Managing Electronic Records

Several marketing concepts are applied in a library context. If the goal is to increase student usage, and time spent in the library, then the focus should be on presenting an environment for both mind and body. Mathews contends that user-sensitivity begins with visualizing how libraries fit into student lifestyles. He suggests that academic libraries should then provide more than research assistance. If we accept this argument (and we should), our concentration should then focus on fulfilling customer needs by offering a diversity of spaces, programming, products, services, and experiences designed to accommodate a spectrum of priorities to include social, recreational, personal, travel, and rejuvenation. The chapters form a scaffolding framework for building campaigns and delivering the library message. The sections build on each other and are filled with numerous illustrations to get users enthusiastic about using the library. Mathews describes a process that includes media packages that are attractive, relevant, and surprising. Chapter 11 ties the packages together with a summary, lessons learned, and a vision statement. Marketing Today's Academic Library offers a five-step plan scalable to time, budget, staff size, and abilities. The process does not solely apply to academic libraries. Readers will find that Mathews' vision can apply to any library and is limited only by individual creativeness and constraints of imagination. His examples are varied, current, and always reflect the underlying theme of accommodating user lifestyles. Marketing Today's Academic Library presents a new way to package the library by emphasizing promotional building blocks, brand strategy, and building partnerships with campus communities. All are critical to assisting users to form personal understanding and generating positive communication. Marketing Today's Academic Library is highly recommended not only for academic institutions but also for all professionals willing to look at libraries from an innovative perspective. Mathew's vision is refreshing, challenging, and ubiquitous. A must read.—Michele Glover, University of Phoenix, Overseas Military Campus, Heidelberg, Germany . doi:10.1016/j.acalib.2009.08.014

Finding the Concept, Not Just the Word: A Librarian's Guide to Ontologies and Semantics, by Brandy E. King and Kathy Reinold. Oxford, UK: Chandos Publishing, 2009. 202p. $85.00. ISBN 978-1-84334-318-9. Ontological principles are effective for distributing information online (intranets/LANs/Web sites) or by electronic means (iPhones/PDAs/BlackBerrys). Ontologies are used to (1) create purpose-built search-based applications and (2) allow users to overcome searchengine speak by expressing questions in a natural way rather than forcing them to translate their information 606

The Journal of Academic Librarianship

needs into a combination of keywords. The authors define ontology as “a collection of concepts, arranged in a hierarchy of categories, combined with the relationships between those concepts, in order to reflect the vocabulary of an area of knowledge” (p. 8). By connecting ideas, you can search for the concept, not just the word. This approach saves time and avoids frustration by generating more precise searches: the results you receive match the information you seek. Finding the Concept is simply organized and uses diagrams to explain basic information. Each chapter ends with a summary of the key concepts. The book is divided into five parts: “Part 1 Understanding Ontologies”—how our brains and computers organize and understand information; “Part 2 Semantic Technologies”—how semantic technologies make the task of finding what we need easier; “Part 3 Case Studies”— how organizations use ontologies and semantic technology; “Part 4 Advanced Topics”—detailed overview of the tools used to create ontologies; and “Part 5 Transitions to the Future”—challenges and opportunities of Sir Tim Berners-Lee's long-term vision of the semantic Web. Most of the citations listed in the appendix and bibliography are available on the Web. The authors include up-to-date URLs for these resources. Chapter 5 is the most powerful chapter in the book. The title of this chapter is “Natural Language Processing (NLP).” If you have ever wondered about the secrets of the Google algorithm or how Netflix and Amazon harvest data, you will find your answers to these obscure methods in Chapter 5. These companies combine the grammar-based NLP, statistical NLP, and semantic analysis techniques described in this chapter to return search results, link AdWords, recommend purchases, and create customer profiles. Coauthor Brandy E. King is the information specialist at the Center on Media and Child Health at Children's Hospital Boston. In Part 3, Ms. King provides a case study describing how she created an ontology in a real-world solution regarding the effect of television and the media on children. The audience for this easy-to-read book is subject experts, librarians, programmers, IT staff, and software developers. Finding the Concept provides busy librarians and information professionals with a quick orientation for creating ontologies and includes authoritative information about the historical evolution and intellectual leaders of ontology. Ms. King and Ms. Reinold believe the semantic Web is the only viable option for making sense of the proliferation of unorganized electronic data available on the Web.—Sean Varner, Catalog Librarian, HeiTech Services, Inc., Landover, MD 20785, USA . doi:10.1016/j.acalib.2009.08.015

Managing Electronic Records, by William Saffady. 4th edition. Lenexa, KS: Arma International, 2009. 246p. $75.00. ISBN 978-1555706869.

