Memory of the world at risk: Archives destroyed, archives reconstituted

a perfect model for most hbranes regardless of type So, if you need the theory behind what you do, read this book For those who wish to understand why we do what we do, and for the senous students of orgamzatlonal theory, management, and hbrary and information studies, I also highly recommend this book James M. Matarazzo, Dean and Professor, Simmons College, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, 300 The Fenway, Boston, MA 02115.

NOTESANDREFERENCES I For a dlscusslon of knowledge management m orgamzatlons grounded m real hfe examples, see Thomas H Davenport & Laurence Prusak, Workmg Knowledge (Boston Harvard Business School Press, 1998) 2 For example, see Thomas Allen, Munagzng the Flow of Technology Technology Transfer and the Dlssemmatlon of Techmcal Information wlthrn the R&D Orgamzatzon (Cambndge, MA MIT Press, 1997) 3 Thomas H Davenport, Process Innovation Reengrneermg Work through Informatzon Technology (Boston Harvard Busmess School Press, 1993), p 84 4 James McGee & Laurence Prusdk, Munagmg Information Strategically (New York Wiley, 1993), p 106 5 James M Matarazzo, “Informdtlon Mdnagement A Process Review,” m lnformatlon for Management A Handbook, edited by James M Matarazzo & Mmam A Drake (Washmgton, D C Special Llbrdnes Assoclatlon, 1994),p 1

Libraries for the New Millennium: Implications for Managers, edited by David Raltt London Library Assoclatlon Pubhshmg, 1997 288~ $75 00 ISBN 1-85604257-X (Distributed by Beman Associates) This 1s a dlfflcult book to comprehend as a whole, for it has no unifying theme David Raltt, the editor, describes it as an “eclectic collection of mdlvldual papers glvmg diverse views and ideas on how various types of library might evolve and be managed m the future and how people might get their mformatlon and knowledge” (p 7) The 11 contnbutmg authors represent library schools m South Afnca and the United States, a management school m Australia, dlgltal library projects m The Netherlands, United Kingdom, and the United States, umverslties m Australia and the United Kingdom, and public hbranes m the United Kingdom As Raltt observes, “there are few common lmphcatlons throughout all of the chapters” (p 10) He provides a good overview, but no real synthesis 1s possible Some chapters are outdated or old hat-an inevitable problem when descrlbmg electromc developments m a relatively slow book project Other chapters are narrow m scope or parochial (e.g , business management and computing types declanng the “end” of hbranes or hbrananshlp) And, the mdex 1s too sparse to facilitate search for common implications One chapter 1s slgmficant “Artlficlal Intelligence and Expert System Technologies Prospects,” by F Wllfnd Lancaster He finds that “almost without exceptlon, these have never moved beyond expenmental or prototype stages, and most projects have been completely dlscontmued” (p 25) Two other chapters are fairly successful at comparative analysis In “Managing Change m Dlgltal Structures,” Cohn Steele describes the “umversahty” of many of the Australian NatIonal Umverslty’s problems m terms of “local change which serves as a microcosm of the global scene” (p 150) In “Strategic Management of the Electronic Library m the UK Higher Education Sector,” Gra-

