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Librarianship and information work: Job characteristics and staffing needs
03&4573/78/1101_0481is#2!B/o
BOOK REVIEWS
From Cutter to MARC: Access to the Unit Record. RICHARD J. HYMAN. -Queens College Studies in Librarianship
No. I. Queens College Press, Flushing, N.Y.,
1977.40 pp. $2.00.
Information and Data In Systems. BORGE LANGEFORSand KJELL SAMUELSON. PetroceililCharter.
New York,
1976. 124 pp. $14.95
Librarianship Library
and Information
Work
Research & Development
A cursory examination
Job Characteristics
Reports No. 532lHC,
and Staffing Needs. R. SERCEAN. The British The British
of the above titles suggests little commonality
Library.
London,
among the contents of these volumes:
indeed, a reading of the volumes confirms this suspicion. Because of the brevity will be examined under one review. However, The contribution Librarianship
inaugurates
the Queens College
Series. Robert A. Colby, the general editor for the series. disclaims primary
series on technical aspects of librarianship the chairperson publications
of the works, this potpouri
each title will be dealt with individually.
From Cutter fo MARC,
by Hyman.
1977, 62 pp. f2.50.
in the Department
related to cataloging
although the first three unmbers are so oriented.
of Library
in
Dr. Hyman
Science at Queens College and has written
and access. Perhaps his best known
Studies
emphasis of the is
a number of
Access fo
work is his monograph
Library Connections,1972. Hyman world.
provides
“For
an useful essay about automated
the foreseeable
automated files in traditional
future
bibliographic
even in computerized
unit-record
format”.
Although
services
hbraries,
one will
of the traditional
format of bibliographic
as a discussion of manual coordinate
retrieval
format.
significant
of MARC
formating
pages and includes a number of useful illustrations
of of
access points and an excellent
a listing of major international
bibliography.
acess to bibliographic
Hyman’s
records-and
bibliographic
sources with multiple
work is a useful contribution
to the literature
technology.
text
information
methodology,
systems design, information
storage of data elements and records, and information
at the University
of Stockholm,
intend a summary-introductory
to be a
and on concepts-not in organizations,
in data bases. The authors, text to a wide range of
related phenomenon.
As a textbook
the volume does not work. American
of theme.
Wiley-Becker Action
on understanding-not
Some of the topics that are addressed include:
both professors
that live
if only humans could understand them. The hook purports
(124 pp.) that focuses
elements of information,
disparate
behavior
of
at $2.00 the price is right!
The second title. Information and Data in Systems. may be compared to the dolphin-mammals in water and given to intelligent comprehensive
as well
of subject cataloging data are stressed in the essay.
Marc content and sample NUC entries. The appendices include a glossary. a chronology
events related to cataloging.
manual/machine
vast un-
awareness of the information
records. Summary treatment
The body of the essay consumes only twenty MARC
library
have to consult
some librarians may not agree with his anatysis
most will agree with the thesis: we must increase our. and our partons’. potential
in an unautomated
Numerous
texts,
professors are likely to find it both rudimentary
such as those
in the Information
and Hayes treat similar topics in a more sophisticated
and Design, suggests some interesting
conceptual
in much depth. The conglomeration
the limited
bibliographic
references
understood
and largely ignored.
probably
Series published
manner. Chapter 2. Information
frameworks
but they are not explored
Science
for types of information
of topics, the disparity
and by for
(pp. 34-35),
of organization,
and
will doom this book to the status of the dolphin-poorly
The last title, Libru~anship and lnfor~~t~on Work: Job Characte~sfjcs and Staling Needs is anothei of those little gems for which the Research and Development well known.
