The centrality of learning in assessment programs is thekey issue for Palomba and Banta: how to capture, on an on-going basis, the most complete picture of student learningpossible, and how to use that information for further im-provement in academic programs. For the authors, assess-ment and learning are so deeply interwoven that separatingthe two is not always possible. Students learn when they areasked to reflect on what they have learned—that is, whenthey assess their own learning; faculty learn when they planassessment methods, apply them, interpret the informationgathered, and reflect on ways of improving instruction; ad-ministrators learn when they ask faculty and departmentheads to engage in assessment at both programmatic andspecific ‘course’ levels, and review the campus-wide infor-mation gathered through such efforts. Assessment can, in theauthors’ view, become the central process that creates amore thoughtful, engaged, and informed campus community,where all the participants learn together. It is no small ironythat colleges and universities are not always “learning orga-nizations,” in the systemic, mindful way that Peter Sengeuses that term; but Palomba and Banta’s discussion serves toremind everyone involved in higher education and beyond ofhow assessment—far from being a negative, “evaluating”activity—can enliven the learning environment for all con-cerned.

This book is highly recommended for collections inhigher education administration; assessment, measurement,and evaluation; educational psychology; and student servicesand student advising and counseling. It contains both nameand subject indexes and an extensive (25-page) bibliogra-phy.—Craig Gibson, Associate University Librarian forPublic Services, George Mason University Libraries,Fairfax, VA 22030 <jgibson1@fen1.gmu.edu>.

Authoritative Guide to Evaluating Information on theInternet, by Alison Cooke. New York: Neal–Schuman,1999. 169 pp. $55.00. ISBN 1-55570-356-9. LC 99-28010.

Guidance for evaluating Internet information abounds onthe Internet, just as many things abound on the Internet.Neal–Schuman’sAuthoritative Guide to Evaluating Informa-tion on the Internetis one of a few renditions of Internetevaluation criteria currently available in print. This “compre-hensive tool,” as author Alison Cooke refers to it, “assistsusers in searching for quality information sources . . . [and]assessing the quality of materials once they have foundthem” (p. 1). In four chapters, Cooke methodically exploresdefinitions, issues, strategies, and examples related to infor-mation quality, search facilities, and numerous types of In-ternet sources including discussion lists, e-journals, and cur-rent awareness services. The work is well-documented andas the title suggests, authoritative, in that it was developedfrom a four-year investigation and validation of evaluationcriteria, interviews with hundreds of Internet users, and areview of the author’s findings by library and informationalprofessionals.

Although it shares some of the characteristics of Janet E.Alexander and Marsha A. Tate’s favorably reviewedWebWisdom: How to Evaluate and Create Information on theWeb(Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1999),the Authoritative Guide’slarge type and ample white spacemake it more visually penetrable as a handbook, and its

unique empirical examination of searching facilities such assubject-based gateway services is particularly useful for aca-demic audiences. Some of the information included here iscommon sense but it is not unfitting; at the very least, read-ers get a lucid picture of the current information landscapeon the Internet and an intelligent method for selection.Au-thoritative Guide to Evaluating Information on the Internetincludes handy checklists, a glossary, and a superb annotatedbibliography. This timely title is recommended, especiallyfor academic libraries.—Amanda Cain, User Education/Reference Librarian, New Library, Room 102B, Wash-ington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA 99164-5610<acain@wsu.edu>.

Building Your Own Database, by Peter Jacso´ and F. W.Lancaster. Chicago, IL: American Library Association, 1999.174 pp. $34.00 ($31.00 for ALA members). ISBN 0-8389-0750-4.

In his preface, Jacso´ notes that he and Lancaster “pro-duced this book in the hope that it would help people pro-duce databases of better value and quality, especially if theyhave had little previous experience in database construction”(p. 9). Yet, this volume does little to present a coherent in-troduction to database design and development. Instead itskips across some theory in its first part on “Content andOrganization of the Database” and then launches into ahodgepodge of hints and tips in its second part on “SoftwareIssues.” This reader found the end result confusing if notmisleading.

Less than one third of the volume is devoted to the fun-damentals of database design. The authors spend these pagesglancing at issues such as how deeply to analyze full-textarticles for subject headings or the importance of issuingupdates to your dataset regularly. Some of the glances arevaluable, such as a brief section on the importance of usingconsistent terminology and name construction; yet, the lackof depth accorded these topics renders most of this sectionimpractical, especially to a novice. Also surprising was thelack of any mention of current efforts by librarians and oth-ers to provide some guidance about minimum standards formetadata, such as the Dublin Core set of database elements.

The other two thirds of the volume are devoted to a de-scription of various database products and their features. Theproducts that receive the most attention are ProCite, Refer-ence Manager, EndNote, DB/TextWorks, and Micro-CDS/ISIS. Occasional reference is made to FileMaker Pro andMicrosoft Access, but free SQL tools are completely ig-nored. This section wanders from product reviews and cri-tique to handholding instructions. No mention at all is madeof how to plan a database for Web presentation and search-ing.

That this volume does such a poor job of helping peopleunderstand how to build databases is especially unfortunatebecause there are not many books that even attempt to dealwith the topic generally much less with novice readers inmind. There are a few titles, such as Michael Hernandez’Database Design for Mere Mortals(Addison-Wesley Devel-opers Press, 1997), which do a better job of illuminating thetopic, but their scope is narrower if not outright limited to asingle product (e.g., FileMaker Pro or MS Access). Jacso´and Lancaster have identified a topic that deserves attention,

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