ALA World Encyclopedia of Library and Information Services.
Second edition.
Edited by Robert Wedgeworth.
Chicago: American Library Association, 1986.
ISBN 0–8389–0427–0, xxv, 895 p. $165.00.
The new edition of this encyclopedia aims at continuing the objectives of the first edition: “to establish a firm basis for the comparative study of librarianship.” However the editor recognizes that “… efforts to analyze the respective circumstances of librarianship around the world are limited by the lack of factual data as a starting point for more in–depth study. For many countries there exists no readily available description of the major institutions that educate librarians and provide library and information services, including their size and scope.”
This edition, with around one million words and 85 percent new or completely revised contributions, representing a 43 percent increase over the first edition of 1980, has generally succeeded in achieving its objective. Its 459 main articles provide a fairly large amount of information about developments in different countries, areas such as principles and concepts, the role of international organizations, and biographical accounts which are essential components of the conceptual framework of comparative librarianship. The breakdown of these articles is: 152 country articles; nine historical articles; eight articles about the major types of libraries; 30 articles dealing with the principles and practices of librarianship and information management, including the types of services to different user groups; nine articles about library and information science education; 33 articles describing the activities of significant international organizations, associations, etc.; and, 218 biographical articles of persons living and deceased.
Advisers to the work consisted of 31 specialists, from the United States (16 persons), Europe (four), Africa (three), Canada, United Kingdom, and UNESCO (two each), Middle East and Southeast Asia (one each). Surprisingly there were no advisers representing Latin America and South Asia as such. Articles were contributed by 411 authors, whose names — with their positions and article titles — are listed alphabetically.
At the beginning of the volume a synoptic outline of contents presents the article titles under five main divisions: The Library in Society, The Library as an Institution, Theory and Practice of Librarianship, Education and Research, and International Library, and Information and Bibliographical Organizations. This outline, combined with the index, offer ready access to the contents. An important feature of the index is that it links the work with the ALA Yearbook of Library and Information Services.
Although coverage is international, there is a certain amount of bias toward the United States, which is understandable. Possibly a better balance may emerge in subsequent editions, when more information about other countries becomes available. Contributors, in general, have been chosen with much care. On the basis of a random check, one can safely conclude that the articles are of good quality, easily readable, and likely to promote a good understanding of their themes. Useful subdivisions of long articles will prove convenient to the reader. (It would have been preferable to have “Library Education” as one of the subdivisions, where appropriate, instead of subsuming this topic under the heading “The Profession.”) References are usually found appended to the articles, though items cited are not always the most recent publications. It would certainly have been more useful if a “selected bibliography” section had been included, particularly with the country articles.
It is rather disappointing that entries about countries such as India and Iran lack comprehensiveness. In India several significant developments have taken place during the past 15 to 20 years which should have been covered in the article. For example, there is no mention of the National Information System in Science and Technology (NISSAT), which was established in 1977. Similarly, there are hardly any details about the National Science Library. In the case of Iran, developments in library education have been completely ignored. For a country article, it would be preferable to select a contributor with a senior position in the concerned country; this would ensure familiarity with recent events in the field.
Among the biographical articles it is questionable to find individuals who do not satisfy the criteria given for inclusion by the editor. For example, both S.N. Prasad, an archivist, and V.K. Rajwade, an historian, are out of scope. And it is curious to note that S.B. Aje and F.A. Ogunsheye have written biographical articles about one another. Such reciprocity should be avoided.
Certain of the thematic articles present a superficial treatment of their topics. The one on Cataloging, for instance, is elementary in approach. It does not even mention the important cataloguing codes of Cutter and Ranganathan. And the history of library education is oriented toward the United States, and to some extent the United Kingdom, with other countries given a perfunctory place under a common subhead. It is disappointing to find that the volume’s first article, on Abstracting and Indexing, fails to mention important systems like Chain Indexing, PRECIS, and POPSI. (The first two concepts are noted in biographical articles about their respective authors and can be retrieved through the index.)
It may be pertinent to suggest that future editions of the World Encyclopedia should include articles in areas that are somewhat ignored in the present edition. An article on Bibliography is needed. In the articles on topics such as Printing, Publishing, and Binding it would be useful to have expansions that cover developments in various countries. An article on the overall theme of Librarianship in the Developing Countries — with subheads for types of libraries — would seem necessary in a work about comparative librarianship. Indeed there is not even an article entitled “Comparative Librarianship” in this edition. A topic like Information Systems and Programmes deserves a separate article, as do libraries of international scope like the Library of Congress and the British Library.
The index is quite useful, but it could be more analytical. There are no index entries for important subjects such as Documentation Centres, Information Processing, and Library Law.
The World Encyclopedia is certainly a welcome addition to the literature. Its single–volume format gives it an advantage in updating, compared with the multi–volume Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science. In fact the appearance of a second edition after only six years is ample proof of its popularity and usefulness. The volume is printed in a readable typeface and has an attractive physical format.
P.B. Mangla holds the chair of library science at the University of New Delhi. Many of his writings have been concerned with academic libraries and library education. Currently he serves as Second Vice President of IFLA, and is a member of two IFLA Standing Committees — the Section on Library Theory and Research, and the Section on Regional Activities (Asia and Oceania).
© 1990 P.B. Mangla.