- Email: [email protected]
Introduction to Automation for Librarians
Book Reviews
147
will be well prepared to forge ahead into the brave new world of CD-ROM and other electronic resources that will, no doubt, keep coming our way. Come to think of it, I wonder what happened to my hula hoop?
readers
Faculty of Library and Information Science University of Toronto Toronto, ON, Canada
JOANNEG. MARSHALL
Introduction
to Automation for Librarians. 3rd ed. W. SAFFADY.American Library Association, Chicago (1994). viii + 391 pp., $45.00, ISBN 0-8389-0628-l.
The purpose of this third edition of the author’s popular book remains unchanged from the second: “[it] is intended for librarians, information specialists, library school students, and others who want a tutorial survey of those aspects of information technology that are most significant for library operations.” Excluded are discussions of how automated library systems are acquired, developed, and installed. The format and organization of this edition are the same as the second. The part and chapter names also are identical. The differences between this new edition and the last are (a) the addition of new material for technological advances and new products that have emerged since the time of the second edition in 1989, (b) the substitution of new product illustrations for the old, (c) updated bibliographies, and (d) the minor revision of some text. Probably less than 20% of this edition is new material. Its contents are divided into two parts. Part 1, “The Fundamentals,” includes four chapters dealing with computer hardware, computer software, data processing concepts, and automated office systems and related technologies. Part 2, “Library Operations,” also has four chapters treating automated circulation control, cataloging, reference service, and acquisitions and serials control. Each chapter is well organized, well written, and comprehensive, with succinct histories, verbal examples, and pictorial illustrations included for the systems, products, and applications that are discussed. As promised in the preface, the level of the language is for the novice and for those who are not interested in the intricacies of information technology. However, sufficient detail is always provided so that the reader can gain a basic understanding of the topics. It is hard to find serious fault with such a useful text as this one has been throughout its three editions. The book still provides for the beginner the best available overview of library automation and related information technology. It is gratifying to see that this new edition retains its usefulness as either a primary or supplementary text for library automation and other courses in schools of library and information studies, as well as for practitioners trying to learn on their own the basics of library automation. Useful as the two earlier editions have been and as this edition will be, this book does have its flaws, however minor they are. A few examples can be given. Example 1: the lack of a separate glossary of terms, which would have been helpful, even though the author does define terms fairly well as topics are covered. Example 2: Saffady often does not thoroughly link the technology to the library application; for example, although “graphical user interface” is discussed in Part 1 (page 60), he does not relate how a GUI can be incorporated into a library application in Part 2. Example 3: the brevity of coverage of some of the new topics incorporated into this third edition. The Internet is briefly described in one paragraph (Part 1, p. 139) and briefly linked to applications in Part 2. The same can be said of the client/server model. More background information on both would have been helpful. Example 4: the omission of many terms or topics that are important in electronic networking. The author mentions but does not define “bulletin board,” and does not even mention at all “listserv” or “freeware”- terms that are bandied about routinely by librarians today. “File server” is discussed on p. 141, but not mentioned in the index, either under “file” or “server”. With a one- to two-year time lag between an author’s submission of a manuscript and the appearance of the finished book on the shelves, it is not surprising that many terms were omitted. Saffady has done a good job in general of anticipating technological advances that will be important to libraries; but these and other possible examples especially should have received better coverage. A final example, which is beyond the author’s control: the torture of the page design used by ALA Publishing for all its books-long sequences of unbroken text with few headings as guideposts and a type font with characters too close together. Anyone looking away momentarily from a page without keeping a finger on the last word read or using a straight edge as a marker, as in kindergarten, will waste much time locating the point to resume reading. Again, these “flaws” are minor when compared with the overwhelming usefulness of Saffady’s work; it is still one of the best, if not the best. However, except for students in schools of library and information studies who will buy what is stocked in the bookstore, other individuals and libraries IPM 31:1-K
148
Book Reviews
owning the second edition who are not necessarily interested in having the very latest illustrations and bibliographies available in a monograph must decide whether or not the relatively minor revisions in this third edition are worth the price. It is hoped that the fourth edition of this book will be a major rather than a minor revision, to incorporate full discussions of the newest technological advances and concepts that are washing over libraries and other information centers. School of Library and Information Sciences University of North Texas Denton, TX
JOHN CORBIN
