Java for Practitioners

?The latest title in the Greenwood Library Management Collection could not have come at a better time than during this age of retrenchment. Rather than promising to solve all your hassles and then offering no help, Cochran admits that the belief that time can be managed is a myth, then says that people manage themselves and their activities in relation to time and offers concrete methods for taking control of time in various library settings. These methods involve facing some harsh realities: we tend to avoid unpleasant work and decision making in difficult situations; also, we turn the process of anticipating problems (which professionals are paid to do) into time-consuming worry. Besides the methodical advice, Cochran provides intelligent operational tips (e.g., instead of having a switchboard operator or secretary ask who is calling and proceed to interrupt during busy periods, have them say, He/she is in a meeting. Do you want me to interrupt? thereby making the caller take responsibility for the interruption). Unfortunately, Cochran also includes some pro forma long-winded discussions of goals and balance in one's life, but you can always skip those chapters. Booklist Of course, you don't have time to read this book. But making time to spend with Cochran's competent primer will help the busy information professional squeeze a bit more productivity and satisfaction out of the workday. Cochran, a law library director, reiterates reports on the expansion of work hours in the United States. He points out the conundrum particular to librarians: we equate service to users with availability and generosity. Hence the ASAP requests, the meetings, the chirping phones that chip awayat time and mental energy. Cochran's prescription for the harried librarian starts with identifying one's values and then setting goals for a personal and professional life that supports those values. He tells how to fight procrastination, limit interruptions, and hold only necessary meetings (remaining unseated!). Some recommendations require an infrastructure (a dictaphone, a secretary) not available to all. Cochran's book will be most useful for beginning librarians and those coming into the profession from less-structured settings, such as the arts. Recommended.?-Library Journal