the systems librarian: the role of the library systems manager

Book Reviews

Library Records: A Retention and Confidentiality Guide. Shir- ley A. Wiegand. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press; 1994: 243 pp. Price: $59.95. (ISBN O-3 13-28408-3.)

The first footnote to Chapter 1 of Shirley Wiegand’s book is essential reading for anyone who picks up this volume. Her inspiration to embark on this ambitious project was a discovery by her husband-a library historian--that library records needed for his research had been destroyed years before. The disappointment and desperation of a historian put Professor Wiegand on a personal crusade, and this book is her opening salvo.

The author struggles with the diverging legal pressures that regulate the retention and use of library records, particularly circulation records. She offers a detailed overview of record retention and confidentiality laws as they apply to libraries and as they vary from state to state across the country. With all the zeal ofa crusader, Wiegand appears to have conducted exhaus- tive legal research and has completed an ambitious survey of policies within each state’s major libraries.

She provides a wealth of valuable information, but much of its significance is lost in the book’s portmanteau conception. It is actually two separate studies: One of the retention policies, and one of the confidentiality laws. Wiegand promises to link the two, and their opposing influences on library records are hardly lost on any reader. But the two components of this book are significantly different from one another in tone, approach, and philosophy. They could well have been written by two different authors. They should have appeared as two different publications. The promised union of body and soul never ma- terializes.

Indeed, Wiegand could hardly have done more to keep the two subjects apart. A hint of linkage appears in the final pages, when Wiegand suggests that libraries should opt for preserving the records for future researchers, but protect confidentiality in the meantime. Who could seriously dissent from such an ideal? Yet Wiegand does not convincingly show how to achieve the paragon.

Part I ofthe book leans on the fundamental proposition that most states, and some local jurisdictions, have legal standards for all government agencies to retain their records and to destroy them only according to a prescribed schedule. After a hundred pages of detailing each state’s laws and policies, Wie- gand concludes little more than that the laws vary greatly, they usually apply to many libraries, and libraries nationwide often ignore duties to keep the records and destroy them in accor- dance with legal dictates. Do we need a hundred pages of legal minutiae to validate those findings?

The analysis of retention laws culminates in general recom- mendations. Wiegand admits, however, that her recommenda- tions for change are modest, and they focus primarily on strengthening compliance and clarifying some confusing and ambiguous statutory language.

Part II is welcome relief. She shifts to confidentiality of circulation records and offers an informed and readable study of

0 1995 John Wiley&Sons, Inc.

the background and public policy shaping the issues. Her approach also shifts from a laborious look at each state to a break- down of confidentiality laws in general into their component elements. Her technique here is vastly more helpful for understanding the issues. The effort also culminates in a proposal for a model statute.

In the process. Wiegand provides a fascinating and insightful chronology of major and local cases that shape and test library policies on the confidentiality of records. She explores many of the most troublesome dilemmas for librarians. Should librarians stand their ground on confidentiality, or support the legitimate investigation of criminal suspects? Should librarians disclose the reading habits of recalcitrant patrons who neglect to return overdue books? Should they release information to federal investigators pursuing spies? Should they testify at trial about the quirks of a patron who is later charged with multiple homicides? “[The defendant] was my patron, and I felt like a traitor,” lamented the public library director who appeared in court. Wiegand’s expos6 on confidentiality is clear and enlight- ened, but it unfortunately has the appearance of an af- terthought, hidden behind the details of retention schedules.

Finally. a note on footnotes. Wiegand is a professor of law at the University ofOklahoma and is well-versed in the peculiar form of legal citations. The standard legal guide, The Blue Book: il Un(fiwm System yf Citation, is often cryptic, but it provides a standard footnote style for citing statutes and cases in all types of publications. The same guide, however, offers a disastrous format for citing secondary sources, especially monographs. Wiegand adopts the system, which gives readers only the author’s name, title, and publication year for each monograph. Without mentioning the publisher. readers cannot distinguish a commercial tome from a committee report. Pub- lishers of legal journals adhere to the old and deficient standard because they do not know how to change. Authors and editors not bound by inadequate forms should avoid them at all cost.

Kenneth D. Crews Associate Prqfessor, Indiana University School ef

Law-Indianapolis and IUSchool ~f!fLihrary and Iqf&nation Science

Director, Copyright Management Center Indiana UniversitJl-Purdue University at Indianapolis University Library 75.5 UIest Michigan SIreet Indianapolis, IN 46202-j I95

From Writing to Computers. Julian Warner. London and New York: Routledge; 1994: 159 pp. Price: $49.95. (ISBN 0-415- 096 12-X.)

This book surprised me. Its title first caught my interest because I thought I knew what it was about, but the contents of

JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE. 46(9):707-716, 1995 ccc 0002~8231/95/090707-10

the book soon took me along paths I never expected. I should confess straight off that the connection of computers with writing has fascinated me for over a decade, even to the point where I myself wrote a book about the topic some ten years ago. My Electric Language: A Philosophical Study of Word Processing (Yale University Press, 1987) was the first book-length study of digital text. So when I opened Julian Warner’s book, I hoped to find new insights into a subject I had reflected upon as a philosopher.

Today an estimated 80 percent of written English passes through computers. The last decade has gone through what commentators call “the digital revolution.” Julian Warner begins by noting this major shift in the creation and storage of text, and he intends his book to uncover some “unifying, intellectual principle to connect books and computers.” From Writ- ing to Computers treats the question of how documents on computers can be fit under the rubric of texts. But the author does not examine computer text from an existential standpoint, that is, from the standpoint of someone writing on a computer. Instead, he develops a semiotic overview to establish computerized documents as a specially coded kind of document, as a writing that fits within the general rules of sign systems with special prerogatives.

Chapter One gives an overview of the book. The second chapter, called “Semiotics.” begins the text proper. Chapter Two covers a broad overview of semiotic theory from Saussure and Eco. to Walter Ong and Bertrand Russell. The chapter sorts out the various sign systems that popular discourse often con- flates. Warner disentangles oral language from written signs and then makes some illuminating distinctions between scrip- torial and graphic types of written communication. and between phonetic and non-phonetic scripts. While presenting an overview of semiotics, the second chapter does not address the special properties of computer text.

Chapter Three, “The Intelligence of Documents.” examines the distinction between understanding a subject and the writing that describes or transmits the understanding of a subject. The author revisits the classic discussion of writing in Plato’s Phae- dr~r. Plato asks, In what sense can we call a piece of writing “intelligent”? Written documents lack the living, responsive thinker who can answer questions posed by interlocutors. A similar lack hovers around the question about computer intelligence: Can computers respond intelligently? Both written texts and computers show intelligence in some sense, but they both quickly reveal shortcomings. While making this interesting connection. Warner does not clearly distinguish, as far as I can tell. computerized documentation such as hypertext, from algorithms written in artificial computer languages such as As- sembly, BASIC, or PASCAL.