As more information is maintained in electronic formats, organizations continue to be plagued by problems that develop in a fast-paced technological environment. While paper documents were exclusively paper, electronic formats are inclusive of hardware to access them and a variety of storage media, each with its own life span and memory capacity that can make decision making in records management a nightmare. This is only one of the factors involved in developing a records management plan. In its 4th edition, the Managing Electronic Records is still an authoritative resource that serves as a guide or textbook for any who have maintenance needs for their electronic documents. The book is organized in seven chapters and is an update on the technology and methods discussed in the previous edition. Fluid in its organization, it begins with terminology and concepts in the field. File formats and storage media are discussed along with their histories and it is of special note the number of older media formats that are still utilized. The remainder of the book is a walkthrough of the management process beginning with obtaining, inventorying, transferring, searching, and storing electronic records, as well as their retention. Owing to the volume of information that can be amassed over time, the discussion of retention schedules should be of interest for those organizations unaware of how long to maintain nonvital documents. Even for those organizations that have a management program in place, the last two chapters examine the management of vital data and the storage media themselves. The discussion of the loss of data through security threats, as well as storage media mishandling is pertinent not only to newcomers but also to current practitioners. The book contains a glossary and an index. The only information missing in this resource is a perspective study on horizon technologies such as electronic paper. While not used as a records management medium, it would be interesting to note the progression of such upcoming mediums. New practitioners in the field will find this a particularly important beginner's text. Record managers, librarians, archivists, office analysts, and computer system specialists will find this book a practical guide for implementing and maintaining electronic records management plans. Academic libraries should consider this as a must-have for their own needs as well as for their university.—Brian Sherman, Head of Collection Management, Frazar Library, McNeese State University, Lake Charles, LA 70609, USA . doi:10.1016/j.acalib.2009.08.016

The Kaleidoscopic Concern, by Kaetrena D. DavisKendrick. 53 p. Free, downloadable digital publication (PDF 2,023 KB). Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries, 2009. This is a chronological annotated bibliography, which deals with the recruitment, retention, and advancement

of librarians of color. The period covered is from 1920 to 2000. The publication can be accessed from ACRL's home page, publications at: http://www.ala.org/ala/ mgrps/divs/acrl/publications/digital/kaleidoscopic. pdf (last accessed August 3, 2009). The annotated sources in this bibliography range from books, to reports by professional library associations, to poster sessions, to multimedia objects, and more. The Kaleidoscopic Concern targets professional librarians and library/information science students. The term “kaleidoscopic” means “continually shifting or rapidly changing” (wordreference.com dictionary). However, the long decades covered in this bibliography, of nine chapters, underline a slow change in the representation of minority librarians in the profession. Has there really been a shifting in the profession? Definitely so, but this shift has not happened rapidly. In the Library Education chapter, some of the entries deal with closing of library schools, ALA bulletins discussing training for Afro-American librarians, multiculturalism issues in MLS curriculum, surveys of minority MLS students, a comparison of higher education for minorities between Canada and the United States, longitudinal studies on minorities enrolled in MLS programs, the need for Caucasian librarians to learn about the Afro-American librarian experience, analysis of the Black Hampton Institute Library School's closure (with primary and secondary resources), empirical segregated education of MLS students, controversial aspects of academic and professional expectations, and the Board v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas case and its impact on the recruitment of minorities into librarianship. The section on Affirmative Action (AA) contains entries that discuss the negative response to the AA plan, obstacles to implement the plan, how this plan affected the hiring process, and deleterious effects on employees who were hired as a result of AA. The Diversity and Multiculturalism entries talk about racism issues, definition of “diversity,” ARL's idea of diversity, the ARL Diversity Project, evaluations of diversity programs, surveys of library directors with a large minority community and data tables with their results, interviews of ALA presidents on pursuing diversity in the profession, ensuring diversity when hiring library students, biographical essays from those who made a difference in American Law Librarianship, controversial viewpoints on residency programs for minorities, and how diversity is good not only from the professional point of view but also from a business point of view. Although this section is well supported by data from different aspects of the profession, it lacks substantial input on diversity from library staff. As for Recruitment and Retention in regard to Library Education, these entries focus on the development of funds, methods, and support for recruitment of underrepresented groups and on qualified employees entering into librarianship. Moreover, the bibliography consists of the experience of the University of Illinois Graduate Library School to mentor and recruit minority students, the history of minority enrollment in MLS programs, the recruitment of MLS faculty from diverse November 2009 607