BKLANFSL.RVW   970919

"Local Area Networking for the Small Library", Norman Howden, 1997,
1-55570-285-6, U$39.95
%A   Norman Howden
%C   100 Varick Street, New York, NY   10013
%D   1997
%G   1-55570-285-6
%I   Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc.
%O   U$39.95 +1-212-925-8650
%P   160
%T   "Local Area Networking for the Small Library, Second Edition"

I appreciate the need for introductions to technical topics, written
for non-technical audiences.  There is a need for librarians in small
institutions to find out about entities such as local area networks
without going through network engineering programs.  This need is not,
however, well served by simplifying the topic until all information is
lost.

This book does touch on a variety of topics that are important to the
installation, setup, use, and maintenance of a small LAN.  Appendices
at the end of the book may save time in designing forms for those who
are somewhat familiar with LAN installation and requirements.  The
coverage, though, does not extend far enough to serve as an adequate
guide for implementation.  In addition, the text leaves the impression
that all of this is just a matter of sticking the bits together and
they'll work.  Those who take the book at face value may be in for a
serious shock when it comes to the actual work and necessary study
involved.

Howden breezes into the questions surrounding a LAN with an
introductory chapter containing no technical information at all.  This
may be fair enough, but the outline of the planning process for a
small network setup is also severely limited, and heavily flawed. 
Attempting to establish the needs for a network is doomed to failure
if you have little or no idea about what a network can, and can't, do. 
The author's subsequent chapters demonstrate serious shortcomings in
technical knowledge.  In this 1997 edition Windows NT is not
mentioned, despite its expanding position in small, simple networks. 
The paragraph dedicated to UNIX spells the originator's name
correctly, and that's about the last thing it does get right.  "System
Organization" is described only in terms of directory structures and
drive mappings, and even within that limited scope provides almost no
information.  The Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model is seen as
some kind of application programming interface, rather than a
conceptual framework.  (And, excuse me, but who makes the "40486"
central processor?)  The use of LANs to access centrally stored CD-
ROMs is frequently cited as an advantage, but there is no discussion
of the memory or disk based buffering that is needed when many people
are trying to access the same disk.

The chapter on cabling is particularly troubling.  There is mention of
a need to conserve wiring lengths, but no mention of the specific
requirements for maximum (and minimum!) lengths for specific media and
systems.  Wiring and connector attachments are discussed blithely with
no mention of such factors as shielding or the more rigorous needs of
category 5 networks.  The omission that really upsets this old network
refitter, however, is the lack of any mention of the absolute
requirement to *label* wiring as it goes in.  In fact documentation
gets very short shrift overall.  The "emergency toolkit" for any small
network should include a binder of information including descriptions
of the contents, settings, and configuration of each workstation. 
Another topic that gets a lot of ink is security (and virus
protection).  However, despite numerous mentions, little solid or
practical information is made available.

Each chapter has it's own bibliography.  The majority of entries are
magazine articles with little practical help for the novice network
administrator.  The books tend to be limited to the specific rather
than the general (Novell Netware guides predominate) and in many cases
are rather old.  Given my own experience with the literature in the
field, I was surprised at being able to find only a few of the better
general and introductory works that could guide newcomers through the
technical maze of network installation.

It is difficult to find an introductory network book that can guide
the naive user through the complications that are still attendant on
this technology.  Even given that difficulty, though, this book has
remarkably little to recommend it.

copyright Robert M. Slade, 1997   BKLANFSL.RVW   970919