College and Research Libraries


Book Reviews 
Library and Information Science Re-

search: Perspectives and Strategies 
for Improvement. Ed. by Charles R. 
McClure and Peter Hernon. Norwood, 
N.J.: Ablex, 1991. 400p. $69.50 (ISBN 
0-89391-731-1); paper, $32.50 (ISBN 0-
89391-732-X). LC 90-25018. 
"[The] more we clarify the vital role of 

research in our profession," John Wilkin-
son wrote not long ago, "the more puz-
zling does our fundamental research 
stance become." The purpose of Library 
and Information Science Research (all roy-
alties from which are to be used for the 
support of the ALA Library Research 
Round Table's Jesse H. Shera Award for 
Research) is to provide some insight into 
the puzzling purposes and current con-
dition of library and information science 
(LIS) research and to make some sugges-
tions for its improvement. The book is a 
compilation of twenty-eight chapters, 
each written by a different author. While 
some chapters are the work of authors 
whom the book frequently refers to as 
"practitioners" -that is, librarians who 
work in libraries-most of the chapters 
were written by library school faculty. 
The book is divided into three parts: 
"Overview of Research in LIS"; "Practi-
cal Context of Research in LIS"; and "Is-
sues and Concerns Related to Research 
in LIS." (The rationale for the third sec-
tion remains somewhat obscure since all 
of the chapters in that section are, in fact, 
either attempts to provide overviews of 
current research, or discussions of the 
practical contexts for that research; any 
of these would have fit quite neatly, 
therefore, into the first two sections.) 

The first chapter, by Peter Hernon, de-
fines some of the key terms and raises 
several issues that are treated in other 
chapters throughout the book. Hernon 
divides LIS research into basic research, 

588 

"the discovery of knowledge and theory · 
building"; applied research, which "in-
cludes the testing, confirmation, revision, 
and refutation of knowledge"; and action 
research, "the investigation of a problem as 
an aid for local decision making." Much 
of the research undertaken by library prac-
titioners apparently falls into Hernon's cat-
egory of action research. The book's final 
chapter contains a well-reasoned sum-
mary by Beverly Lynch of some of the 
main ideas raised throughout the book. 

Between Hernon and Lynch, we are 
presented with a variety of viewpoints 
on factors affecting LIS research, includ-
ing national agendas and international 
aspects, ideology, LIS education, the role 
of different agencies and interest groups, 
and the function of research in different 
types of libraries. It should be noted that 
the purpose of these chapters is not to 
summarize the LIS research that has been 
done, but rather to comment on its utility, 
rigor, and effect, and to recommend im-
provements and a new agenda. As we 
would expect from a book consisting of 
the work of so many authors, the quality 
and perspective of the chapters vary no-
ticeably, and there is inevitably a certain 
amount of repetition and contradiction. 

One issue of special interest to aca-
demic librarians will be the concerns ex-
pressed in several of the chapters about 
the relationships between the kind of re-
search undertaken primarily by library 
school faculty and that conducted-and 
used-mainly by practitioners. Charles 
McClure provides some excellent insights 
into this problem in his chapter on 
"Communicating Applied Library /In-
formation Science Research to Decision 
Makers." Certainly, there are some re-
searchers, especially among library 
school educators, who attribute what 
they see as the poor quality of LIS re-



search at least in part to the fact that 
many of the publications in the field are 
produced by practitioners engaged in "ac-
tion research." This concern is especially 
well articulated by Nancy Van House, who 
notes that "LIS appears to have an unusual 
(among professions) preponderance of 
practitioners publishing in the research 
literature. The plurality of authors are 
academic librarians, mostly without 
doctorates, who generally rely on de-
scriptive statistics." A related problem, 
Van House explains, is that the "editorial 
boards of most LIS journals are com-
posed largely of practitioners. Most have 
national reputations as librarians, but 
have little or no research training or ex-
perience. They may be well-qualified to 
judge the importance to the practice of 
the subjects of research, but not the qual-
ity of the research methods." 

Certainly, on the opposite side of this 
issue, there are many practitioners who 
have long since concluded that much of 
the work of many LIS researchers, espe-
cially in the area of information science, 
is superficial and self-serving, intended 
not so much to enhance our knowledge 
about libraries and information as to ape 
the methods and values of the much 
more prestigious social and natural sci-
ences. Although Van House alludes to 
this opposite perspective in her chapter, 
it is unfortunate that the book's editors 
did not solicit the contribution of one of 
the more vocal proponents of this posi-
tion-someone like Michael Gorman, for 
example. 

The book is, nevertheless, well worth 
the attention of academic librarians be-
cause it contains much useful informa-
tion, as well as some cogent, original 
insights. In the second section, there is a 
wealth of current information on profes-
sional associations, LIS journal publishing, 
consulting, private funding agencies, net-
works and consortia, and the informa-
tion industry-all written by articulate 
authors currently working in those 
areas. The redefined LIS research agenda 
presented by Peter Young is especially 
worth considering. There are also some 
novel positions put forth that will, one 
hopes, stimulate further discussion. The 

Book Reviews 589 

chapter by Mary Biggs, for example, on 
the rather overworked and potentially 
trivial subject, "The Role of Research in 
the Development of a Profession or a 
Discipline," turns out to be one of the 
most stimulating and refreshing chap-
ters in the book. Her position is that li-
brarianship is neither a discipline nor a 
profession. "Librarians probably resem-
ble editors or journalists more closely 
than doctors or lawyers. Like these 'idea 
people' in publishing, librarians need a 
good liberal arts education, an interest in 
ideas, and the ability to communicate." 
There is no unique body of knowledge in 
LIS, Biggs explains, and what content 
there is in the field has been imported 
from a variety of disciplines and then 
applied, sometimes somewhat mal-
adroitly, to the study of information and 
the operation of libraries. We need to 
concentrate, therefore, on increasing our 
knowledge of those source disciplines 
and to undertake such research as can be 
applied to practice. 

