Book Reviews 419 The next group of chapters drills down into more specific examples of the interac- tion of research, theory, and practice in the social sciences (always with an eye toward information studies). Chapter 4 gives the author’s more complete definition of the intellectual content of a “theory,” with quick examples from historical figures who constructed theories in behavioral science, education, and cognitive studies; in each case—following the book’s main thread—moving from an individual think- er to his/her research to his/her theory, and then to the impact on library and informa- tion science. The annotated bibliography here is almost haphazard, but very strong. The following chapter takes the same ap- proach to pioneers in library science, with a correspondingly powerful annotated bibliography. The brief sixth chapter gives an overview of common LIS research processes (though without mention of statistical sampling), and the seventh gives a similarly brief overview of a variety of data-collection techniques in information science and other social sciences. Once again in chapter 7, the annotations in the bibliography are especially careful to note the particular theories involved in a selec- tion of research studies, including how the theory impacts the research results and impact. The very readable eighth chapter is intended to allow librarians and informa- tion professionals to understand the differ- ence between qualitative and quantitative data in research studies. It includes a very basic introduction into how statistics work; this chapter goes beyond the case studies common to most of the book to close with practical though simple practice exercises in statistical analysis. The final sections of the book may be the strongest. The author offers a compe- tent and clearly chiseled account of the principal ethical considerations in library science research—informed consent, insti- tutional review board (IRB) oversight of both human and animal research, plagia- rism, and copyright. There follows a quick introduction in the final chapter to differ- ent kinds of research literature and critical thinking approaches to them, including an interesting evaluation of Wikipedia in research. The appendices, for some read- ers of the book, may be the most valuable parts: a concise addendum outlining the process and structure of research grant writing, and an extensive bibliography for the multidisciplinary research pro- cess. As a final nod to Lukenbill’s basic foundation, there is a separate index for social theorists and theoretical concepts. The cultural and social approach in Lukenbill’s title is quite apt overall. His text shows a strong but very well-justified bias toward making all of library science research richer. His case is that the inte- gration of theory, and theory informed by a variety of other human and social disci- plines, can only strengthen how we view both our research and our practice. One serious flaw in the book: it unfortunately suffers from poor editing. “Anthropol- ogy” and “Anthology” are equated in adjacent paragraphs, and the errors even reach to the misspelling of, for instance, the name of Melvil Dewey. Nonetheless, Research in Information Studies remains a resource for consumers of information sci- ence research, for thinkers about research in the field, and (perhaps centrally) begin- ning students—several of the author ’s stated audiences.—Timothy J. Dickey, Independent Scholar, Columbus, Ohio. Andrew Walsh. Using Mobile Technology to Deliver Library Services. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2012. 134 p. $80.00 (ISBN 9781856048095). LC 2012-493968. The Pew Research Center ’s Internet & American Life Project estimates that 87 percent of adults have a mobile phone, and 45 percent have a smartphone; teens, 78 percent and 37 percent respectively. These figures confirm what no one doubts: the mobile phone is a mature technol- ogy, and smartphone use is growing at an astonishing clip. In December, Pew revealed that 13 percent of all cell phone owners had accessed a library website on their devices, a two-fold increase since 420 College & Research Libraries July 2013 2009 consistent with the displacement of Internet use from desk- and laptops onto smartphones. The implications for libraries are obvious, certainly to Andrew Walsh who opens Using Mobile Technology to Deliver Library Services with a kind of ultimatum: “These devices are simply too much a part of our users’ lives for us to try to ignore or even ban them, when we are trying to provide relevant and accessible library services.” Walsh, a librarian and Teaching Fellow at the University of Hud- dersfield, is an avid smartphone user who has studied student attitudes on mobile phone services. His book is designed to help “fixed” libraries transition to mobile- friendly ones. Unfortunately, too many of the book’s 134 pages are speculative, un- derwritten, or beginning to show their age. Using Mobile Technology has eight chap- ters: one on mobile information literacy (more accurately, mobile information needs and behaviors), one on the mobile services students want, and six detailing various applications of mobile technology to library work. These include roving and decentralized reference; texting in librar- ies; mobile apps and websites; QR codes, RFID, and Augmented Reality; teaching with mobiles; and e-books for mobile de- vices. Each chapter introduces a topic and then offers ideas on its implementation. A case study or two from international libraries provides a “how we did it good” debrief, and bibliographies provide sug- gestions for further reading. Walsh’s writing is serviceable, and his tone throughout is enthusiastic but grounded. He’s no solutionist, to use Sili- con Valley skeptic Evgeny Morozov’s use of the term. New technologies are often quickly and uncritically embraced with a breathless rhetoric that inspires eye rolls when the promised payoff in efficiency or collaboration or you-name-it fails to materialize. In contrast, Walsh repeatedly advises readers to make the user’s needs paramount. We’re told not to get “carried away by our own enthusiasms” and re- minded, in the book’s conclusion, to “first of all, consider what your users want.” With all of this consideration it’s a shame that more wasn’t done to provide informa- tion of lasting value. For a book published last year, much of the text is already dated. The first chapter—“What mobile services do students want?”