Building Electronic Library Collections: The EssentialGuide to Selection Criteria and Core Subject Collections,by Diane Kovacs. New York, NY: Neal-Schuman Publish-ers, Inc., 2000. 250p. $75.00. ISBN 1–55570-362–3. LC 99–048575.

Designed for librarians interested in creating or expandingelectronic libraries (e-libraries), this book outlines criteria forselecting and evaluating Internet resources. It also containslists of resources for developing core collections in severalkey subject areas, including business, medicine, law, andeducation. In addition to reviewing literature concerning e-li-brary collection development issues, case studies that discusssome existing electronic libraries are included.

This text provides a practical approach to incorporatingselection criteria into the process of collecting electronicresources. The organization of the content emphasizes thispracticality. The first chapter discusses issues related to de-veloping a collection plan, establishes some basic selectioncriteria, and suggests places to begin looking for resources.Each subsequent chapter uses this framework to developcriteria and core collections for various topics. For instance,Chapter 2 delves into creating a ready-reference collection,and Chapter 3 focuses on business. Because each chapterfollows this format, someone interested only in legal re-sources could concentrate primarily on the introductory ma-terial and on the legal resources chapter.

As a whole, there are only two drawbacks to this book.First, when focusing on Internet-based resources, there isalways a risk that material will become outdated as URLsand content change and as the Internet evolves. To helpcombat this, there is a companion Web site that includes allthe resources listed in the book. According to the author,this site will be updated as resources change. Although thisshould help in keeping the list of resources up to date, it isstill important to realize that content such as this can be-come dated.

A second problem is that a section of the text seems to bemissing. Like the other subject-specific chapters, Chapter 2focuses on developing a core collection, in this case forready reference. The author notes that “the following coreready-reference e-library collection was created” (p. 42). Thecollection, however, is not listed, even though it is men-tioned in other places as being included in Chapter 2. Forinstance, the core collection for education notes, “See alsothe Core Internet Ready-reference Collections in ChaptersTwo-Five” (p. 181). This missing section creates confusionwhen reading the text. Luckily, the collection is included onthe companion Web site.

Despite the missing section, this book is an interestingaddition to the literature because it pursues a more policy-oriented approach to collecting Internet resources. Nothingelse seems to focus on the use of selection criteria in thisarea. Some of the material covered by the book may be toointroductory for librarians who have already developed theirown collection plans or criteria for selecting electronic re-sources. However, I would recommend this book for anyonewho is just starting to develop an e-library.—Nicole Camp-bell, Reference Librarian, Washington State UniversityVancouver, 14204 NE Salmon Creek Ave., Vancouver,WA 98686-9600<campbell@vancouver.wsu.edu>.

The Cybrarians’ Manual 2, rev. ed., edited by Pat Ensor.Chicago, IL: American Library Association, 2000. 313p.$45.00 ($40.50 ALA members). ISBN 0–8389-0777–6. LC99–044215.

If you missed the first edition ofThe Cybrarian’s Man-ual, published in 1997, you may want to consider the secondedition,The Cybrarian’s Manual 2,which provides updatedinformation on a variety of Information Technology (IT)subjects of interest to public and academic librarians. Thisseries is published by the American Library Association andedited by Pat Ensor, currently head librarian of the Univer-sity of Houston-Downtown. It is designed for the libraryprofessional who has “an intermediate knowledge of technol-ogy” and a desire to keep up with the latest developments inthe field.

In the second edition, which is about half the size of thefirst (35 chapter entries compared to 64, respectively), Ensorfollows the successful format she established in her earlierwork, soliciting contributions from professional librariansand IT experts around the country who provide a collectiveoverview of current and future technologies involving librar-ies. Brief biographies of contributing authors are provided atthe beginning of each chapter. Two authors from the firstedition have updated their chapters for the second edition.Seven other authors have contributed to both editions, butthey write on different topics. For the most part, the chaptersare very short, making up for their lack of depth by includ-ing numerous pointers to both print and online resources forfurther reference and study. While Web addresses are notori-ous for being unstable, a brief check of the URLs cited re-vealed them to be, on the whole, informative pointers toniche resources with few broken links. The second editionadds a list of common acronyms and initialisms at the endof the book, followed by a comprehensive index.

Examples of topics covered in the second edition includelocal area networks and nationwide networks, Web page au-thoring tips, electronic source citing, news and reviews,Web-based reference services, multimedia, electronic coursereserves, virtual reality, wireless technology, e-journals, digi-tal libraries, privacy and security issues, push-pull technolo-gies, copyright, and more. Although some mildly humorouspieces have been included in the second edition’s mix, onlythe first edition can lay claim to reprints of the wonderfullyclever and still worth reading FAQ columns created byThomas Dowling, “the [alternate] Dr. Internet.”

On the practical side, the second edition contains an ex-cellent chapter, entitled “Licensed to Teach” by Ann Thorn-ton, coordinator for electronic training at the Science, Indus-try and Business Library of The New York Public Library,on training library patrons in the use of the Web. Anothervery informative chapter is Alicia Abramson’s “ProvidingWeb Access in Libraries: A Practical Guide.” Abramson isdirector of Library Information Systems at California StateUniversity, Sacramento. These two chapters alone may bereason enough to purchase the book.

Regrettably, the second edition fails to focus on two IT-related issues confronting many libraries today: supportingdistance education coursework and budgeting for databasepurchases. Nonetheless, librarians who prefer a broad-brushapproach to a wide range of IT topics will not be disap-pointed. There is much to satisfy their professional curiosity

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