- Email: [email protected]
The value and impact of information
the Internet. Stoll appreciates computers and he certainly enjoys much of what the Internet has to offer, however much he may delight in baiting its defenders and teasing its enthusiasts. No, the real disconcerting dimension of his analysis is that it comes from the quarter that it does. Stoll makes his points with such poignancy and his arguments with such clarity; one wonders why librarians and other information specialists have not made the same points equally as dramatic. Could it be that our profession is analytical, but not necessarily reflective, that we are apt to take up the latest technology without really measuring what we have lost or gained in the exchange? Silicone Snake Oil is a cogent diatribe, a humorous antidote to the exaggerations of some enthusiasts of the information superhighway. It strikes a needed balance, a valuable counter thrust to the conventional wisdom of the day. Not everything that Stoll says is correct. There is exaggeration, cantankerous satire, and unfair comparison. But there is also common sense and piercing observation. No amount of gainsaying from the information highway enthusiasts and computer gurus can silence him. No amount of ridicule can offset the strength of his arguments. He has much to say. And it would seem that we have much to learn. If you can buy only one book on the information revolution, let it be Silicone Snake Oil. The book makes a lot of sense.-Steve McKinzie, Librarian, Boyd Lee Spahr Library, Dickinson College, Carlislie, PA 17013-2896 [email protected]>.
happens in Boulder is generally left unrelated to events in the broader world of academic libraries or of higher education in the United States. The book ends with a thud at the retirement of Ralph Ellsworth in 1972. No effort is made to assess the importance of the various events chronicled, or to relate them to the broader scope of librarianship. Whatever the author’s shortcomings may have been, it is the publisher who earns our scorn. The book clearly has not had the benefit of any copyediting whatsoever. Redundancies abound; on pages 9 and 18, for example, are nearly identical passages describing the development of programs at Colorado in the 1880s. Relying solely on a word-processor spell-checker results in unfortunate avoidable errors, of the “find” for “fund” sort. The most obvious example of the absence of editorial oversight is the use of Chapter 8 running head throughout Chapter 7. Such an error is difficult to miss and easily corrected. In spite of the shortcomings and eccentricities noted above, the author has done a creditable job of bringing together much useful information about the growth of one important academic library into a single readable narrative. Given the scarcity of such works, it deserves a place in the collections of libraries supporting programs of education for library and information science. It will be read with profit by anyone interested in the history of academic libraries.-Robert S. Martin, Associate Dean for Special Collections, LSU Libraries, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803-3300.
The University of Colorado Library and Its Makers, 18761972, by Ellsworth Mason. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1994, 373~. $42.50. ISBN O-8108-2685-2.
The Value and Impact of Information, edited by Mary Feeney & Maureen Grieves. London: Bowker-Saur, 1994. 303~. $50.00. ISBN I-85739-084-9.
This work traces the history of the University of Colorado Library (CU library) from its founding until the author arrived on the scene as Director of Libraries in 1972. It is not a history, however, in the commonly accepted sense of the term, but rather a hybrid chronicle cum memoir. It is actually two separate books, spliced together back to back. The first is a chronicle of the CU library through 1937. This is an idiosyncratic account, filled with irrevalent trivia in some places and utterly lacking detail in others. It is based entirely on secondary sources like the campus newspaper and published reports. The second book is the story of Ralph Ellsworth and his impact on the CU library, beginning in 1937. This work is rich in detail and insight, and makes thorough use of unpublished official records, personal correspondence, and interviews. The contrast between the two sections is striking. The author’s biases are everywhere evident in the narrative, and his personal involvement in the latter part of the story in unmistakable. The preoccupation with the design and development of buildings for the CU library seems completely out of balance, if unsurprising given the authors’s well-known interest in facility planning. One indicator is that of the 35 illustrations in the book, 23 are photos or plans of buildings. In the last, chapter, the author’s personal involvement in events is all too evident, and his personal knowledge is cited as documentation in the notes. Note 20, for example, documenting a discussion of problems with CU’s automated circulation system, cites “my own knowledge from having to clean up this mess as Director of Libraries after September, 1972.” While not inappropriate in an autobiography or a memoir, this is scarcely the mark of scholarly objectivity. The book is almost devoid of critical appraisal and analysis. Almost no context is provided for the events described-what
