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In August 1977, the Division for Library Services awarded Library Services and Construction Act Title III funding to a proposal submitted by Denise B. Erwin, Director of the Instructional Materials Center, School of Education, University of Wisconsin‐Madison, for a planning grant to identify and document the need for “Cooperative Media Review Centers” in the State of Wisconsin. This grant provided money for an eight month period to conduct the study and, based on the findings, to submit a report which would include a plan for the development and implementation of such an evaluation program. This proposal was based on work done previously, nationwide in scope and widely reported in the library press.

“Since films attract an audience of millions, the need and appetite for information about them is enormous.” So said Harold Leonard in his introduction to The Film Index published in 1941. The 1970's has produced more than enough — too much — food to satisfy that appetite. In the past five years the number of reference books, in this context defined as encyclopedias, handbooks, directories, dictionaries, indexes and bibliographies, and the astounding number of volumes on individual directors, complete histories, genre history and analysis, published screenplays, critics' anthologies, biographies of actors and actresses, film theory, film technique and production and nostalgia, that have been published is overwhelming. The problem in film scholarship is not too little material but the senseless duplication of materials that already exist and the embarrassing output of items that are poorly or haphazardly researched, or perhaps should not have been written at all.

Discusses business process re‐engineering, the latest paradigm to enter the management lexicon, which seeks to combine a processes orientation with an edict for radical change. Propose that BPR has now passed through the stage of euphoria, characterized by extravagant claims about the benefits to be gained, and into the maturity phase of the management theory life cycle where there is debate over its true worth with 60‐80 per cent of projects failing to achieve their goals. Presents the results of a survey of consultancy practices in an attempt to evaluate the methods which consultants are actually using. Contrasts with most current BPR research which is based on literature reviews. Concludes that BPR is regarded as a vague concept and most projects labelled as BPR are simply normal business process improvement activities which are unlikely to change an organization radically. Suggests that the future of BPR is uncertain but that it is serving a purpose now by highlighting the need for companies to manage their strategic alignment and to integrate strategy, processes, people and technology.

The following classified, annotated list of titles is intended to provide reference librarians with a current checklist of new reference books, and is designed to supplement the RSR review column, “Recent Reference Books,” by Frances Neel Cheney. “Reference Books in Print” includes all additional books received prior to the inclusion deadline established for this issue. Appearance in this column does not preclude a later review in RSR. Publishers are urged to send a copy of all new reference books directly to RSR as soon as published, for immediate listing in “Reference Books in Print.” Reference books with imprints older than two years will not be included (with the exception of current reprints or older books newly acquired for distribution by another publisher). The column shall also occasionally include library science or other library related publications of other than a reference character.

Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Term. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.

Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Tenn. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.

Current issues of Publishers' Weekly are reporting serious shortages of paper, binders board, cloth, and other essential book manufacturing materials. Let us assure you these shortages are very real and quite severe.

Communication of information in the biological sciences is becoming increasingly complex as the number of users multiplies and as science becomes more and more interdisciplinary. Libraries play a major role in this communication of scientific information. This role is being threatened by increasing publication rates coupled with increasing costs and decreasing resources. Even the most illustrious science libraries are finding that their resources have decreased in real money and as a result of inflation. The Bowker Annual of Library and Book Trade Information, editions 8–20, 1962–75, graphically shows the increases in publishing rates and in price. The Bowker statistics are broken down into large categories; unfortunately biology falls between the categories of agriculture and medicine. The increases found in both medicine and agriculture are relevant for the subcategory of biology. Books published in agriculture have risen from 78 in 1960 to 196 in 1974. Books published in medicine have gone from 520 in 1960 to 2,281 in 1974. During the same time period the average price of these same books has gone from $8.54 to $18.43. The picture for the near future is no brighter. Librarians will have to be more and more selective and clever in purchasing materials that will be used by patrons.

The following classified, annotated list of titles is intended to provide reference librarians with a current checklist of new reference books, and is designed to supplement the RSR review column, “Recent Reference Books,” by Frances Neel Cheney. “Reference Books in Print” includes all additional books received prior to the inclusion deadline established for this issue. Appearance in this column does not preclude a later review in RSR. Publishers are urged to send a copy of all new reference books directly to RSR as soon as published, for immediate listing in “Reference Books in Print.” Reference books with imprints older than two years will not be included (with the exception of current reprints or older books newly acquired for distribution by another publisher). The column shall also occasionally include library science or other library related publications of other than a reference character.

This essay is offered as advice to those who contemplate becoming or have recently become bibliographers. I begin with the admonition that neither users' studies, statistical analyses, nor approval plans compensate for a lack of knowledge of disciplinary research interests and bibliographic structure. In the final analysis, the best bibliographers are scholars. They keep current with a discipline's investigations and monitor its evolution. Even if they are unable to engage in detailed discourse on the more esoteric subjects its practitioners study, they understand its topography. That is, they possess a “feel” for what students in a given field find interesting, they understand its epistemology, know its publication trends and favored formats, and have a fine reference librarian's ability to use its bibliographic apparatus.