reviews 384 College & Research Libraries Centered Approach”) is virtually unread­ able, written in impenetrable infoscispeak (e.g., “The problems in processing the in­ finitely large multitude of nonlexical ex­ pressions are insurmountable for any mechanism, when the satisfactory autono­ mous processing of them is the goal”). Of all the selections, Karen Drabenstott’s lucid, logical, and practical “Web Search Strategies” may be most valuable to information desk librarians and other Internet users. Curiously and unfortunately absent are ideas and actual examples of how to simplify and improve information access in typical public, school, and academic libraries. Also missing is the recognition that most such institutions are wholly and traditionally dependent on “outside copy” from the Library of Congress and vendors (including library networks), that this copy is frequently flawed and dysfunctional, and that the library and information science profession appears totally immobilized about actually im­ proving the situation (for example, devot­ ing more staff and resources to critical copy revision and enhancement, as well as dynamic subject heading reform, cross-referencing, and innovation at lo­ cal and network levels, in tandem with efforts to correct and reinvigorate the cata­ loging operation at LC and make govern­ ing codes, such as AACR2, more Index to advertisers Academic Press 333 ACRL 378 AIAA 306, 368 American Psychological 347 Annual Reviews 386 CHOICE 377 EBSCO cover 2 Faxon/Rowecom cover 3 Greenwood Publishing 299 Haworth Press 354 Liberty Fund 316 Library Technologies 303 Marcive 300 OCLC cover 4 Ovid Technologies 368 July 2001 user-friendly and less mystifying). Con­ tributors further neglect the fact that some obviously needed and recommended changes in cataloging and indexing have been undertaken on a serious, consistent basis—not merely as one-shot experi­ ments—at systems such as Hennepin County in Minnesota and in book indexes such as those for the biennial Alternative Library Literature (McFarland). Indeed, a whole chapter deals with the benefits of including more searchable and content-clarifying notes in bibliographic records, which HCL has rigorously and successfully done for almost two decades. And those notes have not been mindlessly and completely “scanned in” but, rather, fashioned by individual catalogers who exercise their intellect and judgment in deciding what may or may not be of genuine utility. Given that indexing and retrieval are major book themes, the index itself should have been outstanding. Although better than most, it lamentably lacks many whole entries and contains incom­ plete citations for others. Finally, and inexplicably, for a work dealing in part with cataloging and ema­ nating from an eminent library school, there is no cataloging-in-publication (CIP) entry or LC control number.—Sanford Berman (formerly employed by Hennepin County Library). White, Herbert S. Librarianship: Quo Vadis?: Opportunities and Dangers as We Face the New Millennium. Englewood, Colo.: Libraries Unlimited, 2000. 399p. $65 (ISBN 1-56308-807-X). LC 00-041219. Herbert White is an intellectual bruiser, an agent provocateur, a deep thinker, and a man who cares about librarians and li­ braries right down to his boots. Were he ever up for confirmation before a congres­ sional committee, his voluminous writ­ ings probably would lead to his being “borked” because there is enough in those writings to convict him of every conceiv­ able offense against the common wisdom and the party line. Book Reviews 385 This book, the third collection of his writings, consists, in the main, of his writ­ ings since the mid-1990s, including col­ umns written for the long-running “White Papers” in Library Journal, book reviews, articles, and speeches. Almost all were written in the period following his retirement from Indiana University’s School of Library and Information Science (perhaps retention of the word library in the title of what is now a notorious nest of “information scientists” is in deference to its former dean?). For that reason, the reader will look in vain (and with a con­ tented sigh?) for research articles. This is a good thing as White is at his best at full journalistic throttle using what Marion Paris’s introduction, startlingly, character­ izes as “plenty of irony, hyperbole, and reductio ad absurdum together with broad-brushed exemplifying, occasion­ ally cruel directness and unrelenting bombast.” This reviewer is very partial to all of the foregoing, and one suspects that Dr. White will relish the description, but introducers are usually more given to gilding lilies and air-brushing portraits than is Dr. Paris. This volume contains sixty-one pa­ pers, speeches, and reviews on a wide variety of topics. One has to warm to a man who writes an essay on librarianship called “Edmund Burke” and says that the silver-tongued eighteenth-century phi­ losopher/politician “played a key role in shaping my philosophy of the profes­ sional responsibilities of a librarian.” Well-read thinkers are, alas, rare in mod­ ern librarianship. Other papers tread more-well-worn paths, even when bear­ ing fanciful titles. (“Is anyone training the circus animals?” and “Who will lead the unsuspecting lemmings over the cliff?” are irresistible come-ons to the topics of technology and the dreadful Benton Re­ port, respectively.) When reading these essays, I have tried to discern a golden thread or an organizing principle. I have come to the conclusion that the common threads are clarity of vision and a pugna­ cious dislike of humbug. Even when, in my opinion, he is wrong, one cannot dis­ pute that he sees things straight and pierces the fog of verbosity and jargon that proclaims inferior thinking. Though White delights in being a contrarian, his views are more complex than simple contrariness and some of the things against which he tilts are commonly despised by the majority of librarians who give thought to them. There cannot be many of us who like what went on during the assassination of Berkeley’s library school, think “the information superhigh­ way” a useful metaphor, or approve of most library “outsourcing.” On the other hand, White does not hesitate to question whether libraries are crucial to society, to decry the fact that librarians are not asser­ tive enough (particularly in seeking ad­ equate salaries), and to prefer managers to leaders in creating successful libraries. White has been involved in librarianship (a term that he—and I—prefer to “library science,” a coinage, and the only serious error, of the sainted Ranganathan) for fifty- plus years. Given that wealth of experi­ ence and his opinionated character, one can rely on an alternately exhilarating and infuriating tour of almost all library top­ ics, great and small. My favorite essay in this book is “The legacy of John Swan,” in which he praises Swan, who died cruelly young, for his principled defense of intel­ lectual freedom for all. In his encomia of Swan’s often lonely stands, White creates, probably unwittingly, a character sketch of himself and his principles. This is a valuable plum pudding of a book with far more plums than dull bits. Librarianship has far too few Herbert Whites, and we should value those we have.—Michael Gorman, California State University-Fresno.