“Computers,” Chapter Four, launches into the topic of artificial intelligence. A lengthy treatment of automata and Turing machines examines the logic of computation. Warner emphasizes deterministic versus non-deterministic systems. He summarizes his main point by stating: “The development offormal logic can be plausibly connected with the influence ofthe use of written language. particularly its removal from direct, semantic ratification” (p. 116). This conclusion will hardly surprise someone familiar with the works of Walter Ong, Vygotsky, or Henry Veatch.

The last chapter before the Conclusion, “Intelligence of Computers,” discusses the claims for machine intelligence. This brief chapter (eleven pages) hardly measures up to the reams of arguments philosophers have produced on the question of artificial intelligence. Warner’s conclusion differs little from the generally held philosophical view that “We can con- sult the products of the semiotic faculty, whether in computer or documentary form, and confer meaning on signs by inter- preting them, but can no longer hope for objective instruction or advice from a site beyond humanity,” (p. 127).

In his Conclusion. the author continues the contrast between the semiotic faculty’s ability to interpret and the signs and systems that computers manipulate.

Warner’s book hangs together tenuously by gripping an ambiguous theme, “writing and computers.” The chapters were originally essays appearing in different journals, so the book frustrates the love of coherence. Many readers would long for greater clarity and for more decisive development of the stronger insights. The author’s style avoids direct communication by sticking with a dry, scientific tone, passive construc- tions. and repetitive material. The author weighs in heavily with scientific code that avoids communicative style and in- ventive rhetoric. I would like to see the author put his writing back into a computer. word-process it further, and revise the book until it becomes the sharp and powerful statement it might have been. The author would then have more to tell us about the existential move “from writing to computers.”

Michael Heim, Ph.D. 2217 Bataan Road Redondo Beach, C4 90278 Email: mheimgearthlink.net

Global Networks: Computers and International Communica- tion. Linda M. Harasim, Ed. Cambridge, MA and London, En- gland: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press; 1993: xii + 411 pp. (First MIT Press paperback edition, 1994.) Price: $16.95. (ISBN: 0-262-58137-X.)

The extension of human community onto a global scale is unprecedented: we are challenged to understand the scope and implications of such powerful social transformations in order to take part in shaping, socializing, and ensuring the accessibil- ity of networks for the global community. Global Networks addresses the challenge with contributions from the fields of communications, education, anthropology, linguistics, and engineering. The twenty-five contributors discuss the implications of global communication networks from legal. economic, social, and ethical perspectives.

The editor describes the book’s major theme as “global networks as a social space, shaped for and by human communication and community” (p. 9). Of course. there are varied views of the potential of cyberspace as social spaces or communities. In a recent issue of the Utne Reader John Perry Barlow asks of the virtual age whether or not the breath and spirit can “some- how be made to fit through any disembodied medium” (Bar- low, 1995. p. 54). Barlow discusses the differences between physical communities and virtual communities and questions how well we can build a sense of community when most of things that make life real to us are missing in cyberspace. “ like body language, sex. death, tone of voice, clothing, beauty (or homeliness), weather, violence, vegetation, wildlife, pets, architecture, music. smells, sunlight. and that ol’harvest moon” (Barlow, 1995, p. 54).

Clifford Stoll also has a problem with the concept of computer networks as communities. “Computers and networks iso- late us from one another. A network chat line is a limp substi- tute for meeting friends over coffee. No interactive multimedia display comes close to the excitement of a live concert. And who’d prefer cybersex to the real thing? While the Internet beckons brightly. seductively flashing an icon of knowledge as power, this nonplace lures us to surrender our time on Earth” (Stall 1995).

Regardless of your philosophical leanings on whether or not

708 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE-October 1995

computer networks can be true communities, Global Networks is essential reading. Linda Harasim does a fine job of setting the scene in her introduction and explores the theme of social relationships on the networks in a well-crafted chapter. She emphasizes the importance of developing informed social policy governing the global use of networks.

The book was produced in collaborative efforts using the Global Authoring Network (GAN). “The GAN was an effort to define, practice, and refine a new mode of relationship between editor and authors. . . The goal of the GAN was to use global networking of authors in the following ways:

To arrive at a cohesive and interdependent whole To inform one another of the contents of the other chapters, and to refine our own thinking and cross-referencing To facilitate a process of interactive feedback, to enhance the creative/analytical process, and build a unity of vision in the book” (pp. 343-44).

Taken as a whole, the book is focused on the social and cultural issues of international computer networks. It can serve as a guide to how computer networks have impacted human communication. In parts, it is an investigation of implementa- tions, applications, and impacts of computer-mediated communication in a global context.

Global Networks is organized in four perspectives:

1. Overview: From Technology to Community 2. Issues in Globalizing Networks 3. Applications ofGlobal Networking 4. Visions for the Future.

It is not the intent of this review to address each of the twenty-one chapters although each of them is deserving of separate review. It could be a tribute to the GAN that the work holds together so well. A tour of each of the four parts, concen- trating on the common themes of the complete work follows.

The first part ofthe book introduces and examines the social nature of global networks. In addition to Harasim’s investigation of social relationships on the networks, there are contributions from John Quarterman and Howard Rheingold.

In Quarterman’s examination of how technology becomes community, he argues that networks are not just technology. To illustrate patterns of globalization, Quarterman gives a great, concise history of the ARPANET, the Internet, UUCP. USENET, and BITNET.

Rheingold gives a personal tour of life on the WELL where community is not a common location, rather a common interest. From this insider’s view comes a challenging investigation of issues that enhance and challenge community life in virtual space.

Several perspectives of issues related to policy, organizational communication, and cross-cultural communication are presented in part 2 of Global Networks. Legal questions in drawing proprietary boundaries within electronic space and es- tablishing legal jurisdictions are identified by Anne Brans- comb. Using contemporary cases as examples, Branscomb discusses the numerous ways to harmonize national laws with global networks. She emphasizes that “the thrust of these new global communications highways is to serve people, not nations, as the geopolitical system of governance is currently formed” (p. 103).

Impacts and implications of global networks on work, the structure of organizations and the conduct ofwork is profound. Lee Sproull and Sara Kiesler consider how the relationships between managers and employees are affected. Marvin Man- heim focuses on how an organization can use information technology to gain competitive advantage.

Hiroshi Ishii explores the importance of cultural issues in the design of computer networking tools and describes the

differences in social protocols between two cultures. Jan Walls notes that shared sociolinguistic experience creates and rein- forces shared expectations in interpersonal communication. Walls explores what happens when global networks bring people of different cultures together.

