556 College & Research Libraries May 2015

section on a topic. The author highlights key elements in the writing process. For 
example, the author notes that academic writing requires clarity. Hollister reminds 
writers of the need to be cognizant about the importance of one’s voice or presence in 
writing. Academic writing does not require an author to assume a neutral position to 
be considered scholarly. The handbook acknowledges, examines, and positions the 
importance of style manuals, reviewer guidelines, grammar, citation management, 
and revision in the writing process. 

All the chapters deconstruct the chapter topic into specific elements. For example, 
chapter 3 takes the reader through the structure and components of an academic paper. 
The chapter logically and purposefully guides the reader from the definition of what 
constitutes an academic paper to abstract to methodology to conclusion, as well as the 
value of appendices. The author offers a thorough and clear explanation of a scholarly 
paper’s foundational components. Additionally, examples serve to give deeper explana-
tion and understanding of the sections of a scholarly paper. The handbook recognizes 
the importance of journal selection for a writer. Often, writers rely on submission to 
journals they are familiar with and thus may inadvertently exclude a journal that is 
better suited for their research. In chapter 4, the author discusses the importance of 
making an informed choice about journal selection for one’s writing. As the author 
notes, librarians as researchers are skilled at finding and assessing appropriate publica-
tion titles. However, in the digital age of open access, multidisciplinary journals, and 
electronic journals, the process of journal selection for publication purposes requires 
more than research and evaluation skills. Librarians who write must approach journal 
title selection with greater flexibility and knowledge in choosing an appropriate and 
relevant title. The process of journal selection is one of complexity that requires due 
diligence on the part of the author.

The handbook is an essential resource for anyone considering or engaged in writing 
in the field of library science. It provides a comprehensive overview of the process 
including essential tools, the craft of academic writing, and the importance of good 
writing. This is a resource to be kept at hand, one that will serve the writer throughout 
one’s literary career. The handbook will remind librarians already published either by 
choice or by career requirements to consider the essential and higher-order implications 
of scholarly writing. Just as important, the handbook can guide a student or beginning 
writer through the process as a logical and progressive journey. The handbook may 
encourage librarians who consider writing and publishing as tangential to their pro-
fessional lives to engage with scholarly communication, thus increasing the diversity 
of LIS voices in the field.—Deborah Garson, Harvard University

Andrew Abbott. Digital Paper: A Manual for Research and Writing with Library and 
Internet Materials. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2014. 259p. Paper, $20.00 
(ISBN 978-0-226-16778-7). 

Andrew Abbott is a prolific sociologist, the Gustavus F. and Ann M. Swift Distinguished 
Service Professor at the University of Chicago, and editor of the American Journal of 
Sociology. He understands library research as most academic librarians do not (never 
disrespectful of librarians—his mother was one). After all, how can someone be com-
petent in something they have never done? Hence, the need for this book.

Don’t be put off by the author’s sometimes arrogant (he calls it “cranky”) tone; this 
is a book with which academic/research librarians should be familiar.

Abbott begins with what he describes as an ethnography of an academic library. He 
apparently does not know what the term “ethnography” means since this is definitely 
not one but rather autobiography. (Note that all his publications are library based; 
none are based on field work.) That being said, it is a useful autobiography. In it, Ab-

doi:10.5860/crl.76.4.556



Book Reviews 557

bott makes it clear that library research is not “linear.” In fact, he implies that library 
education is defective for not recognizing this basic tenant of scholarship: “That library 
research is not linear means a textbook of library research cannot be linear” (4). He 
argues that real library research is multifaceted and that it relies heavily on “serendip-
ity” (though he nowhere cites distinguished historian Oscar Handlin’s brilliant 1987 
American Scholar article on the topic).

Abbott rightfully rejects many of the principles of modern librarianship, such as the 
usefulness of keyword searching; “keyword browsing in online catalogs is pointless; 
it’s like eating hamburgers when you could get filet mignon (browsing the LC subject 
headings) for the same price” (121). Abbott insists on the usefulness of controlled vo-
cabulary, especially the Library of Congress Subject Headings. It does make one ponder 
why so many librarians essentially ignore them, don’t understand how important they 
are to genuine research, and don’t teach their use to our patrons. Are we just lazy or 
are we ignorant ourselves in that which we claim expertise?

He also describes some limitations of contemporary cataloging and indexing trends 
such as pointing out that MARC records increased “the bibliographic exactitude of 
catalog records” while removing much of the local information that was provided in 
the card catalogs and, in doing so, reducing their “scholarly content” (253). Abbott 
realizes how misleading and detrimental to scholarship are the tools that users enlist 
to browse for content. Convenience does not necessarily foster scholarship; instead, it 
often promotes carelessness and lazy habits of the mind.

