- Email: [email protected]
Off-campus library services
“carefully and actively,” being “assertive—not aggressive,” and communicating “clearly and neutrally” (all cited information can be found in the gray shaded area, pages 90-96). At the end of the book she includes appendixes; a glossary; a list of Internet and print resources, including Arlene Bielefield and Lawrence Cheeseman, Interpreting and Negotiating Licensing Agreements: A Guidebook for the Library, Research and Teaching Professions (Neal-Schuman, 1999); and an index. I strongly recommend her book for librarians who are novices at negotiating digital licenses.—Barry Hamilton, Theological Librarian, Sprague Library, Roberts Wesleyan College, Rochester, NY 14624, 具[email protected]典. More Secrets of Consulting: The Consultant’s Tool Kit, by Gerald M. Weinberg. New York: Dorset House Publishing, 2002. 204p. $39.95. (paperback) ISBN 0-932633-01-3. What a lively, inclusive, and “fun to read” volume! Weinberg has written an excellent book, which certainly complements his bestseller, The Secrets of Consulting (1985). Weinberg used an interesting and exciting approach to communicating his wisdom on consulting to others. This book is organized in 15 chapters; their titles range from “The Law of Strawberry Jam” to the “The Oxygen Mask.” Each chapter, under its “catchy” title, provides both breadth and depth on a particular aspect of consulting. Also, the chapters contain illustrations, quotes, headings, and lists. By quickly perusing the volume, one could be overwhelmed. This book should not be read from cover to cover; one should read a few chapters, and then attempt to digest Weinberg’s message(s). This book is full of fresh ideas, paradoxes, ironies, and provocativeness. It can be entertaining and concurrently thought provoking. The chapters delve into a multitude of “do’s” and “don’ts” for consultants. Even though the author is sharing “secrets” with consultants, the everyday layperson could learn much about life in general from this volume. The book should be added to one’s “self-help” collection. Chapter 9 (“The Mirror”) does a commendable job in articulating the importance of feedback. The “mirror” is the actual feedback as described by the author. Chapter 10 (“The Telescope”) provides excellent insights in how one can see oneself. The “telescope” is paired with the “mirror” reminding one of introspection. A listing of laws, rules, and principles is given in summary form on pages 185 through 193. The book is well indexed and it contains a bibliography. Anyone seriously wanting to learn more about the personal aspects of consulting should first read Weinberg’s Secrets of Consulting and subsequently read More Secrets of Consulting. Notwithstanding the high price for this paperback, I recommend this book for any consultant or anyone else aspiring to learn more about how to improve one’s effectiveness while working with others.—Donald E. Riggs, Vice President for Information Services and University Librarian, Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33314, 具[email protected]典. Off-Campus Library Services, edited by Anne Marie Casey. Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press, 2001. xxvi ⫹ 467pp. $49.95. ISBN 0-7890-1340-1 (paper). (Proceedings of the
9th Off-Campus Library Services Conference, Portland, OR, April 26-28, 2000). Encompassing 34 papers based upon presentations made at the 9th Off-Campus Library Services Conference, these Proceedings offer leading edge material on library services to distance learning, one of the most rapidly developing and emerging aspects of academe. Because developments are coming so rapidly to this area of specialization within librarianship, conference papers such as these provide a very timely means for individual practitioners to keep abreast of the field while changes tend to race ahead of the production of standard research articles. Indeed, conference addresses, presentations, and the resulting papers are major components in the scholarly literature for distance learning librarianship. Indicative of the importance of these papers to the field, for both experienced practitioners and those new to distance learning library services, is their simultaneous publication, as well by Haworth Press, in its Journal of Library Administration (Vol. 31, Nos. 3 and 4, 2001, and Vol. 32, Nos. 1 and 2, 2001). Because of their timeliness and quality of content, the Off-Campus Library Services (OCLS) Conferences and their publications hold an inestimable strategic value for librarians specializing in distance learning library services. The Central Michigan University Libraries and the Central Michigan University College of Extended Learning cosponsor these Conferences. Decades of leadership in developing and providing academic and instructional distance learning programs, both across the United States and abroad, together with its sponsorship of these Conferences since 1982, have earned Central Michigan University a place among the leading global players in the field. Publication of these Proceedings extends and reinforces the reputation of the University, while it disseminates the findings of the conference papers to an always eagerly, and often anxiously, awaiting constituency. Using a juried abstracts process, a 23-member Program Advisory Board approved and selected the research projects, which led to the preparation of the papers for pre-conference publication in the Proceedings, and to the preparation of the presentations to be made at the Conference itself. The editorial process for the papers included the establishment of uniform usage of technical terminology throughout the manuscripts. As noted in the Acknowledgments, “The . . . papers typify the strong professional service ethic evidenced at all OCLS Conferences since 1982” (p. xxiii). An overview of paper titles reveals coverage of the following vital topics in distance learning library services: marketing library resources and services to distance faculty; using a “summit meeting” to negotiate library agreements; a holistic approach to meeting distant students’ needs through computer mediated conferencing, e-mail, and telephone; use and management of emerging technologies as tools for distance education and library services; extending library boundaries without losing the personal touch; consortium solutions; developing effective distance learning Web pages; document delivery options; impact of the ACRL Guidelines for Distance Learning Library Services; surveying students; technology induced changes in institutional culture; interactive Web application for accessing full-text journal articles; straddling multiple administrative relationships; need for library school training of distance learning librarians; library
