I have a number of books to hand which might be of interest to would-be
reviewers. I would welcome expressions of interest from members of this
list. The summary below gives the bare details. A longer description of
each book appears below my signature.
If you are interested in reviewing one of these items for Ariadne,
< http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/ > , would you kindly contact me on
[log in to unmask]
giving chosen title, your name and contact (inc. postal) details, your
area of work/interest and organisation/ position where relevant.
The anticipated submission date for reviews will be
14 January 2008.
Please contact me if you have any queries.
Summary of titles:
1]
Information Tomorrow. Reflections on Technology and the Future of Public
and Academic Libraries.
Edited by Rachel Singer Gordon
(see below for fuller details)
2]
The Thriving Library: Successful Strategies for Challenging Times.
By Marylaine Block
(see below for fuller details)
3]
The University of Google: Education in the (Post) Information Age.
By Tara Brabazon
(see below for fuller details)
4]
Blended Learning: Tools for Teaching and Training.
By Barbara Allan
(see below for fuller details)
5]
Planning and Implementing Electronic Records Management: A Practical Guide.
By Kelvin Smith
(see below for fuller details)
6]
Manage It! Your Guide to Modern, Pragmatic Project Management.
By Johanna Rothman
(see below for fuller details)
7]
Government Documents Librarianship: A Guide for the Neo-Depository Era
By Lisa A Ennis
(see below for fuller details)
I look forward to hearing from you.
Best regards,
--
Richard Waller
Editor Ariadne
UKOLN
The Library
University of Bath
Bath BA2 7AY
UK
tel +44 (0) 1225 383570
fax +44 (0) 1225 386838
email [log in to unmask]
web http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/
web http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/
----------------------Publishers' information---------
1]
Information Tomorrow. Reflections on Technology and the Future of Public
and Academic Libraries.
Edited by Rachel Singer Gordon
Any discussion of the future of libraries must consider the impact of
the technological advances and innovations that are inextricably wound
up with library operations and user expectations. According to Rachel
Singer Gordon, librarians remain relevant and useful by confronting
technological challenges head-on and finding ways to integrate the best
and most appropriate innovations into library services and operations.
In Information Tomorrow, Gordon brings together 20 of todays leading
thinkers on the intersections between libraries and technology. They
address various ways in which new technologies influence librarians
actions and goals and offer ideas for using technology to meet patrons
where they are. The result is an engaging, wide-ranging, and sometimes
provocative discussion for systems librarians, library IT workers,
library managers and administrators, and anyone working with or
interested in technology in libraries.
In addition to a preface by Gordon, the books foreword and 16 chapters
feature insights and opinions from these library leaders, bloggers, and
futurists:
Stephen Abram Lori Bell Steven J. Bell John Blyberg Robert Bocher
Daniel Chudnov Jill Emery Meredith G. Farkas Megan K. Fox Beth
Gallaway Joseph Janes David Lee King Jenny Levine Tom Peters
Dorothea Salo John D. Shank Michael Stephens Rhonda B. Trueman Jessamyn
West Alane Wilson
Writing in the books foreword, Stephen Abram says, I cant agree with
every position in this work, and that is just wonderful! ... I need to
have my buttons pushed regularly. I believe theres enough in this book
to push a few buttons for you and your organization. And that, to me, is
what a collection should doeducate, inform, irritate, and inspire.
Information Today, Inc.; 2007/280 pp/softbound; ISBN 978-1-57387-303-1;
$35.00
2]
The Thriving Library: Successful Strategies for challenging Times.
By Marylaine Block
Here is a highly readable guide to strategies and projects that have
helped more than 100 public libraries gain community support and funding
during challenging times. Marylaine Block integrates survey responses
from innovative library directors with her research, analysis, and
extended interviews to showcase hundreds of winning programs and
services. The result is a rich source of ideas and encouragement for
those who want their libraries to thrive, not merely survive.
Strategies explored in the book include youth services; the library as
place; partnerships; marketing; stressing the economic value; Library
2.0; outreach; and helping the community achieve its aspirations.
Projects are described in practitioners own words, with additional
examples drawn from libraries long-range plans, annual reports,
programs, and Web sites, as well as from news stories and the library
literature.
Information Today, Inc.; 2007/352 pp/softbound ISBN 978-1-57387-277-5;
Regular Price: $39.50
3]
The University of Google: Education in the (Post) Information Age.
By Tara Brabazon
Looking at schools and universities, it is difficult to pinpoint when
education, teaching and learning started to haemorrhage purpose,
aspiration and function. Libraries and librarians have been starved of
funding. Teachers cram their curriculum with 'skill development' and
'generic competencies' because knowledge, creativity and originality are
too expensive to provide to unmotivated students and parents obsessed
with league tables, not learning.
