College and Research Libraries 292 College & Research Libraries Dowell, Arlene Taylor. AACR2 Headings: A Five-Year Projection of Their Impact on Catalogs. Littleton, Colo. : Libraries Un- limited, 1982. 146p. $22.50 U.S./$27 elsewhere . LC 82-9927. ISBN 0-87287- 330-7. Arlene Taylor's dissertation (published under her former name) has received much public attention. Her presentations and dis"semination of the preliminary and final findings, and the timeliness of these, may have left some librarians feeling that reading the finished product is unneces- sary. This impression is a mistaken one. Taylor was able to give the library commu- nity some needed information, but this work is much more than a way to answer the question, "How much might AACR2 and desuperimposition cost my library?'' The work makes several major contribu- tions to library practice and research. One is the clear description and analysis of the problem that confronted libraries in im- plementing AACR2 while using Library of Congress cataloging in the current card cat- alog environment. The careful description of the problem and the development of hypotheses, choice of methodology, and analysis of data, provide insights into the dissection of a complex problem. The result is the information needed to ana- lyze the problem in the reader's own li- brary. On a more general level, the work ad- dresses the problems faced by the catalog- ing administrator who must look at the complex bibliographic environment, and improve the relatively rudimentary ways by which most of us continue to provide bibliographic access. It suggests some means of analyzing this environment to- ward increasing our understanding of the forces at work in maintaining a catalog. The work also looks at the entire question of costing library services. Research that looks at costs and describes alternative models is still at a basic level. Taylor's work has moved us closer to planning with facts rather than planning primarily by instinct. One of the early discoveries made by Taylor was that librarians know very little about the proportion of types of headings in the card catalog. Taylor has docu- July 1983 mented the disproportionate number of personal names in our catalogs. Her dis- covery, that sampling theory may not pro- duce samples of a sufficient size to mea- sure the characteristics of other kinds of headings, is an important one. As re- search into catalog use proceeds, it be- comes more and more important for us to understand the inherent biases of the cata- logs we build, so that we can interpret our research findings correctly. Taylor has laid a foundation for studies into the nature of modern catalogs . The work is easy to read, and not overly "cataloger-ish" in its approach to the problem. It is clearly a landmark study and should be read by all professionals.- Nancy R. John, University of Illinois at Chi- cago. Chen, Ching-chih, and Hernon, Peter. In- formation Seeking: Assessing and Antici- pating User Needs . New York: Neal- Schuman, 1982. 205p. $22.95. LC 82-6320. ISBN 0-918212-50-2. This book is an important contribution to an ever growing body of literature on the needs of information users. Breaking new ground in methodology (first time use of telephone survey), the study covers a wide geographic area (six states). The in- vestigators place information seeking in context, distinguishing between occupa- tion related and nonoccupational informa- tion needs, and view the library as one of many competing information providers. Use of the telephone survey technique allowed a very large sample to be sur- veyed at low cost: 2,400 persons were con- tacted in six New England states. Analysis of the data revealed that respondents drew heavily on interpersonal providers for most of their information needs, and that libraries constitute a secondary and often unimportant resource. Although li- braries were consulted by 17 percent of all respondents (a figure higher than prior studies conducted in Baltimore, Seattle, and California), libraries ranked only ninth among all information providers. This conclusion is not surprising consid- ering the wide diversity of information needs and information seeking covered by these studies. The decision of the present investigators to distinguish work-related information needs from other information needs yielded significant results: two- thirds of the use of libraries is in work- related information settings, particularly in relation to technical issues, getting or changing jobs, or organizational relations. The occupational categories most likely to use libraries were students, professional and technical workers; these groups ac- counted for 40.9 percent of all library use. While these data suggest that further re- search into work-related information seeking might yield important data for li- brary planning, the authors also discuss seven action areas which might improve the market share of libraries among com- peting information providers: informa- tion services to special populations, ex- panding services, technology, marketing, public relations, alternate funding sources, and future studies. The authors are to be congratulated on their ability to present the results of this major statistical study in a concise and highly readable fashion. This book should be read not only by those interested in re- search on information needs and informa- tion seeking, but also by all those seriously interested in the future role of libraries as information providers.-Peter ]. Paulson, New York State Library. Information Technology: Critical Choices for Library Decision-Makers. Ed. by Al- len Kent and Thomas J. Galvin. New York: Marcel Dekker, 1982. 504p. $57.50. LC 82-14886. ISBN 0-8247- 1737-6. At first glance it appears that this work is merely another gallimaufry in the widen- ing arena of the II technological eco- sphere," as Thomas Galvin, coeditor, so aptly describes the environment. It is, on the contrary, an extraordinarily valuable compendium of the information econ- omy. Although II awesome'' is a cliche-tinged adjective, in its original sense it can be ap- plied to this volume-the fourth number in a series of Pittsburgh conferences focus- ing on the technology and its relationship to libraries. The editors wisely repeat their successful formula of the past: careful or- Recent Publications 293 ganization; impeccable research; an eye for the dramatic; as well as contributors who can serve as linchpins for the confer- ence, such as Richard Boss, Toni Bear- man, and Jane Hannigan. How can librarians deal with the critical local and national decisions that involve complex questions concerning issues in the information society? The five key de- velopments considered are: the impact of technology on librarians; the local choice and local commitment; the network level decision; the human factors in human consequences; and the competition in the private sector. During the 1970s, most librarians were willing to leave to the experts such con- cerns as mass storage technology, micro/ mini/mainframe computers, data com- munications, networking, distributive processing, data entry-display-response, in addition to the important topic of soft- ware. The assembly of the 400 at Pitts- burgh, however, attests strikingly to li- brarians' current awareness of the diverse environmental and social impacts of tech- nological decisions. In this collection the statements of Rob- inson, Bruntjen, Pollis, Rolhf, and Simp- son emphasize a growing demand for li- brarians' participation in questions in- volving trade-offs among conflicting values and equity issues. We also note an increasing challenge to the so-called ex- pert's opinions. How can the librarian in the trenches participate in these decisions? One an- swer lies clearly in a more informed librar- ian community. The level of librarian awareness of technical issues is most cer- tainly heightened, for example, in the pa- pers on network level decisions by Haas, A vram, Rochell, Brown, and Handley. The opportunity through the proceedings to peruse the comments of any one of the other thirty-one contributors is a reward- ing enlightenment. The comments on hu- man factors by Sara Fine, Agnes Griffen, Lewis Hanes, and James Nelson are also luminous efforts in sensitizing librarians to cope with the new technology. Galvin cogently notes that the aspira- tion of the Pittsburgh faculty members was II to share at least a part of the spirit of