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  • Briefly Noted

Modernism & Copyright, ed. Paul K. Saint-Amour. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. 400p. $29.95 (ISBN 978-0-19-973154-1)

How did copyright influence the work of modernist poets, novelists, composers, and comedians, and how did they engage in and respond to legal and public debates on copyright? Paul K. Saint-Amour has assembled essays by academics, lawyers, a literary executor, and a curator, who reflect on the ways that some of modernism’s greatest artists – Joyce, Pound, Woolf, Gershwin, Stravinsky, and Chaplin – and their heirs worked [End Page 217] to control and share their artistic creations. These contributors also discuss the influence that changing legal regimes have had on more recent authors like J. D. Salinger and L. Ron Hubbard and on scholars researching Modernism and its artists. The early 20th century saw the widespread adoption of the phonograph, the moving picture, the automobile, and the steamship, which disrupted traditional relationships in the business of entertainment, art, and culture. These abrupt changes – which were followed by a continuing surge of new technologies throughout the century – required a rethinking of the law of copyright, just as today’s new technologies are pushing us to find a better accommodation between the needs of business, writers, artists, and the public. Modernism & Copyright should be of interest to those librarians and administrators who want to understand the influence of copyright laws on a previous generation of artists and artistic production. (FR)

True Stories of Censorship Battles in America’s Libraries, ed. Valerie Nye and Kathy Barco. Chicago: American Library Association, 2012. 260p. $50.00 (ISBN 978-0-8389-1130-3)

Everybody likes a good story. Well, here is a storybook for librarians. Edited by two librarians, Valerie Nye and Kathy Barco, it offers 31 vignettes by librarians who have encountered and struggled with issues of censorship. Native American archaeological and burial sites, Cuban exiles, pornography, parents, and school boards are among the issues, individuals, and organizations you will find in True Stories. Censorship battles are among the most difficult professional encounters faced by librarians. The format of this work allows the voices of many librarians to be heard who might not have had the time or the inclination to publish an entire article or book about their experiences. The personal deliberations and professional judgments found in these two to three page stories make essential reading for librarians and administrators who are looking for insight on how to respond when censorship comes knocking on the door. (FR)

Reference Reborn: Breathing New Life into Public Services Librarianship, ed. Diane Zabel. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited, 2011. 401p. $65 (ISBN 978-1-59158-828-3)

More than thirty experienced librarians (primarily academic) offer their insights regarding the future of reference services. The essays cover the essential components necessary for thriving public services in the 21st century: environmental scanning, service models, roles and relationships, tools, reference collections, staffing, and education and training. An optimistic and confident collection, the authors reflect on what to retain and where to innovate in order to keep pace with changing demographics and user expectations. The variety of topics covered in this volume reminds us of the complexity of the environment in which we now work. Reference Reborn should be valuable for anyone involved in library public services, or as a textbook in a library reference course. With chapters ranging from readers’ advisory and telephone reference to digital projects, mobile reference, and leisure reading collections, everyone should be able to find some new ideas here to enhance their work. (FR) [End Page 218]

Decision-Making in the Absence of Certainty: A Study in the Context of Technology and the Construction of the 21stCentury Academic Library, S. David Marsh. Chicago: ACRL, 2010. 168p. $38 (ISBN 978-0-8389-8571-7)

This book, number 63 of ACRL Publications in Librarianship, is based on S. David Marsh’s dissertation, in which he investigated the decision-making of five library directors and other key participants in the process of building a new library. His study pays close attention to decisions regarding technology, and what he discovers is that both the decision makers and the decisions are extremely fluid. While...

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