British Librarianship and Information Work 2001‐2005

Citation

Turner, R. (2007), "British Librarianship and Information Work 2001‐2005", New Library World, Vol. 108 No. 9/10, pp. 467-468. https://doi.org/10.1108/03074800710824033

This weighty tome is a welcome new version of British Librarianship and Information Work that was last published in 1993, covering 1986‐1990, by the Library Association and was unfortunately not continued by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals. Sadly, this is not a comprehensive work as several contributors were unable to fulfil their commitment, so there are no chapters on industrial and commercial libraries, management, medical and health libraries, or multimedia. It is a shame that no‐one could replace the original contributors for these critical and often leading information sectors. At £70 it is not acceptable that there is no section on health librarianship et al.

The book is a collection of chapters on a particular library and information sector, or a key issue. Each contributor was encouraged to write a c.7,500 word entry about the chapter subject with as many relevant bibliographic references as possible. Each chapter reviews the years 2001‐2005 and attempts to describe the major themes and developments of their sector during those years.

There is no question of the authority of each of the contributors and even the sectors that I have never worked in, nor had much dealing with, presented a fascinating insight into the issues pertinent therein. The book is confidently and ably edited by J. H. Bowman of University College London (UCL).

The work is arranged from the broad to the specific, with half the entries about specific types of libraries and information services, and the rest on major elements of the profession.

Hence, the work commences with a review of national libraries by Stephen Bury, immediately followed by public libraries and a related section on social inclusion to community cohesion. Helen Leech continues with a look at developments in community information.

Within the education sector, university libraries are considered, followed logically by colleges of further education, and then services to children, young people and schools. The latter was useful to my own research into school librarianship, and was certainly an accurate reflection of the major issues written by Lucy Gildersleeves.

The chapter on government libraries considers the Freedom of Information Act and the myriad changes of department names, among other developments. A section on British and European Union official publications is located further on in the work when it might have been better placed here. Government libraries are followed by a fascinating overview of the often overlooked sector of learned, professional and independent libraries.

Additionally, there are succinct reviews of art libraries, music libraries, media libraries and map libraries which will be essential reading for those working in, or with, these sectors.

Peter Hoare explores developments in library and information history, while K. E. Attar discusses rare book librarianship and historical bibliography.

Issues within local studies and archives are, respectively, explored by Ian Jamieson, editor of The Local Studies Librarian, and Elizabeth Shepherd, Senior Lecturer in Archives and Records Management at UCL. There is an additional section dedicated to work in the field of patents.

The rest of the work addresses specific issues relevant to the library and information profession. These include the book trade; the internet and libraries; education and training; research; library buildings; cooperation; marketing; information literacy (replacing the section on user education in previous works); library management systems; cataloguing; classification and subject organisation; indexing and abstracting; preservation. Each of these makes informative and authoritative reading.

Who this book is aimed at is an interesting question, especially with a £70 price tag. It is certainly essential reading for any scholar of librarianship and information science, and would be ideal for any student to dip into to understand any subject or sector. It is a wonderful introduction to the range of sectors encompassed within the title of librarianship and information work. It is also an essential work for all library and information science departments at academic institutions, and it would be useful for public libraries too. All professionals should at least read the sections relevant to their own job as part of their own continuing professional development.

For the professional working in a specific job or field within the sector, the review of their specialism by a leading authority's assessment of the key issues and developments will be a useful insight, but whether this alone is worth the cost of the book is questionable. However, some of the key issues in the latter part of the work, such as marketing, training and cooperation, are certainly transferable to all sectors of the profession.

Each section is lucidly written and well supported by bibliographic references. The whole work is supremely indexed and this eases access further to what could easily have been a turgid reference work, but instead is a vibrant reflection of a diverse profession that is ably meeting a myriad of challenges. It is just a shame that several sectors are missing.