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File management and information retrieval systems: a manual for managers and technicians
168
Book reviews
assumptions or speculations are made’. for scientific methods? -I hope not. 1 Overall I would not recommend text-even in the USA fiom whence all library manager would be better off supplemented by some case exercises library management problems.
(Does OR show such a lack of respect this book as a library max~agement the examples are drawn. The potential with a good general management text dealing in some detail with realistic
A. Hindle Department of U~erat~~n~l ~~s~ar~~ ~~~~~r~~tyof La~.~~st~T
S. L. Gill. File marlag~ment and ir~~r~lati~n retrieval systems: a manuaE for managers tec~~~c~u~~. Littleton, Colorado: Libraries Unlimited, 198 I. 193 pp.
ISBN 0 87287
and
229 7. f14.50.
Many libraries, offices and information centres have considerable numbers of documents which cannot easily be shelved alongside books: correspondence, invoices, reports and so on. The material may present special retrieval problems because it could be searched fc>r in several ways or because it is linked by conl~loI1 sub.ject, organizations or geographical locations to other material. Suzanne Gill’s book should be of use to anyone who has to set up or use a filing system for such documents. The book is intended to be both a practical manual and a textbook dealing with the theory of filing systems. Guidance is given on the important task of writing a manual so that a set of consistent filing rules and procedures can be used bt; an organization. To help the student, worked examples and questions are included to show how each section of a procedures manual might be written. It is assumed that paper documents are to be processed, but Gill states that the procedures for working with paperless files-microforms and computer files-are not essentially different. Two background chapters begin the text. The first gives definitions of the terms ‘record’ and ‘information management’, together with definitions of their components. The second gives a survey of the history of business record systems. Why has it been included? The chapter is too short to give adequate background and appears to be quite divorced from the rest of the text. The main theme is developed in the next section of the text: the writing of the procedures manual. Most of the 120 pages of this section are taken up with descriptions of filing methods: alphabetical, geographical, phonetic, numerical, colour-coded and sul)_ject. Worked examples and exercises are given for each method. The author explains clearly and seeks to anticipate the difficulties and complexities that might be encountered in practice. Next, methods of processing documents are described, covering inspection, coding, sorting, filing and the preparation of indexes. Four short chapters then deal respectively with retention policies, circulation procedures, equipment and the arguments for and against centralization ofrecords. ho end the main text the author has written a section dealing with paperless files, coltsisting of‘ a chapter entitled ‘Microform and computer files’ followed by two short case histories. The title is a misnomer because the chapter consists of microforms and the digital chiefly of’ descriptions of’ the ‘hardware’
Book reviews
169
computer with only a brief comment on how these developments affect filing and record-handling practices. The topic is obviously salient, but the reader is not given enough information on which to base further studies. The case histories describe the design of filing systems, one in a small firm, the other being a large computer-assisted system. Both case histories would be of more use if further information was given about how and why design decisions were made. This would give the reader an opportunity to review the rationale behind the design. A five-page glossary and eleven-page bibliography (which includes details of monographs, journal articles and journal titles), together with answers to the exercises and an index, end the book. The first objective of the author-helping to develop the skills necessary to create a procedures manual-is quite well achieved. Clear guidance is given and, provided one remembers that the examples derive from North America, the text should help anyone faced with this task. The achievement of the second objective-learning the theory of filing systems-is less successful. The reader is often given a conclusion but not told how it was arrived at or how to use it: A good filing method meets the needs of the company; it is effecient,
economical, and simple, and should require the minimum in equipment, space and personnel effort (p. 35).
uite so, but what does ‘efficient’ mean in this context? We are not told how eY ficiency is to be recognized or measured. How should we balance the demands for economy and simplicity, which sometimes conflict? Perhaps, after all, it is best not to inflate the subject by writing of theories: isn’t it enough to document practices which have been found to be helpful and to explain why? P. G. Underwood College of Librarianship
John
Wales
F. Blagden.
Do managers
read?
and British Institute
Cranfield and London: Cranfield Institute of Technology of Management, 1980. 20 pp. ISBN 0 85946 109 2. f3.00.
This is a very brief report-thirteen pages, half of them taken up by seventeen tables, plus two appendices containing long lists of organizations and journals cited by managers as sources of information. This report is of a study of users of the British Institute of Management’s Management Information Centre, which was ‘primarily undertaken to test and refine a methodology by which the performance of a library (or any information system. . .I can be more easily assessed’ (p. 1). The report starts by discussing definitions of management and previous studies of managerial work activity. Thirteen such studies are neatly summarized in one table, in which the date of the study, the method used, the types of managers studied, period of study, ‘focus’ of study, and data on use of published information are given. The author agrees with an earlier conclusion that ‘it can be very misleading to talk about the manager’s job or how the average manager spends his time’ (p. 2). Users and non-users of the information service over a four-week period were studied, some by questionnaire, some by interview. The presentation of results
Book reviews
assumptions or speculations are made’. for scientific methods? -I hope not. 1 Overall I would not recommend text-even in the USA fiom whence all library manager would be better off supplemented by some case exercises library management problems.