While Abbott argues that library research cannot be efficient, he lays out a research 
strategy that is as efficient as an assembly line: in this industrial-style research, 
there are (as laid out in the Table of Contents) a “Preliminary Phase,” “Midphase 
Bibliography,” “Midphase Scanning, Browsing, and Brute Force” (this is where 
“brachiation” through the stacks is most important), “Reading,” “Midphase Files 
and Organization,” “Midphase Analysis,” “Midphase Writing,” “Midphase Design,” 
and “Endphase.” He argues for efficient reading, to not read a whole book or article 
but to skip around, and he maintains that a scholarly article should be mastered in 
no more than twenty minutes and a book in no more than one hour. His formula 
specifies the exact number of citations the final product should include and how 
many pages it should have. He even instructs researchers (with which this reviewer 
is in full agreement) not to write on the computer because such writing produces 
“natural, spoken texts whose sentences are vague and telegraphic and whose larger 
structure is meandering and repetitive” but to write in longhand where writing 
means turning the natural communication of speech (talk plus paralinguistic cues) 
into a conventionalized text that conveys an unambiguous and complex message to 
a reader in our absence” (239).

Abbott’s description and research strategy relies on the libraries of elite institutions 
(Chicago, Harvard, and the like). He does, however, recognize that the browsing of 
smaller academic collections at the beginning of one’s research can be useful. He 
understands the advantages of online reference tools but also those that are in print, 
even older, superseded editions: they are easier to use, have faster “refresh time,” they 
increase the “amount and organization of the material you see accident[al]ly” while 
looking for what interests you, and “the density of things on a single page makes 
scanning faster” (72). 

Much in this book is useful for any library researcher, but it is definitely more useful 
for sociologists. Even those disciplines that sit on the fence between the social sciences 
and humanities, such as history and anthropology, are not so disciplined. Especially 
useful for sociologists is Abbott’s treatment of quantitative data “found” in libraries, 
a topic often neglected in social science methodology classes and textbooks.



558 College & Research Libraries May 2015

“The main results of bibliography come from doing it, not from having it” (108). I 
suppose that is the reason that Abbott’s book lacks bibliography or footnotes. It also 
fails to mention the role of book reviews, an omission that seems peculiar coming from 
the editor of a scholarly journal. Abbott is right that human indexing is superior to that 
done by computer, and he claims that he personally indexes his own books. He must 
have indexed this book by one of his efficient formulas since it is quite inadequate. 
Perhaps he only indexed that which he considered important while oblivious to the fact 
that others might wish to find material in his book that he does not think particularly 
important. The book does include a glossary, which will be helpful to nonlibrarians.

This reviewer admits that he did not follow Abbott’s advice and master his book 
in one hour but rather read his every word. Personally, this reviewer found the book 
both enlightening and irritating; after all, it is Abbott’s personal journey through the 
library, and he loves traveling: “it is easy and fun to do library research” (209). And, 
so it is.—Fred J. Hay, Appalachian State University

Kevin Smith. Owning and Using Scholarship: An IP Handbook for Teachers and Researchers. 
Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries. 2014. 240p. Paper, $54.00 
(ISBN 978-0-8389-8747-6). 

This book is explicitly designed as a handbook on intellectual property. It enables 
teachers and researchers to quickly find and consult a particular area in intellectual 
property. The author pays close attention to scaffolding and reinforcement of essential 
aspects of intellectual property (for example, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act) 
to ensure that the reader benefits from these elements no matter the point of engage-
ment. Smith has also embedded teaching and research examples specific to copyright 
in chapters 4 and 5 that serve as quick references for the reader. The efficient narrative, 
combined with Smith’s agility in delineating and contextualizing intellectual property 
theory, application, and emerging issues in academia, makes this an essential title to 
add to library collections. 

As an entry point, chapter 1 quickly brings the reader up to date on the history of 
intellectual property using the framework of technological and legal revolutions. This 
framework clarifies the subsequent impact upon modern-day scholars in the evolution 
from the print domain, driven by an economics of scarcity, to the digital domain, driven 
by the economics of abundance. Chapter 2 takes the reader further into the intellectual 
property landscape by identifying the key laws under the intellectual property header 
that relate to academia, the legal statute behind each, and how they inform scholarly 
activities. As one would expect, this chapter is necessarily replete with details and 
definitions, as well as acting as a preamble to the heart of the book and the intellectual 
property law that is the “everyman” of the intellectual property laws: copyright.

The next three chapters—3, 4, and 5—form a kind of copyright trilogy that guides the 
reader successively deeper into the copyright domain. The reader is first introduced to 
the intricate subject of ownership of scholarly work (chapter 3), which is then followed 
by the topic of using copyrighted work in scholarship (chapter 4), and finally wrapping 
up with a discussion on copyright management and dissemination of scholarly work 
(chapter 5). The author ameliorates the complexity of copyright by enriching expli-
cations with interesting, brief examples of legal exemptions, rules, and cases. These 
three chapters familiarize the reader with the junctures and essential decision points 
necessary to understanding and navigating scholarly communications and copyright. 

The next, and final, two chapters go beyond the copyright domain to remind the 
reader that technology, the Internet, and digital communications continually chal-
lenge, push, and exceed the boundaries of laws and countries initially drawn in a 
purely brick and mortar era. Take, for example, the protection measures emerging 

doi:10.5860/crl.76.4.558