Book Reviews 599 the structure of MARC records, creating search strategies, using Boolean, proxim- ity, and truncation operators, complete with Venn diagrams—that would be at home in a library science textbook. This is undeniably valuable information, but it is likely to be skipped over by researchers and librarians who have even a pass- ing familiarity with online catalogs or databases. Altogether, the book offers a useful guide for researchers of Irish literature at all levels, as well as for the librarians who assist them. Librarians may also find the volume helpful for developing a collec- tion of print and electronic resources for Irish literary research.—Timothy Hackman, University of Maryland. Information Technology in Librarian- ship: New Critical Approaches. Eds. Gloria J. Leckie and John E. Bushman. Westport, Conn.: Libraries Unlim- ited, 2009. 297p. alk. paper, $50 (ISBN 9781591586296). LC2008-030424. Too often, arguments on technology begin with an already assumed benefit or detriment from the adoption of new technologies. Without the rationale that would expose issues related to the argu- mentative context as well as faulty rea- soning, the arguments cannot further the needed critical discussion. By providing the theoretical foundations for productive critical discussions and arguments on technology in connection to librarianship, this volume serves an essential comple- ment to current arguments on technology. Indeed, the volume’s stated purpose is to intensify and extend librarianship’s analysis of technology. Given the ever-evolving impact of technology on librarianship, this volume presents information vital for all working in librarianship and in related fields. As a second edition of Critical Approaches to Information Technology in Librarianship: Foundations and Applications (1993) edited by Bushman, one of the core strengths of this volume is the historical context it provides for current issues in relation to technology. The volume succeeds in presenting the needed context without delving into unnecessary details that could otherwise have detracted from the volume’s purpose. Texts on technology run the danger of being overly focused without sufficient context, and thus appealing only to those already familiar with a certain level of technology. Because this volume focuses on the issues and implications connected to technology, it will be accessible and useful for readers who are already famil- iar with critical discussions of technology as well as readers who are new to the conversation. Bushman and Leckie’s introduction opens the volume by giving a sense of the landscape for the critical discussions underway with the pertinent histories and contexts. They then explain six types of critical approaches present in each of the chapters in varying degrees, classifying these as critiques of and related to: capital control of technology; rationalization, control, and monitoring; the Information Revolution as ideology; feminist critiques of technology; technological utopianism; technology, politics, and the public sphere. The introduction offers a brief overview for each of these approaches, covering key points in the arguments along with their practical implications and significance. After laying the groundwork for the rel- evant conversations related to these core lines of inquiry, the volume itself is then divided into two sections: “Foundations” and “Applications.” The “Foundations” section includes five chapters that span a range of topics and themes, including: instrumentaliza- tion theory, which explains two ways to study technology, at the level of practical application and at the level of designed intent; surveillance and privacy issues; what it means for librarians to be infor- mation age workers in terms of labor and cycles of control and resistance for Internet freedom; technology, literacy, and the educational system with an analysis of the real issues at stake when technology 600 College & Research Libraries November 2009 is falsely offered as a cure-all to a range of social problems; and an analysis of the relationship of the library to the govern- ments under which they operate. “Applications,” the second section, contains seven chapters that are focused on more contained topics and themes, as opposed to the metalevel at which the chapters in the prior section operated. While these chapters operate within more defined domains, they also approach the interrelated concerns and implications of technology. Two particularly significant chapters in this section are those written by Michael F. Winter and Roma Harris. Winter writes about librarianship under modern capitalism, including the use of technology to remove the skill necessary for work, thereby deskilling work to be able to employ less skilled workers and to be able to have more oversight for all worker activities. Where Winter details the process by which work is actually deskilled, Harris shows how the work of librarianship has not been seen, resulting in the perception of librarianship as less skilled. Harris studies this phenomenon in context with cultural views on gender and technology and gender and librarian- ship. Building from the issues of gendered views of technology, Harris explores how the removal of the term “library” presents similar problems. Harris focuses on the erasure of references to libraries as the erasure of recognition for the work, skills, and history of the profession. Similarly, the general confusion presented by infor- mation science as a term is the focus of the first chapter in this section, while other chapters in this section explore the prob- lems of design and usability for library Web sites and catalogs in general and for specific users along with the impact of design choices for uncovering and hiding different types of information and aspects of technology; reasons for and concerns with Open Source Software; and issues surrounding digital preservation as more materials are digitized and digital only. Where each chapter