325 0098-7913/03$–see front matter © 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Reviews Teresa Malinowski, Column Editor with contributions from Rachael Green Clemens, James T. Deffenbaugh, and Marguerite E. Horn Rachael Green Clemens reviews Usage and Usability Assessment: Library Practices and Concerns, James T. Deffenbaugh reviews Metadata Fundamentals for All Li- brarians, and Marguerite E. Horn reviews The Accidental Systems Librarian. Serials Review 2003; 29:325–329. © Elsevier Inc. All Rights Reserved. Usage and Usability Assessment: Library Practices and Concerns by Denise Troll Covey . Washington, DC: Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR Tools for Practitioners Series), 2002. 93 p. $20.00. ISBN 1-88733-4890. Rachael Green Clemens The first report in the new Tools for Practitioners series from the Council on Library and Information Resources, Usage and Usability Assessment: Library Practices and Concerns, targets libraries right in the navel, the self- examination center that is. Evaluation and assessment have fueled the evolution of traditional, print-based libraries. Methodologies, such as user surveys, focus groups, and statistics gathering, have been used to collect the data needed for planning and decision making. In today’s dig- ital environment, library resources and services are being transformed constantly, thus the assessment of usage and usability is a more formidable challenge. As noted in the preliminary text: “While libraries have excelled at assess- ing the development and use of their traditional collec- tions and services, comparable assessments of online col- lection and services are more complicated and less well understood” (p. v). As a distinguished fellow of the Digital Library Fed- eration (DLF) 2000–2001, Denise Troll Covey, associate university librarian of arts, archives, and technology at Carnegie Mellon University, researched library assess- ment practices. Over a three-month period, she surveyed twenty-four DLF member institutions, gathering data on the methods these libraries are using to assess the usage and usability of their online collections and services. The list of libraries surveyed is impressive and includes the California Digital Library, Carnegie Mellon University, Johns Hopkins University, the Library of Congress, and the New York Public Library. Using the survey findings, Covey crafts a brief yet comprehensive snapshot of cur- rent assessment methodologies. The report is organized into five sections. After a general introduction there are sections devoted to user studies and usage studies, fol- lowed by a section on how to plan and implement a re- search project, and general conclusions and future direc- tions for assessment. The section on user studies describes information- gathering techniques that can be employed to identify and analyze gaps (or success ratios) in meeting users’ needs and expectations. Covey supplies an in-depth anal- ysis of the basic methodologies: • Surveys (print, e-mail, and Web-based questionnaires) • Focus groups (moderator skills, creating open- ended questions, recording participant comments) • User protocols (observing participants conduct tasks while thinking aloud) • Other methods such as heuristic evaluations (dis- covery or problem solving on the part of the user) or successive or iterative paper prototypes The discussion of each use study methodology offers in- sightful descriptions of preparation, implementation, and possible outcome measures. Readers will see why and how a library might select and implement a method, Clemens is the Distance Education Librarian at the Pollak Library, California State University Fullerton, Fullerton, CA 92834; e-mail: rclemans@fullerton.edu. Deffenbaugh is Assistant Dean for Collection Development and Technical Services, Swem Library, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA 23187-8794; e-mail: jtdeff@mail.wm.edu. Horn is Library Systems Implementation Specialist, Office of Library & Information Services, System Administration, State University of New York, Albany, NY 12246; e-mail: hornma@ sysadm.suny.edu. Tools of the Serials Trade