Barbara Frame

Rethinking information literacy: A practical framework for supporting learning

when moving reference staff from behind the desk in the academic library and embedding them into campus departments and programmes both physically and virtually. Kokkinos, Papadatou and Sisamaki consider the use of marketing research methods for the evaluation of information literacy services, focusing on this new application for an existing research method. In contrast, Ross uses grounded analysis to investigate the use of a public library network by non-residents, with the aim of exploring the full use of the library network and ‘how public library directors perceive the value of non-resident use for their libraries and communities’. Ross outlines the results of the completed research and identifies areas where further data needs to be gathered to fully answer the initial research questions. In addition to this volume being an important contemporary resource on researchmethods in libraries in its own right, it also serves to fuel interest in the possibilities of other library research and the following of or attendance at future iterations of the QQML Conference. Those with the most to gain from this volume are librarians and academics interested in the analysis and betterment of library service and functions, using qualitative and quantitative methodologies to provide the understanding and insight of how this can be achieved.

Say it with data: a concise guide to making your case and getting results

the value of their reading group activity. Further on in the book, Chapter 3 discusses the issues which blind and partially sighted people face as readers. The most significant theme to emerge is an acute awareness of the constant barriers the group faces when trying to pursue their interest in reading. Access to reading materials is not always easy. Hyder pinpoints a complex web of factors (the limited availability of accessible publications, prohibitive cost, abridgements, the impact of the narrator on the reading experience, access to technology and cultural attitudes to reading via alternative formats. All these factors led the group to feel excluded as readers. Chapter 4 discusses key library documents which identify strategies for social inclusion of VIP reading groups and how policies are put into practice. Chapter 5 delves into factors that affect VIP groups both positively and negatively. Whilst the participants at Newell Library spoke positively about some aspects of being in a reading group, their comments showed that feelings of exclusion are relevant to their experiences as reading group members, as well as their experiences as individual readers. In other words they were aware of differences between their experiences and those of sighted reading group members. The book ends with a final discussion of the link between reading groups and social justice, looking at the issue of integrated groups and the importance of libraries and publishers working together to deliver appropriate services to this particular type of reading group. Given how valuable reading is for blind and partially sighted people, Hyder’s book is an important contribution to a relatively under-researched area.

Graphic design before graphic designers: the printer as designer and craftsman, 1700–1914/The book of books: 500 years of graphic innovation

on four key points and explains them, hence the Four by Four title. Even the appendices are grouped in a set of four. Most chapters also have models that show how the points work, and an application section that suggests how a teacher might teach each particular topic. The writing is very clear and ably supported by numerous models and lesson plans. Those who do not teach but are interested in persuasive writing can apply the concepts to themselves, so while aimed at teachers, others can gain considerable clarity about and learn new methods for applying persuasive writing. This reviewer read the electronic version of the book as a hyperlinked web page (similar to the texts provided by Project Gutenberg). She has a personal preference when reading electronic texts that they mimic the look of the print version. Others may greatly appreciate the web version. This work is recommended for English teachers of English where persuasive writing is on the curriculum.

A social history of books and libraries from cuneiform to bytes

The road to information literacy contains papers prepared for a joint satellite IFLA conference held in Tampere, Finland, in August 2012. The focus is on the teaching roles of librarians in a variety of functions, ranging from direct contact with learners to providing portals to information in ways that will help, rather than alienate and confuse, their intended users. In most cases in this book those users are students in higher-education institutions. Some of the contributors are, predictably, Finnish, and there are also several papers from Africa. Big differences in the challenges facing librarians in a comfortable, well-educated society, where most students in higher education are digital natives, and those that face their counterparts in resource-poor countries quickly become obvious. In poorer countries, not just the older generation but many students have grown up in school systems without libraries, or without computers in their libraries and need basic instruction in computer use. There, are, though, common themes. They include ways of teaching library staff to become effective promoters of information literacy, overcoming staff resistance to new ways of doing things, and building seamless and uncomplicated paths to reliable information resources. Everywhere, too many students prefer the convenience of Google and Wikipedia to the better but less easily located resources that their libraries can provide, but lack skills of evaluation, analysis, referencing and plagiarism avoidance. There are some interesting case studies, notably one in a Finnish school where students were required to develop the skills to prepare wiki articles. Other papers describe intended rather than completed projects. These include a collaboration between academic and public librarians in Johannesburg to bring information-literacy skills to the general public, with a focus on the unemployed; the incorporation of information literacy into staff development programmes at the National University of Uganda; a succession planning strategy at McGill University in Montreal designed to ensure the transmission of institutional and professional knowledge; and a collaboration between two university libraries in Finland and one in Namibia. Indisputably, this is a book that adds something to the sum total of human knowledge. But I found little that seemed genuinely new, and (unless you are intent on building a comprehensive collection on information literacy) probably not enough to justify the cost and shelf space.

Introduction to public librarianship. 2nd ed. [Book Review]

Review(s) of: Introduction to public librarianship. 2nd ed. by Kathleen de la Pena McCook. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, 2011. 520 pp. A

Conducting the Reference Interview: A How-to-Do-It Manual for Librarians [Book Review]

89.95 soft cover ISBN 9781555706975 (available from Inbooks).

What we are, and why:Introduction to the Library and Information Professions.By Roger C. Greer, Robert J. Grover and Susan G. Fowler. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2007. 194 pp. US

Review(s) of: Conducting the Reference Interview: A How-to-Do-It Manual for Librarians, 2nd ed. by Catherine Sheldrick Ross, Kirsti Nilsen and Marie L. Radford, How-to-Do-It Manuals, 166. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, 2009. 290 pp. + CD-ROM A

60.00 soft cover ISBN13: 9781591584865

130.00, Soft Cover ISBN 9781555706555 (Available from Inbooks).

EBL in action:Evidence-based Librarianship: Case Studies and Active Learning Exercises,ed. by Elizabeth Connor. Chandos Information Professional Series. Oxford: Chandos Publishing, 2007. 170 pp. £39.95 soft cover ISBN 1843342995

Review(s) of: Introduction to the Library and Information Professions, by Roger C. Greer, Robert J. Grover and Susan G. Fowler, Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2007. 194 pp. US

Once more: give ‘em what they need:Equity and Excellence in the Public Library: Why Ignorance Is Not Our Heritage.By Bob Usherwood. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2007. 238 pp. £45.00 hard cover ISBN 9780754648062

60.00 soft cover ISBN13: 9781591584865.