College and Research Libraries 376 College & Research Libraries From the outset Franklin stresses the fact that she is analyzing library net- works as social phenomena, rather than approaching them from the usual tech- nical standpoints found throughout li- brary literature. The reader may remain unconvinced by her assertions regard- ing the effectiveness of applying social network theory to all aspects of library networking, but they nonetheless are thought-provoking and no doubt pos- sess certain usefulness. For instance, the act of sharing contributed bibliographic data is obviously better advanced if a spirit of cooperation rather than compe- tition prevails as a driving force between a central nationwide utility and its sub- ordinate regional networks. This book is well-documented,ยท and provides excellent insight into the entire database ownership/copyright contro- versy. It is this latter contribution that is perhaps its greatest merit. Much re- search has been published on this issue, but this particular work offers a useful and refreshing historical assessment- Thomas D. Kilton, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Lancaster, F. W. If You Want to Evaluate Your Library ... 2d ed. Urbana, ill.: Uni- versity of illinois, Graduate School of library and Information Science, 1993. 352p. $39.50 (D-87845-091-2). When F. W. Lancaster published the first edition of If You Want to Evaluate Your Library ... in 1988, the book received praise from numerous reviewers who recognized its value for practicing li- brarians as well as library school stu- dents. The second edition follows the organizational pattern of the first, but the author has nearly doubled the length of the book. Vrrtually all the chapters are longer and significantly revised. As in the first edition, Lancaster focuses only on the evaluation of public services. New chapters, however, are devoted to the evaluation of bibliographic instruc- tion and continuous quality control. In the introduction Lancaster dis- cusses the need for evaluation in the context of Ranganathan's Five Laws of Library Scienc~. He concludes that only July1994 by evaluating their activities can librar- ies adapt to changing conditions. In the first section, entitled "Document Deliv- ery Services," the author offers chapters on the evaluation of library collections, using expert judgment and bibliog- raphies as well as circulation data and in-house use. Other chapters discuss peri- odical use, obsolescence and weeding, use of space, catalog use, and shelf availability. In the second section, ''Reference Serv- ices," chapters address question answer- ing, database searching, and bibliographic instruction. A concluding miscellaneous grouping of chapters covers resource shar- ing, cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit studies, and continuous quality control. The chapters are well organized and move smoothly from discussions of re- search issues to evaluation methodolo- gies. Evidence is clearly recorded and displayed in the many "exhibits." In addi;. tion, the book is very well written. Far too often reading about evaluation and re- search methodologies in library science proves painfully dull. This is not the case with Lancaster's book. Although he spe- cifically intended the first edition to serve primarily as a library school text- book-thus the creative study questions which conclude each chapter in both editions-the expanded second edition offers much to the practicing librarian who needs to assess a particular library service. It will inspire and inform both experienced and new librarians as well as library school students. Lancaster notes in his introduction that evaluation can be either subjective or objective, but he takes the position that it is most valuable when it is analyti- cal and diagnostic. In other words, evaluation is most usefully employed when it seeks to discover how a service might be improved. Evaluation, he pos- its, is an essential management tool that will permit identification of the best ways to improve performance. In this way Lancaster always links evaluation with what can perhaps best be labeled vision. He clearly believes that only through evaluation can librarians gain the insight to design and improve services that ad- dress the needs of their clientele. The chapters devoted to assessing the quality of library collections offer a solid overview of the various method- ologies available to the librarian. Col- lection developers and bibliographers will find them very useful. In contrast, the chapter on evaluation of catalog use initially seems too brief and far too superficial (only eight pages in length), but the author supplements it with im- portant sections of a later chapter de- voted to database searching. His assessment of the research leads him to conclude that the transformation of the card catalog into an online data- base has not improved subject access. While catalogs have grown larger since the advent of automation, ac- cording to Lancaster there has been no significant increase in their discriminat- ing power. He concludes "that signifi- cant improvements are not possible within the constraints of existing subject cataloging practice." The section on evaluation of reference service focuses primarily on answering of factual ques- tions. The author devotes considerable attention to a single unobtrusive study. While other such studies are briefly noted, he does not review various re- search approaches. He discusses instead a variety of'factors that affect the quality of question answering services in librar- ies in a very useful fashion. Lancaster often comments on his own published evaluative research con- ducted throughout his long career as a library science educator. For instance, his investigation of the teaching-related- ness of library and information science journals leads him to argue that this fac- tor, as well as research-relatedness, needs to be considered in the evaluation of journals in an academic library. He also frequently injects his assessments of research and methodologies with pro- vocative suggestions, such as "One sus- pects, in fact, that a colorful display on 'Books that have never been borrowed' might be a great success." The book of- fers an excellent mix of research on aca- demic and public libraries. Lancaster cites numerous review articles in addi- tion to articles reporting empirical re- Book Reviews 377 search, and surveys both U.K and U.S. research as well. Current debates do not escape Lancas- ter's attention. He frequently empha- sizes evaluating access, noting in his introduction that "access, rather than ownership, should be the main criterion by which a library's resources should be evaluated." While somewhat ironic, it is also perhaps predictable that access to If You Want to Evaluate Your Library ... for most librarians will mean the local collec- tion, if not one's personal professional li- brary. This book is an important achieve- ment that most librarians will want to find near at hand.-Cmig S. Likness, 1tinity Uni- versity, San Antonio, Texas. Rethinking Reference in Academic Li- b~aries. Ed. Anne Grodzins Lipow. Berkeley, Calif.: Library Solutions Press, 1993. 242p. $32 (ISBN 1-882208- 02-1). This publication presents the proceed- ings and "process" documents of a three-day institute held in 1993 at the University of California, Berkeley and repeated at Duke University. According to organizer Anne Lipow, the impetus for the institute was the need to raise new questions and generate new ideas concerning academic libraries. Lipow chose to focus on reference librarians, a group she characterizes as a receptive and change-oriented audience. Audio- tapes of the formal presentations from the Berkeley gathering are also available for purchase. This book is divided into three parts: the proceedings, the process documents, and the appendices. Keynote speaker Jerry D. Campbell calls for participants to search for new foundations for refer- ence and recognize that new models will have a profound impact on the library as a whole. This lead article is followed by equally eloquent contributions by an im- pressive array of library leaders, con- sultants, educators, administrators, and practitioners, including Terry Mazany, Charles Bunge, Suzanne Calpestri, Vrr- ginia Massey-Burzio, Frances 0. Painter, Janice Simmons-Welburn, Karen Wil- liams, Larry Oberg, and James Rettig.