Digital Consumers: Reshaping the Information Profession

Citation

Oppenheim, C. (2009), "Digital Consumers: Reshaping the Information Profession", Journal of Documentation, Vol. 65 No. 2, pp. 331-332. https://doi.org/10.1108/00220410910937679

This important book brings together a number of contributions from distinguished academics and researchers, who look at the reality, rather than the hype or the anguish, relating to people's use of the internet. Whilst there is an emphasis on the implications for the information professions throughout, the book looks at searching habits that are wider than just identifying and retrieving information of use in a professional or learning context, as it covers the use of the web for purchasing as well. The book starts with an introductory chapter by David Nicholas, Ian Rowlands, Richard Withey and Tom Dobrowolski on the significance of the book and the fact that the information professions will have to learn to live with a completely new environment. The chapters that follow are by Richard Withey (on the digital information marketplace, with a heavy emphasis on the news industry), Chris Russell on the e‐shopper, Michael Moss on the library in the digital age, Barrie Gunter with a fascinating account of the psychology of the digital information consumer, David Nicholas and co‐authors on the information‐seeking behaviour of digital consumers, Peter Williams and co‐authors on the Google generation, Barrie Gunter on trends and finally David Nicholas provides a wrap‐up chapter.

The contributors are experts in their fields and their contributions are (with one exception) well written; all are supported by a wide range of scholarly sources. However, no attempt is made to offer comprehensive literature reviews. Rather, the effort is on identifying key previous research that is germane to the argument.

With one exception, the chapters offer a fascinating insight to their areas of expertise. Furthermore, this is not just a summary of CIBER's research (all the authors have some link with this well‐known research institution based at University College London).

The chapter on the Google generation has an interesting approach, basically identifying and then analysing various pieces of received wisdom about the generation to see if they are true, or are myths. Whilst I found some of the conclusions not always convincing, the approach was very interesting.

The big disappointment in this book was Michael Moss' chapter. Rambling, often incoherent, poorly referenced, it did not focus on the library in the digital age as its title suggested, but rather on archives, and even then it was a philosophical discussion on the role of archives rather than an account of practical issues. This chapter was an example of postmodern writing at its least useful. The editors should have used someone with expertise and knowledge about the practicalities of the digital library and its users, such as Derek Law or Mel Collier instead.

There is also a feeling from some of the contributors that librarians are luddites who are not interested in what their consumers really want, which is unfair. There was just one minor typo I noted – Jeff Bezos' name is mis‐spelt. The claim that “yellow padlocks have become a must if a site is to be trusted” does not accord with practice, I suspect. Raya Fidel is a woman, not a man as claimed on page 176. There was no discussion of the legal ramifications of the new environment, such as copyright and data protection, which was a slight pity. Some conclusions are drawn on somewhat limited evidence. The book is supported by useful Tables and Figures, but one of the Figures (Figure 6.5) is extremely confusing and could have been re‐drawn. The suggestion on page 151 that research should be done comparing citation performance of Departments against the average citation performance for the discipline is not a new idea, as CWTS in Leiden has been using its so‐called “Crown Index” – precisely this measure – for some years now. On page 150, reference is made to the Herfindhal Index without any explanation of what it is. There is a curious claim from one piece of research that “libraries are empty nowadays”, but the respondents who made this statement had not been in their library for at least three years. So how would they know??

Overall, this is a provocative, but well‐researched book taking a pragmatic view of what today's information consumers are doing (as opposed to what we would like them to do in an ideal world). Somewhat over‐critical of librarians, and sometimes a little unconvincing in conclusions, nonetheless this is an important book that deserves to be read by everyone – practitioners, consultants, academics and students alike. It is unreservedly recommended – but feel free to skip the chapter on libraries.