Security issues are examined by Michael Kirby and Cather- ine Murray. Interestingly, their thesis is that we are at risk more from the frailty of international institutions and the incapacity of democratic processes to keep pace with the social implications of technology than we are from illegitimate intrusions into data security.

Part 3 looks at applications of global networking with case studies of practical experiences. A pioneer spirit is prevalent in these contributions and each could be used for a framework to help organizations implement networking ventures. Coverage is truly global with Northern and Southern hemispheres well represented. Andrew Feenberg describes California-based Western Behavioral Science Institute’s (WBSI) experience in building an educational program that employs the computer as its chief communications medium for executives from twenty- one countries. Robin Mason illuminates European issues in the creation of an electronic “European village” with applications in training, education, and business communication.

Margaret Riel presents the AT&T Learning Network as a model for global education. Beryl Bellman, Alex Tindimu- bona, and Armando Arias, Jr. describes a network of linked universities in North America, Latin America, and Africa. Lucia Teles looks at learning through interaction with peer, mentors, and experts, using global networks and conference systems.

Jeffrey Shapard explores the relationship of language and character codes that are not compatible with current international standards.

The global civil society is described as a force in intema- tional relations in the cause of peace, human rights, and the environmental movement by Howard Frederick.

For this reviewer, the visions for the future in the final chapters of Global Networks explore some of the most important and pertinent issues. In the explorations of the concepts, goals, and concerns that should guide us, Mitchell Kapor and Daniel Weitzner echo Branscomb in their plea to urge our legal and social institutions to adapt to new technology. They want to prevent the scenario of basic access as a privilege rather than a right for anyone who needs to communicate. Based on lessons from the Internet as a testbed for developing public policy, Ka- por and Weitzner lobby for the development of the Interna- tional Public Network (IPN) as the ubiquitous global network for the future.

Shumpei Kumon and Izumi Aizu urge that nations learn from one another to produce a prototype socio-economic model that each country can mold to fit its unique history and culture. They use the term “co-emulation” to describe a strategy for nations to move beyond traditional competitive relationships to more consensual and reciprocal relationships to meet the social, economic, and environmental challenges ofthe new century.

Robert Jacobson considers a person’s ability to transcend time and space in the virtual world and notes that throughout human experience transcendence has been a tricky business, leading to greater awareness or insanity. Jacobson suggests a set of concepts as guides to measure the quality and value of the online experience. Civility, conviviality, reciprocity, harmony, edification, artfulness, and spirituality comprise his design parameters. He challenges that regardless of what is included in a set of design parameters, “we should begin discussing how we can improve the quality of the online experience now, while the Net’s infrastructure is still malleable and our own behavior remains flexible and capable of change” (p. 34 1).

The appendices of Global Networks include addresses for

JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE-October 1995 709

many of the global networks referenced in the text. brief bio- graphies for each contributor, and copious chapter notes with invaluable references.

The book’s index is excellent with good see u/so references and usable headings that reference all contributions. For example, under Jupan there are subheadings for ‘character codes’ (from Shapard’s chapter), ‘co-emulation’ (from Kumon and Aizu), ‘decision-making’ (from Ishii), ‘Personal Data Protec- tion Act’ (from Kirby and Murray).

The price for the paperback edition makes this book a rare bargain. The contents make it a must-have for anyone thinking about how networks are influencing our social structures.

Samantha Kelly Hastings Uniwrsity r$North Tuxs Denton, Texas 76203

References

Barlow, J. P. (1995). Is there a there in cyberspace? C’rnc, RcadcJr no. 68. 52-56.

If You Want to Evaluate Your Library. (2nd ed.) F. W. Lancas- ter. Champaign: Graduate School of Library and Information Science. University of Illinois; 1993: 352 pp. Price: $39.50. (ISBN o-87845-09 l-2.)

This is an updated and expanded edition of the well-received 1988 publication. More recent studies have been incor- porated, case study examples have been provided based on the author’s recent projects, and chapters on bibliographic instruction and continuous quality control have been added.

With a focus on library public services, the text begins with a substantial introduction to the considerations in conducting evaluations and the approach taken here. The portion of the text devoted to the provision of documents to users follows the elements involved in a user obtaining a desired item:

Is the item owned? Is it cataloged? Can the user find the entry? Is it on the shell? and Can the user find item on the shelf?

Chapters are provided on evaluation of the collection, analysis of collection use, in-house use, evaluation of periodicals, catalog use, shelf availability, and factors determining success in delivering documents to users as needed. Other aspects of public services (question answering, database searching, bibliographic instruction, resource sharing) and of evaluation (cost- effectiveness considerations, cost-benefit studies. continuous quality control) are dealt with in the remainder of the text. The reader will find summaries of the approaches used to evaluate each of these aspects, with discussions of the issues involved in addressing the evaluation questions. Examples are provided of data collection forms and of the calculations required to produce evaluation answers. Study questions are provided at the chapter ends to aid in applying concepts.

This text is to be valued for bringing together much of the best and most recent work in evaluating library services. Its coverage of the literature is comprehensive, particularly in its inclusion of non-U.S. sources. However, it is a better represen-

tative of the literature related to academic and industrial libraries. It overlooks prominent examples related to public and school libraries and misrepresents some of the references it in- cludes The Public Library Association’s Public Library Data Service annual reports and Output Mcaszues,fi,r Public Library Service to Children are not mentioned. A recommendation of the 1967 Public Library Association Minimum Standards for Public Library Systems is cited (p. 22) even though PLA has withdrawn its endorsement of such standards. The footnote (p. 15 I) about reference completion rate from Output Measures for Public Libraries, 2nd edition incorrectly characterizes that measure as a user judgment of reference performance. Lancaster may think even less of the measure to learn that it is an assessment by the staff member providing the service of whether the question was answered by the end of that business day.

The preface states that this text is designed for use “in teaching the subject and to guide librarians.” While it succeeds ad- mirably for the purpose of supporting teaching, it seems less suitable for use by the harried professional. Presentations are clear, but are often more discursive than would seem suitable in a manual to directly support practice. There is an overall organization, but it must be studied before a reader has a clear sense ofwhat section ofthe text will best relate to the immediate evaluation question. The reader who is making reference use of this text would be aided if there were a standard outline for presentation within chapters. A standard format for the presentation of each evaluation measure would similarly improve the usefulness of this text for the practitioner.

There is no indication that these approaches have been pre- tested for use by unassisted practitioners, and the text might more safely be used by those with some experience with evaluation research. For example, the reader who wants to compare reference accuracy performance of several libraries is in- structed to eliminate from the test those reference questions that all pretesting libraries get correct and those that no library gets correct-so that the test set of questions will discriminate among libraries. But then in discussing expected results, the point that these test questions are no longer a random sample of questions answered in libraries is overlooked. That is, even though the performance results can be used to compare among libraries, they cannot be said to reflect the level of reference service prov-ided to users at the tested libraries. Yet, the text refers to results of such studies as supporting the conclusion that “the user faces a surprisingly low probability that his fac- tual question will be answered correctly.” (p. 159). Such questions as these may be fine points, but they should be resolved in a text to be used as a reference for the library practitioner.

