Briefly Noted

Lessons from the Edge: For-Profit and Nontraditional Higher Education in America, Gary A. Berg. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2005. 232p. $42.95 (ISBN: 0-275-98258-0)

The growth and growing importance of nontraditional higher education, including for-profit colleges and universities like the University of Phoenix and others, should be of interest for anyone who works in the academy. Gary Berg looks at this phenomenon in depth and specifically discusses what the traditional institutions of higher education should be learning from the focused missions, attention to customers, and management styles and structures of nontraditional and for-profit schools. This is not focused on libraries specifically but thought-provoking for all higher education workers. (T.J.)

Online Collaborative Learning Communities: Twenty-one Designs to Building an Online Collaborative Learning Community, Chih-Hsiung Tu. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2004. 160p. $35 softcover (ISBN: 1-59158-155-9)

This is very much a practical guide and intended for a precise audience—teachers who are looking for concrete ideas to improve the collaborative online work of their students. The problems are well known: how to get students to participate online, how to encourage genuine discussion or interaction among students instead of just with the professor—in short, how to make online classes as interactive as small, in-person classes can be. The author focuses on step-by-step instructions for 21 "designs" that can improve real collaboration and learning. This work will be most useful for those librarians who are designing or managing online classes. (T.J.)

Basic Research Methods for Librarians, Ronald R. Powell and Lynn Silipigni Connaway. 4th ed., Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2004. 360 p. $40.00 softcover (ISBN: 1591581125)

Library school graduates may recognize this title from their student days, but in this fourth edition of the textbook the preface specifically notes that it is addressed to the practicing librarian who needs to conduct research and publish. With many academic librarians enjoying faculty status, this aspect of the job continues to grow, so perhaps many will find this useful at least as a refresher. Sections on designing research projects, conducting research by various established social science methods, analyzing data, and publishing are included to guide readers through the entire process. (T.J.)

Sound Savings: Preserving Audio Collections, ed. Judith Matz. Washington, D.C.: Association of Research Libraries, 2004. 158p. $45.00 (ISBN 1-59407-663-4)

This volume collects the proceedings of a symposium held in Austin, Texas in 2003. Long viewed as a neglected area of preservation funding and focus, this conference and the published proceedings are an attempt to more fully communicate and organize the disparate work being done in audio preservation and to plan the research agenda going forward. Papers presented cover a range of topics including copyright law and preservation, case studies of projects at various archives, and advisory sessions on how to assess needs, set priorities, or cope with specific formatting concerns. The brief closing paper, which summarizes the panel session that closed the conference, discusses the consensus of the conference participants regarding the most critical future steps to take in planning, research, education, communication, and advocacy regarding audio preservation. The full text of the proceedings is also available online at http://www.arl.org/preserv/sound_savings_proceedings/ (T.J.)