September 2002 339
support for Web-based courses; Web-based information literacy courses for distant students; navigating the political waters; new partnerships for new learning; e-reserves; doctoral dissertations at a distance; innovative uses of technology; electronic library design; perceptions of library support services; improving library services through reaccredidation; asynchronous environment; and partnering of academic libraries to enhance distance education services. The convenience of this one volume paperbound edition of the 9th Proceedings from Haworth Press, with its extensive subject indexing, will undoubtedly bring these papers to the desk of every distance learning librarian. Because of its breadth of coverage, this volume will prove most valuable, as well, to distance educators and their administrators. This book not only belongs in the appropriate offices, but it should find its way to every academic library distance learning collection and onto the shelves of every library serving schools of library and information services.—Harvey R. Gover, Assistant Campus Librarian, Washington State University Tri-Cities, Max E. Benitz Memorial Library, 2710 University Drive, Richland, WA 99352-1671 具[email protected]典. The Social Life of Information, by John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2002. 330p. $16.95 ISBN 1-57851-708-7. LC 99-049068. The principal argument of this book is that no amount of technical wizardry can overcome neglect of the human-side of technology. Our lives are littered with maladroit gizmos with steep learning curves and payoffs in very limited domains. In short, many information technologies require humans to adapt to them, not the other way around. Anyone who has been frustrated programming a videocassette recorder, telephone answering machine, or a digital alarm clock (and this probably includes nearly everyone) can hardly disagree with the major premise. The authors illustrate their argument in a number of domains such as softbots (independent programs that can shop or find information for you), home offices (workers would not need to travel to a central work location), business practices (workers need not collaborate and share information to develop new practices), distant education (learners would not need to travel to a central learning location), and business knowledge bases (information resides in people or in databases?). Their arguments and examples are extensive and impressive. Their arguments gain force both from the compelling strength of a social, psychological, and cultural perspective, but also the evident underdeveloped state of artificial intelligence, knowledge management, information retrieval, and so on. It still is difficult to completely specify and mechanize how people learn, how they interact, how they communicate, and how they base many judgments on matters of taste. This book argues that no activity where human beings bring a complex mix of emotional and analytical thinking, and face-to-face interaction will ever be successfully reduced to isolated keystroking. The original edition was published in 2000 and was reissued in 2002. In Internet time, this was a while ago and some historical remoteness is evident here and there. An example is an examination of a World Wide Web search that would have different results if done today. Another is
340
The Journal of Academic Librarianship
comment on the pending court case between Microsoft and Netscape. That court case is in its final stages and has spawn other legal action. So many things have happened in the last two years that such specific references historicize (and weaken the force) of their arguments. In general, when the authors deal with larger social trends their argument is more impressive and suffers least from irrelevancy. When the authors bolster their argument with current events or examples of technology, the book begins to show its age. One of the more interesting chapters is “Reading the Background,” which is a survey of the digital effects on reading and writing. There have been extraordinary changes in this area with the application of extensible markup technologies, distributed metadata and the semantic web. Authors, both established (e.g., Stephen King) and novices are putting work on the Web. This chapter would be a good candidate for elaboration in any future edition where the topics of hypertext, digital libraries, semantic Web, and metadata could be assessed. This is a significant book that adds careful argument to the recognition that the success of technologies depends as much on clever algorithms as fitting comfortably in the sociology of human activity. It is beginning to show its age, but at this moment it remains a primary text.—Terrence A. Brooks, Associate Professor, Information School, University of Washington, Box 352930, Seattle, WA 98195-2930 具[email protected]典. Subject Analysis in Online Catalogs, 2nd ed, by Hope A. Olson and John J. Boll. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 2001. xv, 333p. $50.00 ($60.00 outside North America). ISBN 1-56308-800-2. LC 2001-29828. The authors address this book primarily to students with some background in organizing information and to librarians “interested in subject access in online catalogs and in the adaptation of traditional methods of subject analysis to new information technologies.” This last phrase suggests an expansion of the scope of the book beyond its title and should not be overlooked. Subject analysis, online catalogs, and where they meet are each covered thoroughly. Therefore, this book will also be of interest to librarians or other information management professionals dealing with subject analysis and access in collections other than library catalogs. Like the first edition published 10 years earlier (written by Rao Aluri, D. Alasdair Kemp, and John J. Boll), this book includes chapters on the database of an online public access catalog, indexing languages, subject indexing, classification, the Dewey Decimal and Library of Congress classifications, users and user needs, user-system interfaces (formerly called user-system interaction), and evaluation of subject retrieval in online catalogs. Although this book remains a wonderful source of information on the history of these developments, this edition has brought these topics up to the present (2001) by the inclusion of new sections and topics and by updating the bibliographies that conclude each chapter. A few examples of new topics or sections in these chapters include discussions about metadata, thesauri as linking devices, Guidelines for OPAC Displays, the MARC Classification Format, and the ANSI/NISO Z39.50 protocol. New in this edition is a chapter on managing information retrieval languages. This chapter is a broad treatment of the topic,
9th Off-Campus Library Services Conference, Portland, OR, April 26-28, 2000). Encompassing 34 papers based upon presentations made at the 9th Off-Campus Library Services Conference, these Proceedings offer leading edge material on library services to distance learning, one of the most rapidly developing and emerging aspects of academe. Because developments are coming so rapidly to this area of specialization within librarianship, conference papers such as these provide a very timely means for individual practitioners to keep abreast of the field while changes tend to race ahead of the production of standard research articles. Indeed, conference addresses, presentations, and the resulting papers are major components in the scholarly literature for distance learning librarianship. Indicative of the importance of these papers to the field, for both experienced practitioners and those new to distance learning library services, is their simultaneous publication, as well by Haworth Press, in its Journal of Library Administration (Vol. 31, Nos. 3 and 4, 2001, and Vol. 32, Nos. 1 and 2, 2001). Because of their timeliness and quality of content, the Off-Campus Library Services (OCLS) Conferences and their publications hold an inestimable strategic value for librarians specializing in distance learning library services. The Central Michigan University Libraries and the Central Michigan University College of Extended Learning cosponsor these Conferences. Decades of leadership in developing and providing academic and instructional distance learning programs, both across the United States and abroad, together with its sponsorship of these Conferences since 1982, have earned Central Michigan University a place among the leading global players in the field. Publication of these Proceedings extends and reinforces the reputation of the University, while it disseminates the findings of the conference papers to an always eagerly, and often anxiously, awaiting constituency. Using a juried abstracts process, a 23-member Program Advisory Board approved and selected the research projects, which led to the preparation of the papers for pre-conference publication in the Proceedings, and to the preparation of the presentations to be made at the Conference itself. The editorial process for the papers included the establishment of uniform usage of technical terminology throughout the manuscripts. As noted in the Acknowledgments, “The . . . papers typify the strong professional service ethic evidenced at all OCLS Conferences since 1982” (p. xxiii). An overview of paper titles reveals coverage of the following vital topics in distance learning library services: marketing library resources and services to distance faculty; using a “summit meeting” to negotiate library agreements; a holistic approach to meeting distant students’ needs through computer mediated conferencing, e-mail, and telephone; use and management of emerging technologies as tools for distance education and library services; extending library boundaries without losing the personal touch; consortium solutions; developing effective distance learning Web pages; document delivery options; impact of the ACRL Guidelines for Distance Learning Library Services; surveying students; technology induced changes in institutional culture; interactive Web application for accessing full-text journal articles; straddling multiple administrative relationships; need for library school training of distance learning librarians; library
September 2002 339