The use of this text is strongly recommended for students of library evaluation and for those practitioners who have the interest to become acquainted with this book’s riches.

Douglas L. Zweizig School of‘ Library and Inftirmation Studies Univers[t~~ of U7isconsin-,~~udison 600 North Park Street Madison, I47 53 706

Groupware in the 21st Century: Computer Supported Cooper- ative Working Toward the Millennium. Peter Lloyd, Editor. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers; 1994: 307 pp., Price: $2 I .95. (ISBN 0-275-95092-l .)

The term “groupware” typically conjures up images of ad- vanced technologies that help workers located in state-of-the-


art, geographically dispersed work environments coordinate ever more complex organizational work activities. Yet as Rob- ert Watson notes in the foreword to this book, the underlying principles of coordination and group work trace back in history at least as far as Adam Smith’s Inquiry into the Nature and Causes qf‘the Wealth ofNations, which describes how mecha- nization enhances individual talents in ways that enable all (i.e., a group) to benefit. Thus, as Watson summarizes, this book examines how people work together to enable everyone to benefit:

[The book is] about the application of technology to wealth creation. the value of group activity and cooperation. It describes and illustrates the factors which enhance and encourage as well as those which would diminish and discourage our working together as a group.

The volume contains 33 manuscripts that examine the future of a wide variety of group-related subjects. ranging from groupware, group work and telecommuting to computer-as- sisted creativity and concurrent engineering. Authors are similarly diverse, including renowned groupware pioneers such as Peter and Trudy Johnson-Lenz, who first coined the term “groupware” in 1978, academics, journalists, and consul- tants-and Bill Gates, co-founder and CEO of Microsoft Cor- poration. The book combines the articles into six parts, beginning with an overview of the groupware concept and ending with a series of issues and scenarios for the future. Not surprisingly, some articles and writing styles are more interesting and useful than others: but on the whole. the book is insightful and draws a picture of the future that seems quite plausible.

Part One, “Overview,” provides a broad introduction to several dimensions of groupware. The first article summarizes the history of groupware development, beginning with activities at Stanford Research Institute and Xerox PARC in the 1960’s (“basics”), and tracing through eras of the 1970’s (“education”), 1980’s (“commercial”), and 1990s and beyond (“di- versity”). The second article takes an interesting approach where the author writes with a dateline of year 2000 and looks back at why the promise that groupware held in 1990 never materialized through the decade of the 1990s. This writing technique, which could be called a “futuristic retrospective,” is an insightful way to look at future developments; it gets a bit t iresome eventually, however. as it is used repeatedly in later articles. Other articles in Part One discuss the growing ubiquity of the groupware concept, which the author argues is leading to its ultimate disappearance; the continued integration and sim- plification of groupware applications and tools; and the ever- broadening scope of “telepresence” in our society, which en- compasses everything from teleretailing and telemedicine to electronic document distribution and teleworking. The first section ends with a brief acronym-laced summary of recent groupware projects and activities that are occurring throughout European markets.

Part Two focuses on “The Technology and The Tools” that underlie the groupware phenomenon. The first article leads off this section by noting, quite correctly, that if you “ask any five groupware experts for a definition of groupware . . . you are likely to get five different definitions.” Somewhat ironically, this comment parallels one minor problem with this book as a whole: The number of conceptualizations and definitions of groupware throughout the book nearly equals the number of articles in total. That is, nearly every author provides his or her own definition of groupware, and no consensus or synthesis is ever clearly extracted.

The technologies and tools covered in Part Two are very diverse. Bill Gates provides a genera1 perspective on groupware technologies through his “Persona1 Vision” of the future, which was produced as an extract of a I993 speech. More specific tools include a host ofproducts evaluated in the University

of Arizona’s Groupware Grid; computer- and multimedia- based conferencing tools; and Information Services Digital Network (ISDN). Two particularly interesting articles approach the issue of tools and technologies from a different perspective. One argues that electronic mail, “a simple technology widely implemented, ” is likely to have far greater impact on cooperative work than the more elaborate tools typically discussed. The other contends that “the future of computing” revolves around a class of “document centric” applications that depend on Lotus Notes-types of application development software.

Part Three is a brief section (four articles) discussing “The Organization of the Future.” In some ways, this is a relatively disappointing section. The first article describes groupware’s broad impacts on interorganizational coordination, arguing that IT is leading to greater external market-driven coordination and smaller internal hierarchical structures. This material by MIT’s Thomas Malone and colleagues is excellent, but it is already fairly well-known because it has been widely dissemi- nated in publications such as Scientific American and various academic outlets. Other articles describe IT’s internal organizational impacts, where it serves as a “pillar” of strategic total quality management (STQM), and summarize how the “meta- morphosis” of networks is changing the nature of organizational communication. Once again, the content of both articles is accurate, but neither adds substantially to existing understanding in these areas. Finally, an article written as a futuristic scenario examines how cultural forces can affect the speed of change and dissemination of technologies such as groupware; although interesting, it, too, basically supports existing thinking in this area.

On the other hand, Part Four, “Trends for Teamwork,” may be the most useful section of the book. One type of article in this section focuses on how work in organizations will change. Articles in this category discuss the increasing use of concurrent engineering and CSCW in manufacturing: the growing trend in organizations to replace formal “jobs” with ad hoc “teamwork” that relies on electronic media for coordination: and, more generally. how groupware will affect all workers throughout the organization. A second type of useful article argues a skeptical viewpoint of the groupware phenom- ena. In what may be the most entertaining article in the entire book, European journalist Richard Sarson describes how “the suits,” who focus on high-speed data communication links, dis- parage and belittle “the cardigans,” single users who use so- called low-tech modems for remote dial-in. He then describes how ISDN will eventually enable the cardigans to extract their revenge. Another skeptical article draws insightful distinctions between the hype and the reality of groupware’s likely future directions in the world of “interpersonal computing.”

Part 5, “Innovation and Education,” contains only three articles, two on technology and creativity and one futuristic scenario on computer supported cooperative learning. The creativity articles discuss the role of innovation in organizations, the value of groupware in supporting innovation, and how ad- vanced information technologies are driving innovative shifts in the way management perceives and implements its organizational coordination activities. The computer supported cooperative learning article, which is excellent, alternates between a series of future electronic conversations and a present- day (I 993) analysis of the technologies that already exist to support such a learning environment. In a hypothetical class project, several students from around the world collaborate on a problem regarding power generation in Brazil. They divide up the work based on their relative interests and competencies. and they submit their various contributions to the project elec- tronically for compilation and submission. Of all the future dateline articles in the book. this article comes off as the clear- est. and probably nearest-future, of all.


