Book Reviews : Fresko, Marc and Brindley, Lynne Optical disc technology and European libraries: a study of user and technical requirements. 1992, London: Bowker Saur, 280pp, £35.00, ISBN 1 85739 002 4

able : the magnitude of the collections to be dealt with and the growth factor. For a relatively small archive (like the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford-upon-Avon a sensible solution is not too difficult to develop, that indeed, has been developed using dBase), but a large record centre will have fewer choices, and much will depend on the use which will be made of the system by external as well as internal interrogation. A distinction must be made, therefore, between archives and record centres which are