Access, Delivery, Performance: The Future of Libraries without Walls. A Festschrift to Celebrate the Work of Professor Peter Brophy

Cecilia Penzhorn

Library Hi Tech

ISSN: 0737-8831

Article publication date: 15 June 2010

187

Keywords

Citation

Penzhorn, C. (2010), "Access, Delivery, Performance: The Future of Libraries without Walls. A Festschrift to Celebrate the Work of Professor Peter Brophy", Library Hi Tech, Vol. 28 No. 2, pp. 325-326. https://doi.org/10.1108/07378831011047730

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2010, Emerald Group Publishing Limited


This festshrift in honour of Peter Brophy serves as a most fitting acknowledgement of and tribute to the life and work of this distinguished academic, researcher, practitioner and leader in the field of libraries, information management and information science. The array of eminent contributors to the volume includes former colleagues, peer colleagues of high international standing, as well as persons for whom he served as inspiration.

The festschrift concentrates on Peter Brophy's academic career. After the introductory chapter by Alan MacDougal and a special chapter by Michael Buckland which provides an overview of the early days of Brophy's career from 1971 to 1973, the chapters in the book are arranged to illustrate the main themes of his wide range of research interests.

Theme 1 (Libraries, Learning and Distance Learning) has contributions by Gill Needham and Nicky Whitsed, and David Baker. This is an area in which Brophy has been an inspiration to those who need to address the daily challenges faced by library services in the distance and e‐learning environments. Theme 2 concentrates on the issues around Widening Access to Information, with contributions by Jenny Craven, John Dolan and Juliet Eve. These chapters illustrate Brophy's influence on areas beyond the academic library, especially the public library. Theme 3 (Changing Directions of Information Delivery) includes contributions by Rowena Cullen and Brenda Chawner, and Richard Hartley. Here one is inter alia reminded of Brophy's commitment to networking and dissemination with specific reference to the Library without Walls, of which he was a creator. Theme 4 (Performance, Quality and Leadership) includes contributions by Charles McClure and John Stead, Jillian Griffiths, and Jennifer Rowley and Sue Roberts. The example and contribution of Brophy as an exemplary leader in the profession is emphasised and serves as an appropriate conclusion to the festschrift.

As MacDougall says in his introduction, this festschrift in honour of Peter Brophy “weaves an impressive account of achievement and respect for his abilities” and gives the reader a true understanding of his outstanding contribution to the information profession on many levels of research and practice. However, the book serves not only as a complimentary volume filled with essays in honour of a remarkable person, but it also contains a wide spectrum of valuable information for use by anyone in the field. A considerable variety of topics is presented and covers too many to name individually. Included are issues such as useful lessons in the e‐learning environment, new technologies and their use from both a practical as well as academic viewpoint, implications of matters such as repositories for scholarly communication, tools for evaluating public libraries, and measuring the quality of electronic services in libraries, to mention just a few.

What strikes one particularly is that the essays are not only general overviews or discussions of the specific subject areas, but nearly all the contributions contain a look to the future. This is so befitting a volume such as this, as Peter Brophy was never stuck in the here and now – his life and work attest to him as a visionary. In this sense the festschrift can thus also serve as an example and stimulus for research and practice for the next generation. It is a book that should be in every library and on the shelf of anyone interested and involved in the information profession.

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