reviews


Book Reviews 77 

in German or English, “therefore it may 
happen that some parts are not always 
translated very well especially when the 
authors were using colloquial expressions 
or highly technical and professional 
terms.” This is an understatement, as 
nearly every paper suffers mightily un­
der the weight of poor English expres­
sion. Perhaps the German texts read more 
clearly, but it is likely that they are equally 
difficult. That having been said, if one 
invests the effort to get through the pa­
pers, it is a simple task to extract their 
intended meaning. The result should be 
a real broadening of perspective for most 
librarians. 

An unnecessary shortcoming of these 
published proceedings is that each con­
tributor, in nearly every case, is identified 
only by an address. Although the institu­
tional affiliation is generally clear, the sta­
tion held by the author in that organiza­
tion is absent. Thus, the authority of the 
speaker is compromised. It is one thing 
for a director, informed by long experi­
ence, to discuss his or her perspective on 
a subject, but it is an entirely different 
matter for a fairly new librarian, informed 
by little, to do the same. One hopes that 
in the next iteration of this publication, 
the position title, at least, will be included 
for each of the published contributors. 
Better would be a short description of the 
authors’ current responsibilities and ca­
reer highlights in a biographical index. 
Also missing in this publication is an in­
dex to the papers. 

Having engaged in negative criticism, 
it is high time for this reviewer to single 
out praiseworthy contributions. For ex­
ample, Eric Duijker, of the NBLC Foun­
dation, writes an engaging and humor­
ous thirty-year history of the develop­
ment of his organization, which is, in 
translation, the Dutch Association of Pub­
lic Libraries. His essay should be required 
reading by everyone at 50 Huron St., Chi­
cago. He traces the growth of the library 
association from its beginning, with few 
staff and small budget, to a behemoth 
with large staff, large budget, and little 
contact or empathy with its constituents. 

Finally, he discusses the changes that 
were implemented to bring the associa­
tion back to a position of vitality within 
the Dutch public library culture. Another 
group of noteworthy papers addresses 
the heartbreaking and inspiring efforts to 
develop information networks in Croatia 
amidst war, poverty, political consider­
ations, and a traditional structure that 
combines municipal and university li­
braries in one organization. For more in­
formation, one may take a look at 
www.carnet.hr to see the impressive ac­
complishments of these dedicated librar­
ians. 

In summary, this publication is well 
worth reading, if only to help one to be­
come aware of the difficulties faced by our 
colleagues around the world. Two things 
become clear: (1) This is a tremendously 
dedicated group of librarians; and (2) we 
are all involved in exactly the same ques­
tions, regardless of the location of our ef­
forts. It is astounding that while sup­
ported by the most fragile infrastructures, 
librarians are still pondering copyright 
issues, ownership versus access, collec­
tion development, appropriate cataloging 
levels, and bibliographic instruction. 
When looking for different perspectives 
on common problems, this can be a tre­
mendously valuable source of original, 
project-oriented, information. It is unfor­
tunate that one must pay a toll for this 
information, in the form of difficult trans­
lation, but the effort demanded of the 
reader to absorb the content yields an 
overwhelmingly positive result.—Thomas 
E. Schneiter, Harvard University. 

“LOEX” of the West: Collaboration and In­
structional Design in a Virtual Environ­
ment. Ed. Kari Anderson, et al. Stam­
ford, Conn.: JAI Pr. (Foundations in Li­
brary and Information Science, v. 43), 1999. 
282p. $78.50 (ISBN 0-7623-0549-5). LC 
99-12397. 

Good ideas and inspiring calls to action 
abound in this substantial collection of 
nineteen papers from the second LOEX 
of the West Conference, held in 1996 at 
the University of Washington. Readers 

http:www.carnet.hr


78 College & Research Libraries 

will find it easy to adapt the presenters’ 
ideas and strategies because the format 
of each paper includes one or more of the 
following: lists of tips; an account of the 
project from planning through develop­
ment, implementation, and assessment; 
and figures or appendices showing sur­
veys, student assignments, program bud­
gets, or activities participants did during 
the conference presentation. 

The variety of collaborations described 
in the papers is impressive. Although aca­
demic libraries predominate, there are pa­
pers discussing outreach projects involv­
ing public and school libraries. Space limi­
tations preclude the mention of many valu­
able articles, but the following should give 
an idea of what the reader can expect. 

Karen Smith, director of the University 
of Arizona’s Faculty Development Part­
nership, explains how that program is 
working to transform the campus into a 
learner-centered environment by using 
technology, media, information, and 
teacher training. Five independent cam­
pus units, including the university library, 
are training faculty to design and create 
learner-centered courseware. Karen Wil­
liams, coauthor, explains that as a teach­
ing library and an integral part of the Fac­
ulty Development Partnership, the Uni­
versity of Arizona’s library is team teach­
ing Internet workshops with the Comput­
ing Center; introducing faculty to instruc­
tional uses of the Web and helping them 
create Web pages; providing support, 
equipment, and workspace for faculty 
and students; serving as consultants for 
faculty regarding copyright issues related 
to instructional use of new technologies; 
and introducing faculty to electronic in­
formation resources. 

