From 1966 to 1977 Michael Gorman was successively head of cataloguing at the British National Bibliography, a member of the British Library Planning Secretariat, and head of the Office of Bibliographic Standards in the British Library. From 1977 to 1988 he was successively director of technical services, director of general services, and acting university librarian at the University of Illinois (Urbana) Library. He has taught at library schools in the UK and USA, most recently at the University of California, Los Angeles. In fact there can be few librarians better equipped to make sense of the confused and, at times, depressing state of affairs that face librarians today.
The main thrust of this book is to challenge the Manichaean divide between traditional (print‐based) values of librarians and the seemingly inevitable expansion of the digital culture that is drowning these values.
Gorman usefully defines our common mission as “making the records of humanity available to their users”. This is true whether we work in a national library or on a mobile. Over the years we have made impressive progress in building up collections, organizing them, making them available, and educating users. In our mission to preserve the human record we have been pioneers in developing technology, but now technology threatens this mission. We must understand, though, that the development of new technology is evolutionary rather than revolutionary: we have faced technical challenges before. Not that we can dismiss the many baleful features of the digital culture and the author is particularly good at analysing the successes and dangers of the contemporary digital technology. “In a world saturated with information and data, are we more knowledgeable or merely more informed”? The power of the computer lobby is enormous, and so is the damage done to our libraries and values – equality of access, preservation, literacy, richness of content, etc. One particular area of concern is the retreat of real (face‐to‐face) reference service. Gorman identifies eight values we must advance: stewardship; service; free enquiry; rationalism (“Idealism tempered by pragmatism is the hallmark of a true librarian”); literacy and learning; equity of access; privacy; and democracy.
“Don't panic!” is the author's message, and he leads the way by looking coolly and objectively at the nature of the web – its ungraspable size and its plethora of worthless information. Using traditional librarian skills – Gorman was one of the architects of AACR – he identifies six types of information present on the web and concludes that much of it can be tamed by standard cataloguing techniques. We can tame the monster. Gorman posits a “Catalog Pyramid”, proceeding from full MARC cataloguing, down through the less detailed Dublin Core protocols (both enriched and uncontrolled), to free text. The dangers of not incorporating the internet into our traditional and proven knowledge structures are enormous. “There is no overestimating the consequences of a feckless disregard of the challenges posed by electronic communication and digitalisation”. These dangers are identified as exclusivity, instability, vulnerability, superficiality, and selectivity. Gorman's research agenda, though, goes beyond the “bibliographic” control of the web, onto the use and dissemination of scholarly articles, to library service and education.
A related issue is the danger of information overload, and on a more homely note the author offers strategies by which to avoid it. Finally, we need to go beyond tactical thinking and establish “an ethic of librarianship that incorporates our values and are the bases for resolving the dilemmas that face us”. The author advocates a “Middle Way”: we need a clear vision and aim for the Common Good. We need to treat the Digital Challenge with objectivity and balance.
This is a book that is urgently needed. Thankfully, one of the wise elders of our profession has delivered. Michael Gorman writes with controlled passion and quiet authority, combining pragmatism and idealism. The book is a veritable “Tract for the Times”. It should be read by all of us.