Eight policy briefings focusing on the evaluation of information are assembled here. The briefings, which were sponsored by the newly formed (1992) Information Policy Research Section of the British Library Research and Development Department, were presented initially as a series of seminars to a small audience of policymakers, researchers, and practitioners. As editor Grieves notes in her introduction, the compilation serves to bring together for the first time work on the economics of information focusing on library and information science and business contexts. The substantial first chapter, “The Value of Information,” serves as a cornerstone against which the subsequent articles may be viewed and evaluated. Charles Oppenheim and his team of researchers at the University of Strathclyde have provided an extensive review of the literature of the economics of information science in which such operational concepts as “knowledge, ” “information,” and “value” are defined. The strengths and weaknesses involved in attempting to derive a measure of the value and/or cost of information in the major methodologies of the field are examined. A helpful table summarizes the definitions of information according to three “schools,” which the authors have defined as: (1) the learning school, or “information...as something which increases knowledge,” (2) the probability school, or “information as a function of probability,” and (3) the expression school, or “information as something created by knowledge” (p. 11). Following a discussion of the derivation of value through both contextual and socio-cultural means, the authors present a review of the organizational and resource management literature. Building on the early work of Marchand and Horton, Jr., who championed the view of information as a resource,’ this section explores the widely divergent strategies used to quantify the value and cost of information in the infor-
January
1996
63
mation resources management (IRM) environment, including such techniques as information resource mapping and cost-benefit analysis. The final section probes these difficulties involved in measuring the social value of information and library services. The second essay, a study of libraries as national resources by Griffith and King, and the third, Sumison and Marriott’s analysis of the influence of statistics upon the policymaking process, illustrate an important theme of this collection; there is a tension between the need to develop reliable measures of the value of information and the weaknesses of many of the methodologies currently used to derive this value. Although broad studies, both serve to illustrate the potential uses of quantitative statistical measures to help extrapolate the value of library services for more effective lobbying of policymakers and funding sources. In an article of narrower scope, Joanne Marshall studies the health care and financial sectors and proposes that the value of information lies in its “impact” on decision making. With an emphasis on cost-saving measures, Mel Collier’s article on information management at De Montfort University describes the merger of related informational units of an academic institution under a centralized “umbrella” to help create a uniform, efficient information service. The paper begins to lay the framework for an economic model of information management within an institutional setting but seems a bit out of context in this particular collection. The second half of the text shifts toward the application of information in the business sector. Although set in the United Kingdom, Brian Mooney and Charles Oppenheim’s analysis of the business costs involved in the patenting of information begs for further research in the burgeoning area of the evaluation of intellectual property. Along the same lines, Angela Abell’s study of small- to medium-sized companies traces the gradual recognition of strategic information as a resource. Furthermore, she examines the future role of librarians, information specialists, and other information providers in both the public and feebased environments in the delivery of this information. The importance of having a means for evaluating information, particularly one that is compatible with the “business” environment of policymakers, government officials, and corporate executives, is crucial for obtaining funding of both libraries and organizational information resources. The Value and Impact oflnformation offers both a sound overview of the theoretical
64
The Journal
of Academic
Librarianship
issues involved in assessing the value of information as well as examples of the theory in practice. It is a vital reference source for information researchers and providers.-Kathy J. Anderson, Information Specialist, Indiana Center for Global Business, Indiana University School of Business, Bloomington, IN 47405.
REFERENCE 1. Donald A. Marchand and Forest W. Horton, Jr., Infotrends: Your Information Resources (New York: Wiley, 1986).
Profihgfrom
Washington Online: How to Access the Government’s Electronic Bulletin Boards, by Bruce Maxwell. Washington, DC.: Congressional Quarterly, 1995. $19.00. ISBN 1-56802000-7. LC 94-37103. Washington Online is a concise, useful, and valuable reference book on federal government electronic bulletin boards (BBS). Playing to his strengths as an experienced journalist, Maxwell clearly explains what is often treated with very dry, and, in some cases, hopelessly muddled technical language. After an introduction to BBS technology (i.e., modems, telecommunication software, and computers), the book describes the characteristics of a generic federal BBS. This is followed by one or two page summaries of each BB, and the book concludes with a brief glossary. Judging from the random BBS sampled for preparing this review, Maxwell’s directions are clear and current, and he obviously relishes the opportunity to write about the wealth of information found on these BBS. However, one has to wonder if academic libraries will ever widely use government-based BBS in their general information services. Two reasons they will likely not do so are: (I) budgetary and administrative limitations in place at many general reference desks that limit the extensive use of phone lines to search for data outside of a few commercial online systems; and (2) the general idiosyncrasies of the BBS themselves: different methods of logging on, user interfaces, and lengths of time available for free access, as well as a large variety of downloading protocols. Nonetheless, this work is an excellent addition to a library’s reference collection.-John A. Shuler, Head, Documents and Maps Dept.,University Library (M/C 234), Box 8198, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60680.
