College and Research Libraries


Recent Publications 

BOOK REVIEWS 

Editor's note: Book reviews will continue to be an integral part of College & Research Li­
braries. Newly appointed book review editors Stephen J. Lehmann and Robert Walther 
comment on the importance of reviews and solicit participation in the process.-GStC. 

As the incoming editors of C&RL's book review section, we would like to present to the 
ACRL membership an explanation of what we intend and what you can expect. At the core 
of our activity is the conviction that the reviews we publish can offer academic librarians a 
forum for significant and challenging ideas and that the book review is a medium through 
which authors, reviewers, and readers participate in a process of intellectual engagement, 
a process critical to the vitality and even integrity of our profession. 

Readers can expect first of all that the author's intentions will be conveyed as clearly as 
possible. This not only satisfies basic standards of intellectual honesty and professional 
responsibility, but also states the terms of the dialogue that the work initiates and to which 
the review is a first response. Only when authors have been taken seriously on their own 
terms can the reviewer position books appropriately in larger contexts, whether institu­
tional, intellectual, historical, or political. 

Much of our focus will be directed toward these larger contexts. Ours is one of very few 
journals directed to the whole of academic librarianship, and we have a serious obligation 
to review books on cataloging, collection development, reference, and other aspects of pro­
fessional activity from the perspective of academic and research libraries. However, we 
also need to widen the frame and deepen the perspective in which we see ourselves and 
our profession by considering works on higher education, the institution of the academy, 
publishing, issues of gender and race, scholarship, technology, management, and organi­
zational behavior. The ongoing challenge will be to integrate these kinds of issues into our 
day-to-day professional concerns. 

Inclusiveness also characterizes the pool of reviewers we hope to attract. In addition to 
the participation of librarians from university and research libraries, we need reviewers 
from small colleges and, of course, the perspectives of women and minorities. Through the 
newsletters of ACRL's Women's Studies and College Libraries Sections, we have already 
put out a call for reviewers, and we would like to extend this invitation to all groups within 
the academic and research library community. And while reviews are recognized as an op­
portunity for younger librarians to write and publish, we also value the knowledge and 
seasoned talents of experienced professionals. 

Too often book reviews are relegated to the periphery of scholarly communication, 
where they are perceived only as the "white noise" of academic discourse. We intend to do 
everything we can to ensure that this is not the case in our field and in this journal, and we 
look forward to your participation, whether as writers or readers, in this effort. 

STEPHEN J. LEHMANN 
ROBERT WALTHER 

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