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Peter Brophy, The Library in the Twentyfirst CenturyThe Library in the Twenty‐first Century by Peter BrophyReview by: Patrick M. ValentineThe Library Quarterly, Vol. 80, No. 1 (January 2010), pp. 113-114Published by: The University of Chicago PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/648465 .
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REVIEWS
The Library in the Twenty-first Century. By PETER BROPHY. 2nd ed. London: FacetPublishing, 2007. Pp. xiv�248. $99.95 (cloth). ISBN: 978-1-85604-606-0.
Where are libraries and librarians in postindustrial societies headed? Will tech-nology change libraries beyond recognition? If so, what are these emerging tech-nologies, and how are libraries reacting or adapting to them? Peter Brophy is wellqualified to discuss libraries and their reactions to new technologies, but he is notwilling to prognosticate extensively about where they are headed over the long run.The Library in the Twenty-first Century is more about the library in Britain in the nextdecade or so than it is about libraries in the twenty-first century. Those interestedin a cultural analysis of American libraries in an information age may be bettersatisfied with John M. Budd’s Self-Examination: The Present and Future of Librarianship(Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2008) or John E. Buschman’s Dismantling thePublic Sphere: Situating and Sustaining Librarianship in the Age of the New Public Philosophy(Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2003).
This, a greatly revised and updated second edition of Brophy’s 2000 study, itselfperhaps given little notice on this side of the Atlantic, is more of a battlefield reportdesigned for beginning library school students in Britain than it is a study of librariesin general. I keep emphasizing Britain, as nearly all of his examples and thoughtsare focused on it, with little attention given to other areas of the world. As almostall libraries in the West face substantially similar challenges, Brophy’s analysis stillhas relevance. He is deeply aware of conditions and developments in Britain andis a widely published expert on academic libraries. This geographic focus gives asolid grounding to his remarks but is disappointing in limiting his perspective,especially as many of the social trends and technology originate elsewhere beforebeing translated to Britain. Most of the bibliography is likewise limited to Britishpublications—a rich field—but he surprisingly overlooks such stalwarts as JohnFeathers and Frank Webster.
Brophy is a strong believer that technical change will drive libraries and thatlibrarians and their institutions must adapt to these changes. The first half of thebook details where British libraries are now, while the second half discusses thedevelopments libraries must respond to. His discussions are clear and perceptive;his formulations and writing style are often vigorous and compelling. He bringsa strong background in and some skepticism about library technology, along withmuch past experience in assessing and explicating the conditions facing Britishlibraries.
Brophy starts by considering “the library as a way of providing access to infor-mation, . . . as a cultural center, . . . as an enabler of learning, . . . as the preserverof information sources, . . . as a social space” (p. 5). This section is clearly designedfor the beginning student. He does not discuss linguistic, ethnic, or religious con-siderations affecting actual or potential library practices or services in any detail,areas that surely concern almost all librarians on both sides of the Atlantic andelsewhere. On the other hand, Brophy does not shy away from recognizing thetechnology crisis libraries face with externally controlled information sources anda resulting lack of public confidence in libraries. Although Brophy does not state
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114 THE LIBRARY QUARTERLY
clearly whether he considers the crisis a temporary one of transition or a long-termthreat, his presentation is thoughtful and informed.
One advantage of his well-organized text is how he treats the specifics of manynew technologies—but not RFIDs (radio frequency ID)—and does not get lost ingeneralities. He stresses the inadequacies of present statistical measures, whetherinput, output, or outcomes, but adds little on what statistics would be more suitedfor the hybrid digital library of the future. He is more interested in the collectionof patron data than in how to use it in adapting services, much less in the legitimacyof such collection and analysis under the European Union’s strict informationcontrols. The intensive collection and retention of “credit data,” much less itsanalysis as “user intelligence,” would seem quite inappropriate (pp. 123, 127). Thequestion of protecting a patron’s right to privacy in selecting particular titles orusing individual services is broached (pp. 145–46) but not integrated into otherdiscussions. Brophy deserves credit, however, for considering the patron as a “user,”not a “consumer.” The world of library information and recreation is used, notconsumed or possessed, by the patron, and it remains available for reuse by others.
Occasionally Brophy’s imprecise use of language misleads the reader, as whenhe says “unknown” when he means “unexpected” or “unpredicted” (pp. 16–17).His interest in academic libraries also sometimes leads to descriptions that runbeyond the introductory nature of this book. Like most librarians, he has an in-ordinate fondness for acronyms and initials, but a glossary in the back is partialcompensation. The chapter on digital libraries gives careful consideration and aclear exposition of trends even if the terminology sometimes seems strange to anAmerican librarian audience. Brophy correctly insists that “libraries cannot remainneutral while others design the systems and services on which they will rely” (p.164). His chapter on the information universe stretches on without ever reallydescribing the social, political, economic, or psychological issues of informationuse. The future of integrated library systems is hardly discussed, nor much saidabout resource sharing across types of libraries, and even less about the future oflibrarianship in technologically disadvantaged areas.
It is easy to criticize, hard to synthesize the large question of where libraries areheaded in today’s rapidly evolving technological world. Brophy brings a wealth ofexperience and a clean style to explain current conditions and challenges in Britain.He makes many useful points in his survey of librarianship, and his insights intothe present and coming state of libraries will provide appetizers if not a full coursefor those on this side of the pond.
Patrick M. Valentine, Department of Library Science, East Carolina University
Religion and the Culture of Print in Modern America. Edited by CHARLES L. COHEN andPAUL S. BOYER. Print Culture History in Modern America. Madison: University ofWisconsin Press, 2008. Pp. xx�369. $29.95 (paper). ISBN 978-029922574-2.
Nearly twenty years have passed since David Hall’s influential Worlds of Wonder, Daysof Judgment: Popular Religious Belief in Early New England (Cambridge, MA: HarvardUniversity Press, 1989) appeared. In that impressive work, Hall combined ethno-graphic and historical methods to present New England Puritans as more diverseand less creedal than scholars had previously supposed. Hall began his analysis witha discussion of Puritan print culture as a way of understanding the “structures ofbelief” laypersons used to understand their world (p. 70). Earlier in the 1980s, Hall
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