Books on Library Acquisitions: The Review Section 165

skill and foresight to deal with trends in this market over the next five years." An earlier edition of the study was published under the title, The Library Market for Publications and Systems, in 1978.

The book is very well written and has great merit. Library administrators, acquisitions librarians, and others interested in the interrelationship of libraries and the book industry, would be well advised to read the book, or at least chapters 2 and 8. Recommended for all types of libraries.

Manhar Thakore Head, Acquisitions Department, Milner Library

Illinois State University Normal, IL, 61761

Serials Automation For Acquisition and Inventory Control, edited by William Gray Potter and Arlene Farber Sirkin. Chicago: ALA, 1981. ix, 181 pp. $12.00. ISBN 0-8389-3267-3.

Serials Automation for Acquisition and Inventory Control is a collection of papers presented at the Library and Information Technology Association Institute held in Mil- waukee, September 4-5, 1980. The articles include a discussion of the evolution of automated serials control by Don Tonkery; a description of the UCLA serials cheek-in system by James Fayollat; an explanation of Ohio State's Library Control System with reference to serial holdings statements and bindery control by Susan Miller; and a presentation on serials control by agents by Betsy Humphreys from the National Library of Medicine. There was a panel discussion of current automated check-in systems, plus two other articles on serials and the on-line catalog by Velma Veneziano, and the future of serials control with its administrative implications for libraries by Michael Gorman. Descriptions of automated serials control systems are included in an appendix. The collection concludes with a select annotated bibliography on serials automation by Gary M. Pilken.

Automation of serials acquisitions is a specialized segment of the overall problem of serials automation and is difficult to discuss without treating the entire subject. For acquisitions librarians who need a good discussion of serials automation, this collection of articles will provide an excellent explanation of the different serials control systems available. The papers are well balanced and the discussion sections following each paper provide very helpful insights into the actual operation of the systems and answers to questions which acquisitions librarians would probably raise. Unfortunately, the descriptions of commercial serials control systems such as EBSCO and FAXON were not in sufficient depth to give enough data to compare them with other systems such as NOTIS or LCS. At the time of the LITA Institute in 1980, the EBSCO system was just being tested and could not be evaluated as to its effectiveness. Another topic which was not treated in sufficient depth is the cost of the various systems. Assessment of the features of serials control systems cannot be completed without a detailed study of the costs.

Acquisitions librarians may find the lack of discussion concerning fund accounting a drawback. Other subjects such as order record creation, receiBts, check-in, payment recording, claiming, circulation, and patron access as well covered, but there is little mention of that

166 Books on Library Acquisitions: The Review Section

other aspect of the acquisitions librarian's headache--accounting. The articles are very well written and will be useful to librarians considering any aspect of automation of serials. There have been many developments since the LITA Institute was held in 1980. For example, OCLC has brought up its acquisitions system, which will have a great impact on its serial control sub-system. EBSCO now has a sufficient number of libraries using its EBSCONET for it to be evaluated along with FAXON's L1NX system.

The information contained in Serials Automation for Acquisition and Inventory Control is very useful for providing background in serials automation. The articles seem to be slanted more towards the serials librarian than an acquisitions librarian; but perhaps, as Michael Gorman suggests, the lines between functions should be erased and the professionals will be performing all activities connected with their service or subject including selecting materials, original cataloging, reader service, bibliographic instruction, etc.

Patricia Phillips Coordinator & Head of Bibliographic Control

Tennessee Technological University Cookeville, TN 38501

Automating Library Acquisitions: Issues and Outlook, by Richard W. Boss. White Plains, NY: Knowledge Industry Publications, Inc., 1982. 135 pp. ISBN 0867290064, soft cover, $27.50.

At the outset this book claims that over the past several years, it has become "increasingly apparent that a library considering the automation of acquisitions has to address a number of issues, including the relationship of automated acquisitions to other automated library functions, priorities among system features, cost, ease of adoption and termination, and vendor reliability. This book identifies and describes these issues." What the reader expects is an up-to-date, thorough explanation of these issues. Instead, this book updates and supplements the earlier Library Technology Reports "On-line acquisitions systems for libraries" by Boss and Marcum (1981) which served as an introduction to the subject. Much of the earlier work is repeated verbatim. Material has been added to update descriptions of several important systems. New material addresses key philosophical issues and pragmatic concerns relevant to automation planning.

Descriptions of DOBIS and Maggie's Place are repeated virtually untouched from the earlier work. Descriptions of several turnkey systems, notably GEAC, DataPhase and CL Systems, are expanded to include more complete information. A description of NOTIS is added and Nonesuch is dropped from this edition. None of these descriptions are adequately comprehensive, nor based upon evaluation criteria sufficiently consistent to allow a serious comparison. More thorough comparisons are available elsewhere for these systems as well as the bibliographic utilities.

Key issues examined include motivations for automating, integration of systems, and linkage between computers. Most of the items covered under motivation seem obvious, but the exploration here contains some valuable rationale which may help many readers correct some false impressions. This is particularly true in the area of the impact of automation on costs. The study on integration and linkage of systems is cursory. Part of this section is reproduced from the earlier report. While only five pages appear here on linkage, more should be read on this subject if a serious effort is made to plan a complete automation system.