This book is a comprehensive and systematic exploration of the quality issues associated with database content. Comprehensive because the authors cast their net wide and draw in many examples from current and emerging professional practice. Systematic because of the evaluation framework that is clearly outlined, simply explained and successfully demonstrated.
Ask any group of librarians to evaluate critically a number of reference books and you may be sure that a fairly obvious and standard set of criteria will emerge. That same group may find it difficult to reach a consensus when assessing a CD‐ROM or a Web database. Some causes of the difficulty will be associated with the physical nature of the digital resource; its loosely defined shape, its (usually) large size and of course its technology. Indeed in many cases it is only possible to evaluate such resources without having first become intimate with their search software. Furthermore there is often the temptation to evaluate the style at the expense of the actual content.
Noting such complexities of database evaluation the authors in their introduction to this book set the scene very well. Furthermore they identify some of the specialist skills that are required to carry out a competent review. The main body of the text draws on many examples; the sources of these examples will be familiar to many librarians. Indeed, it is through the use of familiar episodes and scenarios that the authors make many useful and well‐observed points.
The first two chapters look at database products and their producers. An interesting and useful distinction is made between Web‐borne and Web‐born databases. The many methods of database publishing are explored. A history and literature review of content evaluation is provided as is an investigation of content evaluation criteria. These criteria form the basis of the remaining ten chapters, hence the book is highly structured and logically presented. For example Chapter four titled “Database dimensions”, looks at size and composition, time span, depth and currency while Chapter six – “Record content” – looks at bibliographic data elements and value added data elements.
The main body of this work is supported by an index and a comprehensive bibliography. The numerous illustrations, about 280, mostly screenshots, add a richness to the examples which, coupled with the authors’ clear writing style render this a most useful and accessible read.
