Regina Gong

Rightsizing the Academic Library Collection

for instruction. It also includes a detailed model request for instruction form, followed by an instructive final note on scheduling, generally speaking. In the eighth chapter, “Characteristics of Effective Instructors,” the author provides a list of 12 broad skills and knowledge categories and 25 essential characteristics of an effective instructor, namely, knowledge of the subject matter, genuine desire to teach, ability to communicate effectively, sense of humor, knowledge of effective teaching and pedagogy, and organizational skills, just to name a few. The author expands on the concept of effective instructors with an equally informative discussion on the “Characteristics of Effective Instruction” in the ninth chapter. In this section, he argues that even the most experienced instructors need to devise strategies and develop tactics to effectively conduct instruction sessions so that they can manage disruptions that may eventually occur during a session. In the final two chapters, the tenth and eleventh, respectively, “Assessment” and “Challenges to Instruction,” McAdoo produces a wide-ranging and erudite discussion on the importance of conducting informal and formal assessments of library instruction. He ends the book by addressing some of the common misconceptions about library instruction and the issue of nonlibrarians providing instruction. The Fundamentals of Library Instruction is an excellent primer, which captures with persuasion and well-developed arguments the essence of this vital aspect of academic librarianship. Reading it will obviate some of the pitfalls inherent in library instruction. It is an important and much-needed book for teaching librarians of all experience levels.

A Review of “Data Management for Libraries: A LITA Guide.”

Research data management is one arena where libraries have taken on a new role. With the growing mandate for open data and sharing of results, especially for federally funded research projects, it is imperative that libraries adopt a good data management plan to fulfill these requirements. While some academic libraries, particularly large research types, have recognized this growing demand by offering data management services to faculty and scholars in their institutions, many libraries are still facing challenges in creating and implementing these services. The challenges are as varied as they are complicated. So how does a library even begin to think about the resources, expertise, and staff needed to fulfill this new and important role? This new LITA Guide will provide an answer at least for academic librarians thinking of implementing data management services. As with any LITA Guide, this book is straightforward, short, and meant to be a primer for librarians on how to provide effective data management. The authors, Laura Krier and Carly Strasser, are both from the California Digital Library, with extensive experience and expertise in data modeling and analysis, linked data, and data curation. The book is divided into eight chapters and organized according to the steps needed to provide data management services. Chapters 1 and 2 provide an overview of data management and why it is important for libraries to engage in it and participate. The authors also provide practical tips on how to get started and what types of data management services the library can initially offer. Chapter 3 discusses how to create and provide support to faculty in the creation of data management plans. Since data management plans are now required by funders, researchers are expected to fulfill these mandates even if they don’t exactly know how to proceed. This chapter provides guidance to librarians on how to step up to the role of adviser and consultant in crafting data management plans for researchers. Chapter 4 continues from the previous chapter and discusses the data management interview in depth. It is at this stage where librarians apply their skills in conducting reference interviews to engage and talk to researchers on the specifics of their project. It is also at this point where librarians create a data curation profile so that both librarians and researchers know what and how data will be analyzed, stored, and shared. Chapter 5 deals with metadata and the logistics of how librarians can provide assistance to researchers in creating metadata using appropriate schemas or standards so that

A Review of “Library Automation and OPAC 2.0: Information Access and Services in the 2.0 Landscape”: Jesus Tramullas and Piedad Garrido, eds. 2013. Hershey, PA: IGI Global, 228 pp. ISBN: 9781466619128.

Since the concept of Web 2.0 was first discussed at a brainstorming conference led by Tim O’Reilly in 2001, other movements labeled with anything “2.0” came into the forefront. In particular, we now have Library 2.0, a concept that extends Web 2.0 to library services by enhancing user experience in the Library’s online presence. What better way to enhance the users’ experience than to provide an online library catalog that does more than just an inventory of the library’s holdings? Thus, OPAC 2.0 came into being, extending Web 2.0 applications to the online public catalog with the goal of enhancing and transforming user experience. Often referred to as the next-generation catalog, OPAC 2.0 aims to elevate the catalog to a level where users perform not only passive searching but a dynamic interaction that allows them to personalize their search, integrate it into their social networks, participate in community tagging, and review items they like in the library collection. These developments set the stage for this book edited by Jesus Tramullas and Piedad Garrido, both professors at the University of Zaragoza in Spain. Tramullas and Garrido have systems engineering and computer management backgrounds and write extensively on the implementation and development of computer tools in the field of library science. Together with a team of information professionals, researchers, and librarians, mostly from Europe, South Africa, United States, and Singapore, this book aims to “provide a reference source about theoretical and technical foundations of library automation in library 2.0 context.” This publication essentially reintroduces research in library automation focusing on the advances and interaction between the digital and social world in online catalogs. The book consists of 10 chapters, mostly case studies of how each library implements a Web 2.0–enabled online catalog, including: search interfaces redesign; cataloging using XML; open source library search engines; intelligent personal agents and personal information management; library analytics; and LibGuides, the online resource guides, as a teaching tool. There is a lot of historical analysis regarding the evolution of the online public catalog dating back from the 1980s and up to the wave of the Web 2.0 revolution. The book is dominated by conceptual and theoretical discussions on the design of user interfaces in library catalogs, with in-depth results of both quantitative and qualitative data findings in each case study. The chapters in this book show how far libraries have come in improving the online catalog interface to enable positive user experience in the age where the OPAC is no longer the “go-to” search among students. It also reinforces the limitations inherent with online catalogs with its inability to compete with natural language searching that Google has somehow perfected. I find the two chapters on VuFind well written, detailed, and very informative. However, it would have been better if there were other OPAC 2.0 systems featured in the book, such as Aquabrowser, Endeca, or Blacklight, among others. In addition, the Preface could use a little more editing to improve readability, since sentences are wordy and some pronouns incorrectly used. Nonetheless, the effort of the editors in bringing to the forefront cutting-edge research in OPAC 2.0 is commendable. If you are a serious researcher of library automation and want to build a better search interface for your users, this book is for you.