Reviews.indd


century editions of books of hours when 
the Council of Trent prescribed new con-
tent for these popular prayer books. 

Due to the specialized nature of these 
case studies, this volume is appropriate 
only for research collections and spe-
cial collections in the history of books. 
However, the themes that emerge from 
the essays taken as a whole should be of 
interest (and concern) to all librarians and 
archivists: nearly every essayist describes 
the unfortunate effects of war, revolution, 
and censorship on library collections. 
In a sort of prehistory of scholarly com-
munication, several of the contributors 
show how collectors shared their books 
and opened their libraries to local and 
itinerant scholars, creating communities 
of interest that led to the creation of new 
knowledge. In matters more pertinent to 
everyday library operations, the authors 
note the historical importance of catalogs 
and what they reflect about their owners’ 
collecting goals; they describe shelfmarks 
and shelving methods and show how 
these suited the needs of the reader/ 
owner; they provide physical details on 
individual books that give us hints on 
how particular readers used books and 
texts. The stories these researchers tell 
about individual books tell us what mat-
tered to those early scholars, writers, and 
collectors and perhaps can help inform 
contemporary guardians of libraries both 
great and small on how best to serve the 
people who use them.—Cecile M. Jagodz-
inski, Indiana University. 

Patriotic Information Systems. Eds. 
Todd G. Loendorf and David Garson. 
Hershey, Penn.: IGI, 2007. 258p. $99.95 
(ISBN: 159904594X). LC 2007-24490. 

On any given day how often do you log in 
to a social networking site, an e-commerce 
site, a search engine interface (such as 
iGoogle, or My Yahoo!), or your library’s 
ILS? What information are these sites 
gathering about you, and what conclu-
sions can be drawn from this information? 
Have you recently done searches for in-
formation on Islam and chemical warfare 

Book Reviews 289 

for two different students? Taken out of 
context, how would these searches look 
to outside eyes? How many electronic 
databases currently contain personal 
information about you? Are these data-
bases Web accessible? How diffi  cult is it 
for government agencies to gain access to 
these databases? 

Of the innovative Web technologies 
of the last few years, the inclusion of 
databases in the online environment will 
prove to have some of the longest-last-
ing impacts on how private information 
is gathered, stored, disseminated, and 
reused. The combination of social Web 
and semantic Web reaches deep into our 
society as people increasingly communi-
cate, shop, and gather information while 
being logged into Web sites that may or 
may not be gathering data related to their 
activities. 

In Patriotic Information Systems, editors 
Todd Loendorf and David Garson gather 
together a collection of essays that exam-
ine how state and federal government 
policies relating to information privacy 
have changed since the pivotal events of 
September 11, 2001. This book examines 
how the current administration’s view of 
citizens’ right to have access to govern-
ment information, combined with a dis-
regard for personal privacy in a data-rich 
environment, is leading us, as a country, 
toward a society where a citizen’s basic 
right to privacy is in jeopardy. 

In the first three chapters—“Bush 
Administration Information Policy and 
Democratic Values,” “Less Safe: The Dis-
mantling of Public Information Systems 
after September 11,” and “Expanding Pri-
vacy Rationales under the Federal Free-
dom of Information Act: Stigmatization as 
Talisman”—the authors examine how the 
Bush administration views information 
privacy and documents the government’s 
move backwards in its interpretation of 
the Freedom of Information Act. In the 
chapter “Expanding Privacy Rationales,” 
the author explains that, currently, a rea-
son for denying a Freedom of Informa-
tion request is the possible stigma that a 



290 College & Research Libraries 

person or agency whom the document is 
about may incur. 

In “Access to Information and the Free-
dom to Access: The Intersection of Public 
Libraries and the USA PATRIOT Act,” the 
authors examine two surveys conducted 
by the Library Research Center at the 
University of Illinois. One of the surveys 
examines the impact on libraries and li-
brary patrons of the attacks on September 
11; the other examines what eff ect the 
USA PATRIOT Act has had on libraries 
and their users. These studies, combined 
with a Pew Internet and American Life 
survey, paint a picture of libraries in flux. 
Changing policies and tightening library 
security oft en conflict with our patrons’ 
right to explore diverse ideas and read 
as their interest guides them. 

In “Watching What We Read: Impli-
cations of Law Enforcement Activity in 
Libraries since 9/11,” the authors discuss 
a nationwide study conducted by the 
American Library Association’s Offi  ce of 
Information Technology Policy examin-
ing the impact that inquiries by federal, 
state, and local law enforcement agencies 
have had on public and academic librar-
ies. The study found evidence that these 
law enforcement agencies had requested 
information regarding patrons’ informa-
tion-seeking and reading habits. Few if 

Index to advertisers 
ACRL Publications 284 
American Psych. Assoc. cover 3 
Annual Reviews 267 
Bernan 241 
Bowker 294 
Brill 200 
CHOICE 226 
EBSCO 204 
Emery-Pratt 293 
H.W. Wilson cover 4 
IGI Global 199 
Intelex cover 2 
Perry Dean Architects 223 
The Roper Center 203 
Serial Solutions 251 

May 2008 

any changes were made by libraries in 
response to these requests. 

Other chapters include “Security, 
Technology, and Democracy Resisting 
Government Internet Surveillance by 
Participating in Politics Online and Of-
fline,” “Security, Sovereignty, and Conti-
nental Interoperability: Canada’s Elusive 
Balance,” “Information Technology and 
Surveillance: Implications for Public 
Administration in a New World Order,” 
“The Little Chip That Could: The Public 
Sector and RFID,” and “Out of Control?: 
The Real ID.” Each of these chapters ex-
amines technology and how the adoption 
of certain technologies without critical 
thought may lead to a society where 
government offi  cials have uncontrolled 
access to a citizen’s personal information. 
This information could then be used to 
wrongfully limit a person’s freedom. 

Patriotic Information Systems presents 
a very negative view of the Bush admin-
istration and how it has chosen to enact 
and interpret laws relating to personal 
information, freedom of information, 
and information privacy. It would have 
been interesting to see a few chapters that 
examined the opposing view. Chapters 
four, “Access to Information and the Free-
dom to Access: The Intersection of Public 
Libraries and the USA PATRIOT Act,” fi ve, 
“Watching What We Read: Implications 
of Law Enforcement Activity in Libraries 
since 9/11,” and nine, “The Little Chip That 
Could: The Public Sector and RFID,” will 
be of particular interest to librarians due to 
their content. The book is well researched 
and written and makes some very com-
pelling arguments; I recommend it.—Tim 
Daniels, Georgia Public Library Service. 

Studying Students: The Undergraduate 
Research Project at the University of 
Rochester. Eds. Nancy Fried Foster 
and Susan Gibbons, Chicago: ACRL, 
2007, 90p. alk. paper, $28 (ISBN 
0838984371). LC 2007-28559. Available 
online from www.ala.org/ala/acrl/ 
acrlpubs/downloadables/Foster-Gib-
bons_cmpd.pdf. 

www.ala.org/ala/acrl