College and Research Libraries


66 I College & Research Libraries • january 1981 

Busha, Charles H., and Harter, Stephen P. 
Research Methods in Librarianship: 
Techniques and Interpretation. New 
York: Academic Pr. , 1980. 417p. $ 19.50. 
LC 79-8864. ISBN 0-12-147550-6. 
This book is a good one, designed for use 

as a research-methods textbook in library 
school courses and as a handbook for prac-
ticing professionals who are engaged in re-
search projects or in the review of them. 
Beyond the introduction to research and the 
scientific method, the book is set up in 
three main parts . The first, methods of re-
search, considers in some detail survey re-
search, historical research, and operations 
research. Each section contains a descrip-
tion of the research techniques applicable to 
the method, the pitfalls surrounding the 
particular method , and a description of 
some of the completed research projects in 
librarianship that serve as examples of the 
particular method being discussed. 

The chapter on survey research is the 
most comprehensive. The authors introduce 
the issues of populations and samples , offer 
comments on the advantages and disadvan-
tages of the questionnaire , and introduce 
types of questions that are included in ques-
tionnaires. Good advice is offered on the 
preparation of a questionnaire and on the 
scaling of the responses. 

In the chapter on historical research , the 
authors describe the search for evidence 
undertaken by the historian. They analyze 
and classify sources according to whether 
they are primary or secondary and classify 
types of records that are considered primary 
sources. 

Also included in the first section are short 
discussions on the case-study method , li-
brary-user studies, evaluation research, con-
tent analysis , community surveys, and the 
Delphi method. 

The second part of the book introduces 
descriptive and inferential statistics. The ex-
planations are clear and concise and are 
welcome in this guide to library research. 
The final section of the book offers advice 
on the computer and the calculator as aids 
to research, on writing a research proposal, 
and on writing a research report. 

Good textbooks enhance the development 
of librarianship. The profession indeed will 
be well served by this excellent text on re-

search methods in librarianship.-Beverly 
P. Lynch, University of Illinois , Chicago 
Circle . 

Library Lit. 10-The Best of 1979. Edited 
by Bill Katz. Metuchen, N.J . : Scarecrow, 
1980. 512p. $12. LC 78-154842. ISBN 
0-8108-1213-4. 
Boring. What seemed like a new and ex-

citing concept ten years ago is now old and 
faded. Perhaps that is just symptomatic of 
the transitory nature of our times. 

Boring. The fact that there is still, despite 
a recent proliferation of specialized library 
journals , so little library literature that 
makes for stimulating reading on the part of 
the faithful reader is discouraging. It is hard 
to believe that Katz can really think that "a 
prudent reading of the past ten years will 
show that there is no more stimulating, no 
more exciting profession than being a librar-
ian" (p. vi) . 

Boring. The nine articles on libraries and 
librarians, the eight articles on technical 
services/readers' services , the seven articles 
on communication and education , and the 
six articles on the social perogative that con-
stitute the thirty articles selected by this 
year's panel of judges to represent the best 
of 1979 are indeed , for the most part, sim-
ply boring. Not one of those articles really 
catches the reader's imagination or stands 
out as one that will prove to be of e nduring 
value . 

Despite my obviously unfavorable 
attitude toward the series as a whole at 
this point and toward this particular 
volume, some comment on the particular 
volume is needed. Approximately half of the 
articles are either by , or are of potential in-
terest to, academic librarians . Not bad and 
worth our attention on that score alone. Un-
fortunately, most of them (e.g. , DeGennaro 
on " Library Administration and New Man-
agement Systems") appeared in journals 
that we all read regularly . What was of in-
terest on first reading somehow doesn 't al-
ways seem quite as exciting on rereading 
only a short while later. A few (e.g., Hickey 
on "The American Librarian's Dream : Full 
Bibliographic Control" ) are from more 
obscure sources that we might not normally 
encounter . It is helpful to have them 
brought to our attention here . A few, and