(Does OR show such a lack of respect this book as a library max~agement the examples are drawn. The potential with a good general management text dealing in some detail with realistic
A. Hindle Department of U~erat~~n~l ~~s~ar~~ ~~~~~r~~tyof La~.~~st~T
S. L. Gill. File marlag~ment and ir~~r~lati~n retrieval systems: a manuaE for managers tec~~~c~u~~. Littleton, Colorado: Libraries Unlimited, 198 I. 193 pp.
ISBN 0 87287
and
229 7. f14.50.
Many libraries, offices and information centres have considerable numbers of documents which cannot easily be shelved alongside books: correspondence, invoices, reports and so on. The material may present special retrieval problems because it could be searched fc>r in several ways or because it is linked by conl~loI1 sub.ject, organizations or geographical locations to other material. Suzanne Gill’s book should be of use to anyone who has to set up or use a filing system for such documents. The book is intended to be both a practical manual and a textbook dealing with the theory of filing systems. Guidance is given on the important task of writing a manual so that a set of consistent filing rules and procedures can be used bt; an organization. To help the student, worked examples and questions are included to show how each section of a procedures manual might be written. It is assumed that paper documents are to be processed, but Gill states that the procedures for working with paperless files-microforms and computer files-are not essentially different. Two background chapters begin the text. The first gives definitions of the terms ‘record’ and ‘information management’, together with definitions of their components. The second gives a survey of the history of business record systems. Why has it been included? The chapter is too short to give adequate background and appears to be quite divorced from the rest of the text. The main theme is developed in the next section of the text: the writing of the procedures manual. Most of the 120 pages of this section are taken up with descriptions of filing methods: alphabetical, geographical, phonetic, numerical, colour-coded and sul)_ject. Worked examples and exercises are given for each method. The author explains clearly and seeks to anticipate the difficulties and complexities that might be encountered in practice. Next, methods of processing documents are described, covering inspection, coding, sorting, filing and the preparation of indexes. Four short chapters then deal respectively with retention policies, circulation procedures, equipment and the arguments for and against centralization ofrecords. ho end the main text the author has written a section dealing with paperless files, coltsisting of‘ a chapter entitled ‘Microform and computer files’ followed by two short case histories. The title is a misnomer because the chapter consists of microforms and the digital chiefly of’ descriptions of’ the ‘hardware’
Book reviews
169
computer with only a brief comment on how these developments affect filing and record-handling practices. The topic is obviously salient, but the reader is not given enough information on which to base further studies. The case histories describe the design of filing systems, one in a small firm, the other being a large computer-assisted system. Both case histories would be of more use if further information was given about how and why design decisions were made. This would give the reader an opportunity to review the rationale behind the design. A five-page glossary and eleven-page bibliography (which includes details of monographs, journal articles and journal titles), together with answers to the exercises and an index, end the book. The first objective of the author-helping to develop the skills necessary to create a procedures manual-is quite well achieved. Clear guidance is given and, provided one remembers that the examples derive from North America, the text should help anyone faced with this task. The achievement of the second objective-learning the theory of filing systems-is less successful. The reader is often given a conclusion but not told how it was arrived at or how to use it: A good filing method meets the needs of the company; it is effecient,
economical, and simple, and should require the minimum in equipment, space and personnel effort (p. 35).
uite so, but what does ‘efficient’ mean in this context? We are not told how eY ficiency is to be recognized or measured. How should we balance the demands for economy and simplicity, which sometimes conflict? Perhaps, after all, it is best not to inflate the subject by writing of theories: isn’t it enough to document practices which have been found to be helpful and to explain why? P. G. Underwood College of Librarianship
John
Wales
F. Blagden.
Do managers
read?
and British Institute
Cranfield and London: Cranfield Institute of Technology of Management, 1980. 20 pp. ISBN 0 85946 109 2. f3.00.
This is a very brief report-thirteen pages, half of them taken up by seventeen tables, plus two appendices containing long lists of organizations and journals cited by managers as sources of information. This report is of a study of users of the British Institute of Management’s Management Information Centre, which was ‘primarily undertaken to test and refine a methodology by which the performance of a library (or any information system. . .I can be more easily assessed’ (p. 1). The report starts by discussing definitions of management and previous studies of managerial work activity. Thirteen such studies are neatly summarized in one table, in which the date of the study, the method used, the types of managers studied, period of study, ‘focus’ of study, and data on use of published information are given. The author agrees with an earlier conclusion that ‘it can be very misleading to talk about the manager’s job or how the average manager spends his time’ (p. 2). Users and non-users of the information service over a four-week period were studied, some by questionnaire, some by interview. The presentation of results