Finally, Part 6, “Issues and Scenarios,” contains a series of articles exploring subjects that do not fit well earlier. For example, Pamela Gray, a world-renowned contributor to developments in Unix computing, discusses the potential “Dark Side” of virtual reality systems. In a brief but powerful essay, she describes the ability of virtual reality to desensitize users to in- tense violence by allowing them to commit virtual crimes without being held accountable. Publisher Ester Dyson discusses the growing problem of keeping personal information confi- dential in our expanding on-line world. Several other authors in this section provide futuristic scenarios describing life in the 2 I st century, combining both optimistic and pessimistic considerations. References to Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four and Huxley’s Brave New World in these visions of the future come as no surprise.

The final article in the section and in the book ends on a decidedly upbeat note. Peter and Trudy Johnson-Lenz, the originators of the term “groupware” in the 7Os, use a combina- tion narrative and futuristic scenario to describe how communication technology is likely to improve our lives, and the lives of our descendents. Two passages from their article, “Groupware for a Small Planet” highlight this optimism:

Groupware is more than just software. it’s really the capac- ity to create and adapt forms that hold evolving group life in effective patterns (p. 28 1, citing an earlier publication).

The next several decades may be the most challenging in our history on this planet. . Even if we are successful, there will be many dislocations and difficulties. Sacrifices for the common good will be necessary. To ease this transition, many, many people must be involved in learning and leading, rethinking and restructuring, considering tough tradeoffs. and making dramatic changes as compassionately as possible. We believe that groupware can play a critical role in the communications, learning and knowledge systems which support this great work (p. 285).

This book as a whole left two major impressions, one of value and one of concern, regarding its contribution to our understanding of groupware and the future of computing. Of value was the regularity and consistency with which certain themes arose across multiple articles. Specific tools (e.g., Lotus Notes), technologies (ISDN), and environments (collaborative work) were discussed so frequently throughout the book that one cannot help but believe these types of groupware components will be the cornerstone for future development and utili- zation of groupware. Several articles, in fact, make an explicit point of highlighting how these currently available technologies make up the visions ofthe future.

But the constant discussion of current groupware technologies and applications also leads to a concern about the degree to which these articles predict or describe much beyond the very near future. After all, the 2lst century is still five years away, and the pace of technological, organizational, and social change continues to accelerate. Yet very little discussion in the book speculates as to the nature and impact of potential new technologies that are on the horizon, either near or distant. There is almost no discussion, for example. of the exploding area of wireless communications, despite much recent public- ity about the U.S. government’s multi-billion dollar auction of airwave bandwidth for wireless personal communication services (PCS). Extremely hot areas of current technical and business development, such as the Internet, World-Wide Web, online services and databases, high-speed communications (e.g., asynchronous transfer mode-ATM) and simultaneous document sharing, are barely mentioned.

As these and other types of as-yet-undeveloped technologies mature and disseminate, they will inevitably have impacts on group work in the future that are at least as significant as the changes that are taking place based on current technologies. It

would be useful (albeit foolish, perhaps) if the authors in this book would speculate more on a future that incorporates technologies that are only on the drawing board today. Such an endeavor by these visionaries of the present would, thus, carry on the tradition of the visionaries of the past even more effectively than they do in these otherwise interesting and insightful commentaries.

William Nance College of Business San Jose State L’nivervit\’ L _ One Washington Square San Jose, CA4 95192-0069 B&L~‘CE@SJSU V&f1 SJSU. EDU

The Systems Librarian: The Role of the Library Systems Man- ager. Graeme Muirhead, Ed. London: Library Association Publishing: 1994: 245 pp. Price: f30.00 hard cover. (ISBN: l- 85604- 116-6.)

This book is an edited collection of I3 chapters, most of them written by practicing systems librarians in the UK. The book is likely to provide both delight and criticism among systems librarians, and in general, the overall information science community. Delight because. as the editor of the book, Muir- head, says, the role of the systems librarian has not received an adequate attention in the literature and the book attempts to fill this niche. Criticism because the subject matter is often treated at the anecdotal level, survey methodology which sets a “general framework for the rest of the book” (p. xviii) is prob- lematic, and because the book assumes that the reader is acquainted with (UK) specific terminology pertaining to various posts, qualifications, pricing schedules, and staffing structures. Additionally, there are some terms which could have been clar- ified from the outset of the book. For instance, the relationship between important phrases as expressed in the title proper and the other title information, systems librarian and library systems manager. Furthermore. external validity of the study’s findings is limited to the role of systems librarians and administrative structures in UK libraries and information centers.

The book contains four parts. Part I, “The role of the systems librarian,” with six chapters. pays particular attention to Chapter I which describes a research project funded by the Brit- ish Library Research and Development Department. Parts 2 and 3, each with three chapters, explore “Alternatives to the systems librarian.” and “Education and training,” respectively. The book closes with Chapter 13 on “Reasons to be cheerful?’ (Part 4) There, Muirhead first returns to the portion of the questionnaire which pertains to the prospects for systems librarians, and then speculates about the future for systems librarians col- lectively.

In “Systems Librarians in the UK: The Results of a Survey,” Graeme Muirhead briefly discusses methodological issues involved in the design of a self-administered survey, paying particular attention to the study’s findings. The questionnaire attempted to collect data concerning the roles, skills, communication patterns. and activities of systems librarians in UK libraries. The 1 O-page questionnaire, administered in 199 1, was sent out to 503 libraries ofall types: the response rate was 82.7 percent.

However, because many methodological questions are either omitted or not dealt with comprehensively (e.g., relating to population sample frame, design and pretesting of the survey, wording of the questions, instructions to the respondents) and


because of the rapid advances in information technologies, the reported results need to be taken cautiously.

The study’s respondents have a wide range of responsibilities relating both to automation and non-automation duties; they read Aslib publications, trade computer literature, and library automation papers. The surveyed systems librarians prefer face-to-face contact to electronic mail communication, and are mainly library-trained computer experts rather than computer-trained librarians.

The questionnaire also attempted to collect data on systems librarians’ job satisfaction, perceived quality of life, stress, and reporting administrative structures. More research is needed in developing operational definitions for each of these variables and then conquering the territory in a piecemeal fashion rather than wanting to collect everything that can be enumerated in a single instrument at once.

In “Dazed and Confused: System Management at Hilling- don Borough Libraries,” Duncan Westlake describes an evolving systems librarian role at a specific library, specific time frame, and a specific library system. He argues that systems librarians should be fully dedicated to systems responsibilities rather than divide their attention between systems and ‘front- line duties’ (p. 50). The chapter could have been more effective if it focused more on technical rather than on administrative issues. Finally, much of the text could have been represented graphically with decision trees, screen displays, and matrices, producing a more concrete and dynamic reading.