draws out a spe- cific instance or concern for librarianship and technology, Bushman’s conclusion synthesizes them into a comprehensive argument on the imperative for librarian- ship to question and critique technologies. Because of the complexities and inter- connections for each of the chapters, the volume as a whole is stronger than any Statement of ownership, management, and circulation College & Research Libraries, ISSN 0010-0870, is published bimonthly by the Association of College and Research Libraries, a division of the American Library Association, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611-2795 (the owner). The editor is Joseph J. Branin, KAUST, King Abdullah University for Science and Technology, e-mail: joseph.branin@kaust.edu.sa, and the managing editor is Dawn Mueller, ACRL, 50 East Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611. Annual subscription price, $70.00. Printed in U.S.A. with second-class postage paid at Chicago, Illinois. As a nonprofit organization authorized to mail at special rates (DMM Section 424.12 only), the purpose, function, and nonprofit status of this organization and the exempt status for federal income tax purposes have not changed during the preceding twelve months. Extent and nature of circulation (Average figures denote the average number of copies printed each issue during the preceding twelve months; actual figures denote actual number of copies of single issue published nearest filing date: September 2009 issue.) 15a. Total number of copies (Net press run): average 13,949; actual 13,825. 15b(1) Paid/Requested Outside County: average 13,545; actual 13,400. 15c. Total Paid and/or Requested Circulation: average 13,545; actual 13,400. 15d(1). Free distribution by Mail Outside-County: average 9; actual 6. 15e. Total free distribution: average 9; actual 6. 15f. Total Distribution: average 13,554; actual 13,406. 15g. Copies not Distributed: average 399; actual 419. 15h. Total: average 13,949; actual 13,825. 15i. Percent Paid and/or Requested Circulation: average 99%; actual 99%. Book Reviews 601 of its individual parts. The individual sections and chapters, however, are also of considerable merit albeit on the more local level addressed in each. Any of the components, especially if supplemented by the introduction and conclusion, would be excellent reading for both stu- dents and professionals.—Laurie N. Taylor, University of Florida. The 2009 Annual Register: World Events. Ed. D.S. Lewis. Bethesda, Md.: Pro- Quest, 2009. 679p. $240 (ISBN 978-1- 60030-828-4). First founded in 1758 by Irish states- man and philosopher Edmund Burke, The Annual Register celebrates its 250th anniversary in September 2009. Now edited by D.S. Lewis, eighty-nine lead- ing historians, journalists, and academics have contributed to this 250th edition. Each contributor analyzes and interprets the most important events through the world in 2008. Section one, “The Annual Register,” begins with a personal history of the Annual Register written by M.R.D. Foot, former professor of modern history at Manchester University and the Royal Historical Society’s representative on the advisory board for The Annual Register. Foot’s essay looks at the history of The Annual Register and the publication’s importance today. Following the Foot piece is “The Annual Register 300th Edition: A Personal Future” by Richard O’Brien, member of The Annual Register advisory board and partner of Outsights. “Look[ing] at the emerging trends of 2008 to suggest potential futures” about how the world and The Annual Register might be in the year 2059, O’Brien highlights the Poles and Siberia, disappearing spaces like coastal lands and islands, outer space, innerspace such as scientific discoveries, neuroscience, religion, and medicine, and virtual space. Section one concludes with “2008: The Year in Review.” Sections two through ten, the bulk of the volume, are devoted to Western and Southern Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, the Americas and the Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa, Equato- rial Africa, Central and Southern Africa, South Asia and Indian Ocean, Southeast and East Asia, and Australasia and the Pa- cific. Statistics are given for each country including the capital, area, population, of- ficial languages, political system, head of state, ruling parties, head of government, currency, main IGO memberships, GNI per capita. Each essay examines politics, foreign affairs, economy, elections, and topics specific to certain countries such as drugs, terrorism, and civil conflict and corruption and human rights develop- ments, security. Section eleven discusses international organizations including the United Na- tions and its agencies; defense organiza- tions (North Atlantic Treaty Organization and Partnership for Peace); economic organizations (International Monetary Fund, World Bank, World Trade Organi- zation, and Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development); other world organizations (the Commonwealth, International Organization of Franco- phonie, Non-Aligned Movement, Group of 77, and Organization of the Islamic Conference); European organizations (European Union, Council of Europe, Or- ganization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and European Bank for Recon- struction and Development); other Euro- pean organizations (European Free Trade Association, Visegrad Group, Nordic Council, Council of the Baltic Sea States, Central European Free Trade Agree- ment, Central European Initiative, and Organization of the Black Sea Economic Co-operation); American, Arab, African, Eurasian, and Asia-Pacific Organiza- tions (Organization of American States, Rio Group, Southern Common Market, Andean Community of Nations, Carib- bean Community and Common Market, Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, League of Arab States, Gulf Co-operation Council, African Union, Southern African Development Community, Shanghai Co- operation Organization, Commonwealth