Advances in Classification Research, Volume 3: Proceedings of the 3rd ASIS SIG/CR Classification Research Workshop. R. FIDEL, B. KWASNIK, and P.J. SMITH (EDs.). Medford, NJ: Learned Information (1993). vi + 181 pp., $39.50, ISBN O-938734-79-2. The editors of the third volume of Advances in Classification Research sought to bring together a diverse group of contributors (from the private sector, libraries, and scholars from communication, computer science, and information science) who would wrestle with issues such as (a) the development of knowledge organization theories for information retrieval in large databases; (b) the creation of large-scale databases based on those theories; and (c) the expansion of present interface effectiveness through visualization and abstraction tools. Insofar as a workshop might be characterized as a brainstorming session, the editors were largely successful in presenting a group of papers that address the issues at hand, although the volume is a little light on theory; it concentrates mainly on tools. Kwasnik shoulders the load of theory discussion with her article, “The Role of Classification Structures in Reflecting and Building Theory,” through an analysis of the symbiotic relationship between the theory or theories held by a discipline, and the way concepts within the discipline are organized into meaningful relationships through some form of representation. That is, in some general sense, the representation of the interrelationships of the facets of some field of study is, in fact, theory, and vice versa. She uses several examples, one of which is the Periodic Table of Elements used by scientists. It is not only that the Periodic Table presents a coherent, logical structure representing known chemical elements based on atomic weights, etc.; but by analyzing the structure of the table, scientists can predict the existence of undiscovered elements. This article is an illuminating discussion of the nature of classification. Most of the contributions focused on bringing visual form to the traditionally textual, large-scale database environment. Some were more successful than others in terms of making the represented data visually coherent. For example, Coombs presents a prototype system that, based on classification of documents by association, displays a graphical representation of the subject areas of the database based on like document vectors. It is clear that a user familiar with a direct manipulation environment could combine aspects of different subject areas to perform a “graphical query.” Similarly, Rowley, Anderson, and Hemmasi converted Library of Congress Subject Headings related to music into an online thesaurus that could be visually displayed in a variety of ways. For example, the text could be displayed hierarchically, and clicking a “child” in the hierarchy activates for the user a semantic set of terms that includes aspects of the “parent” terms, as well. On the other hand, Doszkocs and Sass present an associative retrieval system in which the screens are very busy, and therefore, difficult to interpret. In addition, the icons shown in the figures were not descriptive of the processes they were meant to represent. I was not sure what the open book icons in Fig. 1 (some with bars on the pages and some with blank pages) were meant to indicate. One general observation that I made concerning the contributions was a lack of user studies on which the proposed systems were based. For instance, Micco and Ju introduce a reasonably comprehensible system for query term expansion, in which users can link subject headings and Dewey Decimal classifications. However, no mention is made in the article, nor is there an indication in the references, of any incorporation of user behavior research into the design of the system. What was the theoretical basis (i.e., what users-and in which situations-will use this technique) on which this system was designed? Perhaps this lack of theoretical grounding is due to a lack of user studies (or conclusive results of studies) on the topic of classification research in general, and specifically, a lack of user studies on the use of visual representations of classification. If this is the case, it should be noted somewhere in the volume that user studies that would be meaningful to designers of systems should be undertaken in the research community. An assessment by the editors of the needed research areas derived from
147
will be well prepared to forge ahead into the brave new world of CD-ROM and other electronic resources that will, no doubt, keep coming our way. Come to think of it, I wonder what happened to my hula hoop?
readers
Faculty of Library and Information Science University of Toronto Toronto, ON, Canada
JOANNEG. MARSHALL
Introduction
to Automation for Librarians. 3rd ed. W. SAFFADY.American Library Association, Chicago (1994). viii + 391 pp., $45.00, ISBN 0-8389-0628-l.
The purpose of this third edition of the author’s popular book remains unchanged from the second: “[it] is intended for librarians, information specialists, library school students, and others who want a tutorial survey of those aspects of information technology that are most significant for library operations.” Excluded are discussions of how automated library systems are acquired, developed, and installed. The format and organization of this edition are the same as the second. The part and chapter names also are identical. The differences between this new edition and the last are (a) the addition of new material for technological advances and new products that have emerged since the time of the second edition in 1989, (b) the substitution of new product illustrations for the old, (c) updated bibliographies, and (d) the minor revision of some text. Probably less than 20% of this edition is new material. Its contents are divided into two parts. Part 1, “The Fundamentals,” includes four chapters dealing with computer hardware, computer software, data processing concepts, and automated office systems and related technologies. Part 2, “Library Operations,” also has four chapters treating automated circulation control, cataloging, reference service, and acquisitions and serials control. Each chapter is well organized, well written, and comprehensive, with succinct histories, verbal examples, and pictorial illustrations included for the systems, products, and applications that are discussed. As promised in the preface, the level of the language is for the novice and for those who are not interested in the intricacies of information technology. However, sufficient detail is always provided so that the reader can gain a basic understanding of the topics. It is hard to find serious fault with such a useful text as this one has been throughout its three editions. The book still provides for the beginner the best available overview of library automation and related information technology. It is gratifying to see that this new edition retains its usefulness as either a primary or supplementary text for library automation and other courses in schools of library and information studies, as well as for practitioners trying to learn on their own the basics of library automation. Useful as the two earlier editions have been and as this edition will be, this book does have its flaws, however minor they are. A few examples can be given. Example 1: the lack of a separate glossary of terms, which would have been helpful, even though the author does define terms fairly well as topics are covered. Example 2: Saffady often does not thoroughly link the technology to the library application; for example, although “graphical user interface” is discussed in Part 1 (page 60), he does not relate how a GUI can be incorporated into a library application in Part 2. Example 3: the brevity of coverage