In “A Life in the Week . . ,” Gordon Dunshire adds and rightly so, an important component of data to a well known hardware-software-communication configuration of any library automation system. The chapter introduces a number of interesting metaphors and questions, but falls short to develop those fully to be of any practical and/or theoretical value to the reader. Perhaps, this reflects a hurried pace and typical structure of most systems librarians who invent their job descrip- tions, react to systems needs and move rapidly to next knotty problems. Who has time to analyze, anticipate, ask questions, and brood? You’ve got to move fast, man.

Last three chapters of Part 1 take slightly different perspectives. Janet Broome aims to show how a restructuring of the library systems (UNIX-based) market-place will affect library open system architecture. Michael R. Schuyler gives an account of “what’s it like being a systems librarian?” Finally, Brady and Ryan first identify variables of the ideal systems librarian from the vendor’s point of view. They conclude that the systems librarian skills can easily be transferred to those required of an automation supplier.

Part 2 of this book consists of three papers. Each paper presents a case study of one academic library in a “how we’ve done it” style to alternative staffing approaches. Each library is unique in its size, automation history, and user community. In Chapter 7, a personal account is given of the role of the systems librarian at the Manchester Metropolitan University Library where a chief cataloger is transformed into a dual responsibility of technical services (“library housekeeping system”) and database management system. In contrast, the University of Lim- erick Library chose not to create a post of systems librarian (Chapter 8) and University College London Library (Chapter 9) took a teamwork approach to staffing the post of systems librarian. As Bovey and Friend conclude, the UCL experience “should not be taken as inevitable for the future” (p. 169) and so should the experiences of other libraries be interpreted in a specific context, that is, a given place, time, and information technology.

Part 3 deals with various aspects of education and training of systems librarians. Woodward and Meadows (Chapter 10) list job advertisements and library school curricula as indica- tors of potential skills for prospective systems librarians. The authors raise the question of gender and subject background

as additional factors which might affect the success of systems librarians. Various traditional and alternative training formats are presented. A conceptual framework for educating future professional systems librarians could be patterned after models suggested for educating librarians and information scientists (Borko, 1984). Chapter 11 offers a detailed account of the integration of library systems (i.e., BookshelF, Heritage, TinLib) into the curriculum at Manchester Metropolitan University. Dobbs and Richardson (Chapter 12) argue that while library software applications are becoming friendlier, the need for training continues due to an increasingly complex computing environment.

Muirhead returns to the survey described in Chapter 1 and reports the study’s findings with regard to the job market demands and challenging career prospects for systems librarians in UK. Does the truth hold for the systems librarian market outside the UK?

Overall, most libraries will want this collection of papers as part of their professional collection. This work should be of particular interest to systems librarians, and especially, to those in the UK.

Zorana Ercegovac Department of Library and Information Science Graduate School of Education and Information Studies 300 Circle Drive iorth, GSLIS Building, Room 224 University of Cal&nia, Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA 90095 1520 E-mail: [email protected]

Reference

Borko, H. (1984). Trends in library and information science education. Jmrnul of the .-iwwricun Society fix Ir$mnation Science. 35: I85- 193.

Information Retrieval: New Systems and Current Research. Proceedings of the 15th Research Colloquium of the British Computer Society Information Retrieval Specialist Group. Glasgow, 1993. Ruben Leon, ed. London: Taylor Graham Publishing; 1994: 161 pp. Price: $55.00 (ISBN 0 947568 62 X.)

This volume contains a dozen papers presented at the 15th colloquium of the British Computer Society Information Re- trieval Specialist Group (BCSIRSG) held in March 1993. The equivalent North American organization would be the Associ- ation of Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on In- formation Retrieval (ACM SIGIR). According to the editor, the intent of this book is to display the BCSIRSG’s on-going research on information retrieval. It accomplishes this and also provides North American readers an insight into both the in- ternationalism and provincialism of scholarly activity. Further- more, it illustrates how nowadays there are several scholarly cultures with their own methods and preferred objects of study, all of whom labor doing “research” on “information retrieval.”

Information retrieval is a complex human activity that can be studied from many points of view. One’s appreciation ofthis volume is facilitated by an awareness of the cultural assumptions behind BCSIRSG’s research on information retrieval. These cultural assumptions would be, I would judge, the polar opposite of those held by a group such as the Association of Computers and the Humanities. Quoting Matthew Chalmers (1993), one of the contributors, who states: “Documents . . .


have roughly the same words occurring with roughly the same weights. The assumption-generic and fundamental to all of Information Retrieval-is that if this is so then the documents are most likely to be similar in themes and topics . .” (56- 57). To simplify: Here the scholarly focus is on the building and running of large systems, where information is assumed to reside in the database. and the significant markers for clustering documents are to be found in the documents themselves. Re- search in this context would include the construction of increasingly clever algorithms for clustering documents. and the measurement of the relationships among documents. In other words, this is not social science empirical research that employs statistical measures of the meaning and use of information by people. The organization of the papers in this volume illustrate these cultural priorities.

The first three papers present information about large systems of information. There is an overview of CALS (the U.S. Department of Defense Computers-aided Acquisition and Lo- gistics Support program), a report on RADA (Research and Development Advisor) which is a retrieval system designed for a commercial firm, and a report on an electronic library project known as Elinor (Electronic Library-Information Online Re- trieval) under development at the Information Centre of De Montfort University. I suspect that these bellwether papers are the archetype and ideal locus of activity for researchers in the BCSIRSG.

The next set of papers are more narrowly focused on some technical aspect of information retrieval systems. Discussed is the maintenance of integrity of views in relational databases. the display of spatial relationships among documents. the consistency of links in hypertexts, a heuristic search strategy of the web relations among papers. and finally a nearest neighbor clustering algorithm. I suspect that this second set of papers reveals the research activities of individuals or small groups of researchers who do not enjoy the large machine settings of the first three papers.

Finally, the papers in the back of the volume are either off center from the cultural focus of the foregoing. or not impres- sive in size of the computer application. Here one finds work that introduces the complexity of interfaces, the idiosyncratic qualities of particular database applications, the semantic qualities of text, and the evaluation of database output. For example. the platform used in one is merely a HyperCard stack, another presents the results of a sample size of one subject.

The papers given at this colloquium reveal the internation- alism of scholarly activity. I was struck at how closely they express similar cultural assumptions and research methods of the ACM SIGIR. But at the same time these papers illustrate the provincialism of national scholarly activity. The dozen papers produced only three citations to SIGIR Forum. an amazing and unexpected parochialism. It seems that while the BCSIRSG and the ACM SIGIR are fellow travelers in the world of information retrieval. the English don’t cite the Americans. 1 wouldn’t be surprised if the favor is likewise returned.

