Re-Membering Libraries: Essays on the Profession Book

This collection of essays and unpublished papers is an informal, sometimes irreverent look back at Webb's (dean of the Guggenheim Library at Monmouth University) nearly quarter-century in the library profession. Most chapters recall an anecdote, memory, or reminiscence that represents an important lesson in being a librarian or library manager, and that in one way or another projects its relevance into the future of librarianship. Among the many topics discussed are fund-raising, libraries as research institutions, library buildings, digitization, globalization, and library education reform. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Library Journal

In 15 essays discussing organizational management, library operations, and professional issues, Webb (Guggenheim Lib., Monmouth Univ.; Building Libraries for the 21st Century: The Shape of Information, Professional Media, LJ 4/1/00) emphasizes a handful of themes pertinent to all types of libraries. He recommends, for example, that libraries increase attention to users' demands, implement research projects and self-publication of original information, and, in an ambiguously satirical "modest proposal," "become degree-granting institutions" following the closure of all library schools. The essays are mostly informal, incorporating personal anecdotes, reflections, and reminiscences, but also unfortunate word play (one chapter is titled "Antidisestablishmentparaprofessionalism"), puns (the title), and analogies (library staff teams should operate like rock'n'roll jam sessions). Webb exercises a degree of overwriting ("...the public library is the emergency room of librarianship") and uncritical generalization ("CD-ROM was always a wrong-headed, interim technology that was misused from the very beginning."). Consequently, his essays are intermittently amusing and informative, sometimes provocative germs for further thought, but they are rarely compelling reading. Unless a reader is interested specifically in Webb's accounts--for example, his informed background of the 1998 controversy involving the removal of Hawaii's state librarian--he or she can find numerous superior titles, some of them among Webb's own list of cited works. The collection therefore cannot be widely recommended.--Dean C. Rowan, Whittier P.L., CA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.