66 Book Reviex j

I, Pelz, D. C.; .\ndre\vs, F. hl. Scientists in Organizations: Producti1.e C!imates for Research and Development.

Revised ed. Ann Arbor, .Llichigan: Institute for Social Research, University of Llichigan; 1976.

2. Xlick. C. K.; er al. Toward usab !e user studies. Journal of the American Society for Information Sciecze.

3 I:!:?-356; 1980.

3. Paisley. ‘A’. Information and work. In: Progress in Communication Sciences. vol. 2, Dervin. B.; i’oipt.

Jl. J.; editors. Norwood, NJ: Aelex, pp. 113-165; 1980. 4. Janis, I. L.; Mann, L. Decision \laking: A Psychological Analysis of Conflict, Choice, and Commitment.

New York: The Free Press; 1977.

Graduate School of Library and Informarion Science University of California Los Angeles, CA

MMXU J. BATES

Managing Online Reference Service. E. AUSTER (Ed). Neal-Schuman, New York and London (1986). ix + 408 pp., $35.00, ISBN O-918212-93-6.

This well-documented, well-organized collection of readings has been assembled by Ethel Auster with the assistance of students from her Online Information Retrieval course at the University of Toronto.

The book is divided into eight sections: Planning for Online Reference; Choosing Services and

Databases; Staff Selection and Training; Promotion and Maketing; Financial Considerations; hlea- surement and Evaluation; Microcomputers and Online Reference; and Impact of Online Service. Each section is preceded by a short introduction, includes three to four selected articles, and concludes with a bibliography of additional readings. Contributors include, among others: Pauline Atherton and Roger Christian, Marcia Bates, Richard Blood, Stephen Harter and Carol Fenichel, F. W. Lan-

caster and Herbert Goldhor, r\fary Jo Lynch, Carol Tenopir, Martha Williams. The clear and careful organization of the book makes it equally useful for reference, browsing,

or reading straight through. Both a name index and a subject index are included. The name index contains coded entries indicating in what context the name appears (footnote, text, bibliography, or as the author of an included article).

In general the articles chosen for inclusion are very good and often represent the best that has

been written to date on a particular topic. However, there are exceptions. I question the inclusion of the paper on the selection of VDT’s. Although the article is a good one, VDT selection is only one of many hardware choices that must be made when considering online service and the degree of detail found in this article could be best investigated via current reviews and journal articles. The inclusion of reprinted promotional brochures in “Promoting Online Service” I find as unhelpful as

I did in the publication of the original article. On the other hand, the paper on the legal ramifica- tions of downloading is a very useful inclusion and can serve as a basis for further reading and con- sideration. Similarly, I recommend Marcia Bates’ article, “The Fallacy of the Perfect Thirty-Item

Online Search” and wish it could be required reading for every online search client as well as for pro-

fessional searchers. The author states that this book is intended for library and information science faculty and for

practitioners in the field who are managing or contemplating managing an online reference service. The book is unquestionably useful in the teaching of online reference service; the additional read-

ings in each section are especially helpful in this context. The book may also be useful to the practi- tioner, although I suspect the practitioner may be more likely to scan the current journal literature for guidelines and suggestions.

This last point raises the question of timeliness- the one serious reservation I have about this

book and others of its type. The field is changing so rapidly and the number of current articles on relevant topics is so large, that even though I can appreciate, as Auster states “the literature [is] scat- tered across numerous sources, not all of which [are] readily available,” I continue to have reserva- tions about readings “frozen” in monograph form.

Nevertheless, my enthusiasm for this book is only slightly dimmed by the above concerns. If one can keep in mind the necessity for additional, more recent supplements from the journal litera- ture especially in areas where specifics are mentioned such as software, hardware, databases, costs,

etc., this book is a significant contribution for those of us who teach courses in online reference and for those practitioners wanting ba& information on managing an online reference service.

School of Library and Information Studies Florida State University Tallahassee, FL

ELISABETH LOGAS