happens in Boulder is generally left unrelated to events in the broader world of academic libraries or of higher education in the United States. The book ends with a thud at the retirement of Ralph Ellsworth in 1972. No effort is made to assess the importance of the various events chronicled, or to relate them to the broader scope of librarianship. Whatever the author’s shortcomings may have been, it is the publisher who earns our scorn. The book clearly has not had the benefit of any copyediting whatsoever. Redundancies abound; on pages 9 and 18, for example, are nearly identical passages describing the development of programs at Colorado in the 1880s. Relying solely on a word-processor spell-checker results in unfortunate avoidable errors, of the “find” for “fund” sort. The most obvious example of the absence of editorial oversight is the use of Chapter 8 running head throughout Chapter 7. Such an error is difficult to miss and easily corrected. In spite of the shortcomings and eccentricities noted above, the author has done a creditable job of bringing together much useful information about the growth of one important academic library into a single readable narrative. Given the scarcity of such works, it deserves a place in the collections of libraries supporting programs of education for library and information science. It will be read with profit by anyone interested in the history of academic libraries.-Robert S. Martin, Associate Dean for Special Collections, LSU Libraries, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803-3300.
The University of Colorado Library and Its Makers, 18761972, by Ellsworth Mason. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1994, 373~. $42.50. ISBN O-8108-2685-2.
The Value and Impact of Information, edited by Mary Feeney & Maureen Grieves. London: Bowker-Saur, 1994. 303~. $50.00. ISBN I-85739-084-9.
This work traces the history of the University of Colorado Library (CU library) from its founding until the author arrived on the scene as Director of Libraries in 1972. It is not a history, however, in the commonly accepted sense of the term, but rather a hybrid chronicle cum memoir. It is actually two separate books, spliced together back to back. The first is a chronicle of the CU library through 1937. This is an idiosyncratic account, filled with irrevalent trivia in some places and utterly lacking detail in others. It is based entirely on secondary sources like the campus newspaper and published reports. The second book is the story of Ralph Ellsworth and his impact on the CU library, beginning in 1937. This work is rich in detail and insight, and makes thorough use of unpublished official records, personal correspondence, and interviews. The contrast between the two sections is striking. The author’s biases are everywhere evident in the narrative, and his personal involvement in the latter part of the story in unmistakable. The preoccupation with the design and development of buildings for the CU library seems completely out of balance, if unsurprising given the authors’s well-known interest in facility planning. One indicator is that of the 35 illustrations in the book, 23 are photos or plans of buildings. In the last, chapter, the author’s personal involvement in events is all too evident, and his personal knowledge is cited as documentation in the notes. Note 20, for example, documenting a discussion of problems with CU’s automated circulation system, cites “my own knowledge from having to clean up this mess as Director of Libraries after September, 1972.” While not inappropriate in an autobiography or a memoir, this is scarcely the mark of scholarly objectivity. The book is almost devoid of critical appraisal and analysis. Almost no context is provided for the events described-what
Eight policy briefings focusing on the evaluation of information are assembled here. The briefings, which were sponsored by the newly formed (1992) Information Policy Research Section of the British Library Research and Development Department, were presented initially as a series of seminars to a small audience of policymakers, researchers, and practitioners. As editor Grieves notes in her introduction, the compilation serves to bring together for the first time work on the economics of information focusing on library and information science and business contexts. The substantial first chapter, “The Value of Information,” serves as a cornerstone against which the subsequent articles may be viewed and evaluated. Charles Oppenheim and his team of researchers at the University of Strathclyde have provided an extensive review of the literature of the economics of information science in which such operational concepts as “knowledge, ” “information,” and “value” are defined. The strengths and weaknesses involved in attempting to derive a measure of the value and/or cost of information in the major methodologies of the field are examined. A helpful table summarizes the definitions of information according to three “schools,” which the authors have defined as: (1) the learning school, or “information...as something which increases knowledge,” (2) the probability school, or “information as a function of probability,” and (3) the expression school, or “information as something created by knowledge” (p. 11). Following a discussion of the derivation of value through both contextual and socio-cultural means, the authors present a review of the organizational and resource management literature. Building on the early work of Marchand and Horton, Jr., who championed the view of information as a resource,’ this section explores the widely divergent strategies used to quantify the value and cost of information in the infor-
