210 College & Research Libraries March 2013 the authors do not treat print sources as hopelessly passé, and, since so much of this/these literature/s remains elusive, the recommended search strategies go well beyond the norm. (Thus the only CIP subject heading, “Literature—Research— Data Processing,” [iv] seriously misleads.) Although probably not its purpose, the Appendix illustrates, if in reverse, that works like Literary Research can—in fact, would—benefit other than literary scholars per se. For instance, historians, whose writ covers the entire past and therefore whose work ideally has a sym- biotic relationship with virtually every discipline, should certainly be aware of some of the works discussed here— after all, are not all historical sources also literary creations? To take just one example, the MLA International Bibliog- raphy database contains thousands of citations to the work of, and about, the chroniclers of the Indies of the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, and adds scores more each year. Scholars interested in the history of the Americas—and not only the Americas—for that period need to be aware of the judgments of nonhistorians on these sources. While the sheer number of relevant citation materials found in the MLA International Bibliography is likely to be daunting, work that ignores or is unaware of them will most likely prove vulnerable. Much more interdisciplinary osmosis is needed, and Literary Research is a step in that direction.—David Henige, University of Wisconsin. David Shumaker. The Embedded Librar- ian: Innovative Strategies for Taking Knowledge Where It’s Needed. Medford, N.J.: Information Today, Inc, 2012. 232p. $49.50 (ISBN 9781573874526). LC2012-017662. “Embedded librarianship” has existed for some time and has taken on many forms in the most current decades. It’s a model developed out of the practice from the medical and scientific fields and in current decades has been massaged into a new role, revitalizing the tapering statistics of information professionals and librarianship. Technology has helped to more easily facilitate the practice of plac- ing information professionals in strategic partnerships with faculty, student groups, and others within the campus community. David Shumaker, clinical associate profes- sor at the School of Library and Informa- tion Science at the Catholic University of America, in The Embedded Librarian: Innovative Strategies for Taking Knowledge Where It’s Needed has surveyed the litera- ture, studied embedded programs, and written the first comprehensive survey of this practice. He offers a varied look, using analysis, case studies, templates, and exercises, which will prove valuable to those already involved in embedded- ness or those considering endeavoring into the field. Shumaker bases his book in two be- liefs, already prevalent within the infor- mation profession: the library world “is changing and must change.” In launching from this premise, he looks at a variety of organizations and, in doing so, identifies the characteristics that contribute to suc- cessful embedded librarianship, as well as explaining how information profes- sionals in all types of library settings are using embedded librarianship principles to enhance how they engage their library communities. The author looks at pub- lic, academic, school, medical, law, and many other types of specialized libraries in analyzing how the practice of being embedded has enhanced librarianship. The chapters are laid out in a coherent outline that follows the arc of this practice through its history to its implementation in various library settings. The book is divided into two parts: a historical and analytical overview, followed by a second section that gives the framework for successful embedded librarianship. Part One addresses the historical aspects, gives a summation of embedded librarians in higher educa- tion, the health sciences, corporations, nonprofits, government, schools, and public libraries. Part Two strives to offer Book Reviews 211 compelling examples of planning, de- veloping an action plan, achieving being embedded, sustaining that achievement, and evaluating the success for continued sustainability. The Embedded Librarian is written in a clear and approachable style with Shu- maker ’s voice sounding through with concise and succinct information. He approaches the topic with knowledge and well thought-out examples. While there is not much here that has not been presented in the professional literature, it is a benefit that the author here brings together a great deal of information or- ganized under reasonable chapter head- ings. It is a benefit to the reader that each chapter ends with a summary and a list of reference sources. Having the material laid out in this way will prove much more effective to those who would acquire this title as a tool to furthering their embedded librarianship or as an entry point. The chapter on “Evaluating Your Success” will also prove to be of great value to both groups as well, as it presents scenarios in the form of case studies and takes into consideration varying characteristics and types of libraries. In the current age of as- sessing all that information professionals do, it is useful to have such straightfor- ward material. However, a prior section, “Chapter 7: Assessing Your Readiness,” will be most useful to those librarians who are ready to gauge whether they have, as Shumaker puts it, reached maturity. His questionnaire and scale are very useful. Additionally, the descriptors for interpret- ing the outcomes within the scale: “highly embedded, developing, emerging and not embedded” are as well. Clearly, in the current information professional arena, there are more and more forces driving change and more op- portunities to do so. Technology has been both an advantage and a disadvantage to this change. The Embedded Librarian offers not only an assessment tool but a concrete methodology with examples, analysis, and processes. Written for information professionals, library school students, the embedded, and those considering it, the book offers a review, practical strategies, and applications about being embedded.—Loreen S. Henry, University of Texas, Dallas. Colin Franklin. Obsessions and Confessions of a Book Life. New Castle, Del.: Oak Knoll Press; Camberwell, Victoria, Australia: Books of Kells; London: Bernard Quaritch, 2012. 262p. alk. paper, $49.95 (ISBN: 9781584563044). LC2012-018734. Both a memoir and a collection of dis- crete topical essays, Colin Franklin’s book about his personal and professional intersections with the world of books is a delight. During his 88 years, Franklin has been a publisher, an author, a book dealer, and a book collector, and all these roles are depicted here. Though this is nowhere stated, the first seven of its fifteen chapters, or essays, loosely form a chronological narrative, interspersed with musings on such things as connois- seurship and of the various ways in which collectors perceive and pursue books as “love objects.” The memoirs begin with Franklin’s recollections of his earliest childhood encounters with books. He writes of the joy derived from his youthful purchase of a disbound copy of Pilgrim’s Progress “…printed about 1790. For bind- ing it at Whiteleys” (a shop near where he lived) “I charged my parents’ account, for reading it I waited more than thirty years…I wanted the book, treasured it and can only now begin to explain why.” Obsessions and Confessions takes on that task by analysis and example. In 1949, Franklin began working at the London offices of publishers Routledge & Kegan Paul, a firm that had been pur- chased by Franklin’s grandfather in 1907. One of the most evocative and charming portions of this book is its second chapter, “In a Golden Age of Publishing,” which describes the recent Oxford graduate’s immersion into the career he would pursue for twenty-one years. On his first day, his uncle told him that he would