support for Web-based courses; Web-based information literacy courses for distant students; navigating the political waters; new partnerships for new learning; e-reserves; doctoral dissertations at a distance; innovative uses of technology; electronic library design; perceptions of library support services; improving library services through reaccredidation; asynchronous environment; and partnering of academic libraries to enhance distance education services. The convenience of this one volume paperbound edition of the 9th Proceedings from Haworth Press, with its extensive subject indexing, will undoubtedly bring these papers to the desk of every distance learning librarian. Because of its breadth of coverage, this volume will prove most valuable, as well, to distance educators and their administrators. This book not only belongs in the appropriate offices, but it should find its way to every academic library distance learning collection and onto the shelves of every library serving schools of library and information services.—Harvey R. Gover, Assistant Campus Librarian, Washington State University Tri-Cities, Max E. Benitz Memorial Library, 2710 University Drive, Richland, WA 99352-1671 具[email protected]典. The Social Life of Information, by John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2002. 330p. $16.95 ISBN 1-57851-708-7. LC 99-049068. The principal argument of this book is that no amount of technical wizardry can overcome neglect of the human-side of technology. Our lives are littered with maladroit gizmos with steep learning curves and payoffs in very limited domains. In short, many information technologies require humans to adapt to them, not the other way around. Anyone who has been frustrated programming a videocassette recorder, telephone answering machine, or a digital alarm clock (and this probably includes nearly everyone) can hardly disagree with the major premise. The authors illustrate their argument in a number of domains such as softbots (independent programs that can shop or find information for you), home offices (workers would not need to travel to a central work location), business practices (workers need not collaborate and share information to develop new practices), distant education (learners would not need to travel to a central learning location), and business knowledge bases (information resides in people or in databases?). Their arguments and examples are extensive and impressive. Their arguments gain force both from the compelling strength of a social, psychological, and cultural perspective, but also the evident underdeveloped state of artificial intelligence, knowledge management, information retrieval, and so on. It still is difficult to completely specify and mechanize how people learn, how they interact, how they communicate, and how they base many judgments on matters of taste. This book argues that no activity where human beings bring a complex mix of emotional and analytical thinking, and face-to-face interaction will ever be successfully reduced to isolated keystroking. The original edition was published in 2000 and was reissued in 2002. In Internet time, this was a while ago and some historical remoteness is evident here and there. An example is an examination of a World Wide Web search that would have different results if done today. Another is
340
The Journal of Academic Librarianship
comment on the pending court case between Microsoft and Netscape. That court case is in its final stages and has spawn other legal action. So many things have happened in the last two years that such specific references historicize (and weaken the force) of their arguments. In general, when the authors deal with larger social trends their argument is more impressive and suffers least from irrelevancy. When the authors bolster their argument with current events or examples of technology, the book begins to show its age. One of the more interesting chapters is “Reading the Background,” which is a survey of the digital effects on reading and writing. There have been extraordinary changes in this area with the application of extensible markup technologies, distributed metadata and the semantic web. Authors, both established (e.g., Stephen King) and novices are putting work on the Web. This chapter would be a good candidate for elaboration in any future edition where the topics of hypertext, digital libraries, semantic Web, and metadata could be assessed. This is a significant book that adds careful argument to the recognition that the success of technologies depends as much on clever algorithms as fitting comfortably in the sociology of human activity. It is beginning to show its age, but at this moment it remains a primary text.—Terrence A. Brooks, Associate Professor, Information School, University of Washington, Box 352930, Seattle, WA 98195-2930 具[email protected]典. Subject Analysis in Online Catalogs, 2nd ed, by Hope A. Olson and John J. Boll. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 2001. xv, 333p. $50.00 ($60.00 outside North America). ISBN 1-56308-800-2. LC 2001-29828. The authors address this book primarily to students with some background in organizing information and to librarians “interested in subject access in online catalogs and in the adaptation of traditional methods of subject analysis to new information technologies.” This last phrase suggests an expansion of the scope of the book beyond its title and should not be overlooked. Subject analysis, online catalogs, and where they meet are each covered thoroughly. Therefore, this book will also be of interest to librarians or other information management professionals dealing with subject analysis and access in collections other than library catalogs. Like the first edition published 10 years earlier (written by Rao Aluri, D. Alasdair Kemp, and John J. Boll), this book includes chapters on the database of an online public access catalog, indexing languages, subject indexing, classification, the Dewey Decimal and Library of Congress classifications, users and user needs, user-system interfaces (formerly called user-system interaction), and evaluation of subject retrieval in online catalogs. Although this book remains a wonderful source of information on the history of these developments, this edition has brought these topics up to the present (2001) by the inclusion of new sections and topics and by updating the bibliographies that conclude each chapter. A few examples of new topics or sections in these chapters include discussions about metadata, thesauri as linking devices, Guidelines for OPAC Displays, the MARC Classification Format, and the ANSI/NISO Z39.50 protocol. New in this edition is a chapter on managing information retrieval languages. This chapter is a broad treatment of the topic,