Mont, '[Reviews]', LIBRES v4n02-3 URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/libres/libres-v4n02-3-mont-reviews] LIBRES: Library and Information Science Research Electronic Journal __________________________________________________________________ ISSN 1058-6768 August 28, 1994 Volume 4 Issue 2/3 Quarterly LIBRE4N2 REVIEWS _The Official Catholic Directory 1994_ reviewed by Mary J. Du Mont _Library Without Walls: Plug in and Go_ reviewed by Martin R. Kalfatovic _USJOBS Federal Jobs Database_ reviewed by Wendall Sullivan _Senate Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training,Report of the Inquiry into the Organization and Funding of Researchin Higher Education, Canberra, Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, 1994_ reviewed by Susan Henshall ============================================================= _The Official Catholic Directory 1994_. Published by P. J. Kenedy & Sons in Association with R. R. Bowker, a Reed Reference Publishing Company, 1994. 1967p. ISBN 0-8352-3424- X; ISSN 0078-3854. $180.00 The Official Catholic Directory has been the standard directory of the Catholic Church in North America for 177 years. The 1994 edition consists of nearly 2000 pages of information. Approximately one half of the volume is devoted to detailed profiles of individual Catholic dioceses. These profiles are arranged alphabetically by diocesan name and include a statistical profile, a listing of administrative offices, clergy, parishes, missions, parochial schools, and institutions such as colleges, hospitals, day care centers, monasteries, convents, and religious orders. Following this section are lists of American foreign missions, religious societies engaged in missionary work, mission churches in the United States, religious institutes for men and women, colleges and universities, hospitals and other organizations. Next follows a listing of diocesan and religious priests, with a special necrology section for those who have died since the publication of the last edition. A summary section presents a statistical portrait of Catholic life in the United States, and a foldout map of United States dioceses is included at the end of the volume. The volume itself is beautifully bound, and the contents are well-organized and easy to read, despite the small print which the wealth of information presented makes necessary. Advertisements are included at the beginning and the end of the book only. All are vendors of church supplies andservices, such as fundraising companies, religious statuary, candles, interior design companies, etc. There is so much information in The Official Catholic Directory that it is truly tiring to list it all--the preface alone gives ecclesiastical forms of address in the United States, a glossary of ecclesiastical terms, religious order initials, governing bodies in Vatican City, and more. The Directory's publisher describes its content as presenting "...the most accurate and complete facts and figures on the Catholic community and its organizations...", and also cites that with Catholics now representing 23% of the total population of the United States, ..."librarians and other information providers need difinitive resources to answer their questions, such as how to locate parishes and schools in new locations, how to identify suitable Catholic colleges, or how to select needed special care facilities." It is truly an exceptional reference book, indispensable for Catholic organizations, and highly recommended for public and academic libraries alike. Mary J. Du Mont Head of the Music Library Kent State University mdumont@kentvm.kent.edu ============================================================= Susan B. Ardis, compiler. _Library Without Walls: Plug in and Go_. Washington, DC: Special Libraries Association, 1994. 216p.; $31.00; 0-8711-422-4. With its genesis in a discussion amongst a group of University of Texas at Austin librarians (later expanded to include a selection of special librarians in the area), _Library Without Walls_ is a solid introduction to many of the concepts, problems and promises of the electronic library. This is clearly planned as *introductory* work, however, and should not be mistaken for a major statement on the "virtual library." Covering a wide variety of topics (including document delivery, local area networks, the Internet, electronic journals, expert systems, CD-ROMs, imaging systems, staff training issues, and the marketing of libraries), compiler Ardis introduces each section with rhetorical questions that are followed by attempts of contributors to answer or reformulate the question. Contributions are written for those with limited technical knowledge and will be accessible to a wide range of librarians. Most are written in a style that reflects the interactive "collegial communications" (p.v) that Ardis credits as leading to the planning of the essays. This volume is recommended for the small "unplugged" special library or those just starting to explore the possibilities of "libraries without walls." Martin R. Kalfatovic Smithsonian Institution Libraries, Washington, DC. (libem071@sivm.si.edu) ============================================================= USJOBS Federal Jobs Database Digibook Corporation Princeton, NJ Windows and DOS versions $375/yr for 26 updates (Includes SF-171 Form Editor) The USJOBS Federal Jobs Database contains job listings and other information to help users search for jobs with the