After a brief history of the treatment of presidential papers,
chapter 2-"Costs, and Measures to Reduce Them"-details the
maintenance costs of presidential libraries and the debate on
reducing these costs. The legislation resulting from this debate is
the Presi- dential Libraries Act of 1986, whose provisions are
delineated.
Chapter 3-"Archival Depository and Other Topics"-will be of
special inter- est to librarians. Here the author explains the
nature of an archival depository and of presidential papers, the
relationship between the White House and the National Archives,
weeding, and computer use. The difference between presi- dential
papers and federal records, however, is never made clear.
Another section in this chapter offers important "practical
advice about inter- preting data" (p. 35) for anyone intending to
use presidential papers for re- search. In addition, "Instruction
to Users" covers applications for doing re- search, procedures in
the research room, finding aids available, materials with
restricted use or withdrawn, and copyright. Appendix 3 is also
"must" reading for any potential user of a presidential library:
the information on the support- ing organizations of each library
covers financial awards for research.
Information on holdings, number of researcher and museum visits,
acquisi- tions programs, staffing, and supporting organizations for
the presidential li- braries as a whole is given, diagrammed, and
compared in chapter 4. Descriptive information for each individual
presidential library follows. Most of this infor- mation was
supplied to the author via a questionnaire sent to each library. It
is soon evident to the reader that (as the author warned) "a few of
the questions were not interpreted in a uniform fashion" (pp.
xvi-xvii). (A copy of the questionnaire has been included.) The
descriptions of the conferences and special exhibits of various
presidential libraries illustrate the universal value of these
institutions.
Table 5 details "the papers still extant, the depositories, and
in some instances the method of acquisition of [the] collection"
(p. 106) for each president from Washington to Coolidge. Tables 6
and 7 list information on the presidential papers in the Library of
Congress. For each collection of presidential papers not in the
Library of Congress-specifically, those of John Adams, John Quincy
Adams, Millard Fillmore, James Buchanan, Rutherford B. Hayes, and
Warren G. Harding-the author has also supplied detailed information
based on a questionnaire.
The readability of the book has been weakened and its usefulness
imperiled because of such problems as glaring typos; incorrect
popular names of statutes; and inconsistent capitalization.
Although it is sad that the book was so poorly edited, Presidential
Libraries and Collections includes valuable factual and biblio-
graphic information that make its purchase worthwhile.
Pamela R. McKay, Learning Resources Center, Worcester State
College
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Article Contentsp. 308p. 309
Issue Table of ContentsThe Library Quarterly: Information,
Community, Policy, Vol. 58, No. 3 (Jul., 1988), pp. 221-326Front
Matter [pp. 285-286]Anonymity and Identity: Editorial Policy in the
Early Scientific Journal [pp. 221-237]The Dialectics of Enumerative
Bibliography: Observations on the Historical Study of the Practices
of Citation and Compilation [pp. 238-257]A Revisionary Note on
Ammianus Marcellinus 14.6.18: When Did the Public Libraries of
Ancient Rome Close? [pp. 258-264]Information as Property and as a
Public Good: Perspectives from the Economic Theory of Property
Rights [pp. 265-282]The Cover Design [pp. 283-284]ReviewsReview:
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Books Received [pp. 323-325]Back Matter [pp. 326-326]