This three year investigation
covered
Great Britain and is concerned with the qualitative
library
Department
of the British
and information
Library
is becoming
units of all type and sizes in
aspects of manpower planning. The survey presents data
related to the intellectual. social and physical demands of library and information work as well as the work environment. In reality, this volume is a summary of the Shefield Manpower Project: A Survey of St@ng
Requirements for Librarianship and Information Work, available Occasional Publication
The body of the text descusses the library activity,
physical demands of the job, working
educational
from
the University
of Sheffield
as
No. 8.
preparation-among
and information
workers’
hours, job attitudes,
job descriptions,
other topics. The cluster analysis of job classification 481
communication
best and worst features of the job. and is most interesting
482
Book K&?W\
and supports what many library administrators already suspect. “no very clear or consistent Liews exist about the demands and personnel reqmrements of a wide middle-ground of [library) lobs”. Excellent appendices present the data generated from the investigation. Of the three titles reviewed. the Manpower report from the British Library was the most interesting to this reviewer. It is especially interesting when compared to Library Manpower: A Study of Demand and Supply published in 1975 by the U.S. Department of Labor. Librarians would be well advtsed to examine both the U.S. and the British Manpower reports as they offer useful insights into the nature of the profession as well as possible trends for the future. Libra~a~shj~ and ~~for~ufi~)~? Work and From Cutter to *MARC are both recommended by this reviewer for institutional as well as individual purchase. tinker& School
of Oklahonza
of
Nonnan.
Library
CHARLES R. MCCLURE
Science
OK 73019
U S.A.
The Social Impact of the Telephone. ITHIELDE SOLA POOL [Editor]. MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1977.502 pp; $15.95 hardcover. It is remarkable how little has been researched and written on the multifaceted and kaleidoscopic social impacts of the telephone, even though the telephone has now been with us for 100 years. We are approaching the era of computer-communication networks, with the advent of universal, interactive man-computer communication with terminals in offices, schools, libraries, stores, banks and homes where existing telephone lines are likely to be the main communications highway for computerized information services. If we do not understand the social consequences of telephone communications. how can we hope to understand the social consequences of computer network information services? This book, edited by Ithiel de Sola Pool, is a serious, scholarly attempt to bring together leading social effects of the telephone over the course of its 100-year history. for the first time. in a single volume. This volume arose from in’vited papers in a series of seminars at MIT. and from ongoing work on the social impacts of the telephone at MIT, variously supported by AT&T to celebrate the telephone centennial, by the Markle Foundation and the National Science Foundation. Contributors were called from a broad spectrum of disciplines, including urban studies, architecture, economics, sociology, physchology. political science and history. The 21 chapters are found under five broad areas: ( 1) “the early years”; (2) *‘the telephone in life”; (3) “the telephone and the city”; (4) “the telephone and human interaction”; and (5) “social uses of telephones”. A sampling of some of the contributors include: Colin Cherry (democratization impacts), J. R. Pierce (overview). Martin Mayer (impact on human time), Ronald Abler (urban effects), Charles Perry (the British experience), Asa Briggs (the pleasure telephone), Jean Gottman (telephone megalopolis), Brenda Maddox (telephones and women). Bertil Thorngren (reinforcement of existing communication behaviors) and A. A. L. Reid (comparing telephone with face-to-face contact). This shor review can not enter into the numerous substantive issues raised by individual contributors. However, consider Thorngren’s thesis, freely translated as follows: the telephone has not developed new coalitions in human communications, it has basically reinforced existing modes of human “linkage”. The editor, director of the Research Program on Communications Policy at MIT. incorporates extensive commentary in short sections throughout the text in a helpfui effort to integrate the wide-ranging material. However, the penetration of the telephone in virtually ail walks of life only points up how vast the subject is and how little we know of its effects. The main contribution of this volume is that it is the definitive introduction to social impacts of the telephone. It is a generous and literate collection-crammed with extensive and pertinent references to the scattered literature. filled with useful facts and figures. attentive to the problems, methods and findings of careful experimental research and sensitive to historical trends. Anyone interested in the social effects of newly burgeoning computer communications services would be well advised to acquaint himself with the impressive KM&yearbaseline sketched in “The Social Impact of the Telephone”. University
of California
HAROLD SACKMAN
Irvine
Machine Takeover: The Growfng Threat to Human Freedom in a Computer-Controlled Society. FRANK GEORGE.Pergamon Press. Oxford, 1977. 208 pp.: $6.50 paperback: $13 hardcover. This short book is a very readable. impassioned, apocalyptic warning of the threat of computers for the human species. It consists of four parts. Part I introduces information and data processing for the general.
