reviews 90 College & Research Libraries There are other lessons that apply to libraries, one of the more important of which is both political and economic in origin. Because the Cold War is over, mar­ ket capitalism has acquired a hitherto unknown hegemony; and because net- worked information technology, though largely a creation of the federal govern­ ment, is developed in the private sector, entrepreneurialism has acquired an un­ precedented prestige. For many, it sup­ plies a fundamental cultural and ethical framework increasingly embraced by a wide variety of professionals who once looked to independent intellectual and critical models of our high culture. Intel­ lectuals, and many writers as well, ea­ gerly try to become businessmen, and many librarians seem bent on joining them. But our ability to profit from books such as The Social Life of Information de­ pends very much on our ability to resist this temptation. Clearly, there is much to admire and learn from here, but there is nonetheless a kind of Victorian faith in progress and problem solving through invention, inno­ vation, and exploitation of the market. I suspect that the key underlying assump­ tion of the book is that networking is an unquestioned good. Although there can be little doubt about how useful electronic networks can be, we need to be able to frame a larger context in which we can evaluate how networks function, some­ thing like the systems theory of the Ger­ man writer Niklas Luhmann. Perhaps then we could recover some of the pri­ vacy and security of the stand-alone mod­ els of the past and the connectivity of the network models of the present and the future. Thus there may be a particularly relevant connection between networking and the productivity paradox, but unless we can find this larger context, we would never be able to see it.—Michael F. Winter, University of California-Davis. The Collaborative Imperative: Librarians and Faculty Working Together in the Informa­ tion Universe. Eds. Dick Raspa and Dane Ward. Chicago: ACRL, 2000. January 2001 158p. $24, alk. paper (ISBN 0-8389-8085-6). LC 00-028392. The Collaborative Imperative addresses a broad, amorphous, but clearly important, aspect of academic librarianship—coop­ erative working relationships with class­ room faculty. The editors, a professor of interdisciplinary studies at Wayne State University and the coordinator of instruc­ tion services at Central Michigan Univer­ sity library, also cowrote three of the chap­ ters, which seems particularly appropriate given the subject matter. Wisely dispensing with the need to es­ tablish the importance of collaboration, the book quickly moves on to deal with both the theoretical and practical aspects of collaborative undertakings. The central themes of the work are the need for ac­ tive listening, creative dialogue, and the kind of mutual trust and respect that can grow only from personal connections. The primary focus of The Collaborative Imperative is on projects that go signifi­ cantly beyond the scope of librarian–fac­ ulty interactions generally expected in realms such as bibliographic instruction and collection development. These more common forms of interaction are identi­ fied in the book as “cooperation” or “co­ ordination,” and although they are ad­ dressed throughout, most chapters as­ sume these kinds interactions already exist. Much of what is said in the book is relevant to these less complex forms of interaction and might serve to enhance them, but it is the overt hope of the au­ thors to inspire more ambitious, “out-of­ the-box” collaborative projects. The book consists of eight diverse chapters that collectively deal with a broad range of different aspects of col­ laboration. Conceptual and psychologi­ cal issues share the pages with accounts of successful programs, tips for success­ ful collaboration, and other more concrete information. As in any compilation of texts by different authors, the whole is somewhat uneven and written in very different voices. Each chapter, however, clearly revolves around the central theme, and by dealing with different facets of the Book Reviews 91 topic, each manages to reinforce the whole in its own way. Two of the more conceptual chapters were cowritten by the editors, Dick Raspa and Dane Ward. “Listening for Collabo­ ration” is largely an encomium to collabo­ ration, casting it in an almost mystical light. The chapter’s title accurately reflects its primary theme, which recurs through­ out the book. On a more concrete level, the authors also lay out their Five Ps of Collaboration—Passion, Persistence, Playfulness, Project, and Promotion. Per­ haps the most enjoyable chapter in the whole book is “New Science and Collabo­ ration in Higher Education,” in which they discuss collaboration through such diverse lenses as quantum mechanics, Myers-Briggs types, and the psychologi­ cal flow state. (Although not stated, the reviewer is firmly convinced that the au­ thors represent Myers-Briggs Intuitive types!) Two chapters provide access to addi­ tional resources on the topic. “Creating Connections” serves as the more tradi­ tional literature review. The author, Doug Cook from Shippensburg University, ac­ knowledges the impossibility of a com­ prehensive treatment of literature on the subject and addresses broad categories of articles through example. In doing so, he identifies several areas that typify librar­ ian–faculty collaborative projects, such as curriculum-integrated library instruction, team teaching, and Internet instruction. A different tack is taken by Cook and Ward in “A Postmodern Directory of Elec­ tronic Resources,” which represents an attempt to provide long-term access to Internet resources by providing both a Web bibliography and suggestions for strategies and search terms for ongoing research. Whether this is an effective way to deal with the ephemeral nature of in­ formation on the Web remains to be seen, but the sentiment behind the attempt is noble. Two chapters consist of exposition on successful collaborative projects that ex­ emplify the themes of the book. In “Case Studies in