reviews.indd tation? Or, as Helen Tibbo suggests in her essay, “The Impact of Information Technology on Academic Archives in the Twenty-first Century,” could more proac- tive archivists lead to a greater likelihood that adequate procedures and protocols are put into place to ensure the scientific and cultural heritage found in blogs and Web sites are preserved for future genera- tions? Taken as a whole, this collection is a clarion call for aggressive leadership on the part of archivists, whose function is too often regarded as minor or even a luxury. Interestingly, the three themes, which are the core of Nicholas Burckel’s advice to today’s archivists in the opening chapter, “Academic Archives: Retrospect and Prospect,” are very similar to the recommendations he offered in his contri- bution to this book’s predecessor, College and University Archives: Selected Readings (1979). More than one author underlines this same point: for all the changes archi- vists have seen, most tend to be in how archivists go about achieving their core mission, not so much in the core mission itself. In as much as the contributions are uniformly provocative, thoughtful, and well-documented, I am reluctant to single out just a few chapters as examples, yet space does not allow for a summary of every chapter. Nevertheless, I cannot resist highlight- ing the paper by Hyry, Kaplan, and Wei- deman that is reprinted from the Spring/ Summer 2002 issue of American Archivist. This is an extremely useful response to a Index to advertisers Annual Reviews 208 Ashgate cover 3 Cambridge University Press cover 4 CHOICE Reviews Online 226 EBSCO 211 H.W. Wilson cover 2 IGI Global 207 Joblist 249 Modern Language Assoc. 214 RBMS Preconference 234 Resources for College Libraries 306 Book Reviews 303 concern found in almost any university archives: how to decide what kinds of faculty papers are most appropriate for collecting in the university archives. As with the other essays in this book, read- ers are treated to a lucid and thorough consideration of the pragmatic and politi- cal factors that must be addressed, and are then provided with suggestions and solutions that would be feasible at most kinds of institutions. However, this may be the best place to return briefly to the fact that the contributors are all employed at research institutions. While most of the authors acknowledge where appropri- ate that some of their proposals may be beyond the means of smaller universities, it would have been interesting to include the perspectives of a few archivists at such institutions. In all, a first-rate contribution to the professional literature.—W. Bede Mitchell, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, Georgia. The Desk and Beyond: Next Generation Reference Services. Eds. Sarah K. Stein- er and M. Leslie Madden. Chicago, Ill.: Association of College and Research Libraries, 2008. 172p. $26 (ISBN 978- 0-8389-0964-5). LC 2008-004797. Over the past several years, the ways in which academic librarians have been of- fering reference services to their campus community has changed and evolved. Li- brarians have embraced the information age and its attendant technology to find innovative and creative ways to adapt and change with the times. The Desk and Beyond: Next Generation Reference Services presents a look at how 13 academic librar- ies have used technology to achieve these goals. It is a compilation of contributed papers on the topic of current and future trends in reference services with the use of the digital environment. The ideas here range from the easily doable to the inventive. Yet each will prove cost-effective and liberating to academic librarians, especially those who embrace this new frontier. Libraries, 304 College & Research Libraries librarians, and their campus constituents will all benefit from the ideas and the ways they can be implemented. Each chapter presents an idea and then gives in-depth details about how the idea was created, planned out, and offered to the campus community. The librarians report on how each was implemented, and each specific case study comes with its atten- dant insight gained from the experience. The physical reference desk is adapted to go where the campus libraries’ users are or to invite them to find the librarians in those arenas that are most frequented by those users. Some ideas involve the use of already existing resources. It could be simply the librarians going “on the loose” by taking a laptop and desk outside the physical library and setting up shop in other campus buildings, or it could be the use of text and instant messaging to invite library users to use those methods to facilitate librarians’ expertise for their research needs. Many aspects of the new technology, especially those related to communication, are utilized for the cause of furthering the use of academic libraries and librarians. The chapters are written in clear and concise styles even though each is deliv- ered from a different library or group of librarians. The approach serves to make the volume readable. The editors have en- deavored to make the work approachable and the content easily understood. The supporting documentation when present- ed in each case is nicely articulated and comprehensible. The librarian authors, while ranging in various degrees of skill, expertise and experience, have shared their achievements and knowledge in very accessible prose. The accompanying bibliographies offer resources for further research and more understanding before attempting a specifi c project. This book shows the trends as well as the increasing use of the digital environ- ment in librarianship. It is highly recom- mended reading for librarians, even those who have attempted or have already May 2009 implemented some of the ideas covered here.—Loreen S. Phillips, University of Texas–Dallas, Richardson, Texas. Schwedt, Rachel E., and Janice DeLong. Core Collections for Children and Young Adults. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2008. 207p. cloth, $50.00 (ISBN 0-8108- 6115-2). LC 2008-15070. Readers should be warned: the book annotations found in Core Collections for Children and Young Adults will make you want to read each and every title that the authors included. The authors, Schwedt and DeLong, have gathered together a list of 355 books that have significantly contributed to the children’s and young adult literature. Being an award-winning book was one criterion that the authors used to identify which of the more cur- rent titles were significant enough for inclusion. Most were published after 1994. A chapter on classic titles includes books that have remained in publication for over fifty years even though they may never have received an award. Other than these criteria, the authors do not make it clear how they made the fi nal selections for inclusion. The authors, one a librarian and the other a professor of English and children’s literature, have experience in creating lists of children’s books and indi- cate that any books included in their 1997 book, Core Collection for Small Libraries: An Annotated Bibliography of Books for Children and Young Adults, would be excluded from this book. This does raise the question as to whether the book really provides a core collection. Therefore, both books should be considered together when evaluating or building a collection. The authors also indicate that they have excluded some titles that have received extensive media attention, another core collection ques- tion mark. The authors provide some excellent descriptive information about each title. For each book, the authors give a full cita- tion, although they do not mention how long each book is. A list of awards that a book has won is given, as well as a list of