federal government. USJOBS comes in both Windows and DOS versions. This review focuses on the Windows version. (NOTE: USJOBS was revised from an earlier version due in part to comments on an initial draft of this review.) The Main Screen of USJOBS for Windows contains five buttons: Federal Job Listings, Merit Promotion Listings, OPM and Other Personnel Offices, Tips for Finding a Federal Job, and Exit Application. The first two contain various job listings. "OPM and Other Personnel Offices" contains contact information for federal offices around the country. "Tips for Finding a Federal Job" contains copious information about different job classifications and how to handle a federal job search---easily the most useful part of the program, especially the General Information section. Clicking on either of the first two buttons takes you to the Build Search Query Screen. Users enter information in the "Edit Box", then click on the OK button to execute a search. USJOBS is designed principally to search job titles, but you can also search by location (city) and job series. Searching for job titles will frustrate most users. If you type a job title that does not EXACTLY match a title in the database (which is very easy to do, especially for multiple word job titles), the program says "No jobs found" then leaves you in the Search Jobs Screen (which should be called the Results Screen). Selecting the "Done" button returns you to the Main Menu; selecting the Search button sends users back to the Build Search Query screen. USJOBS tries to narrow a search if it finds too many listings. For example, USJOBS may say "107 jobs found! Narrow search?" with Yes/No buttons to select. If users select "Yes", USJOBS returns to the Build Search Query screen, and users can then narrow using title words, location or job series. USJOBS handles multiple-word job titles badly. For example, searching for "Engineer (mechanical)" under Federal Job Listings yielded one reference; searching "mechanical engineer" yielded no references, as did searching "Title=engineer and Title=mechanical". Users _must_ use the AND or OR buttons to search for a multiple word term. Users must then click back in the Edit box or on one of the search type buttons before adding another term. To search multiple word job titles comprehensively, users must use the wildcard character (*); USJOBS supplies this automatically at the end of every term. For multiple word job titles, both right AND left-hand truncation should be used. USJOBS cannot search job titles with parentheses in themQe.g., engineer (mechanical) and some multiple-word searches fail for no apparent reason; "Title=nurse* and Title=specialist*" failed but using left hand truncation (*specialist*) yielded 20 jobs. The Title Browse buttons at the bottom of the search screen are easily one of the best features of the program. Letters of the alphabet are listed on buttons at the bottom of the Build Search screen; clicking on a letter takes you to an index listing job titles beginning with that letter. Of course, users must search all possible permutations of a job title. It would also be useful for the buttons to be labeled on the screen in some way. The SF-171 Form Editor included with the program allows users to complete a job application online and print it out. For reasonable quality, a laser printer is needed. The Form Editor suffers somewhat because more than one page appears on a screen, slowing performance and producing a slightly confusing display. The DOS version of USJOBS is much more limited than the Windows version, and is severely annoying. Trunctation and boolean searching do not appear to work in the DOS version of this program. Multiple word searches can be entered without entering AND or OR buttons, but you must be very exact and you must search all reasonable permutations of any given job title. The DOS version cannot be recommended for use by this reviewer. USJOBS' natural audience would be in a public library or in a jobs center. With patience, it might be usable, but users will be easily frustrated by it. USJOBS is a very good idea, and much improved from the previous version, but still cannot be recommended. Wendall Sullivan Library of Rush University Chicago, Illinois sullivan@lib.rpslmc.edu ============================================================= _Senate Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training,Report of the Inquiry into the Organization and Funding of Researchin Higher Education, Canberra, Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, 1994_. xxi + 282 pp. A$29.95 paper ISBN 0-642-20209-5 The terms of reference of the Inquiry into the Organization and Funding of Research in Higher Education were to examine the organization and funding of research in the higher education sectorin Australia with particular reference to 'changes in the pattern of research activity across the higher education sector...'; 'the concentration of university research effort in designated centers of excellence vis a vis the maintenance of a plurality of research operations...'; 'the balance between different types of research...'; and 'the efficiency and effectiveness of the Australian Research Council's processes and practices in the funding of research...'(p.v) Of particular interest to this review were the findings of a recent study by the Boston Consulting Group for NBEET (National Board of Employment, Education and Training) which 'argued that declining infrastructure support to the universities over many years has brought the system to the brink of collapse'. (p.xi) The Inquiry supported the findings of that study and concluded that additional funding is necessary. 