Collaboration,” Scott Walter from Ohio State University brings to­ gether five accounts of exemplary pro­ grams, which are treated in depth. Most of these projects are well documented in library literature (the bibliographic in­ struction program at Earlham College, the UWIRED program at the University of Washington, etc.). The author of each case study uses quotes from the participants that illustrate lessons for collaborative enterprises in general. In “Collaborations in the Field,” Bee Gallegos of Arizona State University West and Thomas Wright of Brigham Young University provide short overviews of a wide variety of col­ laborative projects reported in a 1998 sur­ vey. These projects cover a much more diverse field than the case studies; most are less well known. Most of the treat­ ments are just long enough to whet the appetite; luckily, each includes a contact source for additional information. In “The Librarian as Networker,” Shellie Jeffries of Wayne State University discusses the findings of a survey of li­ brarians and faculty members concerning their perceptions and preferences regard­ ing collaborative projects. It is unfortunate that the sample of returned surveys was relatively small (twenty-one from each group), so its findings must be regarded as anecdotal. Still, the comments reveal some evident patterns, which the author has framed as useful tips for librarians who want to optimize their cooperative relationships with classroom faculty. In the final chapter, “The Future of Collaboration between Librarians and Teaching Faculty,” Jean Caspers of Or­ egon State University and Katy Lenn of the University of Oregon make predic­ tions about the continuing impact of in­ formation technology in higher education and suggest ways to promote the unique contribution of librarians in this environ­ ment. The eclectic nature of the contributions to The Collaborative Imperative may frus­ trate some readers. There is a distinct mental whiplash factor in moving from one chapter that is theoretical to the point of abstraction to another that consists pri­ 92 College & Research Libraries marily of “how we done it good” accounts of specific projects. Of course, the posi­ tive spin on this is that the book has some­ thing for everyone. On the whole, it is an enjoyable treatment of its subject matter, with useful insights and tips on enhanc­ ing librarian–faculty collaboration for the benefit of both their academic constitu­ ents and the collaborators themselves.— John Payne, Furman University. Hakken, David. Cyborgs@Cyberspace?: An Ethnographer Looks to the Future. New York and London: Routledge, 1999. 264p. $60, alk. paper, cloth (ISBN 0-415-91558-9); $18.95, paper (ISBN 0-415-91559-7). LC 98-38185. This is a difficult book to read and suffi­ ciently marginal to librarianship that the value for us of Hakken’s insights probably is not worth the trouble it will take to read them. The reason for reviewing the book here at all is that the “cyberspace” that con­ cerns Hakken is not Internet chat or pa­ tron information-seeking behavior but, rather, the manner in which culture influ­ ences “information systems develop­ ment,” which he abbreviates as ISD. Hakken is writing from a multiply marginal position. He is an anthropologist in a technical institute, working with en­ gineering colleagues who, as often as not, do not see the value of social science in general. Because he is an enthusiastic pro­ ponent of STS (Science, Technology, and Society studies, investigating the “cultural construction of techno-science”), he faces, as well, opposition from those who see science as objective and universal. Within anthropology he is in the more recently re­ spectable, but still defensive, community of scholars who study Europe and North America rather than non-Western cultures; and among them, he studies work, work­ ers, and workplaces rather than larger communities. Finally, he is a Marxist and a Post-Modernist, expressed in almost un­ readable prose. If all that were not enough, a good part of the literature Hakken and his col­ leagues are producing analyzes some­ thing whose very existence, much less January 2001 definition(s), is argued: Does the fact that many claim we are undergoing a “com­ puter revolution” that is creating new forms of work mean much, anything, or something different when work and workers are studied? Hakken seemingly never met jargon he did not embrace. My saying this is partly a question of theoretical differences with Hakken. I see nothing gained by the Marxist term social formation in place of society or social organization, but Hakken defends the term as “not giv[ing] unwar­ ranted priority to any one level,” like na­ tional. But in other cases, it is a matter of Hakken apparently wanting to frame ev­ ery thought with a unique term, regard­ less how opaque the result. An important point is the differentiation of views of computers and computing as either good or bad for the larger society, in terms of jobs lost, benefits gained, shifts in loca­ tions of power, etc. But to label the con­ trasting views “computopian” and “compputropian,” and then to use the terms frequently, impedes reading, as do neologisms such as “cyborgification,” “machinofacture,” and “cyberfacture,” or “preanthropoic” versus “transanthropic,” to cite only a few. Hakken’s view of social theory em­ phasizes individual actors rather than structures, which leads him to use (mostly as abbreviations) many unfamiliar terms: TAN (Technology Actor Network), ANT (Actor Network Theory) and ANTers who practice it, not to mention RANT (Realist ANT) and TANT (Technocist ANT.) More familiar terms such as “labor theory of value,” “computer revolution,” and “computer-mediated communication” almost always occur, chapters away from their introduction, as LToV, CR, and CMC. And so on, very far on, indeed. As a post-modernist writer who would deny the possibility of an authori­ tative text (“my personal walkabout in cyberspace has given me glimpses of a truly different world, and I wish to share them”), Hakken would likely object to a reviewer pointing out omissions from the