Justine Cotton, David Sharron, ,Engaging Students with Archival and Digital Resources (2011) Chandos...

Book Reviewsedited by Joan Cheveri

Qualitative Research and the Modern LibraryBy Valeda Dent Goodman

Reviewed by Sandra R. Hussey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Engaging Students with Archival and Digital ResourcesBy Justine Cotton and David Sharron

Reviewed by Margot Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Managing Image Collections: A Practical GuideBy Margot Note

Reviewed by Asheleigh A. Perry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Diversity Programming and Outreach for Academic LibrariesBy Kathleen A. Hanna, Mindy M. Cooper, and Robin A. Crumrin

Reviewed by Kerry M. Creelman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Lean Library Management: Eleven Strategies for Reducing Costsand Improving Customer Services

By John J. HuberReviewed by Loretta Wallace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Qualitative Research and the Modern Library, by Valeda DentGoodman. Oxford: Chandos Publishing, 2011. 192 p. $75.00. ISBN 978-1-84334-644-9.

Libraries, in recent years, have intensified efforts to prove valueand relevance to constituents through studies such as Return onInvestment (ROI), online usability, collections use, and space use. In arapidly changing information environment, librarians are anxious todiscern how best to transform the library's mission to serve 21stCentury users and maintain viability. Many of these projects requireuse of research methods librarians were not explicitly taught inlibrary school. Valeda Dent Goodman's book comes as a timelysummary of qualitative methods and promising research topics toexplore.

The book is part of Chandos Publishing's Information ProfessionalSeries, which aims to provide “easy-to-read and…practical coverageof topics of interest to librarians and other information profes-sionals” (p. ii). Other books on qualitative research in librariesexplore a wider variety of methods as well as covering how toanalyze the data, write proposals and reports, and get published.However, Dent Goodman aims to provide “a glimpse into some of theways that user-focused qualitative research, combined with otherapproaches, might help those who work in libraries find out moreabout their users, and perhaps generate questions they did not knowwere out there” (p. 4).

Generating new questions from observation of how users operateis a particular feature of the ethnographic research techniques shedescribes. Libraries routinely collect quantitative data and thequalitative data they tend to collect are from user surveys. Thesetechniques do not always yield enough information to understandwhat services and resources would most benefit patrons. DentGoodman gives the Community Analysis Research Institute modelused by public libraries as an example of a type of qualitative studythat gives more multifaceted information. The qualitative methodsshe presents have the potential of giving a rich portrait of the libraryuser and library user behavior. Her book begins with a clearexplanation of qualitative research methods, how they differ fromquantitative ones, and how ethnographic research differs from morefamiliar library user surveys. She then gives examples of thesemethods employed in library and non-library settings.

The strongest chapters are the ones focused on the methodsthemselves and their application in library work. Less useful are themorediffuse chapters listingexamplesof possible research topics.Whilethe book is not intended to be comprehensive, a brief discussion of theInstitutional Review Board (IRB) approval process would have beenhelpful because IRB approval may be required, especially if librarian-researcherswish to publish findings. Alsomissing is a discussion of howto analyze and interpret the information gathered in order to effectservice changes. Although an interesting example, the chapter on theethnographic study of libraries in Uganda feels extraneous in this briefoverview. The author has previously published some of the contentelsewhere.

Getting inside the mind of library users offers the promise oflearning how best to respond to and anticipate user needs andalign library priorities. The “thick description” approach, as theanthropologist Clifford Geertz calls ethnography (p. 47), is a muchneeded lens through which to study how library users operate,and it could be as revealing for higher education administratorsand faculty as for librarians. While other books address qualitativeresearch methods in greater depth, her book is a good introduc-tion, though the price seems high for this slim volume.—Sandra R.Hussey, Library Research Instruction Librarian, Lauinger Library,Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20057-0003, USAbhusseys@georgetown.eduN.

doi:10.1016/j.acalib.2012.03.002

Engaging Students with Archival and Digital Resources, by JustineCotton and David Sharron. Oxford: Chandos Publishing, 2011. 133 p.$80.00. ISBN 978-1-84334-568-8.

In Engaging Students with Archival and Digital Resources, JustineCotton, Communications and Liaison Librarian, and David Sharron,University Archivist and Special Collections Head, both at BrockUniversity, Ontario, Canada, create a guide for academic librarians andarchivists to connect faculty members and post-secondary studentswith archival and digital collections.

186 The Journal of Academic Librarianship Volume 38, Number 3, pages 186-188

Promotion of library and archives holdings depends upon buildingrelationships, starting with librarians and archivists. The authors notethat archives can become “a silo within the library—one that isunderstood for its purpose, but misunderstood for its ability to beintegrated with the rest of the library collection and, mostimportantly, with expanding digital resources” (p. 14). They continue,“Archivists need to be proactive inmaking their collections visible andrelevant to their librarian colleagues….In today's world of shrinkingbudgets and seemingly unlimited information supply, greater visibil-ity is a lifeline to sustainability” (p. 3). Although they have somesimilarities, archivists and librarians benefit from shared goals, andallegiance between the professions must be strengthened beforeresources can be advocated to users.

