AARL

Book reviews

The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate Volume 1 1901-1929 edited by Ann Millar. Melbourne Melbourne University Press 2000 478p ISBN 0522849210 RRP $76.95 (includes GST)

When studying Australian history in the early 1960s, I well remember the paucity of useful reference works. Steadily this has changed, to the point where we now have many extremely useful and reliable works on the shelves. In just the past few years, alone, we have gained the Oxford Companion to Australian History (1998), the Centenary Companion to Australian Federation (1999) and now the present work as major additions to the reference library.

This work, the brainchild of its editor, gives brief descriptions of the careers of 99 Senators and three Clerks of the Senate. The articles are informative, well-written and well-edited. In short, the book is a fine piece of work, and the Department of the Senate is to be congratulated on its production. Names are included alphabetically in State groups with New South Wales first and Senators from the West the last entries. This causes what I regard as the book's single blemish. The only headers on each page are Senator's names, and if one does not know the State they represent, one has to go to the contents page. It is therefore not easy to find names quickly if one dives into the middle of the volume - as I tend to do.

The Senate volume is an admirable complement to the Australian Dictionary of Biography. Some of the Senators (eg Benny) are not in the ADB, of course, and therefore their entry here is invaluable. But even of those who are in both, almost invariably the details of the Senate career of each individual is much briefer in the earlier work (eg O'Connor). Edited (and added to) by people who work in Parliament House, the details of Senate careers are informative and knowledgable, something that one does not always get in the ADB.

Scott Bennett, Canberra

The Social Life of Information by John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid. Boston Harvard Business School 2000 336p ISBN 0875847625 $US25.95

I read this book after Maxine Brodie, State Library of New South Wales, recommended it last year. John Seely Brown is Chief Scientist at Xerox Corporation and Director PARC (Xerox research centre, Palo Alto). Paul Duguid is a historical and social theorist affiliated with the University of California, Berkeley and PARC. Both have been involved in the development of new technologies and are realists about its use, particularly that of the Internet. Their concern is for real value adding through information technology, supported by access to quality information with efficient tools. They are concerned that new technology is assumed to be good, and apply a 6-D model to assess developments: demassification; decentralisation; denationalisation; despecialisation; disintermediation and disaggregation.

Myths of easy access and connection are exploded in every chapter, with Chapter 3 commencing with a description of an almost week-long saga about efforts to obtain an email connection. In this faulty world, Brown and Duguid see the role of libraries as complex. They comment that while the e-lib research from the UK has been library based, d-lib research in the US has been computer based - bits and bytes and retrieval (pp179-181). They see the diversity of libraries as essential and forecast multiple digital library solutions rather than a one size fits all approach.

Some of the best writing in the book occurs with an analysis of knowledge management (Chapter 5) and online/distance education (Chapter 8). In each context Brown and Seely propose that the key issues are human-centred rather than focused on software/hardware issues. A wide range of research is reported that indicates that social learning, identity and communities of practice all require complex personal interactions. Consequently, they argue, online services and online learning may only partly fulfil the requirement for knowledge transfer and professional development. Despite these limitations, the electronic environment is considered to be an essential part of the contemporary corporate and educational experience.

After some interesting thoughts on copyright and the public interest, the authors conclude with a plea to avoid tunnel vision and think broadly about opportunities that go beyond our traditional organisational boundaries.

Highly recommended!

Roxanne Missingham, National Library of Australia

The House of Commons Library: A History by David Menhennet. Second edition with additional material by Rob Clements and Chris Pond. House of Commons Library Document no 21. Westminster The Stationery Office for the House of Commons Library 2000. xii 172p ISBN 010850641X £25 (Available from The Stationery Office, PO Box 29 Norwich NR3 1GN England)

This work is doubly noteworthy as both readable and scholarly. The author, who headed the House of Commons Library for 15 years, analyses and documents its organisational, political and professional history, noting its evolution into a leader amongst parliamentary reference and research organisations within the Westminster system. More recently it has also taken on an increasingly important role within IFLA and the various inter-parliamentary organisations. After the major setback caused by the library's almost total destruction by the fire of 1834, it evolved slowly until postwar developments from 1945 onwards converted it into an impressive political reference and research service which is among the best in the world. Technology and subject experts became essential to its mission of providing the range and quality of information, briefings and background materials necessary for a parliament with complex national and international responsibilities. Additionally, the library had also developed public responsibilities in parliamentary education. With accelerating changes in British politics (devolution and local assemblies, for example) and moves towards European integration, the library has had to respond to the rapidly expanding information and research needs of British parliamentarians, and to stand up to the inevitable comparisons parliamentarians draw with the information resources and services of the American Congress.

What lends this book particular interest, extending beyond the purely professional library aspects, are the insights we get into British parliamentary culture and political processes in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This book thus has something to offer political scientists and historians. In the second edition, chapter six ('Years of Expansion') has been rewritten and a new chapter seven ('Years of Consolidation') has been added. Appendix four deals with the Benjamin Spiller manuscript, acquired by the library in October 1999. (Spiller was the first Librarian of the House in 1818.)

A series of black and white photographs and one coloured photograph enhance the interest of the work and show the elegance of the library reading rooms in the Palace of Westminster. The House of Commons Library (services and stock) is now largely accommodated in buildings near the Parliament, but still continues to occupy its traditional six rooms within the Palace of Westminster where it is close to the chamber. The account of the library's accommodation difficulties, the inordinate amount of effort and time needed to get resolution of the problems and then the need to start again because of fresh developments in the meantime, could probably be echoed in other parliamentary libraries. Chapter seven gives ample details about the move of most of the library to the New Parliamentary Building (pp128-133).

The House of Commons seems to have made sensible arrangements for preserving the library's valuable historical heritage, but has also placed its services, management structure and future orientation on a sound modern footing. Web publishing is now much used. In modern parlance, the library has 'reinvented' itself. The budget for financial year 2000 indicates that it will spend £197 000 on newspapers and periodicals, £162 000 on books and £253 000 on official publications. Information technology will cost an estimated £1.2 million. These figures indicate the magnitude of the Parliament's support for its library.

This book is of greater interest to a wider readership than its title might suggest. Librarians concerned with contemporary developments in the provision of research services to high profile users and the managerial challenges faced by them in blending subject experts, IT experts and librarians in a complex hierarchical, politically sensitive parliamentary environment will find much to absorb in the book. It raises questions of contemporary relevance, stretching beyond parliamentary libraries. It is highly recommended for large public and academic libraries.

RL Cope, Pagewood

Editorial Note

In the December issue, Peter Clayton commented that few of the Biennial Conference papers were then available on the ALIA website. Colin Steele and Kerry Webb advise that all the papers which can be made available are now up. These will be kept permanently on the ALIA website, and have also been archived by Pandora. See http://archive.alia.org.au/conferences/alia2000/proceedings/.