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Metz does not ascribe to the one-size-fits-all style ofcoaching. She distinguishes between coaching for indi-viduals, leaders, and managers, devoting an entire chap-ter to each. While the basic processes of coaching remainconsistent, the reasons for coaching and the strategiesused may be very different. Metz is gratifyingly demo-cratic in her definitions of “individual,” “leader,” and“manager,” pointing out that leaders come from allranks within an organization. And no matter how highup a manager might be in an organization, at times amanager needs the same kind of coaching a lower-levelstaff member needs. Coaching is situation-specific, notrank-specific.
Metz also devotes a chapter to the tricky business ofcoaching teams. Despite my love of baseball and under-standing of a coach’s role, I never thought of coaching assomething one could do for a work team. Many librari-ans who read this book will recognize Metz’s descrip-tions of dysfunctional teams and will appreciate her ex-plication of the coaching process in a team setting. I wishthis book had been available earlier in my career! Thischapter should be mandatory reading for every teamleader.
Metz convincingly argues that coaching is not onlybeneficial to the individual being coached, but is vital tothe health of an organization. “Coaching equals timeequals money,” she states bluntly (p. 27). Later, she rein-forces this idea by writing, “those organizations that en-courage and support individual growth and developmentwill have an edge over organizations that do not” (p. 41).
Metz acknowledges, indeed almost celebrates, theidea that organizations are in constant flux. What worksnow may not work in the future. She stresses that onemust not only coach for individual or team success, butfor organizational effectiveness, a concept she exploresin the final chapter. Here she discusses coaching to sup-port change, something that most librarians face. Sheasks, “How can coaches help organizations get the mostfrom [change]?” (p. 91). She identifies several strategies:dedicating time to coach through transitional periods;clarifying “expectations, roles, responsibilities, and rela-tionships”; modeling various approaches to problemsolving and decision making; talking about change (andnot only in the way we are probably used to!); listeningto conflicts; and “championing” learning (pp. 91–93).She reminds us that “the primary reason to coach is tofocus individuals, teams, and the organization on the li-brary’s ultimate purpose—providing excellent service toits community” (p. 93). Is there a more compelling argu-ment? Coaching is a worthwhile management strategy.
As I read this book, I became convinced of the need tospend more time coaching my staff and colleagues andsearching out coaching to improve my own performanceand skills. I was stopped short by perhaps the most com-mon barrier to developing a coaching culture: a per-ceived lack of time. How does a busy, overworked librar-ian (is there any other kind?) find time for coachingactivities? Interestingly, in this book, the issue rarelyrears its ugly head. Metz is so convinced that coaching isnecessary for success that she does not address the ques-tion of how to find the time. She reminds us again and
again that coaching requires a commitment of time, en-ergy, learning, and practice. Coaching should be a sus-tained activity and you must make the time to do it! Thatis her implicit challenge to us. If you are clever, you willtake up the challenge and let Metz guide you to success.After reading this book, one is ready and eager to begin.
Naked in Cyberspace: How to Find Personal Information Online
by Carole A. Lane. 2nd ed. Medford, NJ: CyberAge Books, Information Today, Inc., 2002. 587 p. $29.95 (softcover).
ISBN 0-910965-50-1
Peter Whiting
Since the first edition of
Naked in Cyberspace: How toFind Personal Information Online
was published in1997, a lot of personal information from commercialand government sources has made its way to the Web.Commercial Websites might contain e-mails or creditcard purchases; federal, state, and local government sitesmight have personal information like marriage licenserecords and property tax data. Of course, this is terrificnews because it means you will find lots of informationabout yourself or the person you are researching. On theother hand, this can be nerve-racking because there is alot of data about yourself that you might not like or thatyou would not want seen on the Web. To sort out thesemurky waters for the online investigator, Carole Lanehas updated and revised Naked in Cyberspace.
In the foreword, Beth Givens of the Privacy RightsClearinghouse discusses the timely topic of protectingour privacy on the Web by recommending that we needto “be aware, be assertive, be an advocate” (p. xxiv).These strong marching orders make us realize that infor-mation on the Web tends to stick like glue with no regardfor possible individual reactions, which means that wemust assert our privacy rights.
