This report is the official record of an open forum on recommendations from the 1991 White House Conference on Library and Information Services sponsored by the U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS), a federal agency charged with advising the President and the Congress on library and information policies and plans. The forum was planned to help participants and the NCLIS become familiar with the range of concerns and possibilities pursuant to the Conference and to assist NCLIS Commissioners in deciding priorities for future work. Twenty-seven representatives of libraries, information services, education, and public and human services spoke at the forum and another 32 submitted written statements. Most of the participants represented national organizations, and they commented on Conference recommendations of special interest to their organizations and what they intend to do regarding those recommendations. Access to information, libraries' participation in the National Research and Education Network, intellectual property law, preservation, education reform, and libraries as educational institutions received much attention at the forum. Other priorities included recommendations that address family literacy, the Literacy Initiative to Aid the Disadvantaged, meeting the needs of a diverse population, multicultural/multilingual programs, and the focus on children and youth through the Omnibus Children and Youth Initiative. This report contains press releases describing the conference; White House Conference Recommendations as reprinted from the Conference Summary Report; and an index of the 38 organizations whose comments are included. (KRN)

Beginning with new evidence that cites the presence of books in Roman villas and concluding with present day vicissitudes of collecting, this generously illustrated book presents a complete survey of British and Irish country house libraries. Replete with engaging anecdotes about owners and librarians, the book features fascinating information on acquisition bordering on obsession, the process of designing library architecture, and the care (and neglect) of collections. The author also disputes the notion that these libraries were merely for show, arguing that many of them were profoundly scholarly, assembled with meticulous care, and frequently used for intellectual pursuits. For those who love books and the libraries in which they are collected and stored, The Country House Library is an essential volume to own.

Although many early U.S. presidents were avid readers and book collectorsGeorge Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson, to name a fewthey usually brought their own books to the White House and removed them at the end of their terms. Finally in 1850, Abigail and Millard Fillmore established the first official White House collection. The library that President and First Lady Fillmore assembled reflects not only their preoccupations and interests, but also those of a number of mid-nineteenth-century Americans. This catalogue of the first White House collection not only reveals much about the first family that established it and the age in which it was assembled, but also provides insight into American library history, reading history, and book trade and distribution networks. Aside from the editor, the contributors are William Allman, Elizabeth Thacker-Estrada, and Sean Wilentz.