reviews


 

Book Reviews 85 

less than optimal, might indicate the au­
thors are not as aware as they should be 
of current technological advances. Some 
of the descriptions of current academic li­
brary practices, which have been en­
hanced by technology, omit crucial details. 
One example is the description of the use 
of OCLCs PromptCat service in conjunc­
tion with vendor approval plans. The ex­
ample fails to differentiate between blan­
ket approval plans, in which the library 
retains all items received, and approval 
plans in which titles are reviewed individu­
ally and either retained or returned. This 
difference is integral to being able to use 
PromptCat successfully. Moreover, there 
is some repetition throughout the book, 
but perhaps this is unavoidable because 
the three main sections are not mutually 
exclusive. 

However, these are minor caveats to 
a clearly written, interesting, and succinct 
outline of how technology and managers 
are inextricably linked. There is much 
here for the neophyte manager as well 
as for the seasoned old-timer. I found 
myself making extensive notes on areas 
to explore and questions to ask at my own 
institution, particularly in chapter 6, which 
addresses automated systems in collec­
tion management. This chapter will be of 
great value to both the collection man­
ager and the researcher. According to the 
authors, the potential utility of compar­
ing collection purchases with collection 
usage, departmental profiles, and stu­
dent course enrollment has been little ex­
plored, in part because “many libraries 
seem unconvinced of the value of the 
data.” Continued budgetary stringency 
in many libraries, combined with the need 
to look for ways to compress or move 
some library collections to storage, make 
this an extremely valuable chapter. 

I recommend this text to all who seek 
an in-depth appreciation of how tech­
nology has affected both internal prac­
tices and user services in the library. In 
the summary chapter, the authors state 
their belief that we still have a long way 

to go in managing the transition of the 
library “from one primarily physical to 
one primarily virtual.”—Gillian M. 
McCombs, University at Albany, SUNY. 

Rodgers, Terry. The Library Paraprofessional: 
Notes from the Underground. Jefferson, 
N.C.: McFarland, 1997. 361 p. $45, alk. 
paper. (ISBN 0-7864-0222-9). LC 96­
26371. 

In this book, Terry Rodgers chronicles 
the history of the library paraprofes­
sional and describes how the modern 
day paraprofessional a designation that 
represents more than 50 percent of all 
people who work in libraries is doing. 

The first section of the book is an over­
view of what has transpired over the past 
thirty-five years. Citing a wide range of 
sources, Rodgers describes the lack of 
respect often given the paraprofessional. 
This low opinion appears to stem from 
the differences (or lack thereof) between 
the MLS-holding professional and the 
non-library-degreed staff. The lack of re­
spect for paraprofessionals persists in 
spite of the fact that in most libraries the 
paraprofessional is expected to do what 
traditionally has been thought of as pro­
fessional-level work. (A trend that also rep­
resents a considerable savings in salary 
money for the institution.) 

The second section of the book traces 
the earlier history of the library parapro­
fessional. In tracking the various currents 
that make up the history of the worker in 
the library, Rodgers gives us a view into 
the social and work history of women— 
as women were and still are a majority of 
library employees—for the past hundred 
years. Women workers in the library 
faced grueling hours and high intellectual 
and social expectations but were re­
warded with low pay, and even lower re­
spect, by their male supervisors. Even 
when a large percentage of women left 
the library field to take higher- paying jobs 
during World War One, conditions for 
those who remained and those who came 
after did not change significantly. 



86 College & Research Libraries January 1998 

In the remainder of the book, Rodgers 
uses historical perspective to examine 
issues that have an impact on the mod-
ern-day paraprofessional. Because most 
library workers are women, a key issue 
for paraprofessionals is sexism. Rodgers 
explains how both historic misconceptions 
about women and the women themselves 
have worked to hamper the professional 
growth of the library worker. Also exam­
ined is how other issues, including low pay, 
lack of variety, micro management by im­
mediate supervisors, and lack of possible 
advancement, result in a great deal of 
dissatisfaction and burnout by todays 
paraprofessional. Possible solutions to 
these problems are presented, including 
better pay, more and diverse training, 
support organizations, and unionization; 
but unfortunately, according to Rodgers, 
these solutions either have been ignored 
or are ineffective. 

Rodgers presents a very grim view 
of the life of the library paraprofes­
sional. Admittedly there are problems, 
but after reading this book I wonder 
why anyone would work in a library as 
a paraprofessional. Almost the whole 
of the book is focused on what is wrong 
in the world of the library paraprofes­
sional with very few, if any, glimpses of 
what is right. Poor organization and lay­
out also distract from the books read­
ability and usefulness. In the introduc­
tion, Rodgers states that very little has 
been written about the library parapro­
fessional, yet the author found enough 
material to fill a thirty-seven-page bib­
liography, which she cites extensively. 
The extended use of quotations, com­
bined with the disorganized format, dis­
rupts the flow of the book to the point 
that it is difficult to read.—Tim Daniels, 
University of North Carolina at Asheville. 

Scholarly Publishing: The Electronic Frontier. 
Eds. Robin P. Peek and Gregory G. 
Newby. Cambridge, Mass., and Lon­
don: MIT Pr., 1996. 363 p. $35, alk. pa­
per. (ISBN 0-262-16157-5). LC 95-35556. 

Why read a printed-on-paper book 
about the new frontier of electronic 
scholarly publishing? Is not its very ex­
istence oxymoronic? Its format old-
fashioned? How can it be up-to-date for 
such a rapidly changing topic? 

Although it is true that the most recent 
observations and citations in this mono­
graph date from 1994, its content is any­
thing but out-of-date. It is a collection of nine­
teen essays by librarians, library and elec­
tronic technology experts and entrepre­
neurs, library school faculty, publishers, 
academic administrators, legal experts, and 
professors in religion, psychology, com­
parative literature, and public policy. Almost 
every essay is brimming with vision. Uto­
pian scenarios, voices of caution, and in­
quiries into the legal, societal, intellectual, 
and cultural probabilities and pitfalls join to 
raise profound questions still relevant and 
still unanswered. The authors collectively 
disagree with one anothers ideas provok­
ing a lively dialog in the readers mind. Ev­
ery chapter is convincing, persuasive, and 
informed. The divergence in opinions ex­
pressed allows the reader to glimpse the 
future while we are in the midst of uncer­
tainty and chaotic change. 

The unifying assumptions behind all 
the essays are that the future will be dif­
ferent and that electronics present op­
portunities, not solutions. Society has a 
moment of choice, of redirection un­
equaled since Gutenberg. Publishing, the 
exchange and distribution of knowledge, 
the creative process, and traditional ser­
vices such as libraries and scholarly pub­
lishing will be transformed. This book 
does not offer any reassuring certain­
ties as to how the changes will look; there 
is no consensus. And therein lies the 
books greatest power. Its discussions 
and contradictions invite the reader to 
imagine and question a vast gamut of 
options not all of which can coexist. It 
gives us the concepts and terms to ex­
plore what is happening now and chal­
lenges us to carry on in our own minds 
the envisioning, and next steps, in the