Book Reviews 291 newspaper pages). The bibliography is awkward in its form—alphabetical by the abbreviated source citations in the text— and is confusing to read as a stand-alone section, but the index is excellent. Brandt’s descriptions of engraving and printing processes (especially elec- trotyping) are good, but could have been fuller—there was certainly space to do so. He is more successful at conveying the scope of this powerful, and almost com- pletely forgotten, movement in the history of American printmaking. Artists and printmakers who are currently working or experimenting with wood engravings will find a great deal of pertinent informa- tion and inspiration here. It is a lavish, unwieldy book, with more than eighty illustrations (fifty of which are plates), and measuring just over one square foot (13 x 12 inches). The format does justice to the images, but the text sometimes falls behind, and often one feels that so much white space is rather extravagant. Only 600 numbered copies were printed (the first fifty were signed by the author). Obviously intended as a beautiful homage, this book has a place in any large collection of book history, the book arts, or illustration.— Richard J. Ring, Providence Public Library. Ana D. Cleveland and Donald B. Cleve- land. Health Informatics for Medical Librar- ians. New York: Neal-Schuman Publish- ers, 2009. 288p. alk. paper, $90; Medical Library Association Members: $81 (ISBN 9781555706272). LC2009-017656. According to the American Medical In- formatics Association, biomedical and health informatics has to do with “all aspects of understanding and promot- ing the effective organization, analysis, management, and use of information in health care. While the field of biomedical and health informatics shares the general scope of these interests with some other health care specialties and disciplines, biomedical and health informatics has developed its own areas of emphasis and approaches that have set it apart from other disciplines and specialties.” Health informatics is a field of practice that is concerned with the resources, methods, and technology used in the acquisition, storage, retrieval, and use of information within all health science dis- ciplines. It is the application of informa- tion to specific situations and requires an understanding of the user’s information needs, designing information models, deploying various systems, and assess- ing impacts to meet the growing need for on-demand health information. Those entering medical librarianship require a theoretical framework and an under- standing of the practical applications of health informatics. Ana D. Cleveland and Donald B. Cleveland provide such an in- troductory overview in Health Informatics for Medical Librarians. Ana D. Cleveland is the Regents Profes- sor and Director of the Health Informatics Program at the Department of Library and Information Sciences at the University of North Texas. This is one of the top health informatics programs in the country and has research partnerships with The Texas Center for Digital Knowledge and the Department of Family Medicine at the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth. Donald B. Cleveland is Professor Emeritus at the University of North Texas. His research has focused on the application of information technolo- gies and medical indexing and retrieval. Co-published by the Medical Library Association, this first edition is ideal for use as an introductory text in health informatics programs and is also appro- priate for undergraduate or graduate- level courses in biomedical information management. The seasoned librarian and health care practitioner would find the book helpful since it pulls together vari- ous activities that they may be engaged in and applies them to the theory of medical informatics. Divided into two parts, the book covers various health informatics and its role in modern health care as well as the principal aspects, procedures, and practices in the field. Each chapter 292 College & Research Libraries May 2010 includes an “Informatics in Action!” sec- tion, which provides short case studies of how the concept being discussed could be implemented in real life situations. Each chapter also contains a brief summary statement and an extensive reference list. At the end of the text is a basic glossary of essential terms. Some of the chapters include paragraphs discussing the role of the librarian or library. This kind of insight is extremely helpful to someone entering the profession or trying to figure out how to apply health informatics to their current responsibilities. However, this important content was hard to find since it was not included in all chapters nor did not stand out due to inconsisten- cies in titling and length. The practical suggestions provided in these sections could have been more easily discoverable had it been highlighted in a way similar to “Informatics in Action!” In part I, “Understanding Health Infor- matics,” Cleveland and Cleveland open with an overview of the nature of health information, define health informatics as both a disciple and a profession, and describe the challenges of managing information in today’s health care envi- ronment and infrastructure. The authors emphasize the ways in which informatics impacts decision making and the practice in the major health care application areas of primary care, nursing, dental, public health, veterinary, bioinformatics, and consumer health. Part I concludes with chapter 5, which addresses the question of the roles and opportunities for health sciences librarians in the scheme of health informatics. The important distinction is made that “health informatics and health sciences librarianship are two distinct disciplines with their own missions, skills, and place in the healthcare enterprise.” This chapter is essential reading. Part II, “Mastering Health Informatics,” outlines specific aspects of health infor- matics. This part begins with a chapter covering the organization of medical knowledge, including fundamental medical terminology and an overview of the types of medical literature. Chapters also discuss health information technol- ogy, the fundamentals of electronic health records, the types of health care informa- tion management systems and medical imaging. Other technology topics covered include data and information processing, database management, telecommunica- tions, and networks. The book concludes with chapters covering ethical and legal issues in health informatics, and bioinfor- matics and genomic medicine. This book is a worthwhile purchase, enabling both prospective and practicing medical librarians to both prepare for and navigate through the challenges of the profession. Any academic librarian who reads this text can also apply many of the concepts covered to informatics in their given discipline.—Eric Schnell, The Ohio State University. Ted Striphas. The Late Age of Print: Every- day Book Culture from Consumerism to Control. New York: Columbia Univer- sity Press, 2009. 242p. alk. paper, $27.50 (ISBN 9780231148146). LC2008-039391. Employing wide-ranging research, care- ful analysis, an impressive vocabulary, and a good sense of humor, Ted Striphas, an assistant professor in the Department of Communication and Culture and ad- junct professor of American Studies and Cultural Studies at Indiana University, has crafted a thought-provoking com- mentary on trends in book culture from the early twentieth century to the pres- ent. In discussing the “late age of print,” a phrase coined by Jay David Bolter, Striphas avoids the common tendency either to venerate the book or to proclaim its demise. Rather, the author uses facts and keen insight to explain or challenge commonly held beliefs about the pro- duction, distribution, and “controlled consumption” of books. This deft cultural study—part communication theory, part history, and part sociology—places the modern history and present state of the book in the context of the everyday lives of readers as a means of understanding a