Practical Information Policies

Citation

Oliver, G. (2001), "Practical Information Policies", Library Hi Tech, Vol. 19 No. 1, pp. 88-89. https://doi.org/10.1108/lht.2001.19.1.88.2

This is an excellent and, as the title suggests, practical book which addresses the need for organisations to develop policies and strategies for using information. The first edition was published a decade ago and filled a very definite gap in the literature. This second edition takes into account the changes that have occurred in the intervening ten years.

Orna sets out in the Introduction a very succinct overview of the changes that have taken place in this period, and she contrasts these with factors that have remained the same. The main areas of change are in the recognition of value of information and knowledge and the overall interest in knowledge management. The convergence of information management and information technology is another area of development – the author notes with some glee that “… people ambitious for advancement might seek to take over the hitherto despised territory of the information professional”. However, organisations that have a well‐defined strategy in place for managing information and knowledge are still the exception rather than the rule, hence the continued need for this book.

The intended audience for Practical Information Policies is information managers (defined as those people responsible for libraries, information services and resources in organisations), managers and executives, and students of information science, librarianship and information management. The preliminary chapter establishes the basics – why an information policy is needed and who should be involved in designing and implementing it. The next part of the book is devoted to the processes involved in the development and implementation of information policy: the information audit is dealt with in some detail. This section also includes in‐depth consideration of the following critical areas: human resources, information technology, measuring costs of information and the role of information in change management.

The final part contains a number of fascinating case studies, mainly from the UK, but there are also reports of Australian, Canadian and Singaporean organisations. There are several organisations representing the government sector, but corporations, education, charity and local government also are represented. The case study section is preceded by a detailed index of topics addressed within each report. For anyone who is actually planning to undertake an audit, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (UK) case study focuses on the process itself, thereby providing a wealth of useful detail.

One interesting omission from this otherwise comprehensive work is the lack of any explicit mention of records or archives. They are not listed in the index to the book or in the topic finder preface to the case studies. They are implicitly present, however, in all the discussion of information resources and information flow.

This is a clearly and elegantly written book. The author’s writing style makes a potentially difficult subject lively and interesting. She uses the first person frequently, which has the effect of making communication direct and personal. This is a most unusual textbook – the quality and style of writing encourages the reader to keep reading from beginning to end rather than selecting extracts.

This is an essential work for anyone who is concerned with developing and implementing information policy. The careful and detailed presentation of underlying theoretical concepts coupled with an emphasis on practical policy design makes this book an extremely worthwhile purchase.