In the centennial year, 1985-86, of Harlow Shapley's birth, the study of globular clusters was no less important to the development of astronomy than in 1915, when Shapley first noted their concentration on the sky. By 1917 Shapley had used the properties of the system of globular clusters to complete the Copernican revolution and locate the solar system, and its Earth-bound observers, far from the center of the Galaxy and the globular cluster distribution. Seven decades later, in the year of these proceedings, globular cluster research and the study of the system of globular clusters in our own and distant galaxies is undergoing a renaissance of activity. The introduction of new observational tools, particularly CCD imagers and digital spectrographs, as well as powerful theoretical methods have transformed the study of globular clusters into one of the main line areas of modern astrophysics. Thus it seemed particularly appropriate to one of us, when considering how the Harvard College Observatory might mark the Shapley centennial, to propose and plan for an IAU Symposium on Globular Cluster Systems in Galaxies. Planning for the Shapley Symposium, as it came to be called, was even more drawn out than the preparation of this volume. The Symposium was originally proposed to the IAU Secretariat in time for it to be held in August, 1985, so that it might occur in the centennial (calendar) year.

In the centennial year, 1985-86, of Harlow Shapley's birth, the study of globular clusters was no less important to the development of astronomy than in 1915, when Shapley first noted their concentration on the sky. By 1917 Shapley had used the properties of the system of globular clusters to complete the Copernican revolution and locate the solar system, and its Earth-bound observers, far from the center of the Galaxy and the globular cluster distribution. Seven decades later, in the year of these proceedings, globular cluster research and the study of the system of globular clusters in our own and distant galaxies is undergoing a renaissance of activity. The introduction of new observational tools, particularly CCD imagers and digital spectrographs, as well as powerful theoretical methods have transformed the study of globular clusters into one of the main line areas of modern astrophysics. Thus it seemed particularly appropriate to one of us, when considering how the Harvard College Observatory might mark the Shapley centennial, to propose and plan for an IAU Symposium on Globular Cluster Systems in Galaxies. Planning for the Shapley Symposium, as it came to be called, was even more drawn out than the preparation of this volume. The Symposium was originally proposed to the IAU Secretariat in time for it to be held in August, 1985, so that it might occur in the centennial (calendar) year.

Proceedings of the 128th Symposium of the International Astronomical Union, held in Coolfont, West Virginia, USA, October 20-24, 1986.

From the reviews: "Astronomy and Astrophysics Abstracts has appeared in semi-annual volumes since 1969 and it has already become one of the fundamental publications in the fields of astronomy, astrophysics and neighbouring sciences. It is the most important English-language abstracting journal in the mentioned branches. ...The abstracts are classified under more than a hundred subject categories, thus permitting a quick survey of the whole extended material. The AAA is a valuable and important publication for all students and scientists working in the fields of astronomy and related sciences. As such it represents a necessary ingredient of any astronomical library all over the world." Space Science Reviews#1 "Dividing the whole field plus related subjects into 108 categories, each work is numbered and most are accompanied by brief abstracts. Fairly comprehensive cross-referencing links relevant papers to more than one category, and exhaustive author and subject indices are to be found at the back, making the catalogues easy to use. The series appears to be so complete in its coverage and always less than a year out of date that I shall certainly have to make a little more space on those shelves for future volumes." The Observatory Magazine#2

The principal question of whether and how globular clusters can contribute to a better understanding of galaxy formation and evolution is perhaps the main driving force behind the overall endeavour of studying globular cluster systems. Naturally, this splits up into many individual problems. The objective of the Joint ESO-FONDAP Workshop on Globular Clusters - Guides to Galaxies was to bring together researchers, both observational and theoretical, to present and discuss the most recent results. Topics covered in these proceedings are: internal dynamics of globular clusters and interaction with host galaxies (tidal tails, evolution of cluster masses), accretion of globular clusters, detailed descriptions of nearby cluster systems, ultracompact dwarfs, formations of massive clusters in mergers and elsewhere, the ACS Virgo survey, galaxy formation and globular clusters, dynamics and kinematics of globular cluster systems and dark matter-related problems. With its wide coverage of the topic, this book constitutes a valuable reference of the scientific knowledge of the field.