- Email: [email protected]
Urban affairs subject headings
Book Reviews
100
should be available in October, 1979. A related series of regional atlases for minor civil divisions (including historical information) is still in the planning stage. BARBARA SHUPE Reference/Map Librarian State University of New York, at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY 11794 U.S.A.
Index to Current Urban Documents. Vol. l- 1972/73Quarterly with annual cumulation. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. Annual subscription (Vol. 8): $175.00 ISSN 0046-8908 LC 73-64143 Urban Documents Microfiche all fiche): ca. $5750.00
Collection.
Westport, Conn. Greenwood
Press. Subscription
(Vol. 8,
Urban Affairs Subject Headings. Compiled by Edith Ward, with Mary Kalb and Letitia Mutter. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1975. 34 p. $10.00 ISBN O-8371-8537-8 LC 73-33026 In the establishment of bibliographic control over North American municipal documents the pioneering effort of Greenwood Press occupies a central place. Greenwood, an affiliate of Congressional Information Service, Inc., publishes the only continuing bibliography of and index to official publications of cities and counties of Canada and the United States. Each year the Index to Current Urban Documents publishes bibliographic data on some 3000 documents. The majority of these are available in the Urban Documents Microfiche Collection, which is expected to include over 16,000 documents by the end of 1980. This major resource for urban research is the fruit of a unique cooperative effort on the part of the publisher and more than one hundred participating libraries, government agencies, and other organizations. Local institutions actually acquire the official publications in their vicinity and lend these to Greenwood for listing and-in many cases-filming. In return the participating libraries receive free microfiche copies of the documents they supply. Those which furnish a substantial portion of the total number of documents issued by their local governments receive discounts on subscription to the Index and on purchase of fiche. Participating libraries are asked to furnish bibliographic data in cases where documents are either unavailable for filming or are excluded by Greenwood’s policies from the fiche collection. Greenwood both lists and films annual (sometimes monthly and quarterly) reports of government departments and agencies, final city and county budgets, special reports prepared by agencies or outside consultants, charters, and documents of special districts, regional agencies, and civic organizations. Certain classes of materials are normally listed, but not filmed: e.g. proposed budgets, preliminary or draft reports, copyrighted works, periodicals, and telephone directories. Greenwood neither lists nor films brochures, press releases or separately-issued maps. The Index to Current Urban Documents comprises a main entry section (the “Geographic Index”) and a subject index. Main entries are arranged alphabetically by city/county and are numbered in sequence throughout the annual volume. Citations provide full bibliographic data and information for retrieving or purchasing documents from the microfiche collection. Entries are frequently annotated. There is an excellent subject index, and most of the documents are assigned more than one heading-sometimes as many as fifteen. Beginning with Volume 4 of ICUD, Greenwood has employed a specially-compiled vocabulary of some 2000 subject terms. These are available as Urban Affairs Subject Headings, which subscribers may wish to purchase and shelve with the Index. In addition to regular subject headings, there are listings for bibliographies, environmental impact statements, and documents issued by regional councils, special districts, and urban observatories. ICUD is an excellent tool for locating documents on the whole gamut of urban topics. Indeed, the program’s principal shortcoming-what ICUD Editor Mary Kalb calls her “most debilitating problem”-is the fact that not enough documents are included in the system. Furthermore, the geographical coverage is uneven, with some important areas under- or unrepresented. The reasons for this are complex. For one thing, participating libraries vary widely as to their interest and/or success in acquiring and forwarding documents to Greenwood. Frequently the libraries run up against municipalities’ shifting publishing practices and unwillingness to assure
101
Book Reviews
documents delivery. As budgets become tighter, many libraries find it difficult to commit the staff time required for the often maddening pursuit of local documents. About 270 cities and counties are supposed to be covered by the program. Greenwood has found it difficult to involve libraries in other areas. The editors have to overcome major problems in establishing bibliographic consistency for the publications which they index. Agency name changes, poor printing, inconsistent pagination, and lack of imprint dates pose many headaches. Most documents indexed are available in the fiche collection. Greenwood offers four purchase plans: (1) subscription to the entire collection; (2) subscription to documents on certain subjects or (3) of certain governments; and (4) purchase of individual documents. The ICUD/UDMC program is the only large-scale attempt to index and film important urban documents of the United States and Canada. Subscription to the Index is recommended for libraries, agencies, and private organizations which require access to large numbers of urban materials. The reviewer hopes that the program will continue to improve and expand its coverage so as to become the truly comprehensive bibliography of city and county documents.
DAVID C. HEISSER Documents Librarian, Wessell Library, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts 02155 U.S.A.
