512 College & Research Libraries September 2012

discussion within your library about the 
importance of and need for a more com-
prehensive information literacy focus both 
in your library and on campus. Several 
chapters would be very useful in courses in 
library school, including the two chapters 
in the second section highlighting differ-
ent theoretical definitions of information 
literacy. Finally, library administrators and 
academic policy makers and strategists, 
especially those whose universities are un-
dergoing accreditation or rethinking their 
strategic goals, should read this to be able 
to better articulate the need for information 
literacy learning outcomes within the uni-
versity’s mission and curriculum.—Kate B. 
Moore, Indiana University Southeast.

Christina Zamon. The Lone Arranger: 
Succeeding in a Small Repository. Chi-
cago: Society of American Archivists, 
2012. 157p. alk. paper, $69.95 (ISBN 
1931666415). LC2011-052238.

Lone arrangers are the sole staff of an 
archives, often working alone or with a 
staff of part-time employees, interns, or 
volunteers. The term originates from the 
Lone Ranger, the fictional masked hero 
who, with his Native American sidekick, 
Tonto, crusades against injustice in the 
Old West. In an archival context, lone ar-
rangers fight for access and preservation 
of the world’s cultural heritage while 
battling budget cuts, administrative de-
mands, and preservation problems. 

With this in mind, The Lone Arranger: 
Succeeding in a Small Repository offers 
guidance and best practices on the daily 
challenges and work demands of small 

archives. Author Christina Zamon ad-
dresses a range of topics, including ad-
ministration and management, budgeting, 
fundraising and donor relations, informa-
tion technology issues, collection develop-
ment, records management, preservation, 
reference and outreach, facility adminis-
tration, disaster planning, and internship 
and volunteer programs. The volume’s 
insight is relevant to both experienced 
professionals and novices in religious, 
academic, corporate, government, library, 
museum, or historical society settings. 

The book exhibits a sense of humor on 
its cover by displaying a domino mask 
alongside the traditional archival accoutre-
ments of white gloves and acid-free fold-
ers. Additionally, amusing chapter titles—
“What Am I Doing Here?” “What Is This 
Stuff?” and “You Want What?” among 
others—demonstrate the bewilderment 
some archivists experience when starting 
work in a small repository. 

For lone arrangers, time manage-
ment and goal setting is vital. As Zamon 
mentions, “It is essential to take things 
in stride and learn to say no, while still 
trying your best to meet the demands of 
your job.” This is especially important 
for archivists who tend to be perfection-
ists. She advises, “It is easy to focus too 
much on how something ‘should’ be 
done while we lose sight of what really 
‘needs’ to be done. Look at archival stan-
dards as a goal to aim for, but don’t feel 
as though you have failed if those goals 
are not met. When it comes to managing 
collections, any structure is better than no 
structure.” Often, new archivists inherit 
less-than-ideal organizational systems, 
but, as the author writes, “Leave what 
has already been done and start working 
on the big picture by defining groups of 
records rather than individual records.” 
The recommendations offered in Mark A. 
Greene and Dennis Meissner’s influential 
2005 American Archivist article, “More 
Product, Less Process,” are ideal for lone 
arrangers who “may need to give up the 
idea of fully fleshed out finding aids in 
favor of simpler inventories or box lists.” 

Index to advertisers
ACRL 2013 430
ACRL Awards 516
ACRL Publications 419
ALA Joblist 468
Archival Products cover 3
Bowker/RCL 414
Counting Opinions cover 4
EBSCO 413
MIT Press Journals cover 2



Book Reviews 513

Lone arrangers should first concentrate 
on making their archives feasible and 
“good enough,” then identify and pri-
oritize projects, such as writing more de-
scriptive finding aids for key collections, 
pinpointing materials with preservation 
or conservation issues, or digitizing frag-
ile or historically significant items. 

Reference and outreach are complicat-
ed for lone arrangers, as they must balance 
aiding researchers with the rest of their 
duties. Zamon suggests limited hours, but 
warns, “It is up to you to enforce your own 
access policy.” She differentiates between 
providing reference and research services. 
Reference connects patrons to the informa-
tion they seek and educates them on how 
to search for material. Research is finding 
the specific information for the researcher. 
The latter may be the more realistic option 
for small repositories and can be stream-
lined by creating vertical files of duplicates 
of frequently requested items, FAQs, lists 
of important people or events, and time-
lines. Equally imperative is outreach and 
internal advocacy activities, such as Web 
sites, exhibits, presentations, workshops, 
classroom use of archival materials, oral 
history projects, community programs, 
and social media. 

Case studies from diverse institutions 
demonstrate solutions to archival chal-
lenges. Photographs of archives and lone 
arrangers and figures containing policies 
to incorporate into one’s own institution 
are also included; Zamon also adds a deed 
of gift that is too vague to be useful as an 
example of what to avoid. Selected read-
ings and a resource guide of national and 
regional organizations append the book. 

The Lone Arranger: Succeeding in a Small 
Repository is an excellent book, recom-
mended for those with no formal training 
in managing archives. While the books 
in the Society of American Archivists’ 
Archival Fundamentals Series II provide 
an in-depth, theoretical understanding of 
archives, this book is meant as a practical 
resource for those with minimal time to get 
an archives operational. Zamon provides 
the essentials on how to administer an 

archives, and the book serves as both an 
introduction to how archives should func-
tion, as well as an aide memoire of archival 
basics for experienced professionals.—Mar-
got Note, World Monuments Fund, New York. 

Environments for Student Growth and 
Development: Libraries and Student 
Affairs in Collaboration. Eds. Lisa 
J. Hinchliffe and Melissa A. Wong. 
Chicago: Association of College and 
Research Libraries, 2012. 267p. alk. 
paper, $60.00 (ISBN 9780838986097). 
LC 2012-004883.

Librarians are no strangers to collabora-
tion; many have worked with faculty to 
provide integrated information literacy 
instruction or other academic services, 
such as computing, to create learning 
commons. It is somewhat surprising, 
however, that there’s so little published 
about library partnerships with student 
affairs, especially when one considers 
their services and support in various areas 
that encompass the physical, emotional, 
and mental well-being of students and 
that ultimately impact their learning. 
Clearly, student growth and develop-
ment are common goals for libraries and 
student affairs. Thus, I wondered what 
might explain the gap of research in this 
area. The authors suggest that librarians 
may be unfamiliar with the work of stu-
dent affairs professionals, which would 
hinder efforts to build partnerships. Or 
perhaps libraries and student affairs are 
just discovering the collaborative poten-
tial as assessment becomes a focus for best 
practices—see for example, M. Bresciani’s 
Case Studies for Implementing Assessment in 
Student Affairs: New Directions for Student 
Services, 2009. Regardless, Lisa Hinchliffe 
and Mellissa Wong provide a concise 
and practical resource for librarians and 
student affairs professionals who might 
ask “how” instead of “why.” 

In the first two chapters of the book, 
Dallas Long, Head of Access Services 
and assistant professor at Illinois State 
University, introduces the readers to 
the fundamentals of student affairs and