Quality: Definitions and Dimensions-is
ironic since it does not reflect accurately the contents. The approach is a good one: Assemble interesting and diverse people from eight countries in three continents at a seminar to address a theme. But effective focus on information quality is lacking. The title of the book states "information quality." The title of the seminar itself was "Information and quality." The aim of the seminar was "to raise the quality of existing information systems and thereby to raise the 'level of intellect' in those decision-making processes and actions which they affect" (p. 2). One paper is directly concerned with information quality: Ulf Hanson of Sweden discusses the reliability of databases and the legal liability of information professionals. Database deficiencies with respect to accuracy, coverage, and completeness may not be obvious, but should be known to and explained by the information professional. The lead paper by Don Marchand, from the U.S., on "Managing information quality" is a discussion of the evaluation of information services and this is typical. Authors make reference to "information quality" but, in reality, they use the term loosely and rather carelessly to denote the goodness or effectiveness of information services. Giilten Wagner, of Australia, for example, in a very brief paper entitled "The value and quality on information: The need for a theoretical synthesis," writes "The terms value and quality share a common meaning: the degree of excellence, but the former also denotes an economic exchange worth" (p. 69).
The genera1 failure to examine the "definitions and dimensions" is disappointing and makes the title misleading. Not one of the authors makes any reference to the classic paper by Richard Orr (1973) distinguishing quality and value in relation to library services. Orr's approach equates quality ("How good is it?") with capability and value ("What good does it do?") with utilization and beneficial effects. Nor is there any discussion of the existing studies of errors and unreliability in information sources.