reviews


Book Reviews 81 

tics of Race and Blame) and multiculturalism 
(e.g., Bergin and Garveys Multiculturalism 
from the Margins: Nondominant Voices on 
Differences and Diversity), as well as sev­
eral excellent and challenging reviews of 
feminist and lesbian titles that are not 
available in most mainstream journals. 
And where else would you find a review 
of Beverly Guy-Sheftalls Words of Fire: An 
Anthology of African-American Feminist 
Thought (New Press, 1995)? A “must-read” 
is Sanford Bermans review of Paul Kivels 
Uprooting Racism: How White People Can 
Work for Racial Justice (New Society Pub­
lishers, 1996). 

“Pamphlet Reviews” contains re­
views of fifteen pamphlets with compact 
authoritative information vital to the 
users of all kinds of libraries. Of special 
interest is the inclusion of several pam­
phlets from foreign governments and 
organizations. 

Of the twenty-nine magazine re­
views, it is quite apparent that all of 
these publications should be accessible 
and made available to patrons and that 
librarians should ensure their wider dis­
semination to a general public who are, 
for the most part, unaware of them. 

There are four video reviews includ­
ing one for Frantz Fanon: Black Skin, White 
Mask, which makes evident its great 
potential for Black Studies Departments 
as well as in public and academic library 
collections. This issue also contains 
three reviews of CD-ROMs, including 
Earth Summit: The NGO Archives. Inclu­
sion of the listing, “Bibliographic Tools 
for the Alternative Press,” and the pub­
lishers and author/title indices, makes 
Counterpoise an excellent reference tool. 
This is a publication that should be in all 
academic and public libraries.—E. J. 
Josey, University of Pittsburgh. 

Dosa, Marta. Across All Borders: Interna­
tional Information Flows and Applications: 
Collected Papers. Lanham: Scarecrow 
Pr., 1997. 420 p. $69.50, alk. paper. (ISBN 
0-8108-3198-8). LC96-21269. 

Publication of a book that is no more 
than a collection of previously printed 
articles is a gamble. Two of the most 
obvious dangers are the lack of a sus­
taining theme and the reproduction of 
material that is so old as to be obsolete. 
This volume contains twenty-one pa­
pers originally published between 1974 
and 1994 in sources that are admittedly 
often obscure and, no doubt, now hard 
to acquire. The articles are grouped into 
six main themes: the role of informa­
tion in economically developing societ­
ies; information-sharing through human 
resource networks; information and 
problem-solving; information policies; 
information education and training; and 
transnational corporations and Third 
World information flows. 

Dosa is based at Syracuse Univer­
sity and has had experience of an im­
pressive range of international projects. 
The undoubted strength of this collec­
tion of papers lies in the interdiscipli­
nary, global, and humanistic approach 
that informs all of her writing about in­
ternational information flows. It is re­
freshing to read work that declines to 
use the clichéd assumptions and reli­
gious fervor typical of so much writing 
on information technology. Dosa is 
clearly concerned about people and 
their environment, and all her questions 
stem from this: For example, how can 
the South benefit from First World tech­
nology; can the technology be made 
mutually acceptable; and what is the 
exact nature of information diffusion? 
People occupy a central position in her 
work as the agency that turns data into 
knowledge, and she has a recurrent 
concern about building bridges between 
North and South when considering the 
role of information in economic, social, 
and cultural development. Another im­
portant thread running through the book 
is that of communication as a basis of 
trust and mutuality, and this is where 
Dosas own experience and personality 
emerge most clearly. 



82 College & Research Libraries January 1998 

Important insights stem from Dosas 
writing. To give just a few examples: In­
formation is value laden, far from neu­
tral, and may be disruptive and at worse 
imperialistic; indigenous information sys­
tems have the ability to harness initia­
tive, creativity, and motivation which may 
be impeded by imported systems; and 
the main impact of consultants is felt af­
ter they have left the scene of their inter­
vention. Dosa also explores topics such 
as South—South cooperation; equity and 
the information economy; and ideologi­
cal and social influences on environmen­
tal information transfer. One of the most 
impressive of her insights concerns the 
theory/practice gap, especially where this 
is exacerbated by tensions between im­
ported and indigenous systems. 

In introducing the concept of infor­
mation fatigue, Dosa writes: “people 
are tired of hearing about supersys­
tems and superproducts, they just want 
the right information when they need 
it.” It is a pity, however, that the rest of 
this book is not so forthright. There is, 
unfortunately, a rather tired air to much 
of it and a distinct feeling of déjà vu. 
The importance of cultural sensitivity 
and respect for indigenous information 
systems and practices by those purvey­
ing international aid now is so estab­
lished that it hardly needs spelling out 
at great length. The consequence of 
republishing a set of articles is that there 
is considerable repetition. Too many of 
the contributions culminate with a plea 
for more research and lack what is miss­
ing from so much academic writing of 
this type: a clear, unambivalent, and 
challenging idea of what the author is 
thinking. 

Disappointingly, the author has failed 
to provide an up-to-date overview of the 
field. In this way, she could have drawn 
the readers attention to the ageless 
truths in her writing while explaining the 
passages that now are of historic inter­
est only. Instead, she has engaged the 
services of a colleague to write an intro­

duction which does little more than pick 
out general themes and explain the 
structure of the book. 

The books technical quality is high. A 
comprehensive bibliography of twenty 
pages is divided by theme and subdi­
vided into international and country stud­
ies. The index is separated into name 
and subject sections. The former is a 
comprehensive listing of citations whose 
full bibliographic description is found at 
the end of each paper. The latter con­
tains some quaint references, for ex­
ample, “electronic mail, see computer-
mediated communication (CMC).” It also 
highlights some of the jargon that per­
meates the text: “criticality resonance,” 
“quality circles” and “parallel organiza­
tions” are just a few unfortunate ex­
amples.—Christopher Merrett, University of 
Natal, Pietermaritzbúrg, South Africa. 

Gateways to Knowledge: The Role of Academic 
Libraries in Teaching, Learning and Research. 
Ed. Lawrence Dowler. Cambridge, 
Mass.: MIT Pr., 1997. 240 p. $35, alk pa­
per. (ISBN 0-262-04159-6). LC 96- 31423. 

Gateways to Knowledge is a collection of 
essays addressed primarily to a Harvard 
audience. The papers were given at a 
conference supported by the Council on 
Library Resources as part of the strate­
gic planning process at Harvard College 
Library. A steering committee of librar­
ians oversaw the process, and many 
other librarians, scholars, and adminis­
trators from Harvard participated. 

Editor Lawrence Dowler, associate li­
brarian of Harvard College for Public Ser­
vices, uses the concept of gateway to 
elaborate on the changes that the col­
leges library system needs to address as 
it prepares for library services into the 
next century. To this end, many of the es­
says delve into the current advances be­
ing made in the technological transfor­
mation of scholarly information. Though 
most of the authors tie their remarks to 
the theme of a changing Harvard, some 
rehash progress reports of electronic text