'The damaging consequences of a failure to provide it will extend well beyond the universities.' (p.xii) The report contains a strong and succinct section on Libraries as infrastructure and quotes from the submissions to the Inquiry of a number of distinguished librarians and academics. It acknowledges libraries as a crucial component of research infrastructure and the need for co-ordinated action at the national level. It also reaffirms the findings of the 1990 Ross Report (Library Provision inHigher Education Institutions, HEC Commissioned Report No. 7, AGPS, December 1990), stating that many of its recommendations are relevant to this report, providing an agenda for action by the government, the AVCC (Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee) and university administrators. One of the major funding issues identified was that libraries rarely benefit from funds flowing to the universities from competitive grants, because university administrators fail to earmark library components of infrastructure funds and pass on only minimal funds to libraries. The Committee noted a number of major issues of concern: o fluctuations in the exchange rate severely impact on libraries because a large proportion of research material is acquired fromoverseas; 'what appears to be the excessive and unjustifiable journal pricesdemanded by some major publishers.'(p.51); increasing involvement of library staff in the research training of post-graduates; ability to provide library support at only a basic level which would 'severely compromise researchers' abilities to keep up with world standards.'(p.53); and further dilution of library services due to the growth of undergraduate courses. The committee examined in detail the sharing of library resourcesand supported the notion of distributed collections, possibly on a national basis, establishing collections in areas of special strength which can be made available across the whole Unified National System. The Committee recommended that project funds be specifically allocated for library support in ARC (Australian Research Council) and CRC (Cooperative Research Centre) grants. Although the Committee was aware that the Commonwealth has earmarked up to $5m from the National Priority (Reserve) Fund over the period 1994-96 for projects with system wide benefits to university libraries, it obviously felt this was not enough. It 'believes that an additional allocation specifically for a system-wide, cooperatively managed library infrastructure is justified by the particular difficulties faced by university libraries and the critical importance of their contribution to all research in the higher education sector.'(p.59) On the basis of this it recommended that the Government provide an establishment fund of $10 million over three years for this purpose. While the Committee acknowledged the importance of information technology as a valuable tool in research, it did not see it entirely replacing hard copy, particularly as access and delivery of electronic information increases its cost to users. Computer networks such as AARNet are increasingly becoming fundamental research tools, enabling international access to resources. As a result the Committee recommended that the Government provide financial assistance for the extension of AARNet and for training of researchers in its use. From an academic librarian's perspective this is all very heartening, although it has all been said many times before. What remains to be seen is whether or not additional funding will be forthcoming and under what conditions. The Ross Report appears only to have made a marginal impact in terms of the additional $5 million referred to above. Funding for academic libraries has generally deteriorated in the intervening four years since its publication.The Ross Report was broad in both its terms of reference and its resulting recommendations. The fact that this Inquiry was narrower in focus, and in its recommendations for libraries, may work to the advantage of academic libraries. If the only achievement is that university administrators recognize the integral nature of academic libraries to the research process, and provide adequate funding for this role, then this Inquiry will have achieved a great deal. If additional establishment funding is forthcoming then this should be considered an unexpected bonus. Susan Henshall, Deputy University Librarian Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology sjhenshall@rmit.edu.au ============================================================= _____ Articles and Sections of this issue of _LIBRES: Library and Information Science Research Electronic Journal_ may be retrieved via anonymous ftp to cc.curtin.edu.au or via e-mail message addressed to LISTSERV@KENTVM or LISTSERV@KENTVM.KENT.EDU (instructions below) Papers may be submitted at anytime by email or send/file to: Andy Exon, Ph.D. Editor-in-Chief, _LIBRES: Library and Information Science Research Electronic Journal, EDITORS@KENTVM.KENT.EDU _________________________________ *Copyright Declaration* Copyright of articles published by LIBRES: Library and Information Science Electronic Journal is held by the author of a given article. 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