of some of the new topics incorporated into this third edition. The Internet is briefly described in one paragraph (Part 1, p. 139) and briefly linked to applications in Part 2. The same can be said of the client/server model. More background information on both would have been helpful. Example 4: the omission of many terms or topics that are important in electronic networking. The author mentions but does not define “bulletin board,” and does not even mention at all “listserv” or “freeware”- terms that are bandied about routinely by librarians today. “File server” is discussed on p. 141, but not mentioned in the index, either under “file” or “server”. With a one- to two-year time lag between an author’s submission of a manuscript and the appearance of the finished book on the shelves, it is not surprising that many terms were omitted. Saffady has done a good job in general of anticipating technological advances that will be important to libraries; but these and other possible examples especially should have received better coverage. A final example, which is beyond the author’s control: the torture of the page design used by ALA Publishing for all its books-long sequences of unbroken text with few headings as guideposts and a type font with characters too close together. Anyone looking away momentarily from a page without keeping a finger on the last word read or using a straight edge as a marker, as in kindergarten, will waste much time locating the point to resume reading. Again, these “flaws” are minor when compared with the overwhelming usefulness of Saffady’s work; it is still one of the best, if not the best. However, except for students in schools of library and information studies who will buy what is stocked in the bookstore, other individuals and libraries IPM 31:1-K
148
Book Reviews
owning the second edition who are not necessarily interested in having the very latest illustrations and bibliographies available in a monograph must decide whether or not the relatively minor revisions in this third edition are worth the price. It is hoped that the fourth edition of this book will be a major rather than a minor revision, to incorporate full discussions of the newest technological advances and concepts that are washing over libraries and other information centers. School of Library and Information Sciences University of North Texas Denton, TX
JOHN CORBIN
Advances in Classification Research, Volume 3: Proceedings of the 3rd ASIS SIG/CR Classification Research Workshop. R. FIDEL, B. KWASNIK, and P.J. SMITH (EDs.). Medford, NJ: Learned Information (1993). vi + 181 pp., $39.50, ISBN O-938734-79-2. The editors of the third volume of Advances in Classification Research sought to bring together a diverse group of contributors (from the private sector, libraries, and scholars from communication, computer science, and information science) who would wrestle with issues such as (a) the development of knowledge organization theories for information retrieval in large databases; (b) the creation of large-scale databases based on those theories; and (c) the expansion of present interface effectiveness through visualization and abstraction tools. Insofar as a workshop might be characterized as a brainstorming session, the editors were largely successful in presenting a group of papers that address the issues at hand, although the volume is a little light on theory; it concentrates mainly on tools. Kwasnik shoulders the load of theory discussion with her article, “The Role of Classification Structures in Reflecting and Building Theory,” through an analysis of the symbiotic relationship between the theory or theories held by a discipline, and the way concepts within the discipline are organized into meaningful relationships through some form of representation. That is, in some general sense, the representation of the interrelationships of the facets of some field of study is, in fact, theory, and vice versa. She uses several examples, one of which is the Periodic Table of Elements used by scientists. It is not only that the Periodic Table presents a coherent, logical structure representing known chemical elements based on atomic weights, etc.; but by analyzing the structure of the table, scientists can predict the existence of undiscovered elements. This article is an illuminating discussion of the nature of classification. Most of the contributions focused on bringing visual form to the traditionally textual, large-scale database environment. Some were more successful than others in terms of making the represented data visually coherent. For example, Coombs presents a prototype system that, based on classification of documents by association, displays a graphical representation of the subject areas of the database based on like document vectors. It is clear that a user familiar with a direct manipulation environment could combine aspects of different subject areas to perform a “graphical query.” Similarly, Rowley, Anderson, and Hemmasi converted Library of Congress Subject Headings related to music into an online thesaurus that could be visually displayed in a variety of ways. For example, the text could be displayed hierarchically, and clicking a “child” in the hierarchy activates for the user a semantic set of terms that includes aspects of the “parent” terms, as well. On the other hand, Doszkocs and Sass present an associative retrieval system in which the screens are very busy, and therefore, difficult to interpret. In addition, the icons shown in the figures were not descriptive of the processes they were meant to represent. I was not sure what the open book icons in Fig. 1 (some with bars on the pages and some with blank pages) were meant to indicate. One general observation that I made concerning the contributions was a lack of user studies on which the proposed systems were based. For instance, Micco and Ju introduce a reasonably comprehensible system for query term expansion, in which users can link subject headings and Dewey Decimal classifications. However, no mention is made in the article, nor is there an indication in the references, of any incorporation of user behavior research into the design of the system. What was the theoretical basis (i.e., what users-and in which situations-will use this technique) on which this system was designed? Perhaps this lack of theoretical grounding is due to a lack of user studies (or conclusive results of studies) on the topic of classification research in general, and specifically, a lack of user studies on the use of visual representations of classification. If this is the case, it should be noted somewhere in the volume that user studies that would be meaningful to designers of systems should be undertaken in the research community. An assessment by the editors of the needed research areas derived from