Identifying and analyzing user needs: a complete handbook and ready-to-use assessment workbook (with disk),

discussion of several projects; if you are looking for a guide with only a few case studies and more technical advice, try: Handbook for Digital Projects: A Management Tool for Preservation and Access (http://www.nedcc.org/digital/ dighome.htm).—JoAnn Sears, Science & Technology Reference Librarian, Auburn University Libraries, 231 Mell Street, Auburn, AL 36849 . The Economics of Information: A Guide to Economics and Cost Benefits Analysis for Information Professionals. 2nd ed. by Bruce R. Kingma. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 2001. 180p. $45.00. ISBN 1-56308-816-9. LC 00050701. A major part of a library director’s work is deciding what services and resources should be bought or provided from a limited budget. Since all directors report to a board, political office, or campus administration, they must provide sound rational for these choices. The second edition of Kingma’s (SUNY-Albany) book provides considerable help in making and justifying these decisions. This work strikes an excellent balance between theory and practice in providing a clear introduction to basic economic theory and cost benefit analysis and how they may be applied to library situations. The second edition covers the same ground as the 1996 first edition with minor changes in organization. Chapters 1 through 4 provide an excellent introduction to the basic concepts and cost benefit analysis. The second chapter is quite good in clearly explaining cost analysis and the range of costs that effect business decisions. Chapter 4 carries this discussion over to cost and benefit analysis in markets. Kingma then turns the decision to the economics of information. He sees information as a public good, one that is designed to be used by a large number of consumers. Information may have positive or negative impacts based on its validity, quality, and age. The price of the information may limit access to those groups or individuals that can afford it. Also, production costs and the cost of distributing information may limit the number of producers, as is seen in journals publishers and database producers. However, how information is priced is not solely based on production factors. The value consumers place on information affects the type and price of information that is available. Also, the time needed to deliver and use information plays significant roles in pricing and availability. The book closes with two excellent chapters on the cost and benefits of electronic information and networks. Throughout the book Kingma provides clear definitions of these complex concepts and uses good examples, taken from library situations, to illustrate his discussion. No other book presents these complicated topics in such an understandable fashion. This work is required reading for both new and experiences director and department heads. It helps the reader understand the often confusing world of economics and applies to the workplace. And, it will help you obtain the funding to implement new services for your patrons.—Stephen L. Hupp, Library Director, West Virginia University-Parkersburg, 300 Campus Drive, Parkersburg, WV 26101 . Identifying and Analyzing User Needs: A Complete Handbook and Ready-to-Use Assessment Workbook

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(with Disk), by Lynn Westbrook. New York: Neal-Schuman, 2001. 307p. $75.00. ISBN 1-55570-388-7. All libraries face the twin problems of effectively competing for funding and competing with private companies offering traditional library services. In this quickly changing world, libraries are more frequently evaluated based on demonstrated contributions to their users. Traditional notions of value, and traditional statistics kept by libraries, may no longer be enough to justify the money necessary to run a modern library. However, assessing the needs of library users is an excellent way to provide both evidence of the value of the library and information to plan for the future. Needs assessment is a huge subject that has many facets. There are many books on the subject, most of which approach the topic from a more theoretical standpoint than does Identifying and Analyzing User Needs. Another exception to the above statement is Planning and Conducting Needs Assessment: A Practical Guide by Witkin and Altschuld (Sage Publications, 1995). However, while these two books have similar intent and cover much of the same ground, the book I am reviewing has several unique qualities. Being specifically targeted at libraries is a major help to librarians since the examples and discussion are all directly related to them. Also, the book is a step-by-step guide leading the reader through the entire process. However, one is not forced into a recipe for doing the assessment. At each step of the process, options are clearly laid out and the reader is free to decide which is most useful or appropriate for him/her. To help guide the reader through the assessment process, the book includes a ready-to-use manual on disk intended to be used by knowledgeable readers who have a background in needs assessment, or by readers who have first read the book itself. The manual includes forms and worksheets, which may be used to facilitate the process. Identifying and Analyzing User Needs is effective at introducing the topic and covering the whole process of assessing needs. Beginning with a chapter giving basic explanations of the topic and reasons for performing a study, it then moves quickly through two chapters on preparing to conduct a study; chapters on framing questions and designing instruments; a chapter on using available data and drawing samples; a chapter on launching the study, and finally chapters on analyzing, sharing, and acting on the results. In Chapter 2, it was particularly nice to see answers to common staff concerns, such as, being too busy to do a study, or not knowing how to perform an analysis. Each chapter has a specific list of readings at the end, which allow the reader to focus on just the aspect in question. Case studies from academic, public, and school libraries are included as appendices. Westbrook has taught many courses and workshops on this topic. Her background is quite apparent in the readability of this book. She correctly stresses that a user needs analysis is important research and, therefore, requires careful methodology in collecting and analyzing data. Yet, she makes the process clear enough that consultants, or other outside help, can be reduced to a minimum. While this book does not cover all aspects of needs assessment in great detail, Westbrook has written a very useful handbook that will allow anyone to complete a functional needs assessment successfully. This book would be a valu-

