Book Reviews 567

edge representation. The choice of a cybernetic framework for addressing the ways in which a knowl- edge engineer can elicit and represent the knowledge of the expert is both innovative and appropriate, because cybernetics is the study of communication and control in both the humans and machines. Also described in this section are a structure for organizing the knowledge acquisition sessions and the use of cognitive and clinical psychology techniques, together with metaphor and imagery, in elicit- ing the expert’s reasoning process, which may be intuitive and inaccessible to conscious description.

Part ZZZ: Building a Knowledge Model, three chapters, offers a basic conception of the knowl- edge representation tasks, together with a number of practical aids for accomplishing them. Included in this section are brief explanations of the use of frames, rules, templates, and systems analysis tech- niques to impose structure on the rather hazy knowledge representation domain. However, it does not, nor is it the intention of this section, to present methods for implementing these procedures.

Part IV: The Larger Context of Knowledge Modeling, three chapters and a case study, describe ways in which the knowledge acquisition process can contribute toward maximizing chances of suc- cessful expert system implementation, with special emphasis on the composition and functions of the knowledge acquisition team. The final chapter is devoted to a case study consisting of partial tran- scripts of knowledge acquisition team meetings during the early stages of developing a large military system. The first set of transcripts record, in a much condensed form, the beginning moments of the first session, which seeks to clarify the project scope and establish a common language among the team members. Another portion of the transcript deals with the first planning session and the team’s efforts to make the knowledge acquisition process as efficient as possible. The transcripts record the interactions among the team members, and they are interesting to read, but they do not provide clo- sure nor do they add to one’s understanding of the knowledge acquisition process.

The design and development of expert systems, especially knowledge acquisition, are complex tasks that cannot be modeled on a cook book or an algorithm leading to a certain solution. The au- thors recognize that all they can offer are guidelines and tools which, if used with care, will help one gather expert knowledge and avoid pitfalls. This is a refreshing approach, both humble and truth- ful. The guidelines provided are sensible and reasonable, and so the book serves a useful purpose.

Graduate School of Library and Information Science University of California-Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA

HAROLD BORKO

The Freedom to Lie: A Debate about Democracy. J. SWAN, N. PEATTIE. McFarland, Jefferson, North Carolina (1989). xxi + 182 pp., $15.95, ISBN o-89950-409-4.

The Freedom to Lie is an uncomfortable and sometimes unpleasant book about the ultimate limit of free expression in a democratic state. It is unpleasant because it treats a subject, racism, which is detestable and offensive to all fully mature human beings; uncomfortable because it pushes civil liber- tarians and information specialists to the ultimate limit of their toleration and their commitment to intellectual freedom. It is uncomfortable because it brings us out of the hypothetical and into a col- lision with the real world. It is a description of the classic conflict between two co-equal values in a pluralistic society.

The book is an enlargement and extension of the 1988 debate at the American Library Associ- ation Annual Conference in New Orleans between librarians Swan and Peattie representing the ALA’s Intellectual Freedom and Social Responsibility Round Tables. As its point of departure, it centers on the attempts by David McCalden, a self described racist who denies that the Holocaust occurred, to gain entry to a public library for an exhibit and then to the speaker’s platform at the 1984 Con- vention of the California Library Association. The work consists of six essays, four by Swan and two by Peattie, followed by an appendix containing brief comments and two bibliographical notes by the authors. An urbane foreword by Robert Franklin introduces the essays and warns the reader that there can be no winner of this debate and that there must be never-ending contention.

The essays are well documented pieces fully exploring the intellectual and philosophic underpin- nings of free speech and the historical effort to identify whether and where the limit of that right should be established. To dispel the notion that this is an abstract and needless hypothetical exercise, both authors reference a number of recent circumstances in which responsible persons found them- selves in contention. They include the acquisition by the Edmonton, Alberta Public Library of an abundant collection of antiholocaust materials cataloged under the same headings and descriptors developed for responsible treatments of this historical period and examples of such groups as the Ku

568 Book Reviews

Klux Klan and proponents of South African apartheid who deliberately manufacture disinformation to compete in the market place of ideas.

