Out Front with Stephen Abram: A Guide for InformationLeaders, by Stephen Abram, compiled by Judith A. Siess andJonathan Lorig. Chicago: American Library Association, 2007.204 p. $40. ISBN 13 978-0-8389-0932-4. LC 2006031410.

Meet Stephen Abram-former President of the CanadianLibrary Association, advocate of cutting-edge informationtechnology, early proponent of Library 2.0, outspoken defenderof the millennial generation’s new-style multitasking, and oneof North America’s foremost library conference speakers. Asearly as 2002, Library Journal named Abrams as one of its topfifty important library movers and shakers. The book’scompilers, Judith A. Seiss and Jonathan Lorig, consider himone of the most outstanding library leaders in today’s fast-moving, paradigm-shifting library environment. In their view,he is the man, the person we should all be listening to andreading–the best voice out there to help librarians understandwhere they are, who they are, and what they are facing in theyears ahead.

Out Front with Stephen Abram compiles the best of Abram’sarticles and lecture notes. The volume divides his writings intofour sections: advocacy, technology, generations, and the future.The sections feature Abram in a variety of formats. He lecturesat conferences, sounds off on his blog, the Lighthouse, writespeer-reviewed journal articles, and addresses library associa-tions of various sorts.

Of course, Abram is at his best discussing technology anddelineating the new generation-what Abram and others havelabeled the New Millennials. He wants to see librarians reckonwith this new generation and the newfangled era in which theylive, to celebrate its diversity, connectivity, and exuberance.Where some fear that today’s students read too little andunderstand less, Abram praises the new generation’s multi-tasking and technical savvy. ‘‘They can think rings around us,’’he says. Where others see continuity in the human experiencebetween generations, Abram sees divergence. Dylan said it all.‘‘The times are a-changin’.’’ Where others worry about thedangers of technology, Abram marvels at its transformingpower. For him technology liberates.

So there you have him–Abrams out front talking abouttechnology and the new approaches to learning, all the whiletaking on slothful librarians and backward-looking biblio-philes. The man has little patience with those whose values orperspectives are wedded to the past. He revels in what liesahead. He has yet to meet a digital technology he does notlike.

All in all, the slender volume has the virtue of distillingAbram, and I am thankful that the compilers have pulled togethersuch an interesting assortment of his writings. The volume’sflaws are at worst, only minor. The editors wisely include abiography of Abrams, but it should have been longer and moredetailed. Their cryptic sketch only leaves the reader yearning formore. The compilers’ chapter introductions also tend to be a bithagiographic. Judith Siess and Jonathan Lorig are certainly rightabout Abram’s brilliance. He is a significant library figure, butthat is a conclusion they should have allowed their readers todraw.

Putting such quibbles aside, however, there is no gainsayingthe book’s value as a solid introduction and a first-rate primerfor this jet-hopping conference speaker and leading libraryfigure. Fun to read, entertaining, loaded with insight, Upfrontwith Stephen Abram, has a lot to offer. It is almost like being

there. The book is the next best thing to listening to Abram inperson or to perusing his Web blog.—Steve McKinzie,Library Director, Catawba College, Salisbury, NC 28147bsmckinzi@catawba.eduN.

doi:10.1016/j.acalib.2007.07.004

Rethinking Information Work: A Career Guide for Librar-ians and Other Information Professionals, by G. Kim Dority.Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2006. 222 p. $38. ISBN 1-59158-180-X.

G. Kim Dority, an adjunct faculty member of the Universityof Denver graduate program in Library and Information Scienceat the Morgridge School of Education, teaches courses inInformation Entrepreneurship and Career Alternatives forLibrary Science Students and Professionals. This work,chock-full of inspirational content and presented succinctly ina go-getting, no-nonsense style, was crafted from her prepara-tion and experiences with these courses, particularly the latter,Career Alternatives, course. The ample references are indeedworth noting and include standards from the LIS field (e.g.,SLA’s 2003 Competencies For Information Professionals of the21st Century) as well as an astonishing number of titles from theoutside (e.g., University of Chicago Psychologist’s MikalyCsikszentmihalyi’s work on creativity, Daniel Goleman’s workon emotional intelligence, or Oprah’s featured columnist, lifecoach Martha Beck’s work). Geared toward new recruits andseasoned practitioners alike, Dority’s book succeeds in provid-ing a framework to enable all library professionals to craft acareer plan that maximizes their ‘‘employability’’ (see defini-tion, p. 4) and gives flexibility to withstand continuous changesin the workplace. As Dority elaborates ‘‘The goal is to design acareer flexible enough that it can grow with you, rather thankeep you from growing (p. 81).’’

Reflecting the search process from start to finish, the book isnicely divided into ten chapters (Rethinking Information Work,Self-Knowledge: Your Career Starting Point, The TraditionalPath, the Nontraditional Path, The Independent Path, CreatingYour Professional Portfolio, Growing Your Career, Thriving onChange, Creating Your Career Map, and Taking Charge ofYour Career) that outline the content of the book. Withseemingly boundless enthusiasm for her topic, Dority beginsby stressing self-knowledge and, to that end, advocates abattery of possibilities for self-exploration including person-ality testing (through the Myers-Briggs), interviewing estab-lished professionals in the field, and keeping a career journal.Dority’s definition of information work is categorized intothree areas or paths: the traditional path (in public, school,academic or special libraries), the nontraditional path (as anembedded knowledge worker in a corporation or nonprofit),and the independent path (as a self-employed entrepreneur)exploring the merits and drawbacks of each. While imploringreaders to always consider what value they bring to anyenterprise, in succeeding chapters Dority models strong‘‘action’’ verbs throughout the book in creating a portfolio(instead of a conventional resume), growing a career, thrivingon change, creating a career map, and simply taking charge.According to Dority, this entails developing confidence inone’s skills. She writes, ‘‘Traditionally, the LIS dacculturation

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processT has rarely included assertiveness training, self-esteemstrengthening, confidence building, or risk-taking among itsprofessional development priorities (p. 124).’’