The Jownul ofthe American SocietJ:,for I~fi,rmation Science does not figure in the works cited by BCSIRSG. The dozen papers in the volume produced only thirteen citations to journals that we in North America might consider covering library and information science. Of these, only two were to this journal. And one of these citations was to work of Gomez, Lochbaum. and Landauer (1990), which caught my attention since I thought that my article (Brooks, 1993) challenged, or even re- futed the strategy of unlimited aliasing. Perhaps my article was published too late to be included. or perhaps the authors don’t scan JASIS. or perhaps their type of research is not one that easily admits controversy over basic assumptions needed to build large retrieval engines.

In my opinion, the best paper of the collection is by Mat- thew Chalmers, “Ongoing work on Bead. an information visu-

alizer” (pps. 53-66). This is a clearly written report on the visu- alization of the relationships of documents in a database. It in- cludes several introductory pages discussing the assumptions of information retrieval work that would benefit every student of information science.

Terrence A. Brooks GruduutP School qflihrury and Itzftirtnalion Science, FM-30 ilniversit~~ of‘Ct’u.shing~on Seartir, l4;1 98195 i%xuil: tahrook.v@!u. vtpushington.edu

References

Brooks, T. A. (1993). All the right descriptors: A test of the strategy of unlimited aliasing. Jowwd c$thc .Jmericun Sociely,/iv InJi,rma~ion Scicncc. 44, 131-147.

Chalmers. M. ( 1993). Ongoingwork on Bead, an information visualiser in R. Leon (Ed.), Infi~rrmUion rctrioba/: NW S~T~LWS and mrrcn1 re- .scwrcl~ (pp. 53-66). London: Taylor Graham.

Gomez. L. M.. Lochbaum. C. C.. and Landauer. T. K. (I 990). All the right words: Finding what you want as a function of richness of in- dexing vocabulary. Jownal c!/‘tlw .4merican Socir,r)x,fi)r I~fimnation Sl~icrlc~c~. 41. 547-559.

Who Owns Information? From Privacy to Public Access. Anne Wells Branscomb. New York: Basic Books; 1994: xii + 24 1 pp. Price: $25.00. (ISBN 0-465-09175-X.)

The arrival of the information age was reported in the work of economists Marc Porat and Fritz Machlup and sociologist Daniel Bell. Many assign to Bell’s 1973 monograph. The Cotn- ing c?f’Posr-Indz-Ind2rstrial Socict?.. a place of particular importance not only in informing us the information age had arrived but also in alerting us to the consequences, as Bell saw them.

Although Bell’s book did not usher in the information age, it did launch a publishing subfield that comprises a large and growing number of information age articles, essays, and monographs. Anne Wells Branscomb has added to that subfield with her volume, R Xo Owns It@ tnation,? From Privacy to Public .ilccess. Branscomb is described as “a communications and computer lawyer” who. at the time the dustjacket copy was pre- pared, was “a legal scholar-in-residence at Harvard Universi- ty’s Program on Information Resources Policy.” She has been chair of the Communications Law Division of the American Bar Association and has served on the National Academy of Sciences Project on Rights and Responsibilities of Users of Computerized Information Networks. In addition. Branscomb has been a consultant to the National Science Foundation. the Office of Technology Assessment of the U.S. Congress, the De- partment of State. the Rand Corporation, the World Bank. and other organizations.

Branscomb asserts the importance of our coming to grips with what it means “to live in an information age.” (p. I) She argues that in the past 20 years or so information has changed in character. and “has passed from being an instrument through which we acquire and manage other assets to being a primary asset itself. the emergence of information as a commodity.” (p. 1) With information-as-commodity has come the need to define and protect information ownership rights. and the attendant need for courts and legislatures “to address information issues never before the subject of contention.” In- formation ownership and use have become. according to Bran-


scomb, “the hot new legal issue.” (p. 1) Information-as-commodity places new demands on the law governing information exchange, but law evolves slowly. Branscomb comments:

When the law lags behind changing conditions, conflicts arise that present new questions. ones that are not easily answered by reference to established precedents. In the early 1970s such new questions began to arise with greater and greater frequency. (p. 2)

The significant increase in the volume of “questions about the legal status of information” can be explained on two levels. On one level, the ability of today’s technology to collect and analyze information that once was dispersed makes possible collections of information that “become commodities more valuable than the sum of their independent parts.” (p. 3) On another level, the ability of technology to create value in the marketplace out of previously worthless information creates “new ownership interests and conflicts and a tension between the need to foster new technology-based information businesses and to determine what will be responsible social behavior in an information society.” (p. 3) As Branscomb points out. much information once thought by individuals to be personal and of no value is now collected and offered for sale. to be pur- chased by anyone who believes the information might be used for profit. According to Branscomb:

[T]he information society has produced a rich marketplace of new information products. and the ease of entry into the new marketplace attracts a large number of small entrepreneurs who depend for their livelihood upon access to these new information resources. As a consequence, the information industries are among the fastest-growing section of our economy and a growing foundation for economic success in the global market. (p. 5)

Capitalism produces ferment, especially at those times when new industries are born. We live at such a time. and Branscomb reminds us that “a more or less orderly information marketplace” based on spoken, handwritten, and printed communication, to which radio and television have been added, “has evolved into a multimedia melting pot of new information businesses that find this treasure trove of archived information a valuable resource” for commercial and other purposes. (p. 5) The law struggles to keep up with change, a daunting task at a time when change is rapid, as it is now with information products and services. We are too inexperienced with the information society to agree on acceptable behavior. As a result, we react to developments rather than anticipate them. As an example, Branscomb cites the Video Privacy Act, enacted by the Congress after a journalist obtained the records of Judge Bork’s video rentals.

In many cases, Branscomb points out. boundaries are not clear between what may be controlled and what may be used by others without permission or compensation. Efforts by the legal system to draw the lines more clearly may run athwart the First Amendment’s prohibition of government restriction of free speech-a prohibition whose effect is to encourage an “un- inhibited information marketplace.” (p. 7) Two bodies of law, however, that have evolved over centuries, impose limits “on the exchange of information in the marketplace.” One body pertains to intellectual property and “offers legal controls over the creative productivity of the human brain.” The other pertains to privacy and “maintains boundaries through which cu- rious eyes may not penetrate to invade those areas over which we may maintain exclusive personal control.” (p. 7) Yet important elements of the information society remain outside the reach of either body of law, as we struggle to adapt industrial- age precepts and notions to vastly different circumstances, technologies, and forms of creative endeavor.