The New American State Papers, 1789-1860.General editor: Thomas B. Cochran. Wilmington, Del.: Scholarly Resources, Inc., 1972- . issued in subject sets: Agriculture, 19 Vols. ($950.00 ISBN 0-8420-l 590-6); Commerce and Navigation, 47 Vols. ($2,290.00 ISBN 0-8420-l 527-2); Exploration and Surveys, 15 Vols. ($625.00 ISBN 0-8420-1433-O); Indian Affairs, 13 Vols. ($595.00 ISBN O-8420-1436-5); Labor and Slavery, 7 Vols. ($395.00 ISBN O-8420-1505-l);Manufacrures, 9 Vols. ($425.00 ISBN O-8420-1431-4); MiZitary Affairs, 19 Vols. ($995.00 ISBN 0-8420-2137-X); Naval Affairs (to be published in 1980); Public Finance, 32 Vols. (%1,450.00 ISBN C&8420-1610-4); Public Lands, 8 Vols. ($425.00 ISBN 0-8420-l 643-O); Science and Technology, 14 Vols. ($650.00 ISBN o-9420-1575-2); Social Policy, 5 Vols. ($275.00 ISBN o-8420-1521-3); Transportation, 7 Vols. ($395.00 ISBN 0-8420-l 5 13-2) Six years ago Martin P. Claussen wrote a devastating review of The New American Stare Papers (The American Archivist, October, 1973, pp 523-536). Michael Glazier, president of Scholarly Resources, Inc., proceeded to rebut some of Claussen’s charges and criticisms in a lengthy letter printed in The American Archivist (January, 1974, pp. 183-186). Since Claussen based his critique on only 15 volumes out of the expected 176, there was reason to question the fairness of his strictures. Really, could the NASP (the New American Stare Papers) be all that bad? Well, Claussen may have been intemperate but there is still appreciable merit in what he wrote. A calm assessment of the value of the NASP is not easy. In all justice, this assessment should be based on what the publisher set out to do and how successfully he achieved his objective. Originally, the publisher made two claims. First, that the NASP “. . . is a comprehensive, well-organized standard work, which has been thoroughly appraised by professional historians [and] this basic source material, covering social and economic history in a broad sense, is compiled primarily from printed sources, and from the manuscript collections in the National Archives.” The second claim is equally impressive: “Until now, the vast accumulation of printed and archival Federal Documents, so often unorganized and inadequately indexed, made it extremely difficult-and often well-nigh impossible to study and research a particular subject area in a comprehensive way.” Since Claussen has already demolished this assertion, nothing more will be said about it. In a more recent brochure, the publisher has advanced more modest claims. After pointing out that the included material is drawn from three major sources: the original American Stare Papers (published by Gales and Seaton between 1832 and 1861); the Congressional Serial Set; and Senate and House of Representatives papers plus others located in the National Archives, the publisher states: “These three sources are indisputably valuable tools for historical r&arch, but used individually they have certain weaknesses and omissions. Used collectively, they are cumbersome and difficult to integrate. The New American State Papers collates and integrates the most vital documents of each to form a single,
100
should be available in October, 1979. A related series of regional atlases for minor civil divisions (including historical information) is still in the planning stage. BARBARA SHUPE Reference/Map Librarian State University of New York, at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY 11794 U.S.A.
Index to Current Urban Documents. Vol. l- 1972/73Quarterly with annual cumulation. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. Annual subscription (Vol. 8): $175.00 ISSN 0046-8908 LC 73-64143 Urban Documents Microfiche all fiche): ca. $5750.00
Collection.
Westport, Conn. Greenwood
Press. Subscription
(Vol. 8,
Urban Affairs Subject Headings. Compiled by Edith Ward, with Mary Kalb and Letitia Mutter. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1975. 34 p. $10.00 ISBN O-8371-8537-8 LC 73-33026 In the establishment of bibliographic control over North American municipal documents the pioneering effort of Greenwood Press occupies a central place. Greenwood, an affiliate of Congressional Information Service, Inc., publishes the only continuing bibliography of and index to official publications of cities and counties of Canada and the United States. Each year the Index to Current Urban Documents publishes bibliographic data on some 3000 documents. The majority of these are available in the Urban Documents Microfiche Collection, which is expected to include over 16,000 documents by the end of 1980. This major resource for urban research is the fruit of a unique cooperative effort on the part of the publisher and more than one hundred participating libraries, government agencies, and other organizations. Local institutions actually acquire the official publications in their vicinity and lend these to Greenwood for listing and-in many cases-filming. In return the participating libraries receive free microfiche copies of the documents they supply. Those which furnish a substantial portion of the total number of documents issued by their local governments receive discounts on subscription to the Index and on purchase of fiche. Participating libraries are asked to furnish bibliographic data in cases where documents are either unavailable for filming or are excluded by Greenwood’s policies from the fiche collection. Greenwood both lists and films annual (sometimes monthly and quarterly) reports of government departments and agencies, final city and county budgets, special reports prepared by agencies or outside consultants, charters, and documents of special districts, regional agencies, and civic organizations. Certain classes of materials are normally listed, but not filmed: e.g. proposed budgets, preliminary or draft reports, copyrighted works, periodicals, and telephone directories. Greenwood neither lists nor films brochures, press releases or separately-issued maps. The Index to Current Urban Documents comprises a main entry section (the “Geographic