Using Microsoft Access XP: A How-To-Do-It Manual for Librarians

Citation

Prom, C.J. (2003), "Using Microsoft Access XP: A How-To-Do-It Manual for Librarians", The Bottom Line, Vol. 16 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/bl.2003.17016cae.001

Using Microsoft Access XP: A How-To-Do-It Manual for Librarians

Edited by Kay A. Cassell and Marina I. Mercado

Using Microsoft Access XP: A How-To-Do-It Manual for Librarians

E. Sonny Butler and Timothy R. NapierNeal-SchumanNew York, NY2002289 pp.ISBN 1-55570-442-5$49.95

Keywords: Database management, Database creation

The computer instruction genre meets the needs of many frustrated computer users and keeps many publishers profitably in business. This volume, part of Neal-Schuman's popular How-To-Do-It series, is ostensibly marketed to librarians who have relatively little experience with databases or, for that matter, using Microsoft Windows applications. It covers the basic elements of database design and management. Readers are provided step-by-step instructions allowing them to create tables, enter data, run simple queries, design data-entry forms, print reports, run macros, design a user interface, establish database security measures, and even post their data on the Web. Working through the book chapter by chapter, readers will gain hands-on experience designing a simple library bibliographic and patron database. The database tracks bibliographic data, patron contact information, and current circulation status.

This volume would be useful only for those with no prior database experience. It provides explicit instructions and liberally uses screen shots to help readers perform the basic tasks of designing an Access database and manipulating data. For novices, the most helpful aspects will likely be the authors' sound advice on the proper use of forms and on providing good database security. Some of the trickier concepts, such as the importance of defining proper table relationships and establishing primary keys, are discussed in a cursory, though straightforward, fashion. A more detailed discussion of these topics might help many users avoid the "gotchas" that often arise when working through database design issues. Similarly, the book could benefit from a more detailed discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of using certain data types when defining database fields. Although the authors mention how important it is to properly design a database on several occasions, the advice given here will probably not help a true novice achieve that goal.

The book would most effectively be used by those who have the patience to work through the tasks presented chapter by chapter, as this is how the authors walk the reader through the process of building and using an actual database. Although this method is effective, it would be far more useful as an on-line tutorial than as a series of screenshots reprinted in a book. One has to wonder whether the volume's $50 cost is warranted when similar books, such as Microsoft Access Version 2002 Step by Step, sell for less than half the price and include CDs to help readers work through the examples.

Ultimately, the book cannot be recommended for one very simple reason. It is plagued by editorial errors. Chapter seven (designing forms) and chapter eight (establishing relationships between database tables) were transposed during the editorial process. As a result, the tasks assigned in chapter seven do not work. Users attempting to design the form as instructed in the book will be confronted with an error message. An editorial problem of this magnitude is inexcusable for a book of this price, particularly since the book is marketed to those who may not be able to easily diagnose the problem.

Christopher J. PromAssistant University Archivist, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA