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Information sources in science and technology
392
Book Review\
before jumping on the MarchantlLikert participative management bandwagon. There are other ways to arrive at a participative system which involves elements from a number of schools of thought. Marchant does not claim his methods to be the only way, and he does discuss some of the other concepts, but again not in depth. Marchant does not claim that he is writing a general management textbook and the work should not be used as the textbook in any library management/administration course. It is an excellent supplementary reader and Chap. 6-10 should be required reading. It is an interesting and well-written book and a worthwhile addition to any library management collection.
GSLIS.
UCLA
Relegation and Stock Control in Libraries. J. A. and N.C. URQUHART. Oriel Press, London, 085 3621624.
G. EDWARD EVANS
1976. 154 pp. bibliog. $22.50, ISBN
“Relegation” and “stock control” are the British equivalents to the American terms weeding and steady state. These terms mean that for every item you add to the collection you must remove one. Over the past twenty years it has become more and more apparent that library collections will reach a “natural” limit of growth (i.e. funding authorities will no longer buy you more storage space). Every library will reach this point, and face the problems of weeding and maintaining a steady state. The question of how to select the most appropriate items for removal has been the subject of numerous studies over the last 20 yr. This book is the report of one such study. The Urquharts (a husband and wife team) conducted a series of weeding studies at Newcastle University Library between the years 1973 and 1975. The book provides a complete reviews of their research. The first third of the text is an analysis of their findings which are not particularly unusual. Almost all of their findings are in line with studies from American. Canadian and British academic libraries. They do raise some very interesting questions about the validity of the “past use” criterion. Past use has become the primary means of selecting items for “retirement”/weeding. Unfortunately, while the Urquharts raise significant issues regarding the concept, and their data partially supports their suspicions, they do not provide any viable alternative. Their data tends to negate the idea that past use is the best predictor of future use. However. until something better can be found librarians will have to employ past use even if it may require more interlibrary loans or even putting the item back into the collection after being “retired”. Another interesting concept by the authors is “block relegation”, that is. removing blocks of monographs rather than approaching the problem on a title by title basis. Given their data on this concept I would expect it to be sometime before libraries are going to try the block refinement system, simply due to a lack of enough information. Here is a whole new field of inquiry for anyone interested and who can locate a library willing to try a new weeding method. The final two thirds of the text consists of a series of appendices containing interim reports, working papers, and data from the project. They even include a copy of the project proposal. Their bibliography is extensive. All in all this is a worthwhile book for anyone seriously interested in the problems of weeding. It is, however, too costly and sufficiently different in the final results to warrant recommending it for anyone’s personal collection.
GSLIS,
G. EDWARD EVANS
UCLA
Information Sources in Science and Technology. C. C. PARKERand R. V. TURLEY. Butterworth.
London
1975,223 pp., ISBN
0 408 70657 0. f5.SO. There are many books with titles similar to or even identical with the one given to this work, and at first one may wonder why yet another book was needed (even though, of course, new “sources” are constantly being produced, old ones become obsolete, and the scope of existing ones may change). Yet a brief glance at the inside covers with their concise instructions on “How to use this book” will convince you even before looking at the text that this book is different from the many textbooks for beginning reference courses in science and technology. First of all, even though the authors admittedly had students in mind as part of their audience, the book is actually aimed as much at the scientist or engineer in need of information. It is written by a team of librarian and scientist-cum-information officer, and they clearly know why people in the laboratory or at the drawing table need information and how they can best be helped in solving their problems. The reader or, rather, the information-seeker (because he is warned that the book “is not to be read from cover to cover”) is first introduced to the various types of information sources: people, organizations, and the written word-which, as we know by now, is exactly the order of preference mostly used by scientists and engineers in search of information. The style is refreshingly clear and straightforward, not cluttered by jargon. The authors are not afraid to state what sometimes may sound trivial but is important to stress because it is too often taken for granted by professional information providers: “People, ultimately, are the source of all information”. or “Different computerised information systems will, of course. use different thesauri”. Each type or kind of source is first dealt with in general terms, explaining its particular features, and what it can or cannot do; then follow three concise sections, labeled Uses. Access and Caution, respectively. This is what makes the book different from so many other compilations of information sources in the sci-tech field. In a few lines, the prospective user of an information source is made aware of its scope, its availability (Only in libraries? Can or should it be bought for home use? Is there a fee to be paid for use?), and, most important, yet so often neglected, the caveats of a potential source. These sections are then followed by a brief discussion of a few good specimens of the type of source. This approach is followed systematically throughout the book, thus making it easy for the novice or the inexperienced user to decide whether or not a particular source is worthwhile looking up. Needless to say, also the seasoned reference librarian will find a wealth of valuable information, especially on sources which he thinks he knows well but which may have changed their scope, conditions of use, mode of publication and so forth. Most general scientific and engineering information sources, such as the various major abstracting and indexing services, bibliographies and guides, as well as SD1 services and on-line services are covered. Trade literature, patents,
Book Reviews
393
trademarks, standards and specifications are also dealt with. But in addition, many other related topics not normally included in books of this kind and size are also discussed, ranging from methods of literature searching to classification systems, how to use a library and how to organize a personal reference tile, report writing, lecturing and invisible colleges (including advice on how to enter one). Librarians may perhaps scoff at the necessarily superhcial manner in which some of these topics are treated, but almost all that a professional information provider knows (or ought to know) about these things is often either unknown or only dimly perceived by most scientists and engineers. These are busy people who will not spend their time in perusing the often abstruse literature of information retrieval techniques, but they may well absorb the essentials if they are presented in a form that is familiar to them from their own literature-and this is exactly what the present book does. Since the authors are British, there is naturally an emphasis on British information sources, though most of the American and some important European sources are quite well represented. However, the sections that list specific organizatioQ and libraries, as well as those on patent searching and trademarks are treated primarily from a British point of view. The book is well printed and produced, and there is a comprehensive index, but the charts listing information sources related to coverage and needs, and similar cross-referenced data, are much too small and perhaps somewhat too crowded to be of real use to a busy engineer, though they may be valuable in courses for students for sci-tech reference. One would wish that many scientists and engineers would keep this slim volume on their reference shelves to consult it before they go off on what sometimes turns out to be a wild goose chase after seemingly elusive information, yet could easily be=found if one only knew where to look for it. So, if you are a sci-tech reference librarian, buy this little guide and recommend it also to your customer. Both parties will gain, College of Library and Information
University of Maryland
Services,
HANS H. WELLISCH
Book Review\
before jumping on the MarchantlLikert participative management bandwagon. There are other ways to arrive at a participative system which involves elements from a number of schools of thought. Marchant does not claim his methods to be the only way, and he does discuss some of the other concepts, but again not in depth. Marchant does not claim that he is writing a general management textbook and the work should not be used as the textbook in any library management/administration course. It is an excellent supplementary reader and Chap. 6-10 should be required reading. It is an interesting and well-written book and a worthwhile addition to any library management collection.
GSLIS.
UCLA
Relegation and Stock Control in Libraries. J. A. and N.C. URQUHART. Oriel Press, London, 085 3621624.
G. EDWARD EVANS
1976. 154 pp. bibliog. $22.50, ISBN
“Relegation” and “stock control” are the British equivalents to the American terms weeding and steady state. These terms mean that for every item you add to the collection you must remove one. Over the past twenty years it has become more and more apparent that library collections will reach a “natural” limit of growth (i.e. funding authorities will no longer buy you more storage space). Every library will reach this point, and face the problems of weeding and maintaining a steady state. The question of how to select the most appropriate items for removal has been the subject of numerous studies over the last 20 yr. This book is the report of one such study. The Urquharts (a husband and wife team) conducted a series of weeding studies at Newcastle University Library between the years 1973 and 1975. The book provides a complete reviews of their research. The first third of the text is an analysis of their findings which are not particularly unusual. Almost all of their findings are in line with studies from American. Canadian and British academic libraries. They do raise some very interesting questions about the validity of the “past use” criterion. Past use has become the primary means of selecting items for “retirement”/weeding. Unfortunately, while the Urquharts raise significant issues regarding the concept, and their data partially supports their suspicions, they do not provide any viable alternative. Their data tends to negate the idea that past use is the best predictor of future use. However. until something better can be found librarians will have to employ past use even if it may require more interlibrary loans or even putting the item back into the collection after being “retired”. Another interesting concept by the authors is “block relegation”, that is. removing blocks of monographs rather than approaching the problem on a title by title basis. Given their data on this concept I would expect it to be sometime before libraries are going to try the block refinement system, simply due to a lack of enough information. Here is a whole new field of inquiry for anyone interested and who can locate a library willing to try a new weeding method. The final two thirds of the text consists of a series of appendices containing interim reports, working papers, and data from the project. They even include a copy of the project proposal. Their bibliography is extensive. All in all this is a worthwhile book for anyone seriously interested in the problems of weeding. It is, however, too costly and sufficiently different in the final results to warrant recommending it for anyone’s personal collection.