ham Walton and Cathenne Edwards present the results of longltudmal qualitative case studies at five university hbranes m a range of frameworks “Information Services for New Mlllenmum Orgamzatlons Llbrarlans and Knowledge Management,” by Jane E Kobas, and “Education and Trammg for Information Professionals m Face of the Internet and World Wide Web,” by Pleter van Brakel, call for hbrananshlp to be revamped into a management mformatlon systems approach Neither chapter, however, specifies much that master’s programs of library and mformatlon science have not already undertaken “The Infinite Library Puttmg Strategic Policy mto Practice,” by Nataha Gryglerczyk, depicts relations between hbrarlans and computmg staff at the Utrecht Electronic Library Project m the now-outworn view that hbranans “dread expenments with software, detest fast machines and the like, and are usually rather indifferent towards promises of techmcal mnovatlons” (p 8 1) “Electronic Documents and Their Role m Future Library Systems,” by Philip Barker, and “Digital Libraries and the NSF/ DARPA/NASA Digital Libraries Imtlatlve,” by Stephen M Gnffln, suggest taxonomles of electronic documents, but say httle about user-support services “The Heart and Brain of the Information Society,” by Chns Batt, and “Market Prospects for Consumer Online Services, and Imphcatlons for Library and Information Services m the Future,” by Martin White, discuss problems and prospects for public libraries m the Umted Kmgdom, where only a quarter of the adult population goes to college and mass-consumer online services (e g , AOL) are heavily taxed The extremely high pnce of this book 1s a shame, for the papers by Lancaster, Steele, and Walton and Edwards merit wide attention, and any book editor deserves a better deal from his publisher - Charles A. Schwartz, Assistant Director for Collection Management and Technical Services, Healey Library, University of Massachusetts-Boston, 100 Morrissey Blvd., Boston, MA 02125 . Memory of the World at Risk: Archives Destroyed, Archives Reconstituted International Councd on Archlves (Archlvum, vol 42) Munchen, Federal Republic of Germany K G Saur, 1996 359~ $75 00 ISBN 3-598-21243-7 In 1993, UNESCO mltlated a “Memory of the World Program” to call attention to the cultural hentage of mankmd and to encourage development of a global plan of actlon to safeguard this hentage In keeping with this mltlatlve, the Intematlonal Council on Archives (ICA) devoted this issue of its Journal, Archzvum, to a comprehensive (100 pages) list of damaged and destroyed archives and 20 or so shorter articles on particular losses The issue defines “lost” archives broadly, citing as causes of destrnctlon mvahd appraisal declslons, hmlted space, and suppression of unwanted mformatlon, simple neglect and the lack of sufflclent resources, destruction through fires, other catastrophes, and wars and slmlar hostile actions, the absence of proper trammg or conversation techlques, the problems of chmate, pests, and overuse m research, and the deterloratlon and obsolescence of certain media on which mformatlon has been stored Such a broad defimtlon 1s helful because It reminds us Just how vaned and incessant the threats to the archival “memory of the world” can be, but it also dilutes somewhat any particular focus the volume might have had

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What 1s the practical benefit of this rather depressmg tour of losses, beyond increasing our awareness of the many potential threats to the archival record? Accordmg to the editor, identifymg those instances where records have and have not survived can help the archivist to mmlmlze the effect of losses through vigorous acqulsltlon of copies and of compensatory matenals Knowing about past losses also educates us about where future threats may anse so we can anticipate and guard against them Finally, knowledge about gaps m our archival holdings cautions us that we have less than a full or even a representative selection of all the records that once existed, and we should draw our conclusions about the past accordmgly, These benefits may be more theoretical than real m many cases, but surely we should be aware of what has not survived-and why I could only sample the articles, wntten m French, German, Spanish, Itahan, as well as Enghsh (Abstracts m English are included ) The articles I could read display the uneveness of all such collections, but there are valauble lessons m every one of them Taken together, they posses the virtue of reflecting the full palette of both archival treasures and threats to these treasures, though-as with the broad defimtlon-the result 1s more an array of complementary shades than a picture with a predomlnant color I found Joan van Albada’s summary and analysis of the results of ICA’s survey of archival losses the most mterestmg segment of the volume, the accompanymg country-bycountry listing of actual losses was less helpful because I could not assess the extent of the losses against the context of holdmgs that have survived Nevetheless, this catalog of destruction 1s a unique resource that will undoubtedly be consulted by archlvests and researchers alike for many years to come The volume 1s an essential resource for archlvlsts and an important acqulsltlon for hbranes -Dorm C. Neal, Staff Development Services, National Archives and Records Administration, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD 20740 cdonn.nealOarch2.nara.gow Proceedings of the 2nd Northumbria International Conference on Performance Measurement in Libraries and Information Services, by University of Northumbna at Newcastle, Department of Information and Library Management Newcastle upon Tyne, England Information North (Bolbec Hall, Westgate Road, NE1 1SE), 1998 460~ &55 00 ISBN o-906433-30-4 The 2nd Northumbna Intematlonal Conference on Performance Measurement m Llbranes was held at the Longhlrst Management and Trammg Centre, m Northumberland, England, from September 7- 11, 1997 The pubhshed proceedmgs contam five keynote papers, 43 seminar and poster session papers grouped around eight topics (“general issues,” “academic libraries,” “the electronic library,” “health libraries,” “national libraries,” “public hbranes,” “school hbranes,” and “techmques and tools”), a short conference review, and a list of attendees The contnbutors came from 15 countnes Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the People’s Republic of China, Portugal, South Africa, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States The discussion from a multmatlonal perspective 1s a strength of the proceedings, as the reader gains a crossnational perspective on the conceptual issues and the practical apphcatlon of performance measures and mdlcators Naturally, for any published proceedings, the papers vary greatly m quality and significance The most important paper 1s