Index”) and a subject index. Main entries are arranged alphabetically by city/county and are numbered in sequence throughout the annual volume. Citations provide full bibliographic data and information for retrieving or purchasing documents from the microfiche collection. Entries are frequently annotated. There is an excellent subject index, and most of the documents are assigned more than one heading-sometimes as many as fifteen. Beginning with Volume 4 of ICUD, Greenwood has employed a specially-compiled vocabulary of some 2000 subject terms. These are available as Urban Affairs Subject Headings, which subscribers may wish to purchase and shelve with the Index. In addition to regular subject headings, there are listings for bibliographies, environmental impact statements, and documents issued by regional councils, special districts, and urban observatories. ICUD is an excellent tool for locating documents on the whole gamut of urban topics. Indeed, the program’s principal shortcoming-what ICUD Editor Mary Kalb calls her “most debilitating problem”-is the fact that not enough documents are included in the system. Furthermore, the geographical coverage is uneven, with some important areas under- or unrepresented. The reasons for this are complex. For one thing, participating libraries vary widely as to their interest and/or success in acquiring and forwarding documents to Greenwood. Frequently the libraries run up against municipalities’ shifting publishing practices and unwillingness to assure
101
Book Reviews
documents delivery. As budgets become tighter, many libraries find it difficult to commit the staff time required for the often maddening pursuit of local documents. About 270 cities and counties are supposed to be covered by the program. Greenwood has found it difficult to involve libraries in other areas. The editors have to overcome major problems in establishing bibliographic consistency for the publications which they index. Agency name changes, poor printing, inconsistent pagination, and lack of imprint dates pose many headaches. Most documents indexed are available in the fiche collection. Greenwood offers four purchase plans: (1) subscription to the entire collection; (2) subscription to documents on certain subjects or (3) of certain governments; and (4) purchase of individual documents. The ICUD/UDMC program is the only large-scale attempt to index and film important urban documents of the United States and Canada. Subscription to the Index is recommended for libraries, agencies, and private organizations which require access to large numbers of urban materials. The reviewer hopes that the program will continue to improve and expand its coverage so as to become the truly comprehensive bibliography of city and county documents.
DAVID C. HEISSER Documents Librarian, Wessell Library, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts 02155 U.S.A.
The New American State Papers, 1789-1860.General editor: Thomas B. Cochran. Wilmington, Del.: Scholarly Resources, Inc., 1972- . issued in subject sets: Agriculture, 19 Vols. ($950.00 ISBN 0-8420-l 590-6); Commerce and Navigation, 47 Vols. ($2,290.00 ISBN 0-8420-l 527-2); Exploration and Surveys, 15 Vols. ($625.00 ISBN 0-8420-1433-O); Indian Affairs, 13 Vols. ($595.00 ISBN O-8420-1436-5); Labor and Slavery, 7 Vols. ($395.00 ISBN O-8420-1505-l);Manufacrures, 9 Vols. ($425.00 ISBN O-8420-1431-4); MiZitary Affairs, 19 Vols. ($995.00 ISBN 0-8420-2137-X); Naval Affairs (to be published in 1980); Public Finance, 32 Vols. (%1,450.00 ISBN C&8420-1610-4); Public Lands, 8 Vols. ($425.00 ISBN 0-8420-l 643-O); Science and Technology, 14 Vols. ($650.00 ISBN o-9420-1575-2); Social Policy, 5 Vols. ($275.00 ISBN o-8420-1521-3); Transportation, 7 Vols. ($395.00 ISBN 0-8420-l 5 13-2) Six years ago Martin P. Claussen wrote a devastating review of The New American Stare Papers (The American Archivist, October, 1973, pp 523-536). Michael Glazier, president of Scholarly Resources, Inc., proceeded to rebut some of Claussen’s charges and criticisms in a lengthy letter printed in The American Archivist (January, 1974, pp. 183-186). Since Claussen based his critique on only 15 volumes out of the expected 176, there was reason to question the fairness of his strictures. Really, could the NASP (the New American Stare Papers) be all that bad? Well, Claussen may have been intemperate but there is still appreciable merit in what he wrote. A calm assessment of the value of the NASP is not easy. In all justice, this assessment should be based on what the publisher set out to do and how successfully he achieved his objective. Originally, the publisher made two claims. First, that the NASP “. . . is a comprehensive, well-organized standard work, which has been thoroughly appraised by professional historians [and] this basic source material, covering social and economic history in a broad sense, is compiled primarily from printed sources, and from the manuscript collections in the National Archives.” The second claim is equally impressive: “Until now, the vast accumulation of printed and archival Federal Documents, so often unorganized and inadequately indexed, made it extremely difficult-and often well-nigh impossible to study and research a particular subject area in a comprehensive way.” Since Claussen has already demolished this assertion, nothing more will be said about it. In a more recent brochure, the publisher has advanced more modest claims. After pointing out that the included material is drawn from three major sources: the original American Stare Papers (published by Gales and Seaton between 1832 and 1861); the Congressional Serial Set; and Senate and House of Representatives papers plus others located in the National Archives, the publisher states: “These three sources are indisputably valuable tools for historical r&arch, but used individually they have certain weaknesses and omissions. Used collectively, they are cumbersome and difficult to integrate. The New American State Papers collates and integrates the most vital documents of each to form a single,