Another especially invigorating chap-
ter is the one on "Becoming Critical: For 
a Theory of Purpose and Necessity in 
American Librarianship," by Michael H. 
Harris and Masaru Itoga. Although the 
main points in the chapter have already 
been more effectively presented by Har-
ris in his other publications, his views 
are sufficiently original and substantive 
to be worth repeating. Harris may be the 
only current American LIS researcher 
who has made a serious effort to apply 
to the study of library services some of 
the especially fertile concepts of Marxist 
theory. His position that the library has 
been built (consciously or unconsciously) 
to confirm and maintain the ideology of 
the dominant class is worth pondering 
and testing-and could spawn research 
that would not only be of some theoretical 
interest, but that could lead to some 
highly practical applications. 

The chapter specifically on "Opportu-
nities and Challenges for LIS Research in 
Academic Libraries" is, regrettably, 
among the weakest and most superficial 
in the book. It consists, for the most part, 
of cliches and platitudes, concluding 
with advice for developing a research 



590 College & Research Libraries 

strategy that reads as if it were originally 
written for a class of eighth-graders (''First, 
find a topic you find interesting and 
would like to learn more about .... "). The 
content and quality of the chapter are 
reflected quite nicely in its final sentence: 
"By undertaking LIS research, librarians 
can assure for the future of being a vital 
and socially responsible profession [sic]." 

Fortunately, the book also contains an 
excellent chapter by Joe Hewitt on ''The 
Role of the Library Administrator in Im-
proving LIS Research" that is particularly 
applicable to academic libraries and that 
most academic librarians will probably 
find to be the most informative and use-
ful chapter in the volume. Hewitt ac-
knowledges how difficult it is for the 
current practitioner to undertake research 
and how little help research now provides 
for library decision making. He, neverthe-
less, makes a number of credible and prac-
ticable suggestions for integrating research 
into the real world of librarianship. 

The book appears to have been hastily 
edited and contains, as can be seen from 
the above quoted final sentence from the 
chapter on academic libraries, an unusu-
ally large number of typographical over-
sights. In the "Contributors" section at 
the end of the book, to cite another espe-
cially unfortunate example, the first 
lines of two of the paragraphs containing 
biographical information have been de-
leted, so that the names of the authors to 
whom the biographical information re-
fers are missing. At $69.50 for 400 pages, 
one expects a more professional job. 

The book clearly does achieve its ob-
jective of providing, from a wide variety 
of perspectives, some useful insights 
into the presumed purposes and present 
state of LIS research. While many of the 
chapters skillfully describe some of the 
fundamental weaknesses of LIS research, 
a few-perhaps rather more eloquently-
actually show us those weaknesses 
through the self-important triviality of 
their own content. In either case, aca-
demic librarians concerned about the 
health and future of LIS research will 
find much in this book to think about.-
Ross Atkinson, Cornell University, Ithaca, 
New York. 

November1991 

Peters, Thomas A. The Online Catalog: A 
Critical Examination of Public Use. Jef-
ferson, N.C.: McFarland, 1991. 266p. 
alk. paper, $36.50 (ISBN 0-89950-600-
3). LC 90-53602. 
Thomas Peters's stated goal is to 

"focus on actual user behavior and [on] 
the theoretical implications of online cat-
alogs, especially regarding the use of re-
mote access." The goal is an ambitious 
one. Peters undertakes a review of the 
literature in the first eight chapters of the 
book, citing much of what has been pub-
lished on online catalogs. Topics include 
the history of online catalogs, their pur-
poses and traits, the flow of information 
from producers through middlemen to 
consumers, the philosophy of OPACs, 
the problems with these catalogs, and 
possible solutions. In other sections, Pe-
ters reviews methodologies for evaluat-
ing online catalogs and their use. 
Emphasis is given to transaction log 
studies, the approach Peters used in con-
ducting his analysis of remote access 
use. Several chapters are then devoted to 
reporting the results of the study Peters 
undertook of dial-up use of the online 
catalog at the University of Missouri-
Kansas City. The final chapters relate 
online catalogs to the academic and in-
formation environments in which they 
exist. 

Although the bibliography and biblio-
graphic references are useful, the indi-
vidual arguments frequently interesting, 
and the study of dial-up access a contri-
bution to what is known about online 
catalog use, the purpose of the book as a 
whole remains unclear. The literature re-
view, in partiCular, poses serious prob-
lems. The style in which it is presented 
makes it difficult to sort out the argu-
ments used in the works being cited 
from Peters's own arguments. Para-
phrasing-where, in many cases, more 
obvious direct citation might have been 
better-makes it difficult to determine 
where one author's ideas begin and end. 
In a number of cases, difficult conceptual 
issues are presented with too little expli-
cation, particularly in Peters's references 
to the nonlibrary literature relating to 
philosophy and technology. In some of