College and Research Libraries investigators to distinguish work-related information needs from other information needs yielded significant results: two- thirds of the use of libraries is in work- related information settings, particularly in relation to technical issues, getting or changing jobs, or organizational relations. The occupational categories most likely to use libraries were students, professional and technical workers; these groups ac- counted for 40.9 percent of all library use. While these data suggest that further re- search into work-related information seeking might yield important data for li- brary planning, the authors also discuss seven action areas which might improve the market share of libraries among com- peting information providers: informa- tion services to special populations, ex- panding services, technology, marketing, public relations, alternate funding sources, and future studies. The authors are to be congratulated on their ability to present the results of this major statistical study in a concise and highly readable fashion. This book should be read not only by those interested in re- search on information needs and informa- tion seeking, but also by all those seriously interested in the future role of libraries as information providers.-Peter ]. Paulson, New York State Library. Information Technology: Critical Choices for Library Decision-Makers. Ed. by Al- len Kent and Thomas J. Galvin. New York: Marcel Dekker, 1982. 504p. $57.50. LC 82-14886. ISBN 0-8247- 1737-6. At first glance it appears that this work is merely another gallimaufry in the widen- ing arena of the II technological eco- sphere," as Thomas Galvin, coeditor, so aptly describes the environment. It is, on the contrary, an extraordinarily valuable compendium of the information econ- omy. Although II awesome'' is a cliche-tinged adjective, in its original sense it can be ap- plied to this volume-the fourth number in a series of Pittsburgh conferences focus- ing on the technology and its relationship to libraries. The editors wisely repeat their successful formula of the past: careful or- Recent Publications 293 ganization; impeccable research; an eye for the dramatic; as well as contributors who can serve as linchpins for the confer- ence, such as Richard Boss, Toni Bear- man, and Jane Hannigan. How can librarians deal with the critical local and national decisions that involve complex questions concerning issues in the information society? The five key de- velopments considered are: the impact of technology on librarians; the local choice and local commitment; the network level decision; the human factors in human consequences; and the competition in the private sector. During the 1970s, most librarians were willing to leave to the experts such con- cerns as mass storage technology, micro/ mini/mainframe computers, data com- munications, networking, distributive processing, data entry-display-response, in addition to the important topic of soft- ware. The assembly of the 400 at Pitts- burgh, however, attests strikingly to li- brarians' current awareness of the diverse environmental and social impacts of tech- nological decisions. In this collection the statements of Rob- inson, Bruntjen, Pollis, Rolhf, and Simp- son emphasize a growing demand for li- brarians' participation in questions in- volving trade-offs among conflicting values and equity issues. We also note an increasing challenge to the so-called ex- pert's opinions. How can the librarian in the trenches participate in these decisions? One an- swer lies clearly in a more informed librar- ian community. The level of librarian awareness of technical issues is most cer- tainly heightened, for example, in the pa- pers on network level decisions by Haas, A vram, Rochell, Brown, and Handley. The opportunity through the proceedings to peruse the comments of any one of the other thirty-one contributors is a reward- ing enlightenment. The comments on hu- man factors by Sara Fine, Agnes Griffen, Lewis Hanes, and James Nelson are also luminous efforts in sensitizing librarians to cope with the new technology. Galvin cogently notes that the aspira- tion of the Pittsburgh faculty members was II to share at least a part of the spirit of 294 College & Research Libraries discovery and constructive dialogue within the library and information com- munities that was characteristic of the con- ference itself." They succeeded most admirably.-LeMoyne W. Anderson, Colo- rado State University. Lancaster, F. W. Libraries and Librarians in an Age of Electronics. Arlington, Va.: IRP, 1982. 229p. LC 82-081403. ISBN 0- 87815-040-4. ''The book is laden . . . with all the de- fects of a first attempt, incomplete, and certainly not free from inconsistencies. Nevertheless I am convinced that it con- tains the incontrovertible formulation of an idea which, once enunciated clearly, will ... be accepted without dispute." Thus does Oswald Spengler introduce The Decline of the West, which rests on the the- sis that creative intellect is dead and that Spengler is the last philosopher whose ยท task is to ''sketch out this unphilosophical philosophy-the last that West Europe will know" (The Decline of the West, New York, Knopf, 1926, p.46-50). Lancaster's book is not a first attempt. In stitching together several previously pub- lished papers, it comes dangerously close to being a textbookish cut-and-paste bib- liographic review on the topic, ''The De- cline of the Library-maybe for sure." The author hopes the book "will stimu- late members of the library profession to reassess the role of the librarian as an in- formation specialist in a time of extensive social and technological change" (p.vii). Not likely. Like Cassandra, Lancaster's curse may be in being right, but un- heeded. If Cassandra had had a word processor and graduate students to help her would Troy have declined faster or slower? There is also the possibility that Lancaster does not have Apollo's gift of prophecy and is just plain wrong or mis- reading the data. There is, for example, the statement that ''development of ADONIS (Article Deliv- ery over Network Information Systems) has been stimulated by the finding that photocopy requests made to the British Li- brary Lending Division are dominated by requests for articles issued by commercial publishers and that 80% of all requests are July 1983 for articles 5 years old or less" (p.75). The source of this misinformation is not pro- vided, but one need only think of the age spread of books circulated by libraries or lSI's citation data by date to get a different picture. Or, check the record. (A. Clarke, "The Use of Serials at the British Library Lending Division in 1980," Interlending Review 9: 111-171981.) There may be a pa- perless society and possibly even a project ADONIS in our near future, but not if a short information half-life is the critical factor. Lancaster, finally looking back on more than 300 citations, years of thinking and teaching about librarians' electronic fate, consulting for the CIA, and massive expo- sure to the hard radiations of the Univer- sity of Illinois Library administration, can only ask at the end of his unphilosophical philosophy, ''Will the paperless society be in place by the end of the century? It seems highly likely that it will. But only time will tell" (p.206). This reviewer cannot recom- mend the work as being either particularly conclusive or stimulating as the basis for either that question or its answer.-Larry X. Besant, Linda Hall Library, Kansas City, Missouri. McGarry, Kevin J. The Changing Context of Information: An Introductory Analysis. Hamden, Conn.: Shoe String, 1982. 189p. $19.50. ISBN 0-85157-325-8. Intended as a textbook in the founda- tions of information work, K. J. McGarry's survey is a ramble through the concepts and history of library and information sci- ence. McGarry has chosen a conversa- tional style, presumably to make the mate- rial more accessible to a generation raised in the aural tradition. Loosely connected clauses, eccentric punctuation, and fre- quent changes of tense, number, and per- son give the work the informal tone often found in transcriptions of taped inter- views. While McGarry's devices of casual discourse may ease the way for the mod- ern student, they are obstacles for the old- fashioned reader of library literature who expects and prefers expository prose. The word deals with four aspects of in- formation science: epistemology, the his- tory of writing and printing, scholarly