Scott Sheidlower

Ten Characteristics of Quality Indexes: Confessions of an Award-Winning Indexer: Towery, Margie. Medford, NJ: Information Today, 2016, xi+ 140 pp.,

Margie Towery is not a rookie indexer. She has been an indexer for over twenty years. Although she began her career in publishing in 1986, she did not identify herself as a professional indexer unt...

45.00, ISBN 978-1-57387-526-4.

three long appendices list professional resources (with URLs), recommended selection aids, and sample collection development policies. A glossary and index conclude the volume. Johnson states about the field: ‘‘Much is mastered while on the job’’ (p. 54) because library schools can’t possibly teach all of the skills involved. This is true, since much will depend on an individual library’s setup and culture, but this volume provides a detailed grounding in all facets of the discipline and can fill in gaps in one’s personal knowledge. It would work well as a textbook, but all librarians with collection responsibilities, whether newcomers or veterans, will learn something new here.

Implementing an Inclusive Staffing Model for Today's Reference Services: A Practical Guide for Librarians by Julia K. Nims, Paula Storm, and Robert Stevens: Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014, xvii + 143 pp.,

ing graduate assistants, new employee orientation, discrimination in employment, working with underperforming employees, planning for change, shadowing and learning about your staff, and staff shortages. The final six chapters under Public Relations talk about communicating with your board, board meetings that work, cooperating with other nonprofits, balancing access and privacy, using statistics to make your case, and public relations on a shoestring. This book is full of practical advice for library managers in all types of libraries, and there are pros and cons to this approach. The pros are that the reader can see a wide variety of practices and approaches that may not have been considered before in their particular type of library setting. The cons are that, for most librarians, the differences among the various types of libraries are such that only about 40–60% is of actual practical use in their current environment. For instance, information on dealing with a board of directors and on school libraries is not applicable for academic librarians, just as hiring graduate assistants and off-campus library issues would not be of interest to a public or school library. In any case, just the vast amount of case studies and experience documented in this book make it one that any library manager should consider obtaining.