498 College & Research Libraries September 2010

ingly, he concludes that they may have 
a continuing, if diminished, role to play 
in an informational environment that in-
creasingly privileges systems for full-text 
retrieval such as Internet search engines. 
Because, in Warner ’s view, semantic 
labor is categorically not transferable 
to machines, any reduction in semantic 
description labor entails an increase in 
semantic search labor. Warner tends to 
view ongoing trends toward increased 
semantic search labor with equanimity: 
not all members of the library community 
will share this attitude.

All in all, Human Information Retrieval 
presents its readers with an interesting 
perspective on IR that well repays study. 
The emphasis on human labor as a central 
analytic category for understanding IR 
processes allows Warner to integrate a 
number of disparate themes that have 
long been objects of reflection for theorists 
of librarianship and information science 
into a single, fairly compact theoretical 
framework. Certainly, the labor-theoretic 
approach, as set out in the opening chap-
ters of the book, is structurally elegant 
and has the potential to be a very useful 
model for “macroscopic” thinking about 
the design and evaluation of IR systems. 
One senses, though, that it is not yet com-
plete and requires further development 
if it is to fulfill its author’s ambitions: for 
example, it pays scant attention to the 
different types of (and motivations for) 
search—a factor that should certainly be 
taken into account in any theory intended 
to support the evaluation and design of 
IR systems. 

Finally, it should be noted that the 
book is written in an idiom both erudite 
and abstract: for this reason, it is a de-
manding read. Laudably, Warner tries to 
ease the reader’s way through the book 
by providing concrete examples, culled 
from a variety of sources, to illustrate 
the theoretical points he is making, em-
ploying diagrams and pictures to aid in 
the visualization of certain points, and 
constantly signposting and summarizing 
the key arguments: moreover, in addition 

to a bibliography and a (rather indiffer-
ent) index, he helpfully provides a list of 
supplementary readings for those inter-
ested in exploring further the theoretical 
bases of his model. For some readers, 
such aids may not be enough to offset the 
difficult nature of the text; however, those 
who persevere will be rewarded with a 
genuinely illuminating account of IR as a 
human phenomenon.—Thomas M. Dousa, 
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. 

 Kimberly Black. What Books by African 
American Women Were Acquired by 
American Academic Libraries? A Study of 
Institutional Legitimation, Exclusion and 
Implicit Censorship. Lewiston, N.Y.: Ed-
win Mellen Press, 2009. 211p. $109.95 
(ISBN 9780773437920). LC2010-278113.

The author of this volume, an Assistant 
Professor in the School of Information 
Sciences at the University of Tennessee 
in Knoxville, has produced a probing and 
thoughtful examination of the impact of 
power, and the lack of it, on two commu-
nities that she links through explication 
and analysis. The book-ended commu-
nities are (1) African American women 
writers and (2) acquisition librarians in 
academic institutions, groups who com-
municate and connect (or not) through 
filtering webs of publishers, journals, 
reviewers, and reviews. With clear prose, 
backed with statistical models, she lays 
out her arguments like a scientist, draws 
her conclusions and leaves very few open-
ings for criticism. Despite its dry title, and 
somewhat forbidding-looking tables and 
appendices (but handsome cover), the 
book offers serious rewards for readers 
interested in a variety of topics that im-
pact librarianship and our culture at large.

Dr. Black begins with a succinct sum-
mary of the distinctive traits of prose 
and mostly poetry produced by African 
American women in the late twentieth 
century, a discussion that can be of use to 
undergraduates researching that specific 
topic. She focuses her study specifically 
on the 233 titles produced by African 
American women and published by 



Book Reviews 499

large, intermediate, and small presses in 
the years 1980 through 1990, and posits 
various hypothesis to be borne out, or not, 
by the data. Once a section’s conclusions 
are stated, Dr. Black commences another 
logical step in her argument in the fol-
lowing chapter.

After overcoming the odds, breaking 
the “first seal” and being published, these 
works by African American women have 
to be reviewed to find readers. Dr. Black 
abstracts the literature on the subject and 
analyzes the percentages of her sample 
that get reviewed. She also examines 
which journals are more likely to review 
such titles, and she demonstrates that 
some journals exert a stronger influence 
on acquisition librarians than others. She 
relates such variables as the size of the 
publisher to the number of reviews and 
compares the review ratios of books by 
African American women writers to other 
women writers. Particular journals, such 
as Choice, Library Journal, Booklist, and oth-
er more general ones, are examined in the 
process, and disturbing conclusions seem 
to suggest a bias in some. One must say 
“seem” for, despite her strong arguments, 
there is an uncharacteristic flaw in this 
particular chapter. No data are present 
on review copies: in other words, a vital 
question is neither posed nor answered: 
Do small publishers send review copies to 
these journals as uniformly as the larger 
publishers do? 

This is one of the few slips in the 
book’s marshalling of conclusions that 
otherwise are cogent and compelling. 
After discussing the types of literature 
produced by the various publishers and 
presenting her findings on the chances 
of being reviewed, Dr. Black introduces 
the subject of the canon and examines the 
holdings of “large, influential, academic 
libraries” on these titles, hypothesizing 
what variables may or may not impact 
the presence of these books on the shelves 
of ARL libraries. Among those factors 
she evaluates are the impact of reviews 
on purchasing, and to what degree do 
programs such as Women’s Studies or 

African-American Studies at universities 
have on library acquisitions of the titles 
in question, all topics of interest to those 
whose aim is to have one’s library reflect 
as broad a spectrum of world culture and 
experience as possible.

While many of the conclusions the 
author draws are not necessarily surpris-
ing, they are nevertheless sobering. A 
bibliography, appendices, and an index 
flesh out particulars of the study. The text 
concludes with recommendations worthy 
of consideration by all of those charged 
with acquiring library materials, a subset 
of a larger group of information profes-
sionals who will profit from a reading of 
this book. It will be a welcome addition, 
as well, to colleges and universities with 
Library and Information Sciences, Wom-
en’s Studies, African-American Studies, 
and other related programs. Although 
the author does not discuss the changes 
in publishing that have revolutionized 
the industry since the end of her core 
sample in 1990, one suspects that some 
of the problems she addresses may not 
have radically altered. Paying serious 
attention to Dr. Black’s arguments may 
actually help to change all that.—Harlan 
Greene, College of Charleston.

Robert Darnton. The Case for Books: Past, 
Present, and Future. New York: Publi-
cAffairs, 2009. 218p. alk. paper, $23.95 
(ISBN 9781586488260). LC2009-034693.

When Robert Darnton took the reins as 
director of Harvard’s libraries in 2007, he 
quickly discovered that Harvard was in-
volved “in secret talks with Google about 
a project” that, as he said, “took my breath 
away.” The project was Google’s massive 
effort to digitize millions of books, known 
as Google Book Search, and Darnton 
spent a good deal of time working to 
finalize the arrangements for this now 
well-known project. He was, suddenly, 
a major player in an effort that many felt 
might usurp the traditional roles of print 
book publishers and academic libraries. 

Darnton is a noted historian of the 
book, having published several important