John Swan presents the traditional argument that only an absolutist (or near absolutist) posi- tion of free expression will serve to protect freedom. Admitting that the defenses of strict freedom of expression do have flaws and difficulties, he affirms his faith that given enough time truth will pre- vail. Ideas are fraught with danger and “lies, damned lies” do exist, but who is to determine which untruths are deliberate falsehoods? He thinks that suppression of a speaker even like McCalden is based on the lack of faith in the power of knowledge and that this is a “betrayal of our deepest eth- ical standard.”

Noel Peattie reluctantly and almost painfully takes the position that at the ultimate extremities of the debate there must be some responsible limits to what is accessible or tolerated. His targets are the patently false doctrines of racism and manipulative propaganda used to cause deliberate harm to people or to conceal and destroy truth. He identifies and critiques the principal justifications for absolute freedom of expression: 1) that truth will be exposed in the competition of the market place of ideas (but there is no guarantee that truth will win), 2) the sovereignty of the people (but there can be a tyranny of the majority), 3) the slippery slope argument that restriction will lead to other restric- tion (but a possibility is not the same as a probability), and 4) that the libertarian (librarian) must maintain strict apolitical neutrality (but this can result in the rejection of the social responsibility mis- sion of the profession and discredit the library’s role).

Peattie does not advocate that McCalden’s literature be prohibited from the library or that it be labeled, but that the principle of freedom does not demand that a racist be given exhibit space or a speaker’s forum before a library organization. He points out that intellectual freedom is bound up in many other values and that “the big lie” can be proven false by many witnesses of personal integrity and by asking whether or not a speaker would suppress another’s freedom.

Swan and Peattie admit that libraries and the practice of information science exist within the con- straint of reality and that reality may impact on access to information. They concede that they share a consensus on most practical applications of intellectual freedom, but they also agree to disagree in a very small but very real area.

This slim but rich volume will serve as an excellent overview of the intellectual freedom debate although it does assume some prior familiarity with the history of ideas. For the library professional, it sharpens and focuses contemporary issues and will assist in planning for library material challenges. Despite its presentation in debate format and its frequent references to philosophical authorities, the volume will still serve the less familiar reader as a lively introduction to this important issue. Its subject matter extends beyond information science and will be useful to students of government and American constitutional issues.

School of Library and Information Science Catholic University of America Washington, D.C.

THOMAS SIMMONS

Gateway Software and Natural Language Interfaces; Options for Online Searching. J.A. BENSON,

B.H. WEINBERG (EDs.). (Library Hi Tech Special Studies Series, Number Two). Pierian Press, Ann Arbor (1988). iv + 204 pp., $45.00, ISBN o-87650-213-3.

Although the purpose and audience of this edited volume are not clearly defined in the Preface, one can infer from what is written that the work is intended as a practical guide to help online searchers cope with the lack of standardization in search procedures. It outlines options available to online searchers who must use a variety of database vendors requiring different logon procedures and com- mand languages. Furthermore, it describes ways to make online searching more cost efficient by eliminating time spent logging on and off, waiting for prompts, and typing in lengthy search statements.

This book is a collection of short, applicatory articles written by various contributors whose im- pressive credentials are outlined at the end of the volume. The articles are divided into two parts: (1) gateways, and (2) natural language processing. The first part is further subdivided into three sections: A. Telecommunication Software; B. Gateway Software; C. Gateway Services. The parts and sections of this edited volume are logically arranged according to “. . . the principle of increasing simplicity and complexity” (p. 111); that is, they are ordered from the most difficult program to use, which is the least complicated in terms of programming (telecommunication software), to the simplest pro- gram to use, which has the most complicated programming (natural language interfaces). Each part and section of the book begins with an introduction useful for the novice who is unfamiliar with the