able addition to any library, especially one considering an assessment to justify services and aid in future planning.— Leo Clougherty, Head, Chemistry Library and Head, Geoscience Library, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242 . An Introduction to General Systems Thinking, Silver Anniversary Edition, by Gerald M. Weinberg. New York: Dorset House Publishing, 2001. 279p. $39.45. ISBN 0-932633-49-8 (paper). LC 00-052289. Weinberg has written numerous books and articles about computer programming, technical project leadership, systems analysis, systems design, software management, and general systems thinking The book under review was originally published in 1975, and the Silver Anniversary Edition is a reprint, completely faithful to the original text, examples, and bibliographies. Only the three-page Preface is new. The book grew out of a university course, and it is designed to instruct. At the end of each chapter are Questions for Further Research, Recommended and Suggested Readings, and occasionally Notational Exercises with accompanying answers. Many of the examples are framed in a simple mathematical or computer programming notation. The general systems approach is not bound by academic discipline, but seeks to elevate insights from specific disciplines such as biology, economics, or anthropology to a general framework, to look at second order effects from first order laws, to posit laws about laws. For Weinberg, an example of such a law is the Principle of Indifference, which states “Laws should not depend on a particular form of notation” (p. 72). He then gives a number of examples of how the Principle of Indifference can resolve seeming paradoxes and lead to clearer thinking. Librarians may be intrigued by Weinberg’s discussion of generalists, since there is a strand of generalism weaving through our approaches to the sets of information arising out of different disciplines. He ennobles generalists because they know many things; they are not bound to a single discipline, although they may know something about it; and they have an inner faith in a more encompassing intellectual unity. For Weinberg, that unity is apparently a set of precepts conforming to general systems thinking. However, for the librarian, it may also include laws of information and retrieval, one of the most prosaic being logical or Boolean operators. It may also be the recognition of the uniqueness of discipline-determined structures, and the necessity for learning them, while remaining constant to a second order or, as we now might say, meta-analysis. The discussions of models and structures are almost contemporary. The positioning of the observer as the constructor of the system is very interesting, as is the discussion of stability and change. The discussion of generalists might also be a call to intellectual action on the part of the librarian, for as Elise Boulding said to her spouse, Kenneth, “If you are going to be the great integrator you ought to know something” (p. 42). Portions of Weinberg’s text are thought provoking and evocative. The arguments are not systematically developed and do not lead logically to an encompassing conclusion, although to be fair Weinberg does not claim such a flow for the text. The number of laws and principles, however, is confusing since they are treated equally yet clearly operate

at different levels. There are more than 25 laws, ranging in humor and specificity from the Banana Principle—that is, heuristic devices do not tell you when to stop (p. 55)—to the Principle of Indeterminability—that is, we cannot with certainty attribute observed constraint either to system or environment (p. 214). The laws need ordering and contextualizing among each other. The final impression is that of similar items found in a list. Further, at times the age of the text is distracting. The intellectual tradition in which the book operates is fascinating but dated. I kept wondering what Weinberg would say about more contemporary thought constructs, perhaps looking at self-organizing systems. Some of the illustrative quotations have now become cliches. On a more prosaic level, the notational presentation for the graphs, particularly those used in the well-developed final example, are not consistent with present practices and impede understanding. In sum, this book is an important read, but the earlier edition may already be in your library. If not, then purchase this edition.—Terry Plum, Assistant Professor, Simmons Graduate School of Library and Information Science, 300 The Fenway, Boston, MA 02115-5898 . Libraries & Democracy: The Cornerstones of Liberty, edited by Nancy Kranich. Chicago: American Library Association, 2001. 223p. $32.00 (ALA members: $28.00). ISBN: 0-8389-0808-X. This resource is a collection of 20 essays arranged in six sections that, as stated in the Introduction, “focus on the role libraries play in advancing deliberative democracy.” Several essays are contributed by information professions in fields other than library science, “representing a broad array of perspectives on the role of libraries in supporting democratic participation and an informed citizenry” (Introduction). Part 1, “Historic and Theoretical Overview of the Role of Libraries and Democracy,” includes three essays on historic perspectives, and Part 2’s essays provide more current examples of libraries’ participation in increasing awareness of participatory democracy highlighted by Joan C. Durrance’s et al., essay on “Libraries and Civil Society.” The third section is concerned with “Libraries, Technology, and Democracy.” The Internet is the technology covered in three essays, while the last essay is about videotape; Kranich, the book’s editor, provides two of the four essays in this section. The primary point of these four essays is that varying formats of information and access to it are important for democracy. Part 4’s five essays concerning “Libraries Supporting Democratic Information Policy” include discussion of the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), the First Amendment, ethics, and copyright. Anne Heanue’s essay on the FDLP is the very traditional, emphasizing the importance of libraries in the distribution of federal government information. For the most part she minimizes the impact of increased access and availability of U.S. government information and services provided by federal government Web sites to users at home or work thereby directly contributing to the ideal of participatory democracy, instead stating the obvious that people need library reference assistance, and that user computer workstations available at home and/or the office

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