January
1996
63
mation resources management (IRM) environment, including such techniques as information resource mapping and cost-benefit analysis. The final section probes these difficulties involved in measuring the social value of information and library services. The second essay, a study of libraries as national resources by Griffith and King, and the third, Sumison and Marriott’s analysis of the influence of statistics upon the policymaking process, illustrate an important theme of this collection; there is a tension between the need to develop reliable measures of the value of information and the weaknesses of many of the methodologies currently used to derive this value. Although broad studies, both serve to illustrate the potential uses of quantitative statistical measures to help extrapolate the value of library services for more effective lobbying of policymakers and funding sources. In an article of narrower scope, Joanne Marshall studies the health care and financial sectors and proposes that the value of information lies in its “impact” on decision making. With an emphasis on cost-saving measures, Mel Collier’s article on information management at De Montfort University describes the merger of related informational units of an academic institution under a centralized “umbrella” to help create a uniform, efficient information service. The paper begins to lay the framework for an economic model of information management within an institutional setting but seems a bit out of context in this particular collection. The second half of the text shifts toward the application of information in the business sector. Although set in the United Kingdom, Brian Mooney and Charles Oppenheim’s analysis of the business costs involved in the patenting of information begs for further research in the burgeoning area of the evaluation of intellectual property. Along the same lines, Angela Abell’s study of small- to medium-sized companies traces the gradual recognition of strategic information as a resource. Furthermore, she examines the future role of librarians, information specialists, and other information providers in both the public and feebased environments in the delivery of this information. The importance of having a means for evaluating information, particularly one that is compatible with the “business” environment of policymakers, government officials, and corporate executives, is crucial for obtaining funding of both libraries and organizational information resources. The Value and Impact oflnformation offers both a sound overview of the theoretical
64
The Journal
of Academic
Librarianship
issues involved in assessing the value of information as well as examples of the theory in practice. It is a vital reference source for information researchers and providers.-Kathy J. Anderson, Information Specialist, Indiana Center for Global Business, Indiana University School of Business, Bloomington, IN 47405.
REFERENCE 1. Donald A. Marchand and Forest W. Horton, Jr., Infotrends: Your Information Resources (New York: Wiley, 1986).
Profihgfrom
Washington Online: How to Access the Government’s Electronic Bulletin Boards, by Bruce Maxwell. Washington, DC.: Congressional Quarterly, 1995. $19.00. ISBN 1-56802000-7. LC 94-37103. Washington Online is a concise, useful, and valuable reference book on federal government electronic bulletin boards (BBS). Playing to his strengths as an experienced journalist, Maxwell clearly explains what is often treated with very dry, and, in some cases, hopelessly muddled technical language. After an introduction to BBS technology (i.e., modems, telecommunication software, and computers), the book describes the characteristics of a generic federal BBS. This is followed by one or two page summaries of each BB, and the book concludes with a brief glossary. Judging from the random BBS sampled for preparing this review, Maxwell’s directions are clear and current, and he obviously relishes the opportunity to write about the wealth of information found on these BBS. However, one has to wonder if academic libraries will ever widely use government-based BBS in their general information services. Two reasons they will likely not do so are: (I) budgetary and administrative limitations in place at many general reference desks that limit the extensive use of phone lines to search for data outside of a few commercial online systems; and (2) the general idiosyncrasies of the BBS themselves: different methods of logging on, user interfaces, and lengths of time available for free access, as well as a large variety of downloading protocols. Nonetheless, this work is an excellent addition to a library’s reference collection.-John A. Shuler, Head, Documents and Maps Dept.,University Library (M/C 234), Box 8198, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60680.