Readers should note that Dority’s emphasis on employ-ability and her resilient optimism flies in the face of aconventional wisdom that has dictated huge barriers forprofessional who wish to change jobs between the traditionalpaths (let alone the nontraditional or independent). Perhaps thetimes are changing. Dority’s book is not rehabilitation for thesour, the cynical, or the hopeless and readers will find nosoothing or stroking for excuses or bad breaks here. Profes-sionals with looming employment issues are better served withMontgomery and Cook’s Conflict Management for Libraries(ALA, 2005); younger professionals also will want to consultGordon’s The NextGen Librarian’s Survival Guide (Informa-tion Today, 2006) in addition to this work. RethinkingInformation Work is highly recommended for all relevantcollections and all professionals seeking employment intoday’s workplaces.—Christy Zlatos, Manager, Hollandand Terrell Reference Services, Terrell Library Room120L, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman,WA 99164-5610 bzlatos@wsu.eduN.

doi:10.1016/j.acalib.2007.07.005

Teaching Information Literacy Skills to Social SciencesStudents and Practitioners: A Casebook of Applications,edited by Douglas Cook and Natasha Cooper. Chicago:American Library Association, 2006. 277 p. $39. ISBN 0-8389-8389-8.

A plethora of example assignments, lesson plans, and courseoutlines exists within the research of librarianship. That said, acompilation of thorough cases is always an importantcontribution to the body of literature. A revisited and revisedversion of the 1995 edition, Teaching Information LiteracySkills goes beyond instruction for education students to includea variety of social science disciplines. This collection evenmakes a move beyond text-based information literacy instruc-tion, making this an innovative and well-designed casebookfrom a variety of qualified contributors.

This edition’s uniform style and structure help readers tocompare and contrast individual lessons included throughoutthe book. Even though it appears that a user would most likelyconsult individual chapters that pertained to their own duties inlibrarianship, it would do instruction librarians good to readthrough all of the lessons to see the variety and experience ineach. It should be noted that these chapters are truly more thanindividual lesson plans of the individual instruction sessions.The authors include honest reflections on what worked andwhat did not, while also offering ways to advance or improvethe instruction in the future. It was especially promising to seeso many of the information literacy instructional designsinclude more than one fifty-minute session with students. Allof these cases demonstrated strong collaborations betweenteaching faculty and librarians, as well as intensive planning.

As part of the book’s standardized organization, each lessonis correlated to specific objectives within the ACRL Informa-tion Literacy Standards to provide a framework for instruction.Each chapter includes an ‘‘Analysis of the Learning Situation’’

where one can find descriptions of teaching facilities and notesabout individual campuses. Many of the cases include specifickinds of technology used during instruction and detailed activelearning exercises for adaptation in other settings. While mostof the courses targeted in this monograph include those youwould expect in a work dedicated to the social sciences (likecommunications, education, and psychology), audiences arenot limited to undergraduates. Some lessons detail collabo-rative work geared to more diverse learning populations, suchas graduate students, international students, distance educationstudents, and teacher candidates. It should be noted as well thatthis book includes lessons that address information literacybeyond a text-based learning environment, including a well-defined lesson on visual literacy and one that focuses on dataliteracy.

As a whole, Teaching Information Literacy Skills provides avariety of opportunities for those in the social sciences andbeyond. It will also be useful for those in other disciplines asboth a way to generate new ideas in your teaching,collaborations with faculty, and formats to facilitate instructiondesign. Within the information literacy instruction literature,this is a welcome addition and likely to encourage imitators ofequal competence, clarity, and comprehensiveness.—MichelleS. Millet, Information Literacy Coordinator, CoatesLibrary, Trinity University, One Trinity Place, San Anto-nio, TX, 78212-7200 bmichelle.millet@trinity.eduN.

doi:10.1016/j.acalib.2007.07.006

The Twelfth Off-Campus Library Services ConferenceProceedings, edited by Julie Garrison. Binghamton, NY: TheHaworth Information Press, 2007. 593 p. $90.00. ISBN 978-0-7890-3477-9.

Co-sponsored by Central Michigan University (CMU) Off-Campus Library Services and CMU Off-Campus Programs, thebiennial Off-Campus Library Services Conferences offer peer-reviewed presentations related to the provision of libraryservices for remote users. The Twelfth Off-Campus LibraryServices Conference Proceedings is a compilation of papers thatwere presented at the 12th biennial conference in Savannah,Georgia in April 2006.

The 12th OCLS Conference presentations consists of 28Contributed Papers, three Contributed Workshops, and eightContributed Electronic Posters. Articles within each section arearranged alphabetically by author. In addition, there is aContributor Index and a general Index.

The documents in the Contributed Papers section covertopics of interest to academic librarians who provide services toremote users in a variety of learning environments, includingonline instruction, hybrid courses, off-site classrooms, andbranch campuses. Most of the examples are from library ser-vices in the United States, but there is some representation fromCanada and the West Indies.

Many of the articles deal with utilizing technology to serveoff-campus users. These range from Web site evaluation, blog-ging, orientation CD’s, course management software, the needfor e-books to downloadable resources for handheld devices.

Consistent with past volumes of OCLS Conference Proceed-ings, many of the articles treat important topics of discussion in

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