Branscomb’s purpose in writing the book is to discuss certain challenges to the legal system in which the challengers as-

sert the system is inappropriate or inadequate to protect “information assets” considered either valuable and proprietary or an important part of the public domain. In addition, she hopes to derive some basic principles that are growing out of the challenges. Finally, she urges those who believe they are victims of activities by “information entrepreneurs” to complain to offi- cials in government “so that a more humane and comprehensive law governing information assets can be devised.” (p. 8) Her undertaking is of considerable importance because, according to Branscomb:

No information society will reach its potential without addressing the legal foundation upon which information is exchanged. That foundation is as necessary a component ofthe information infrastructure or ‘infostructure’ as the electronic global highways that we are rapidly constructing.

The boundaries between what is considered to be public information and what is considered to be private have been mov- ing targets for several generations now. Unless we are able to reach a consensus on the fair uses and prohibited abuses of information, we will never achieve the promise of living in an information society. (p. 8)

The bulk of Branscomb’s monograph is devoted to 9 “Who Owns” chapters, e.g.. “Who Owns Your Name and Address?” “Who Owns Your Electronic Messages?’ “Who Owns Gov- ernment Information?” She begins each of these chapters by relating one or more case studies that bear on the chapter’s subject. The chapters contain information about many other inci- dents as well. and they range from the merely frustrating or irritating to the maddening or infuriating. It is one of the strengths of the volume that Branscomb uses numerous case studies to illustrate the real-world nature of her subject. What Branscomb discusses bears greatly on our lives. Long before the end of the book is reached the reader likely will be appalled and dismayed at the degree to which privacy has fallen victim to the marketplace. Those who know how to convert certain products-or are they byproducts?-of the information society to their personal gam range from the merely enterprising to the unscrupulous.

The reader who has wondered how mail-order firms are able so quickly to have a person’s new address, following a move, will find the explanation in Branscomb’s monograph. It in- volves the U.S. Postal Service and its National Change of Ad- dress database, which list is made available “to some twenty- odd licensed address list managers who service the mass mailers who in turn fill up our mailboxes.” (p. 10)

The U.S. Postal Service is not the only entity that sells information about customers. Information is gathered through “point-of-sale” collection systems that take advantage of computer-read “frequent-shopper” cards that customers are en- couraged to use in response to merchandisers’ incentives. Use of the cards makes it possible for information to be gathered about customers’ purchasing preferences. Such information has great commercial value, in particular when put to use in target marketing. Credit card purchases may be the transac- tions of greatest value to those who exploit information for commercial purposes. According to Branscomb, American Ex- press has analyzed its card-holders’ purchases and has divided card-holders into six categories. to each of which it has given a name. from Rodeo Drive Chic to Value Seeker. American Express sells these lists to firms hoping to convert the information to commercial gain.

Not all ofwhat we might label “junk” reaches us courtesy of the postal system. We are subjected to a high (and likely growing) volume of “junk” phone calls, which are more irritating because they interrupt. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 199 1 has curtailed the use of ADRMPs (automatic dialer and recorded message player), but the legislation pertains only to calls “using an artificial or prerecorded voice.” (p. 33) If calls


we receive can be an irritant, calls we make can present their own problem, the loss of privacy due to use of Caller ID, in which the caller’s number is automatically displayed to the called party.

Computers easily and automatically record information by caller number. Some of this information-e.g., the volume of calls made to 800- and 900-numbers-is of value to telemar- keters and others. “[Tlhe telephone number is becoming a more universal identifier, at least for commercial purposes, than the social security number,” according to Branscomb. (p. 48) When a person’s phone number is correlated with the person’s zip code, which is often asked for, the result is “to give very accurate data about lifestyles, real estate values in the neighborhood, and purchasing practices. All of these can be used to pigeonhole your family into a category of purchasing habits that indicates how attractive a target you are for direct marketing of a given product.” (p. 48) As a result, according to Branscomb, it should be widely recognized “that the telephone number is a valuable commodity rather than an inconsequen- tial fact.” (p. 52) This recognition gives rise to a host of questions having to do ultimately with who owns the telephone number.

The popularity of electronic mail makes it especially appro- priate that Branscomb include a chapter devoted to it. She re- lates an incident in which the administrator for the electronic mail system of Epson America, Inc., discovered it was com- pany policy to read employees’ E-mail without their knowing it. When she learned of this, the employee, Alana Shoars, ar- gued it should not be done. She was fired the following day, though allegedly for reasons having nothing to do with her ar- gument about eaves-dropping on e-mail. When she and several other former employees brought a wrongful-termination suit in federal district court, the judge dismissed the case, agreeing with Epson’s attorney that “neither state privacy statutes nor federal statutes address confidentiality of E-mail in the work- place.” (p.93) The case attracted considerable attention, and a subsequent survey determined that, among the 301 companies surveyed, eavesdropping on employees’ various forms of communication-E-mail, electronic work files, voice mail-is common.

The reader likely will find some of the author’s “who owns” questions. and the related discussion, to be of greater interest than other questions and related discussion. (To the question,

“Who Owns Video Entertainment?” this reviewer found him- self replying: “Who cares?‘) But one need not pore over every case study in order to come to a greater appreciation for what is meant by the information age. Not all of it is appealing. One of the realities of the information age is that commercialism can be refined and heightened. Some who learn this may not receive it as good news.

Branscomb argues that. “Although we like to talk about living in an information age and an information society, we have yet to begin to comprehend the consequences of this shift, much less to accommodate it.” (p. 184) Although we spend vast sums on the machines necessary to access and manipulate information and vast sums to gather and distribute information, “we spend little on understanding the economics of information, less on developing a law of information, and perhaps only a little more on worrying about the ethics of information.” (p. 184) That is about to change, according to Branscomb, in response to outcry from those who believe they are the victims of unscrupulous or excessively zealous individuals or firms in the information marketplace.

Branscomb urges wide participation in the myriad efforts underway, on numerous fronts, to forge the laws, regulations, and court decisions that will govern uses of information. She points out it is not enough merely to complain about intrusions by those who seek to capitalize on information. One must participate in those areas in which participation is important. She concedes participation often is laborious and time-consuming, but the implication is clear: If those who complain are unwill- ing to participate. they forfeit their right to complain. Such participation is important, Branscomb reminds us, because at this time “the discourse is dominated by powerful vested interests with the human and financial resources to fight for laws favor- ing their own activities. If we as individuals ignore our stakes in these discussions over the deployment of information, our interests will be ignored.” (p. 182) That is sage advice. Coming on the heels of her numerous case studies, as the advice does, perhaps it will be given the attention it deserves. If so1 Branscomb’s study will have performed a valuable service.

Dennis Carrigan School cfLibrarJ> and Ir$ormation Science University of Kentucky Lexington. KY 40506-0039
