The American Public Library

摘要

One of the informal hallmarks of a true profession is the existence of a solid, well organised handbook of professional knowledge and practice - the "vade mecum", -meant to be carried "in the hand" and referred to constantly. This fine production from the world's oldest professional body for librarians amply passes the test for a good handbook: it is up to date, comprehensive, portable and well organised internally for the swift retrieval of information. The well experienced and authoritative author has put together a clearly structured handbook centred around an alphabetical arrangement of topics, with good explanations of terminology used, handy reference lists attached to each topic and broad sweeping coverage of modern LIS topics, ranging from "Dewey, Melville" to "Zearing Public Library" in Indiana.