GSLIS,
G. EDWARD EVANS
UCLA
Information Sources in Science and Technology. C. C. PARKERand R. V. TURLEY. Butterworth.
London
1975,223 pp., ISBN
0 408 70657 0. f5.SO. There are many books with titles similar to or even identical with the one given to this work, and at first one may wonder why yet another book was needed (even though, of course, new “sources” are constantly being produced, old ones become obsolete, and the scope of existing ones may change). Yet a brief glance at the inside covers with their concise instructions on “How to use this book” will convince you even before looking at the text that this book is different from the many textbooks for beginning reference courses in science and technology. First of all, even though the authors admittedly had students in mind as part of their audience, the book is actually aimed as much at the scientist or engineer in need of information. It is written by a team of librarian and scientist-cum-information officer, and they clearly know why people in the laboratory or at the drawing table need information and how they can best be helped in solving their problems. The reader or, rather, the information-seeker (because he is warned that the book “is not to be read from cover to cover”) is first introduced to the various types of information sources: people, organizations, and the written word-which, as we know by now, is exactly the order of preference mostly used by scientists and engineers in search of information. The style is refreshingly clear and straightforward, not cluttered by jargon. The authors are not afraid to state what sometimes may sound trivial but is important to stress because it is too often taken for granted by professional information providers: “People, ultimately, are the source of all information”. or “Different computerised information systems will, of course. use different thesauri”. Each type or kind of source is first dealt with in general terms, explaining its particular features, and what it can or cannot do; then follow three concise sections, labeled Uses. Access and Caution, respectively. This is what makes the book different from so many other compilations of information sources in the sci-tech field. In a few lines, the prospective user of an information source is made aware of its scope, its availability (Only in libraries? Can or should it be bought for home use? Is there a fee to be paid for use?), and, most important, yet so often neglected, the caveats of a potential source. These sections are then followed by a brief discussion of a few good specimens of the type of source. This approach is followed systematically throughout the book, thus making it easy for the novice or the inexperienced user to decide whether or not a particular source is worthwhile looking up. Needless to say, also the seasoned reference librarian will find a wealth of valuable information, especially on sources which he thinks he knows well but which may have changed their scope, conditions of use, mode of publication and so forth. Most general scientific and engineering information sources, such as the various major abstracting and indexing services, bibliographies and guides, as well as SD1 services and on-line services are covered. Trade literature, patents,
Book Reviews
393
trademarks, standards and specifications are also dealt with. But in addition, many other related topics not normally included in books of this kind and size are also discussed, ranging from methods of literature searching to classification systems, how to use a library and how to organize a personal reference tile, report writing, lecturing and invisible colleges (including advice on how to enter one). Librarians may perhaps scoff at the necessarily superhcial manner in which some of these topics are treated, but almost all that a professional information provider knows (or ought to know) about these things is often either unknown or only dimly perceived by most scientists and engineers. These are busy people who will not spend their time in perusing the often abstruse literature of information retrieval techniques, but they may well absorb the essentials if they are presented in a form that is familiar to them from their own literature-and this is exactly what the present book does. Since the authors are British, there is naturally an emphasis on British information sources, though most of the American and some important European sources are quite well represented. However, the sections that list specific organizatioQ and libraries, as well as those on patent searching and trademarks are treated primarily from a British point of view. The book is well printed and produced, and there is a comprehensive index, but the charts listing information sources related to coverage and needs, and similar cross-referenced data, are much too small and perhaps somewhat too crowded to be of real use to a busy engineer, though they may be valuable in courses for students for sci-tech reference. One would wish that many scientists and engineers would keep this slim volume on their reference shelves to consult it before they go off on what sometimes turns out to be a wild goose chase after seemingly elusive information, yet could easily be=found if one only knew where to look for it. So, if you are a sci-tech reference librarian, buy this little guide and recommend it also to your customer. Both parties will gain, College of Library and Information
University of Maryland
Services,
HANS H. WELLISCH