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Librarianship and information work worldwide: 1992
Applying Research to Practice: How to Use Data Collection and Research to Improve Library Management Decision Making edited by Leigh Stewart Estabrook. Urbana-Champaign, IL: University of Illinois, GSLIS, 1992. 176~. $25 ISBN O-87845-090-4. (Allerton Park Institute, no. 33.) Permanent paper This conference celebrated the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Library Research Center at the University of Illinois. This proceedings title clearly states the intent of the book, but only Glen R. Halt’s paper convincingly demonstrates how research can be useful to managers. His paper contains a bibliography of 59 studies done for or by the St. Louis Public Library between 1987 and 1991. Keith Curry Lance and Katy Sherlock identify sources in which pertinent statistical data can be found and describe five ways numerical data can be used. Gail D. McClure of the Kellogg Foundation gives advice on how grant seekers should approach a foundation. W. David Penniman, President of the Council on Library Resources, outlines the council’s priorities for future funding. Both the papers from the foundation representatives are of interest to any one contemplating a grant proposal. The content is heavily oriented toward public libraries, not surprising since the Illinois State Library has been the principal funder of the Library Research Center for the past 30 years. None of the contributors represents an academic library. Considering that this book aims to show how research can improve library management, the paucity of contributors from management is puzzling. Holt is the only one who actually manages a library; he is also a former university professor. Eight of the thirteen authors are faculty members and distinguished researchers in their own right. But their papers read more like introductory lectures in research methods than practical information for managerial decision making. There are several other titles on library research that offer more helpful advice to managers, e.g., Hernon and McClure’s Evaluation and Library Decision Making (Ablex, 1990), or Baker and Lancaster’s The Measurement and Evaluation of Library Services, 2nd ed. (Information Resources Press, 1991). The subtitle of Applying Research to Practice is a promise unfulfilled. Anyone hoping to learn how to use data collection and research to improve library management decision making from reading this book will be disappointed.-Ellen Altman, Graduate Library School, University of Arizona.
Librarianship and Information Work Worldwide: 1992, General editor, Maurice Line, edited by Graham Mackenzie and Ray Prytherch. London and New York: Bowker-Saur, 1993. 273~. $98 ISBN l-85739-066-0. Acid-free paper. The premise of this annual compilation, to review librarianship and information work throughout the world, is a daunting undertaking; its success depends to a considerable degree on the extent which the developed library and information systems in various countries report their activities in the published literature. As Maurice Line notes in his foreword, there is a shortage of
material from less-developed and from former communist countries. A second factor which influences the depth and direction of the coverage is the nationality of the contributors and their diligence in scanning, and understanding, the literature of countries with which they are less familiar. Of the 12 identified contributors to this 1992 volume (biographies of the editors and some joint contributors are not supplied), 11 are from the UK, and one each from Ireland and the U.S. The literature cited and interpreted in many of the articles suggests these affiliations. The inclusion of some non-UK and U.S. references would appear to be out of proportion to their participation in worldwide library and information technology developments. For example, there are 22 references to Australia, and only 13 to Canada, the latter a country almost twice as large and with much longer established academic and public library systems. In fact, from a Canadian viewpoint, this country is poorly served. Organizations which include Canadian participation in their mandate, such as the Association of Research Libraries or the Coalition of Networked Information, are identified as American, and the differences which do exist in North American librarianship are overlooked. These concerns aside, this is a very useful and interesting compilation. Ten general areas are included: special libraries, national libraries, collections, access to information, services, cooperation, management, training and education, public libraries, and academic libraries. The American contribution is an introductory chapter by M.E.D. Koenig of Rosary College, providing focus for three special and overriding topics: information technology and the corporation, network development, and library and information education. Each section of the book has its own overview, based on a survey of appropriate literature, and a succinct and informative conclusion with an extensive bibliography, frequently numbering more than 200 items. There is some unevenness in writing styles, but overall, the topics maintain one’s interest. A subject index is provided, unfortunately weakened by the decision to exclude references to the UK and the U.S., and there is a separate index to all authors cited. Any publication which attempts to include coverage of a single activity in 1992 is bound to encounter difficulties: countries are breaking apart and re-forming; countries and cities are changing their names; library and information activities or organizations are understood differently throughout the world and are given different priorities. A separate geographic index and a glossary of library and information organizations with an explanation of their memberships would reduce some of the confusion which has resulted. This annual compilation is an important contribution to an understanding of international librarianship and a useful overview of the literature of the topics covered. It should be included in all professional collections in academic and large public libraries.-Margaret Beckman, Library Consultant, Waterloo, Ontario.
the Journal
of Academic
Librarianship,
V
November
1993
319
Librarianship and Information Work Worldwide: 1992, General editor, Maurice Line, edited by Graham Mackenzie and Ray Prytherch. London and New York: Bowker-Saur, 1993. 273~. $98 ISBN l-85739-066-0. Acid-free paper. The premise of this annual compilation, to review librarianship and information work throughout the world, is a daunting undertaking; its success depends to a considerable degree on the extent which the developed library and information systems in various countries report their activities in the published literature. As Maurice Line notes in his foreword, there is a shortage of
material from less-developed and from former communist countries. A second factor which influences the depth and direction of the coverage is the nationality of the contributors and their diligence in scanning, and understanding, the literature of countries with which they are less familiar. Of the 12 identified contributors to this 1992 volume (biographies of the editors and some joint contributors are not supplied), 11 are from the UK, and one each from Ireland and the U.S. The literature cited and interpreted in many of the articles suggests these affiliations. The inclusion of some non-UK and U.S. references would appear to be out of proportion to their participation in worldwide library and information technology developments. For example, there are 22 references to Australia, and only 13 to Canada, the latter a country almost twice as large and with much longer established academic and public library systems. In fact, from a Canadian viewpoint, this country is poorly served. Organizations which include Canadian participation in their mandate, such as the Association of Research Libraries or the Coalition of Networked Information, are identified as American, and the differences which do exist in North American librarianship are overlooked. These concerns aside, this is a very useful and interesting compilation. Ten general areas are included: special libraries, national libraries, collections, access to information, services, cooperation, management, training and education, public libraries, and academic libraries. The American contribution is an introductory chapter by M.E.D. Koenig of Rosary College, providing focus for three special and overriding topics: information technology and the corporation, network development, and library and information education. Each section of the book has its own overview, based on a survey of appropriate literature, and a succinct and informative conclusion with an extensive bibliography, frequently numbering more than 200 items. There is some unevenness in writing styles, but overall, the topics maintain one’s interest. A subject index is provided, unfortunately weakened by the decision to exclude references to the UK and the U.S., and there is a separate index to all authors cited. Any publication which attempts to include coverage of a single activity in 1992 is bound to encounter difficulties: countries are breaking apart and re-forming; countries and cities are changing their names; library and information activities or organizations are understood differently throughout the world and are given different priorities. A separate geographic index and a glossary of library and information organizations with an explanation of their memberships would reduce some of the confusion which has resulted. This annual compilation is an important contribution to an understanding of international librarianship and a useful overview of the literature of the topics covered. It should be included in all professional collections in academic and large public libraries.-Margaret Beckman, Library Consultant, Waterloo, Ontario.
the Journal
of Academic
Librarianship,
V
November
1993
319