- Email: [email protected]
Countries of the world and their leaders: Yearbook 1980
Focus on Books
OF SPECIAL INTEREST Countries of the World and Their Leaders: Yearbook 1980 Detroit: Gale Research Co., [c. 1980] Reviewed by Herbert A. Miller, associate librarian, technical services, Indiana University Schools of Business Library.
Nearly eighty percent of this book is composed of the most recent possible revisions of the Background Notes published by the U.S. Department of State. An individual background note gives very much the same information on a country that can be derived from an encyclopedia article, except that the background note devotes more space to politics and diplomacy. There is a background note for nearly every country. Background Notes is a " d e p o s i t o r y " item, distributed free of charge to more than 1,500 libraries by the U.S. Government Printing
Office. Were one not of a mind to travel to or to call a depository library, a complete set of Background Notes is available from the Government Printing Office for $31.00, a figure less than the cost of this book. For $16.00 per annum one can purchase a subscription to receive new revisions as they occur. Background Notes is revised irregularly and infrequently, which results in a problem of currency. The segment in this book on Afghanistan was last revised in March 19 77; it lists the since assassinated Mohammad Daoud as president and says nothing of his successor or the current occupation. The remaining twenty percent of the book incorporates other government publications, most of which are depository items available for purchase. In at least two cases, more recent issues are available than the ones published in this book. For anyone having access to a good collection of government publications, this b o o k has no raison d'etre. For those who do business at some remove from such a collection, the book could be handy, and the cost of the book is less than the total cost of its constituent parts. [553
AUGUST 1980
85
OF SPECIAL INTEREST Countries of the World and Their Leaders: Yearbook 1980 Detroit: Gale Research Co., [c. 1980] Reviewed by Herbert A. Miller, associate librarian, technical services, Indiana University Schools of Business Library.
Nearly eighty percent of this book is composed of the most recent possible revisions of the Background Notes published by the U.S. Department of State. An individual background note gives very much the same information on a country that can be derived from an encyclopedia article, except that the background note devotes more space to politics and diplomacy. There is a background note for nearly every country. Background Notes is a " d e p o s i t o r y " item, distributed free of charge to more than 1,500 libraries by the U.S. Government Printing
Office. Were one not of a mind to travel to or to call a depository library, a complete set of Background Notes is available from the Government Printing Office for $31.00, a figure less than the cost of this book. For $16.00 per annum one can purchase a subscription to receive new revisions as they occur. Background Notes is revised irregularly and infrequently, which results in a problem of currency. The segment in this book on Afghanistan was last revised in March 19 77; it lists the since assassinated Mohammad Daoud as president and says nothing of his successor or the current occupation. The remaining twenty percent of the book incorporates other government publications, most of which are depository items available for purchase. In at least two cases, more recent issues are available than the ones published in this book. For anyone having access to a good collection of government publications, this b o o k has no raison d'etre. For those who do business at some remove from such a collection, the book could be handy, and the cost of the book is less than the total cost of its constituent parts. [553
AUGUST 1980
85