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File management handbook for managers and librarians
Book Reviews
20-l
File Management Handbook for Managers and Librarians. S. M. BURWASSER.Pacific Information, Studio City, CA (1986) v + 165 pp. $24.50. ISBN o-913203-15-7. This book is not recommended for any reason except to complete the most comprehensive scholarly collection. File management (really records management) is presented as an end in itself, with minimal emphasis on the mission of the organization. The perspective is not, as the title and introduction indicate, that of department managers, but that of records managers for entire organizations. There is no definition of the specific types of organizations for which the procedures work best. The reader gets the impression that all organizations have similar needs and record use rates. The records management policies presented seem to be suited to an organization with a maximal need for detailed record tracking, reflected in prescriptions for extensive assignment of subject codes to records and members of the records management staff obtrusively controlling details of departmental filing operations. The text is extremely prescriptive; it prescribes staffing levels, equipment types, and selected records management procedures but often does not indicate commonly used options to the prescripevery 10 filing cabitions. For example, “. . . one files (sic) clerk will be needed for approximately nets of documents” (p. 98); “Each (steel) shelf should measure 42” wide by 30” deep by 23” high” (pp. 43, 44); “The inventory has to identify vital records . .” (p. 20). The prescribed policies and procedures are predominantly suited to the preautomation era. Clerical and professional record-handling roles are separated more clearly than they usually are when computers are used for professional communication, and records management software is disregarded except for a few references to word processing. No references are provided to sources of information in the text. The only bibliography is one list of good sources for more information at the end of Chapter 2. The index is well above average, but some chapter titles do not reflect the text content accurately. The editing could have been better. There are multiple typographic errors and misstatements (e.g., “. . these personel [sic] files are subject to supoena [sic]” (p. 66); “A thesaurus or controlled vocabulary is an index. So is a dictionary. . . .” (p. 119)). The 170 pages of text in this 84 x 1 l-inch paperback would fit into 50 or 60 pages if the margins (top 5.5 cm, side 3.5 cm, interparagraph gap, 2 cm) were normal and the redundant paragraphs were removed. The type is large enough to be clear, although the print is photocopy quality, with some fading at page bottoms. This book presents little new information. It does not contain enough information to enable a librarian or department head to make knowledgeable records management decisions and should have little to offer someone already trained in records management. Far more useful coverage of the entire field of records management is available for about the same price in the most comprehensive book on the subject, Information and Records Management, third edition, by Mary F. Robek, Gerald F. Brown, and Wilmer 0. Maedke (Encino, CA: Glencoe, 1987), or Information Resources Management by Betty R. Ricks and Kay F. Cow (Cincinnati, OH: Southwestern Publishing Co., 1984). Both books contain almost all the useful information found in File Management Handbook for Managers and Librarians as well as covering more facets of records management, more options for accomplishing records management goals, and more factors that a records manager should consider before setting policies and procedures.
School of Library and Information Science University of Wisconsin -Milwaukee Milwaukee, WI
String Indexing. T. C. CRAVEN. Academic
RICHARD I. BLUE
Press,
Orlando,
FL (1986) xi + 246 pp. $29.95. ISBN
o-12-195460-9. A string index, according to the glossary included in this text, is “a type of index in which the description part of each index entry is a string of terms and connectives joined together by computer software according to regular and explicit rules and in which each indexed item normally has two or more index entries with overlapping descriptions.” So, KWIC and KWOC may correctly spring to mind as such systems, along with PERMUTERM, PRECIS, and the author’s own NEPHIS. In fact, Craven’s survey of string indexing systems in Chapter 2 identifies 28 such systems plus 7 distantly related types. The normal display format of such systems is the printed index; systems for producing library catalog displays on cards or other media are only summarily treated. This is a clearly written book that fills an important gap in the literature. No other text gives
20-l
File Management Handbook for Managers and Librarians. S. M. BURWASSER.Pacific Information, Studio City, CA (1986) v + 165 pp. $24.50. ISBN o-913203-15-7. This book is not recommended for any reason except to complete the most comprehensive scholarly collection. File management (really records management) is presented as an end in itself, with minimal emphasis on the mission of the organization. The perspective is not, as the title and introduction indicate, that of department managers, but that of records managers for entire organizations. There is no definition of the specific types of organizations for which the procedures work best. The reader gets the impression that all organizations have similar needs and record use rates. The records management policies presented seem to be suited to an organization with a maximal need for detailed record tracking, reflected in prescriptions for extensive assignment of subject codes to records and members of the records management staff obtrusively controlling details of departmental filing operations. The text is extremely prescriptive; it prescribes staffing levels, equipment types, and selected records management procedures but often does not indicate commonly used options to the prescripevery 10 filing cabitions. For example, “. . . one files (sic) clerk will be needed for approximately nets of documents” (p. 98); “Each (steel) shelf should measure 42” wide by 30” deep by 23” high” (pp. 43, 44); “The inventory has to identify vital records . .” (p. 20). The prescribed policies and procedures are predominantly suited to the preautomation era. Clerical and professional record-handling roles are separated more clearly than they usually are when computers are used for professional communication, and records management software is disregarded except for a few references to word processing. No references are provided to sources of information in the text. The only bibliography is one list of good sources for more information at the end of Chapter 2. The index is well above average, but some chapter titles do not reflect the text content accurately. The editing could have been better. There are multiple typographic errors and misstatements (e.g., “. . these personel [sic] files are subject to supoena [sic]” (p. 66); “A thesaurus or controlled vocabulary is an index. So is a dictionary. . . .” (p. 119)). The 170 pages of text in this 84 x 1 l-inch paperback would fit into 50 or 60 pages if the margins (top 5.5 cm, side 3.5 cm, interparagraph gap, 2 cm) were normal and the redundant paragraphs were removed. The type is large enough to be clear, although the print is photocopy quality, with some fading at page bottoms. This book presents little new information. It does not contain enough information to enable a librarian or department head to make knowledgeable records management decisions and should have little to offer someone already trained in records management. Far more useful coverage of the entire field of records management is available for about the same price in the most comprehensive book on the subject, Information and Records Management, third edition, by Mary F. Robek, Gerald F. Brown, and Wilmer 0. Maedke (Encino, CA: Glencoe, 1987), or Information Resources Management by Betty R. Ricks and Kay F. Cow (Cincinnati, OH: Southwestern Publishing Co., 1984). Both books contain almost all the useful information found in File Management Handbook for Managers and Librarians as well as covering more facets of records management, more options for accomplishing records management goals, and more factors that a records manager should consider before setting policies and procedures.
School of Library and Information Science University of Wisconsin -Milwaukee Milwaukee, WI
String Indexing. T. C. CRAVEN. Academic
RICHARD I. BLUE
Press,
Orlando,
FL (1986) xi + 246 pp. $29.95. ISBN
o-12-195460-9. A string index, according to the glossary included in this text, is “a type of index in which the description part of each index entry is a string of terms and connectives joined together by computer software according to regular and explicit rules and in which each indexed item normally has two or more index entries with overlapping descriptions.” So, KWIC and KWOC may correctly spring to mind as such systems, along with PERMUTERM, PRECIS, and the author’s own NEPHIS. In fact, Craven’s survey of string indexing systems in Chapter 2 identifies 28 such systems plus 7 distantly related types. The normal display format of such systems is the printed index; systems for producing library catalog displays on cards or other media are only summarily treated. This is a clearly written book that fills an important gap in the literature. No other text gives