P'T9HAT the college librarian is concerned about the quality of the I book collection under his supervision may, as a rule, be taken for granted. This concern is generally translated into action by the adoption and application of a more or less carefully planned policy of book selection. The objective evaluation of the book collection and of the methods by which new titles are added is, however, far too infrequent. Any evaluation is usually entirely subjective in nature and is based upon the opinions of librarians, faculty members, and, all too rarely, of students. A more satisfactory technique for appraising book collections is essential if the library is make the best possible use of the funds available for the purchase of new titles. A library is ordinarily described by the adjective or its opposite, with a qualifying adverb denote degree. Completely adequate connotes a sufficient number of books suitable in content, form, and style meet the demands imposed upon the library by the educational program of the college. Figures which indicate the size of a library or the number of annual accessions are limited in usefulness unless they are supplemented by data which describe the quality of the books enumerated. An attempt secure data for an objective approach this problem ordinarily consists of checking the collection against standardized lists. There have been many of these lists during the last ten or fifteen years, but for the college librarian the most important are C. 13. Shaw's List of Books for College Libraries,' published in 1931, and its companion volume, A List of Books for College Libraries, 193I-38.2 These Shaw lists have fulfilled two functions: (i) measure the quality of book collections and (2) serve as buying lists and guides in selection. Obviously any library that has used them for the second of these cannot also use them for the first. Much has been written about the Shaw list of I93i and its validity as a measure of book collections. Probably the most complete and thorough treatment is by W. M. Randall in The College Library.3 For the college librarian check lists of this kind have one great disadvantage: they are compiled on the assumption that the book needs of all colleges are the same or nearly the same. To provide a measure for evaluating the book collection that will take into account the varying needs of college libraries as determined by their individual objectives, Waples has suggested surveys to furnish a continuing description of borrowings from different parts of the collection by students and instructors of each department, as well as by students of each class and sex.4 Techniques for