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College and Research Libraries
November 2002, Vol. 63, No. 6

Book Review

Evolution in Reference and Information Services: The Impact of the Internet. Ed. Di Su. Binghampton, N.Y.: Haworth (Copublished simultaneously as The Reference Librarian, no. 74), 2001. 230p. $49.95, cloth (ISBN 0789017229); $24.95, paper (ISBN 0789017237). LC 2001-59402.

Reference service is like dance; it is more fun to do it than to write about it. Let us be grateful, then, for prescient librarians such as Su Di, assistant professor and head of information literacy at York College (CUNY), who recognize the importance of documenting the metamorphosis of information delivery. Di is also a research librarian at PKF PC, a national accounting and consulting firm.

The book begins with a history of electronic reference from 1930 to 2000 and then diverges into four sections: Teaching and Training, Electronic Services, Evaluation and Analysis, and Information Technology Management.

The twelve contributions by academic librarians tend to be case studies with practical applications for any type of library. The one anomaly is an Internet health information guide for consumers. I read the book on the long way back to Philadelphia from the Special Libraries Association conference in Los Angeles and wondered, if these chapters were conference sessions, which ones would I attend? They are all worthwhile, but I found some more compelling than others.

The essays in Teaching and Training tend to reflect our love affair with “information literacy.” The authors acknowledge the seduction of students by the fool’s paradise of search engines but do not entertain the possibility that information literacy may be a fool’s errand. However, the research findings described in this section do hold numerous useful insights about what does and does not work in coaching students.

“E-mail Reference: Who, When, Where and What Is Asked” is an overview of the current state of e-mail reference in general and, specifically, at Colorado academic and public libraries. The bulk of the report is a close examination of two years of observation at Colorado State University. Although no earthshaking conclusions about the value of e-mail reference are presented, the detailed usage statistics provide an interesting tool for comparison.

“Internet Engineering Reference: An Academic Strategy” chronicles a University of Texas library’s active confrontation with the widening gap between the reference desk and library users. The boom in new classroom and residence facilities presents challenges with which many readers will readily identify. In their analysis of reference questions, the staff uncovered interesting trends: Although “I need information on . . .” still predominates, the biggest change is represented by questions concerning access and computer-related problems. What aren’t they asking? They seldom ask about which index to use, a sad indication of their misguided reliance on the public Internet. The marketing and public relations aspect of reference service is also addressed. “We have changed our thinking—the Web makes the library remote from its users, not the other way around.”

I thought I was a keen evaluator of Web content, but “Historical Fabrications on the Internet” shocked me out of complacency. Frightening examples of hate literature and biased reports skillfully disguised as historical fact prove that malicious misinformation is more pervasive than many of us could have imagined.

“The Impact of ‘Scholar’s Workstations’ in an Undergraduate Library,” in the IT management section is an excellent model of successful project management. The systematic treatment does not omit the distressing detours taken and is a useful lessons-learned account for any type of library planning a major technological change.

Almost a century ago, Thomas Edison predicted that the motion picture would replace the book. Similar forecasts ascribe the future demise of printed matter to the Internet. Today, we teeter on the brink of the Semantic Web, which will, according to Tim Berners-Lee who invented the World Wide Web in 1989, relegate the Web to antiquity by 2005 (http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee). Evolution in Reference and Information Services is refreshingly void of theoretical assumptions, focusing, instead, on down-to-earth practical observances by innovative and astute reference librarians. The articles are well referenced, and the index is faultless. This is an inspiring and educational work for information students and veteran librarians alike.—Terese Mulkern Terry, University of Pennsylvania.