Int. Libr. Rev. (1986), 18, 217-220

Publications Received: Editorial Commentary G. CHANDLER*

Studies in English of the library systems in the USSR are relatively rare. Hence an authoritative general survey of library developments in the USSR is welcome. Libraries and Information Centres in the Soviet Union (2nd edition), by A. Andersen, J. B. Friis-Hansen and L. Kajberg, was published in 1975 by Bibliotekscentralens Forlag. It provides a readable and successful survey of the structure of the Russian library and infor- mation system based on personal visits to a range of libraries throughout the Soviet Union.

The first chapter summarizes library activities in Russia prior to the Soviet revolution of 1917. The subsequent 13 chapters outline briefly but effectively the characteristics of Soviet librarianship, library philo- sophy, documentation centres and library networks, library networks for specialists, the mass library networks, regional and territorial libraries, centralization, documentation and information centres, Soviet library classification, and All-Union Book Chamber, education for librarianship and documentation, library and information science research, and a summary in the concluding remarks on the Soviet library services.

The remainder of the study is concerned with personal impressions of a range of library and information services visited by the authors during their tours of the USSR. There are brief separate sections on the State Lenin Library; the State Public Saltykov-Shchedrin Library, Leningrad; the All Union State Library for Foreign Literature, Moscow; University Libraries in Irkutsk and Vilnius; the Library of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Leningrad; Rayon Libraries; a central Public Library in Siberia; a trade union library; the State Youth Library, Moscow, Oblast' libraries; republic libraries with particular reference to libraries in Vladimir and Irkutsk; Republic Libraries with particular reference to the National Library of Lithuania, Vilnius, and Uzbek Tashkent; the International Centre for Scientific and Technical

* 43 Saxon Close, Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire CV37 7DX, United Kingdom.

0020-7837/86/020217 + 04 $03.00/0 �9 1986 Academic Press Inc. (London) Limited

218 G . C H A N D L E R

Information; the Institute of Scientific Information in the Social Sci- ences; the State Public Scientific and Technical Library of the USSR; and three int'ormation and documentation institutes in the Caucasian republics. Collectively these sections and the earlier chapters provide a brief but comprehensive survey of the Russian library system.

The bibliography is inevitably limited in range, but it includes over 60 references. The most frequently cited authors were: Arutjunov (4), Friis-Hansen (3), Sumarokov (3), Zazersky (3) and Chandler (3).

INDIA

From India come two publications issued by the Indian Council of Social Science Research. Research Project Reports in SSDC: an annotated bibliography (1984) is arranged alphabetically under author with a detailed subject index. A Guide to Books and Journals Aided~Published by ICSSR (1984) illustrates the range of research. The Indian Council of Social Science Research had to undertake a wide range of publications, because the National Library of India in Calcutta, which has extensive collections, serves primarily as a library of conservation and has not concentrated on the utilization of its collections, as is the case with many national libraries.

The range of the research of the SSDC is illustrated in the SSDC Information Series, edited by S. P. Agrawal. This includes, inter alia, a Union List of Social Science Periodicals received in Delhi Libraries (1982), Union Catalogue of Newspapers in Delhi Libraries (1983), Theses in SSDC (1983), Reference Sources in SSDC (1984), Recent Indian Books in Economics, Education, Political Science and Sociology (1984), Social Science Institutions and Organisations in India (1984).

GENERAL INFORMATION PROGRAMME AND U N I S I S T

The List of Documents and Publications of the General Information Programme and U N I S I S T 1977-1983 (UNESCO, 196 pp., 1985 ) covers a period which coincides with abolition of the UNESCO Bulletin for Libraries and later of the UNESCO Journal of Information Science, Librarianship and Archives Administration.

The List of Documents and Publications is arranged alphabetically by title which is published in English, French and Spanish, all arranged in one alphabetical order. The Personal Names Index is arranged alpha- betically and contains entries in English, French and Spanish--we-

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED 219

sumably because all three languages are spoken widely by a range of nations.

Analysis of the Subject Index enables the broad structure of the activi- ties to be summarized. Some 22 pages are devoted to Information, four pages to UNESCO, three pages to Science, and one and a half pages each to bibliography, archives and computers. Approximately half a page is devoted to the USA and also to Latin America. France, Tunisia, USSR, Morocco, UK, Germany and Africa have less than ha l fa page, India, Egypt and Mexico about a tenth of a page, China and Pakistan about one twentieth of a page. Greece has two items listed, J apan only one.

It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the vague concepts of the General Information Programme and U N I S I S T have occupied far too much time and resources and that the former UNESCO Bulletin for Libraries and the UNESCO Journal of Information Science, Librarianship and Archive Administration were much more successful than the General Information Programme and UNISIS T. The evidence of the unsatisfactory use of scarce resources was no doubt an important factor in the much regretted departure of the USA from the General Information Pro- gramme and indeed from U N E S C O itself.

BUTTERWORTHS PUBLICATIONS

Information Sources in Physics (Butterworths. 1985.2nd edition) was writ- ten by twenty-two authors of whom only five had contributed to the earlier first edition. All chapters except the introductory chapter have been completely rewritten and extended to cover molecular physics, chemical physics, electronics, computer hardware and geophysics. The contributors come from Karlsruhe, Oxford, London, Boston Spa, Ireland, Abingdon, Chicago, Illinois, Prague, Cranfield--a truly inter- national range.

Microform, Video and Electronic Radio Librarianship (Butterworths. 1985) is the second extended edition of Microform Librarianship by S. J. Teague which first appeared in 1977.

GRAFTON PUBLICATIONS

Creating the Library Identity byJ . Kirby (Grafton. 1975) aims at providing a manual of design for use in libraries. The concept is highly desirable but the detail provided is inadequate and concentrated on a small number of libraries in a limited number of countries, e.g. West Germany. A new edition would be desirable with a wider range of

220 G. CHANDLER

examples of the methodology necessary to attract extensive provision of elegant and attractive notices, etc.

A Directory of Library Software for Microcomputers (1985) by H. Gates was published with some support from the British Library Board and fills a gap.