The volume is divided into four sections with the firstsection devoted to the basics of searching on the Internet.Lane recommends reading Section 1 because “thesepages provide valuable information specific to searchingfor personal information” (p. 6). One issue that will cer-tainly come up when searching on the Internet is search-ing techniques. In this crazy world of the Web, “eachproprietary database provider and vendor has its ownsearch language” (p. 13). Lane is correct in saying that itis always wise to read the “help” screen for searching in-structions. Another major issue is the cost of the searchon the Internet. She points out that trying to find the low-est price is not worth the effort. It is “like comparing Irishsetters, fire engines, and grapefruit” because vendorspackage information differently and include various fea-tures to enhance data (p. 15). Not all the information onthe Internet is going to be free, and the most “valuable in-formation is still worth paying for,” are the primarypoints explained in Chapter 3 (p. 21). Sample searchesfor people like Bill Gates and the overabundance of in-formation about select individuals on the Web are cov-ered in Chapter 4. Chapter 5 looks at privacy issues and
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the laws that are evolving with the Web. After readingthe first section, I felt I had gained the foundation for un-derstanding the limitations of both the searcher and theInternet. It is important to take the time to read Section1 before you dive into a search on the Internet.
In Section 2, the focus is on how personal records areused on the Web. The first chapter of this section discusseslocating people. The start of this process “is to documentall of the information you have, and all that you gain oneach step of your search” (p. 49). This is valuable adviceand the reader should use Lane’s strategy when searchingin the other chapters that cover employment, tenantscreening, and money issues like asset searches.
Section 3 covers personal records on the Web. Topicsin this section include mailing lists, consumer creditrecords, criminal justice records, and genealogicalrecords. Explanations of the various types of personalrecords are presented in a clear format with a descriptionfollowed by one or more specific Websites and, in somecases, examples of searches that might result fromsearching the sites. Many of these sites are commercial,so it would have been helpful to have free Websites high-lighted in some manner.
Some of Lane’s helpful hints have nothing to do withonline investigation. For example, in Chapter 19 there isa list of “reasonable steps that at least should signifi-cantly cut down on your junk mail and telephone solic-itations” (p. 163).
Throughout the volume, the sample searches are ofpeople that most readers will be able to recognize. Theauthor updated the examples for a new generation ofreaders who might not recognize the names used in thefirst edition. In the chapter on biographies, “Diana, Prin-cess of Wales” is the sample Dialog® search (p. 122). Shereplaces Marilyn Monroe who was used as a search ex-ample in the first edition. In the same chapter, formerCBS news anchorman Walter Cronkite has been replaced
by actor Jack Nicholson (p. 125). Of course, it is some-what reassuring to see that some names, such as actressMarisa Tomei, survived and appear again in the secondedition (p. 133).
The last section, Section 4, is a listing of books, peri-odicals, and appendices for further investigative re-search. The books listed have a currency of six years,while the periodicals listed include paper or online ver-sions. The appendices include foreign Websites to aid in-ternational research and the volume’s index also includesWebsite entries. A minor annoyance is the lack of chapternumbers at the top of each page. While the title of thechapter appears, the chapter number would also be help-ful. The first edition had both.
Lane provides a Website (http://www.technosearch.com/naked/directory.htm) that offers only the chapterheadings and the URLs mentioned in the book. For fur-ther description of how to use the site, the reader willhave to have the volume available while viewing the site.When I examined the Website, I was unable to find a dateindicating the last time the pages had been updated.Dates would be helpful because this volume was pub-lished in 2002 and it may be some time before a third edi-tion appears.
Finding the vast amount of personal information onthe Web might take minutes for a savvy researcher. Itcould take most of us hours or days and we might fail tolocate some important information. With this volume,Lane provides “a reference guide to several thousanddatabases that can sometimes offer up exactly the infor-mation you need” (p. 6). I recommend this volume as agood tool for online research. It may seem ironic that aprint volume serves as a guide to the many sources thatcan be found using its primary competitor, the Web.Naked in Cyberspace is a valuable guide that shouldbe in public libraries; it also will be useful in academiclibraries, particularly ones with criminal justice programs.