—is a repackaged study that Walsh conducted in 2009. Conse- quently, many of the technologies outlined in later chapters—QR codes, mobile apps, e-books—weren’t included in the study’s focus groups because they weren’t yet in wide use. What students want from these services is left to speculation or else in- ferred from anecdotal evidence. Moreover, the study’s small sample size (n=18) and local nature (only Huddersfield students were interviewed) drastically limits the transferability of Walsh’s findings. And QR codes? Much in vogue only two years ago, this semifizzled innovation receives a disproportionate 12 of the book’s 134 pages, far too many for a technology fea- tured in the recent Gizmodo article “How QR Codes Work and Why They Suck So Hard.” Other suggestions smell similarly musty. Only the slowest adopters are likely to find novelty in established services like text-a-librarian or SMS audience response systems like PollEverywhere. But where a technology is still fresh or developing, Walsh is forced to resort to speculation or generalities, neither of which are abundantly helpful in a book marketed as an “ultimate toolkit.” Three pages on Near Field Communications stall on the admission that the technol- ogy is “of a limited scale at the moment; if it takes off, it will allow us to realize a great many more fun and creative inno- vations” (emphasis mine). Augmented Reality (AR) got a major boost in March when Google unveiled a new trailer for its Glass headgear, but readers expect- ing fresh ideas on the subject won’t find them in this book. Walsh concedes that AR’s necessary precondition, a strong GPS connection, “doesn’t work well indoors” and winds up recommending that libraries not bother with AR as such but merely tag YouTube videos and other information products with location data, Book Reviews 421 a disappointing bait-and-switch. And a final chapter on e-books begins with the deflating promise that “we will focus mostly on generic issues rather than on specific current solutions.” No one ex- pects the author to singlehandedly solve the intractable problems surrounding e- book licensing, but why devote an entire chapter to rehashing e-book formats and delivery platforms like Overdrive when such information is readily available in Wikipedia, librarian blogs and LibGuides, trade magazines like American Libraries, and even the pages of major newspapers? In a word, the book is slight. It’s not that Walsh never advances good ideas; it’s just that the same ideas are readily available elsewhere, for free. Few librarians will yield enough juice from Using Mobile Tech- nology to justify its $80 price tag. A deep dive in the formal and informal literature is enough to get a library “mobilized,” but those seeking a traditional compen- dium will spend $20 less to acquire Jason Clark’s Building Mobile Library Applications, a “cookbook” that covers the nitty-gritty of design and development while a still- evolving companion website keeps read- ers up to the moment.—Michael Hughes, Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas. Robin Neidorf. Teach Beyond Your Reach: An Instructor’s Guide to Developing and Running Successful Distance Learning Classes, Workshops, Training Sessions, and More. 2nd ed. Medford, N.J.: Information Today, Inc, 2012. 224p. $29.95 (ISBN 9781937290016). LC 2012-030851. Given the direction that higher educa- tion seems to be swiftly following, if you are not engaged in distance education as either teacher or student, you soon will be. Robin Neidorf, Director of Research for FreePint Ltd., has written the second edition of Teach Beyond Your Reach, which is a guide for instructors to deliver suc- cessful distance learning. The book does not seek to be a “soup-to- nuts compendium,” as the author says, but rather “focuses strictly on the requirements for instruction.” She believes that collabora- tion should be part of any good educational environment and so leaves it to the reader to partner with others, pointing out where collaboration may be necessary and what skills may need to be sought out. Niedorf expresses in many places that collaboration is essential to the enterprise of providing quality distance education and stresses the point more than once. However, the way in which she addresses this substantial need could be fleshed out more. She does devote a final short chapter in the book to “Distance Learning as a Collaborative Enterprise.” In this chapter, she provides an excellent discussion of the roles and responsibilities of various potential col- laborators. Simply framing the task in this manner is helpful to the beginning distance educator, because it helps fill in those areas a beginner might struggle to define. The book is filled with good informa- tion, a discussion of learning objectives, learning styles, developing relationships with students, and much more. One of the strongest points that Neidorf makes in the book, she sums up in one phrase: “It’s not about you, it’s about them.” The ramifications of this focus on the student are repeated frequently throughout each chapter intentionally to drive home the point. An emphasis on student-centered learning is certainly one of the most important lessons that a reader can and should take away from this book. This is even more important when it comes to distance education. Many of the some- what built-in features of good face-to-face teaching, such as developing student Index to advertisers AAAS cover 4 Amer. Philosophical Society cover 3 AMS Press 322 ASM Press 317 Brepols 324 Choice Reviews Online 416 Counting Opinions cover 2 MIT Press Journals 318 Modern Language Assoc. 320–321