Radio and Television: A Core Collection of Reference Books

The increasing dominance of electronic media in our society compels today's librarian to maintain and develop a well‐rounded reference collection in this field. Indeed, this is one area where the patron's interest is guaranteed by the rising level of participation with the medium. According to the 1981 International Television Almanac there are 76,300,000 TV homes in the United States with 15,500,000 of those homes subscribing to cable. These figures represent a 50 percent increase over the 1975 statistics. This has resulted in panic‐stricken competition within the industry and a less paternal attitude towards CATV systems. Radio, too, is a pervasive element due to its mobility and its function as surrogate companionship. It is imperative, therefore, that the book librarian be able to provide information should the media junkie decide to learn more about his or her habit.