BOOK REVIEWS
From Cutter to MARC: Access to the Unit Record. RICHARD J. HYMAN. -Queens College Studies in Librarianship
No. I. Queens College Press, Flushing, N.Y.,
1977.40 pp. $2.00.
Information and Data In Systems. BORGE LANGEFORSand KJELL SAMUELSON. PetroceililCharter.
New York,
1976. 124 pp. $14.95
Librarianship Library
and Information
Work
Research & Development
A cursory examination
Job Characteristics
Reports No. 532lHC,
and Staffing Needs. R. SERCEAN. The British The British
of the above titles suggests little commonality
Library.
London,
among the contents of these volumes:
indeed, a reading of the volumes confirms this suspicion. Because of the brevity will be examined under one review. However, The contribution Librarianship
inaugurates
the Queens College
Series. Robert A. Colby, the general editor for the series. disclaims primary
series on technical aspects of librarianship the chairperson publications
of the works, this potpouri
each title will be dealt with individually.
From Cutter fo MARC,
by Hyman.
1977, 62 pp. f2.50.
in the Department
related to cataloging
although the first three unmbers are so oriented.
of Library
in
Dr. Hyman
Science at Queens College and has written
and access. Perhaps his best known
Studies
emphasis of the is
a number of
Access fo
work is his monograph
Library Connections,1972. Hyman world.
provides
“For
an useful essay about automated
the foreseeable
automated files in traditional
future
bibliographic
even in computerized
unit-record
format”.
Although
services
hbraries,
one will
of the traditional
format of bibliographic
as a discussion of manual coordinate
retrieval
format.
significant
of MARC
formating
pages and includes a number of useful illustrations
of of
access points and an excellent
a listing of major international
bibliography.
acess to bibliographic
Hyman’s
records-and
bibliographic
sources with multiple
work is a useful contribution
to the literature
technology.
text
information
methodology,
systems design, information
storage of data elements and records, and information
at the University
of Stockholm,
intend a summary-introductory
to be a
and on concepts-not in organizations,
in data bases. The authors, text to a wide range of
related phenomenon.
As a textbook
the volume does not work. American
of theme.
Wiley-Becker Action
on understanding-not
Some of the topics that are addressed include:
both professors
that live
if only humans could understand them. The hook purports
(124 pp.) that focuses
elements of information,
disparate
behavior
of
at $2.00 the price is right!
The second title. Information and Data in Systems. may be compared to the dolphin-mammals in water and given to intelligent comprehensive
as well
of subject cataloging data are stressed in the essay.
Marc content and sample NUC entries. The appendices include a glossary. a chronology
events related to cataloging.
manual/machine
vast un-
awareness of the information
records. Summary treatment
The body of the essay consumes only twenty MARC
library
have to consult
some librarians may not agree with his anatysis
most will agree with the thesis: we must increase our. and our partons’. potential
in an unautomated
Numerous
texts,
professors are likely to find it both rudimentary
such as those
in the Information
and Hayes treat similar topics in a more sophisticated
and Design, suggests some interesting
conceptual
in much depth. The conglomeration
the limited
bibliographic
references
understood
and largely ignored.
probably
Series published
manner. Chapter 2. Information
frameworks
but they are not explored
Science
for types of information
of topics, the disparity
and by for
(pp. 34-35),
of organization,
and
will doom this book to the status of the dolphin-poorly
The last title, Libru~anship and lnfor~~t~on Work: Job Characte~sfjcs and Staling Needs is anothei of those little gems for which the Research and Development well known.
