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South America, Central America and the Caribbean. 1st ed. 1986. $90. London: Europa Publications, Ltd., 1985. Available in North America from Gale Research Co. ISSN 0258‐0661. ISBN 0‐946653‐11‐9. OCLC 12956657. This work is a welcome and overdue companion to the Europa volumes on other regions. It combines statistics, analysis, history, maps, directories, and bibliography in one reference tool.

Serials constitute the largest portion of the reference collection budget. Rapidly increasing prices and new titles compound the problem of finding adequate funds. Many libraries can no longer afford to automatically order new editions of standard or “landmark” reference serials. Yet while the process of budgetary decision‐making is often distasteful, it can be beneficial. Critical discussions of titles can reveal forgotten features of serials or alternative sources of information.

“What above all marks out a reference book from other works is the way it is arranged: it must be deliberately designed for ease of consultation rather than for continuous reading.” “Ease of consultation,” an essential component for reference books, as stated by Gavin Higgens in his book Printed Reference Material, is a criterion that reference librarians often consider as they use reference books to answer questions. Reference book publishers have long used various special features designed to speed access to information in these sources. Thumb indexes for dictionaries come to mind immediately when one thinks of this type of special feature. Some publishers include printed index tabs listing sections or subject categories, as in The National Directory of Addresses and Telephone Numbers, where the tabs are on a separate sheet of paper to be attached to the appropriate pages by the librarian. Margin or edge indexes in the Washington Information Directory or in the Government Reports Announcements & Index provide quick identification of sections to turn to, and are easy to use for both patrons and librarians. Color can also be used as a device to distinguish different sections of a reference tool. Literary Market Place and Magazine Industry Market Place, for example, use yellow pages to separate the main body from the quick reference directory of names and telephone numbers. Of course, these devices are not substitutions for indexes or tables of contents, but are helpful to librarians and users who want to be more self‐sufficient. The editor of this column would like reference book publishers to consider including more of these devices in their publications. Readers are invited to write to this editor with other examples of special features which promote “ease of consultation” of reference serials.

The editor welcomes suggestions for reference serials—both long‐established and new titles—to be reviewed. Librarians who are interested in writing reviews for this column are invited to submit information concerning their expertise to the editor (Virginia Gilbert, Deputy Collection Development Officer, 117 Perkins Library, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27706).

Recently, questionnaires from two reference book publishers were received by the Perkins Library Reference Department at Duke University. One questionnaire described new reference serials which were being considered as possible publications, while the other was a “user needs survey” of a standard reference serial. Both questionnaires were examples of ways in which reference librarians can have direct input into the creation (or non‐creation) of new reference sources and the improvement of already existing reference tools.

The improvement in the quality of commercially packed foods made by the Food Preserving Industry in this country during the last five years has doubtless been greater than in the preceding twenty years. This progress has been due in no small measure to the work and advanced leadership of the Association of State and National Food and Dairy Departments.

SO much controversy has raged around the subject of newsrooms in the past two years, that librarians are, as a rule, utterly tired of it, and the appearance of still another article upon the subject is not calculated to tone down the general spirit of vexation. It requires no little courage to appear in the arena in this year of Grace, openly championing those departments of our institutions which were originally intended to convey the news of the day in the broadest manner.