College and Research Libraries


electronic publication may not be possible 
if much of the editorial and peer review 
apparatus must be retained to accommo-
date the academic reward system. Inter-
estingly, only Arnold mentions in this 
context the role of the print journal with 
an electronic version, as, for example, 
with Project Muse at Johns Hopkins Uni-
versity Press. This seems an attractive 
transitional vehicle for gaining schol-
arly acceptance-available over the In-
ternet, but with all the trappings of a 
traditional journal. 

Two articles deal specifically with the 
acceptance of electronic information in 
the library. Bryce Allen's article on per-
sonality types and organizational atti-
tudes to change is interesting, but his so-
lutions often seem too general. His focus 
on personality issues neglects institu-
tional politics and priorities in areas such 
as the relationship between the library 
and the computing center. Gay Dan-
nelly's article on resource-sharing cov-
ers that topic well, but also goes beyond it 
to deal briefly with some of the core col-
lection development issues such as leas-
ing, access fees, and preservation of the 
historical record. 

This issue of Library Trends is required 
reading for anyone who is beginning to 
grapple with electronic journals, electronic 
information generally, or the changes in 
scholarly communication. Most of the es-
says attempt to establish the state of the 
art and lay out the questions rather than 
solve the problems, so those who already 
have experience in the field might want to 
look only for the areas that still trouble 
them. 

The one major perspective that is miss-
ing in the collection is the publisher's. 
Many in the library community and some 
in the scholarly community believe that 
academe must regain control over its 
product. Lancaster's survey of the pri-
orities of university administrators 
suggests that the necessary money will 
not be available in the near future, and 
it seems probable that we will be deal-

Book Reviews 197 

ing with commercial publishers, uni-
versity presses, and scholarly societies 
for some time to come. The essay by 
Donald King and Jose-Marie Griffiths 
provides useful data on the costs of 
paper and electronic journals. Publisp-
ing is also discussed in passing else-
where, but a survey of the ways in 
which publishers of all kinds are at-
tempting to deal with the issues of elec-
tronic information would have been ex-
tremely usefuL-James Campbell, Univer-
sity of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia. 

Ostler, Larry J ., Therrin C. Dahlin, and 
J.D. Willardson. The Closing of Ameri-
can Library Schools: Problems and Oppor-
tunities. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood 
Pr., 1995. 158p. $49.95. (ISBN 0-313-
28461-X). 

The title of this book will get the atten-
tion of those especially concerned with 
education for the profession-and not 
only our profession-but the content will 
not hold it for long. This short text con-
tains no information on actual library 
school closings and no attempt at a seri-
ous analysis of closings. J.D. Willardson 
of the College of Education at Brigham 
Young University (BYU) contributes a 
twelve-page sketch of historical trends 
and forces in American higher education. 
Larry Ostler and Therrin C. Dahlin, librar-
ians at BYU and part-time library school 
instructors (presumably at the now closed 
BYU library school), contribute sixty 
pages, briefly discussing the history of 
library education and the social changes 
affecting it, the nature of the profession 
of librarian, the need for strategic plan-
ning, and the importance of accreditation 
for schools and certification for practitio-
ners; and then offer a proposal to revamp 
the system of library education. Their idea 
is to introduce an undergraduate degree 
program that would include information 
and education on basic library operations 
and philosophy and would teach skills 
that would prepare students for parapro-
fessional work in libraries. After three 



198 College & Research Libraries 

years of practical experience, graduates 
of this bachelor's degree program might 
then enter a master's degree program, 
perhaps for a duration of two years; and 
some might even go on to a doctoral pro-
gram. Although the undergraduate de-
gree program is described as an informa-
tion studies program, apparently in-
tended not to be narrowly focused on li-
braries, the only specific content the au-
thors discuss is instruction in cataloging. 
Courses would focus on practical skills 
such as bibliographic description and sub-
ject analysis. The master's degree program 
would, they say, be heavily theoretical. 
Graduates would become "the leaders in 
cataloging organizations," perhaps as 
administrators or master catalogers. (Noth-
ing is said to suggest any concern for the 
design or development of computer-based 
bibliographic systems.) 

After this depressingly retrograde sce-
nario, however, there is a sudden and un-
expected change of tone. A four-page con-
cluding chapter abruptly suggests that 
the force of new information technologies 
will make librarians redefine their work; 
that the term librarian has become anach-
ronistic; and that what may be needed is 
a new type of information professional 
who is expert in the new information 
technologies and educated in a new sort 
of professional school of information 
studies or communication and informa-
tion systems, which would result from 
library education joining forces with edu-
cators in (unspecified) information and 
communication fields. 

Then come seventy-five pages of ap-
pendices, including the Academy of Cer-
tified Archivists' "Role Delineation," the 
ALA's standards for accreditation as re-
vised in 1992 and the official ALA state-
ment on accreditation, and, rather mys-
teriously, thirty-nine pages from the offi-
cial announcement of a new Ph.D. pro-
gram in library and information manage-
ment at Emporia State University. Why 
these items are thought worth reprinting 
in this context is unfathomable, and why 

March 1996 

anyone should be expected to pay fifty 
dollars for a short book half of which is 
devoted to them is a real puzzle. The dis-
cussion in the first half is not rewarding 
enough to justify the cost of the book. 
It is true that the last few pages of dis-
cussion, with their surprise proposal, 
do perhaps have some value as a so-
cial indicator; however, given the tone 
of the rest of the discussion, it is a real 
surprise to find that these authors are 
prepared to give up the title "librarian" 
and the institution of the graduate li-
brary school. It is as if the authors carne 
to a bridge at the end of their story and, 
perhaps to their own surprise, crossed 
it. Unfortunately, they got there too late 
for their book to be of interest to the 
rest of us. However, the fact that they 
could cross that bridge suggests that 
many others may be prepared to do 
likewise.-Patrick Wilson, University of 
California, Berkeley. 

Grotzinger, Laurel A., James V. 
Carmichael Jr., and Mary Niles 
Maack. Women's Work: Vision and 
Change in Librarianship . Occasional 
Papers no. 196/197. Champaign, Ill.: 
University of Illinois Graduate School 
of Library and Information Science, 
1994. 132p. $15. (ISSN 0-276-1769). 

Women, Information, and the Future: 
Collecting and Sharing Resources 
Worldwide. Ed. Eva Steiner Moseley. 
Fort Atkinson, Wise.: Highsmith Pr., 
1995. 296p. (ISBN 0-917846-67-2). 

Many books on library issues these days 
are obsolete before they appear in print. 
It is a pleasure to report on two books that 
will have a longer shelf life. The first is a 
collection of historical essays honoring 
the centennial of the University of Illinois 
Graduate School of Library and Informa-
tion Science. The second is the published 
proceedings of an international confer-
ence at Radcliffe College in June 1994 
sponsored by the Schlesinger Library on 
the History of Women in America, which