The book's crux focuses on outreach to faculty and students. Theauthorswrite, “Often, it is onlywhen a professor requires their studentsto utilize primary records in a project that [students] take their initialstrides into anarchival facility,”whichcanbe “unfamiliar…intimidating,or completelymisrepresented by long-standing stereotypes” (p. 2, p. 7).This was true for this history-student-turned-archivist!

Cotton and Sharron describe team-teaching, lesson planning, anddiscovery learning resources available to archivists, librarians, andfaculty so that an amalgamation of library and archival materialsprovides a customized experience to students. Conducting researchwith changing technology is challenging, but librarians and archivistsshould “retain a connection between the digital resources thatlibraries increasingly collect and the unique archival resources heldin-house. As Google searches lead students and faculty to bypass thelibrary website, it is essential to show our users the connectionbetween the digital and print” (p. 107). The authors examine deliveryapproaches, assignments based on archival research, and workshopassessment methods, concluding with appendices of sample letters,lesson plans, survey questions, and a Library News excerpt aboutprimary source usage in the classroom.

My one criticism is that the chapter that summarizes archival anddigital collections online would work better as an appendix. ARTstorDigital Library, Google Books, and Project Muse should be familiar to amajority of readers, but some resources seem too country-specific,such as Archives Canada, but this is understandable given that theauthors work at a Canadian university.

Archivists, librarians, and faculty seeking to introduce studentsto primary research methods will discover pragmatic methods inEngaging Students with Archival and Digital Resources. Cotton andSharron write, “If, as librarians and archivists, we frame digital andprimary resources within the relevance of a course and share thespirit of discovery with students, we are one step closer towardsdemonstrating the value of the university library to our patrons”(p. 42). By applying the practical tips provided in this book,meaningful interaction with library and archives holdings is indeedachievable.—Margot Note, Director of Archives and InformationManagement, World Monuments Fund, 350 Fifth Avenue, Suite2412, New York, NY 10118, USA bmnote@wmf.orgN.

doi:10.1016/j.acalib.2012.03.003

Managing Image Collections: A Practical Guide, by Margot Note.Oxford, UK: Chandos Publishing, 2011. 216 p. $85.00. ISBN 978-1-84334-599-2.

InManaging Image Collections: A Practical Guide, Margot Note offersa unique perspective on the processes involved in maintaining animage collection in cultural institutions. She blends the theoreticalchallenges of preserving analog, digitized, and born-digital image

collections with practical strategies and applications. This book isoriented to “those faced with the task of preserving and makingaccessible historical image collections with limited staff, resources,and familiarity with the subject” (p. 12). However, the author notesthat this guide is primarily intended for library, archive, and museumprofessionals as well as students in those respective fields. She alsonotes that “[i]t is intended to be a reference for institutions thatchoose to convert cultural resources into digital formats, while stillmaintaining hybrid collections of analog and digital images” (p. 8).This book is a great stepping-stone for those in need of guidance inlaunching digital initiatives for analog and digital images in theirinstitutions.

The introduction provides a brief description of the firstphotograph, outlines the objective of the book, and discusses otherimportant resources about image management, as it is a rapidlyevolving field. Chapter 1 outlines the history of photography in orderto provide “an intellectual foundation for information professionalsworking in cultural heritage institutions to preserve a vast andchallenging photographic legacy” (p. 15). The author discusses earlyphotography, such as daguerreotypes, through to color photographyand digital technology. Chapter 2 examines the fundamentals ofdigital images and the technologies and processes involved increating, accessing, and preserving a digital image collection.Chapters 3 and 4 discuss the challenges of collecting and preservingphotographic images, including “intellectual property rights, legaland cultural considerations, ethics, and preservation” (p. 61).Chapter 4 specifically “explores image collection developmentsince themid-1960s” (p. 87). Chapter 5 outlines the uses of metadatato provide a contextual meaning through description for analog,digitized, and born-digital images. Chapter 6 focuses on the practicalconcerns of a digitization project, including decisions aboutoutsourcing the project, funding, staffing, collaboration with otherinstitutions, quality control, and the various content managementsystems available.

Chapter 7 concludes the book by briefly stating the historicalimportance and enduring value of properly managed hybrid imagecollections. The author also provides numerous electronic and printbibliographic resources for further research on the topic as well as aglossary of terms related to image collections. She notes in theintroduction that this book “should be regarded as providing agateway to further information on the subject it covers” (p. 12).However, the most useful resource from the book is Appendix A,which provides a series of questions to be explored before launching adigital initiative. These questions involve determining the intendedaudience, selection and physical characteristics of the collection, legalconsiderations, funding, staffing, technology, metadata, qualitycontrol, access to the collection, and much more.

Margot Note delivers an interesting and useful guide for thosefaced with the challenging task of creating and maintaining a digitalimage collection. As the Director of Archives and Records Manage-ment at the World Monuments Fund, she manages an extensivevisual collection that she has shared with theworld through ARTstor,a leading a digital initiative. Her qualifications withstanding, Note'sbook is well written and engaging. It retains the readers' attentionwith various historical lessons about photography while explainingthe basics of creating, accessing, and maintaining a hybrid imagecollection. She provides a framework for identifying best practices inimage management and prepares the reader to rise to the challengeof an image digitization project.—Asheleigh A. Perry, CatalogLibrarian, U.S. Census Bureau Library, Suitland, MD 20746, USAbasheleigh.a.perry@census.govN.

doi:10.1016/j.acalib.2012.03.004

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