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“Does Performance Measurement Improve Orgamsatlonal Effectiveness? A Post-modem Analysis,” by Rowena Cullen of Vlctona University of Wellmgton (New Zealand) She concludes that choice 1s fundamental to performance measurement, views orgamzatlonal effectiveness as complex and multldlmenslonal, advances a values/focus/purpose matnx, and stresses the need for “professional leadership and orgamsatlonal development to make measurement an effective tool for hbranes” (P 15) Malcolm Smith discusses the use of Service Legal Agreements-or “a workmg “contract” document which establishes the relationship between the provider of a service and Its chents” (p 32)-m the British Library F Wllfnd Lancaster offers a very tradltlonal presentation on “evaluating the digital hbrary ” Like many other presenters, he ignores the extent to which evaluation 1s multldlmenslonal and the fact that recent work has examined digital hbranes from both customer and orgamzatlonal perspectives Each 1s legltlmate, dependmg on what the library, evaluators, planners, and decision makers want to know As well, it 1s possible to examme outcomes, impacts, search patterns, and so forth using a variety of methodologies Ironically, a number of papers do not deal with performance measures or Indicators, or at least do not connect their dlscusslon to performance measurement Some authors, m effect, offer different or competing defimtlons of performance measurement What can performance measurement tell us that other techniques cannot‘? More basic, what 1s performance measurement? Agam, some papers address such questions but most do not Based on some of the papers, it would seem that we can label whatever we want as performance measurement Clearly, some keynote addresses should have budt upon the excellent matnx presented by Cullen Perhaps, papers at the next conference (August 1999) will do so Danuta A Nlteckl and Joan Stem offer excellent presentations on the use of SERVQUAL and the appendices to their papers reprint instruments applicable to reference and mterhbrary loan services Some papers fad to dlstmgulsh between service quality and satisfaction They mistakenly define satisfaction as gap reductzon-which, m fact, 1s the thrust of service quahty Other weaknesses include the fact that many papers contam very selective blbhographles-ones falling to reflect mtematlonal developments and wrltmgs A notable exceptlon 1s the previously mentioned paper by Cullen Ironically, no paper dlscusses (1) the use of performance measures m a non-library context and (2) performance measurement m a broader orgamzatlonal context For example, might not there be measuresmore likely outcome and Impact measures-that demonstrate the library’s role m asslstmg the umverslty m attracting and retammg students, and advancing learnmg outcomes Thus, what 1s the relationship between performance and other types of measures? Jo Altkms supplied the service standards for the Umverslty of Sunderland (pp 103-104), but no paper examined the prevalence of such pledges m the United Kingdom and elsewhere For example, m the United States, most national government departments and agencies have pledges, as do the hbranes at Wright State Umverslty and LeHlgh University And, finally, some papers read like Powerpomt presentations or someone’s collection of overheads, and there 1s no mdex to the proceedings Despite these substantial weaknesses, the proceedmgs should be requu-ed reading for anyone mterested m the assess-