An intriguing paper by Laura Bender 
and Jennalyn Tellman describes the train­
ing program launched at the University 
of Arizona to prepare librarians for their 
new roles in the Faculty Development 
Partnership. The library determined, 
through a thirty-three- item question­
naire, that librarians needed training in 
understanding the partnership concept; 
initiating contact with faculty; critical 

January 2000 

thinking, active learning, and other as­
pects of teaching and learning; and areas 
of information technology such as HTML 
and the Web. The admirably thorough 
training and follow-up included a 
success-sharing panel by Arizona librar­
ians already involved in partnerships, 
sessions on cognitive principles and ac­
tive learning by Arizona’s faculty devel­
opment center, an all-day workshop by 
Dr. Diane Nahl (who has conducted re­
search on how learners approach biblio­
graphic databases), and various 
follow-up activities. Like other papers in 
the collection, this one includes helpful 
lists of ideas provided by workshop pre­
senters and the set of guidelines that 
shaped the development of each work­
shop. This paper provides a valuable 
model for any library instruction program 
planning further integration of its services 
into the curriculum. 

Librarians at the University of 
Botswana developed an Information Lit­
eracy Skills Course, which they have 
taught in two different ways. Buhle 
Mbambo and Ann Roselle discuss the 
advantages and disadvantages of each. 
The First Year Approach offers fifteen 
hours of instruction, one hour per week, 
in an English course. The Staggered Ap­
proach, a total of thirty hours, divides the 
instruction into three units, distributed 
among various courses in the second, 
third, and fourth year of an undergradu­
ate nursing program. 

Larry Berk and Patricia Carroll-Mathes 
describe, with infectious enthusiasm, their 
campaign to develop an information-literate 
faculty and student body at Ulster County 
Community College in New York. They 
initiated a seven-week information literacy 
course taught by both librarians and teach­
ing faculty. They convincingly argue that 
after having taught such a course, teaching 
faculty will incorporate the concepts into 
their other courses and probably will be 
more effective than librarians at persuad­
ing their colleagues to embrace information 
literacy. 

A “Gateway to Business” course of­
fered in the School of Management at 



Book Reviews 79 

University of Arizona West gave the li­
brary and the Center for Writing Across 
the Curriculum (CWAC) an exciting op­
portunity to play what they hoped would 
be a substantial role from the outset in a 
course that might prove to be a 
campuswide model. However, as Carolyn 
R. Johnson and her colleagues write, 
when the course began, librarians found 
that the class time they had negotiated 
had been pared down and that students 
began overwhelming library staff with 
questions about basic business concepts 
and critical thinking aspects of the course 
assignments. Because CWAC staff were 
facing similar problems with the course, 
the two units collaborated to make a case 
with management school faculty for giv­
ing both units a stronger role in the course 
and for making major revisions in the 
assignments. Because they planned their 
exposition of the problems carefully and 
collaboratively, the two units gained the 
respect of the management faculty and 
achieved the changes they wanted. 

Sharon Mader’s stimulating paper pre­
sents content as well as individual and 
group activities from her active learning 
workshop, “Collaborative Leadership for 
Learning.” She began with discussions of 
librarian/teaching faculty role expecta­
tions and how librarians can contribute 
to successful collaborations. At the core 
of her message, however, is the distinc­
tion between managing and leading. She 

Index to advertisers
 

AIAA cover 3, 1, 9 
Alibris 38 
American Chem. Soc. cover 2 
ARL 2 
Blackwell’s Book Services 5 
CHOICE 37, 86 
EBSCO cover 4 
Greenwood Publ. 44 
Haworth Press 55 
Johns Hopkins Univ. Pr 73 
Library Technologies 64 
Library Tech. Alliance 83 
OCLC 29 

follows this distinction with a discussion 
of team-centered leadership and praise 
for the skills and qualities instruction li­
brarians have developed that make them 
natural candidates for leadership roles.

 The volume concludes with brief iden­
tifications of the authors and with a 
sketchy, unhelpful index. 

It is regrettable that there was such a 
time lag between the delivery of the pa­
pers (June 1996) and their publication in 
this volume. Some of the projects de­
scribed were planned or first initiated as 
early as 1993, and many libraries have 
moved past some of the technological is­
sues discussed. Still, the volume is well 
worth reading for instruction librarians 
looking to expand their impact on the 
curriculum. There is substantial value in 
the program ideas, instructional design 
concepts, practical tips and techniques, 
and the authors’ pervasive enthusiasm for 
instruction.—Glenn Ellen Starr Stilling, 
Appalachian State University. 

Medicine, Mortality, and the Book Trade. Ed. 
Robin Myers and Michael Harris. New 
Castle, Del.: Oak Knoll Pr. (Publishing 
Pathways), 1998. 170p. $39.95 (ISBN 1­
884718-81-7). 

This series of seven carefully selected es­
says assembled by Robin Myers and 
Michael Harris explores the many aspects 
of the relationship between printing his­
tory and the history of medicine. The es­
says are grouped around the book’s the­
matic axis, and cover topics ranging from 
the passions of book collectors to the ail­
ments of printers. This is an essential ad­
dition to a collection intended to support 
research in the history of the book. It is 
equally important to collections in the 
history of medicine. 

Originally presented as conference 
proceedings, the papers in this text com­
bine to form part of the Publishing Path­
ways Series. The conference, organized 
through the University of London’s 
Birkbeck College, featured well-qualified 
librarians and historians from the United 
Kingdom who presented in-depth schol­
arly research. Each essay presents a con­