College and Research Libraries Letters Library Research To the Editor: I was happy to see the coverage given to problems in library research in the May, 1980 C&RL. However, several points were not made which should be aired: 1) The assumption that most librarians need to be taught basic research skills is misleading. Many librarians, especially academic librarians, are well-educated and hold several degrees; many of these degrees were awarded after considerable research skills had to be demonstrated. Basing re- search primarily on previous research may work well for true beginners, as any refer- ence librarian knows, but it is hardly worth- while advice for the sophisticated research- er. Moreover, this type of research often tends to strengthen, rather than examine, old assumptions, data, priorities and approaches to problems. After decades of being over· educated for our positions, li- brarians ache for an opportunity to prove it, not simply the skill to publish articles worthy of "faculty status." 2) If a librarian is not a member of a uni- versity faculty, obviously there's little opportunity, encouragement or reward for doing research. Of all "professionals," surely we work the longest hours, day for day, and suffer the greatest indignity from supervi- sion, accountability, status and intellectual security. We don't get overtime or release time, don't teach 12-16 hours a week, aren't expected to work at home, don't have summers off; in fact, rarely are we expected to read the professional journals, or discuss current professional issues at regular in- house forums. Paid conferences and con- tinuing education are also painfully limited. This sad state of affairs can be directly laid at the feet of library leaders and administra- tors, who are after all responsible for best using and developing their staff, and for set- ting standards of professionalism. COLLEGE & RESEARCH LIBRARIES 3) A minor point: Dr. Magrill, among many others, continues to promote the assumption that library research must con- cern itself with "information." This approach greatly lill!its the concept of li- brarianship, of research priorities, and is attractive mainly ' because "information" is more quantifiable than, say, education, cultural enlightenment, socialization, change, all of which libraries ·traffic in. As long as research in libraries concentrates on information processing, our skills, roles and self-images will move closer and closer to those of businessmen, engineers and scien- tists. And since we are none of those, we will lose touch with our true clientele, with our capabilities (and their limitations), and with the traditions of our greatly misunder- stood profession.-Paul B. Wiener, Special Services Librarian, State University of New York at Stony Brook. To the Editor: · That a logical, well-written article such as Mr. Shill's "Open Stacks and Library Peformance" (May 1980) should fall short of proving its basic hypotheses, is a telling in- dicator of the lingering general lack of re- search capability in the discipline of library science . A good grasp of the problem and suf- ficient data were not enought to stimulate any substantive research beyond the level of descriptive statistics , thereby resigning all hypotheses cast to remain as nothing more than untested .assumptions. What is Mr. Shill's level of confidence? Which tests for significance did Mr. Shill perform to prove statistically that his columns of figures were or were not related significantly in some way? The dismissal of increased enrollment as a possibly intervening variable is highly sus- pect. Indeed, too many likely factors, which could have been correlated with those vari- ables identified for description, were either I 527 .528 I College & Research Libraries • November 1980 mentioned only in passing or summarily ignored. In conclusion , Mr. Shill's lucid and se- rious p~esentation did not complete the task of analyzing the variables associated with closed and open library stacks . Scientific re- search demands rigorous quantitative test- ing of all data on which hypotheses are based . Library science is certainly no excep- tion.-P. Robert Paustian , Collections Librarian, University of Missouri at Kansas City. To the Editor: Sound methodological criticism is essen- tial if library science is to. establish itself as a scientific discipline. Unfortunately , Mr. Paustian has misunderstood the statistical basis of "Open Stacks and Library Perform- ance, " applied inappropriate criteria for evaluating my research , and arrived at incorrect conclusions as a result. The crucial flaw in Mr. Paustian's critique is the apparent assumption that my data was drawn from a sample of some larger popula- tion. If this were the case, significance tests would , of course, be necessary to confirm that the statistical distributions in my tables could not have occurred by chance. Howev- er, the data used in this statistical case study are population parameters, not sam- ple statistics . Parameters are fixed values corresponding to the actual characteristics of a population. Significance tests and confi- dence levels are used to determine whether inferences about population characteristics can legitimately be made from sample sta- tistics . Since no sample has been used and no effort has been made to generalize these findings to a larger population , his objections are irrelevant and invalid. The t ype of criticism offered by Mr. Paustian is essential for the d evelopm ent of rigorous research standards in library sci- ence. Though his objections must be dis- missed in this case, I hope he will continue to offer such criticism . Our re search will be better for it in the long run.-Harold B. Shill, Head Librar~an , West Virginia Uni- versity , Morgantown . THE APPRAISAL JOURNAL Mail To: FOR KNOWLEDGE & EXPERIENCE Professionals seek the knowledge and experience of other professionals when they need help outside their field. 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Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60611 Please enter my subscription for: 0 The Appraisal Journal & "The Appraiser"-$20 0 The Appraisal Journal only- $15 (Add $1 for foreign subscriptions) 0 "The Appraiser" only-$7.50 0 Please bill me 0 Payment is enclosed Name ____________________________________________________ __ Firm ----------------------------------------------------- Address __________________________________________________ __ City, State, Zip-----------------------...,....-- WHEN IT COMES TO MEDICAL LIBRARIES- MLA WROTE .THE BOOKS INTRODUCTION TO REFERENCE SOURCES IN THE HEALTH SCIENCES Fred W. Roper and JoAnne Boorkman Roper and Boorkman present bibliographic and information sources basic to reference work in the health sciences, highlighting selected works frequently used by reference librarians, particulary U. S. publications. While written with the library school student in mind, librarians and health sciences library users also will find it a valuable resource. 256 pages, hardcover. $18.00 + $1.00 for postage and handling. DIRECTORY OF THE HEALTH SCIENCES LIBRARIES IN THE UNITED STATES, 1979 Compiled and edited by Alan M. Rees and Susan Crawford, with the assistance of Margaret Henning The Directory is the most comprehensive and current guide to health sciences libraries in America. An indispensable tool for librarians, administrators, and health care planners, lists 2,775 health sciences libraries, with pertinent data on user populations, resources, staff, and access to online data bases. Geographic index. More than 13,000 health-related organizations were surveyed including medical schools, hospitals, medical societies, allied health programs, health maintenance organiza- tions, health systems agencies, as well as governmental and industrial organizations. This survey is a joint project of Case Western Reserve University and the American Medical Association. 356 pages, softcover, $25.00 + $1.00 for postage and handling. FORTHCOMING MEDICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY IN AN AGE OF DISCONTINUITY Scott Adams Adams, former Librarian of the National Institutes of Health and Deputy Director of the National Library of Medicine, presents a social history of medical bibliography from World War II to the present. He examines development of medical bibliography in rela- tion to the political, social, scientific and technological changes in the U. S., focusing on the information requirements of biomedical research. Publication date: March 1981. Order from: Medical Library Association, Publication Dept., 919 N. Michigan Ave., Ste. 3208, Chicago, IL 60611 s:~~· ·:::::·~·8:· ~· ·:::::·~·8:· ~· ·:::::·~~~· ·:::::·:::::·~· ~· ·:::::·:8·8:· ~· ·:::::·~·8:· ~· ·::8··