This three year investigation
covered
Great Britain and is concerned with the qualitative
library
Department
of the British
and information
Library
is becoming
units of all type and sizes in
aspects of manpower planning. The survey presents data
related to the intellectual. social and physical demands of library and information work as well as the work environment. In reality, this volume is a summary of the Shefield Manpower Project: A Survey of St@ng
Requirements for Librarianship and Information Work, available Occasional Publication
The body of the text descusses the library activity,
physical demands of the job, working
educational
from
the University
of Sheffield
as
No. 8.
preparation-among
and information
workers’
hours, job attitudes,
job descriptions,
other topics. The cluster analysis of job classification 481
communication
best and worst features of the job. and is most interesting
482
Book K&?W\
and supports what many library administrators already suspect. “no very clear or consistent Liews exist about the demands and personnel reqmrements of a wide middle-ground of [library) lobs”. Excellent appendices present the data generated from the investigation. Of the three titles reviewed. the Manpower report from the British Library was the most interesting to this reviewer. It is especially interesting when compared to Library Manpower: A Study of Demand and Supply published in 1975 by the U.S. Department of Labor. Librarians would be well advtsed to examine both the U.S. and the British Manpower reports as they offer useful insights into the nature of the profession as well as possible trends for the future. Libra~a~shj~ and ~~for~ufi~)~? Work and From Cutter to *MARC are both recommended by this reviewer for institutional as well as individual purchase. tinker& School
of Oklahonza
of
Nonnan.
Library
CHARLES R. MCCLURE
Science
OK 73019
U S.A.
The Social Impact of the Telephone. ITHIELDE SOLA POOL [Editor]. MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1977.502 pp; $15.95 hardcover. It is remarkable how little has been researched and written on the multifaceted and kaleidoscopic social impacts of the telephone, even though the telephone has now been with us for 100 years. We are approaching the era of computer-communication networks, with the advent of universal, interactive man-computer communication with terminals in offices, schools, libraries, stores, banks and homes where existing telephone lines are likely to be the main communications highway for computerized information services. If we do not understand the social consequences of telephone communications. how can we hope to understand the social consequences of computer network information services? This book, edited by Ithiel de Sola Pool, is a serious, scholarly attempt to bring together leading social effects of the telephone over the course of its 100-year history. for the first time. in a single volume. This volume arose from in’vited papers in a series of seminars at MIT. and from ongoing work on the social impacts of the telephone at MIT, variously supported by AT&T to celebrate the telephone centennial, by the Markle Foundation and the National Science Foundation. Contributors were called from a broad spectrum of disciplines, including urban studies, architecture, economics, sociology, physchology. political science and history. The 21 chapters are found under five broad areas: ( 1) “the early years”; (2) *‘the telephone in life”; (3) “the telephone and the city”; (4) “the telephone and human interaction”; and (5) “social uses of telephones”. A sampling of some of the contributors include: Colin Cherry (democratization impacts), J. R. Pierce (overview). Martin Mayer (impact on human time), Ronald Abler (urban effects), Charles Perry (the British experience), Asa Briggs (the pleasure telephone), Jean Gottman (telephone megalopolis), Brenda Maddox (telephones and women). Bertil Thorngren (reinforcement of existing communication behaviors) and A. A. L. Reid (comparing telephone with face-to-face contact). This shor review can not enter into the numerous substantive issues raised by individual contributors. However, consider Thorngren’s thesis, freely translated as follows: the telephone has not developed new coalitions in human communications, it has basically reinforced existing modes of human “linkage”. The editor, director of the Research Program on Communications Policy at MIT. incorporates extensive commentary in short sections throughout the text in a helpfui effort to integrate the wide-ranging material. However, the penetration of the telephone in virtually ail walks of life only points up how vast the subject is and how little we know of its effects. The main contribution of this volume is that it is the definitive introduction to social impacts of the telephone. It is a generous and literate collection-crammed with extensive and pertinent references to the scattered literature. filled with useful facts and figures. attentive to the problems, methods and findings of careful experimental research and sensitive to historical trends. Anyone interested in the social effects of newly burgeoning computer communications services would be well advised to acquaint himself with the impressive KM&yearbaseline sketched in “The Social Impact of the Telephone”. University
of California
HAROLD SACKMAN
Irvine
Machine Takeover: The Growfng Threat to Human Freedom in a Computer-Controlled Society. FRANK GEORGE.Pergamon Press. Oxford, 1977. 208 pp.: $6.50 paperback: $13 hardcover. This short book is a very readable. impassioned, apocalyptic warning of the threat of computers for the human species. It consists of four parts. Part I introduces information and data processing for the general.