Meanwhile, the internet offers a glut of information on
everything-under-the-sun, a mere mouse-click away. Bored surfers fill
their cursors and minds with irrelevancies. We lose the capacity to
sift, discard and judge. Information is no longer for social good, but
for sale.
Tara Brabazon argues that this information fetish has been profoundly
damaging to our learning institutions and to the ambitions of our
students and educators. In The University of Google she projects a
defiant and passionate vision of education as a pathway to renewal,
where research is based on searching and students are on a journey
through knowledge, rather than consumers in the shopping centre of cheap
ideas.
Angry, humorous and practical in equal measure, The University of Google
is based on real teaching experience and on years of engaged and
sometimes exasperated reflection on it. It is far from a luddite
critique of the information age. Tara Brabazon celebrates the
possibilities of digital platforms in education, but deplores the
consequences of placing funding on technology and not teachers. In doing
so, she opens a new debate on how to make our educational system both
productive and provocative in the (post-) information age.
Ashgate; November 2007; 240 pages; Hardback; ISBN 978-0-7546-7097-1; 30
4]
Blended Learning: Tools for Teaching and Training.
By Barbara Allan
Information professionals currently face the challenge of providing
end-user education and staff training to very large and diverse groups,
whilst integrating the use of ICT into their teaching. But there seems
to be a tendency within the literature to focus solely on face-to-face
learning or on e-learning, and this is a lost opportunity.
This book offers a new blended learning approach, combining the two
techniques to make best use of the advantages of each while minimizing
the disadvantages. It provides information professionals with a
practical guide to the design and delivery of such training programmes,
illustrated with a range of library-based examples, checklists and case
studies. Many organizations establish projects, sometimes using external
funding, as a means of developing their education and training
provision, and the book provides a practical overview of this subject in
the context of blended learning. Key areas covered include:
technologies in the classroom
virtual communication tools
integrated learning environments
websites and web tools
models of teaching and learning
planning and designing learning activities
individual and group learning
coaching and mentoring
engaging with communities of interest and practice
managing learning and teaching projects.
This unique book will be of great value to any information professionals
involved in establishing and delivering end-user education and staff
development, whatever their previous experience. It will also benefit
staff developers in school, college and higher education, library and
information students, independent consultants and trainers, and
information suppliers such as database providers.
Facet Publishing; October 2007; 240pp; paperback; 978-1-85604-614-5; 39.95
5]
Planning and Implementing Electronic Records Management: A Practical Guide.
By Kelvin Smith
Many organizations are moving away from managing records and information
in paper form to setting up electronic records management (ERM) systems.
There is a range of reasons for this: economic considerations may be the
driver for change, or government policy initiatives may be coming into play.
Whatever the situation in your organization, this book provides
straightforward, practical guidance on how to prepare for and enable
ERM. It sets out and explains the issues organizations need to consider
in selecting a system, and the procedures required for effective
implementation.
Help is also given with the complexities of managing hybrid records
during an interim period between paper and electronic record management.
The book is divided into three main parts covering the preparation for
ERM, and its design and implementation. The key areas covered are:
the underlying principles
the context
making a business case for ERM
the main issues for design
the information survey
the file plan
appraisal methodology
preservation
access
the main issues for implementation
project management
procurement
change management
training
the future of information management.
This essential guide should be on the desk of any library and
information professional, records manager, archivist or knowledge
manager involved in planning and introducing an ERM system, whether in a
public or private sector organization.
Facet Publishing; October 2007; 232pp; hardback; 978-1-85604-615-2; 39.95
6]
Manage It! Your Guide to Modern, Pragmatic Project Management.
Johanna Rothman
Your project cant fail. Thats a lot of pressure on you, and yet you dont
want to buy into any one specific process, methodology, or lifecycle.
Your project is different. It doesnt fit into those neat descriptions.
Manage It! will show you how to beg, borrow, and steal from the best
methodologies to fit your particular project. It will help you find what
works best for you and not for some mythological project that doesnt
even exist.
Before you know it, your project will be on track and headed to a
successful conclusion. Youll:
Learn all about different project lifecycles
See how to organize a project
Compare sample project dashboards
See how to staff a project
Know when youre doneand what that means.
You wont need expensive tools or fancy software. Manage It! shows you
how to use low-tech techniques to directly address the most pressing
problems of modern software project development.
Pragmatic Bookshelf; 360 pages, May 2007; ISBN: 978-0-9787392-4-9; $34.95
7]
Government Documents Librarianship: A Guide for the Neo-Depository Era
By Lisa A Ennis
This guide breaks down the components of government documents
librarianship into manageable, easy to understand parts. Lisa A. Ennis,
a tried by fire documents librarian, begins by looking at career
opportunities in both Federal Depository Libraries (FDLs) and
non-depository libraries with government document collections. Ennis
discusses skills and traits; networking and training options; managing
and administering people, paperwork, and collections; and both public
service and technical service issues.
Government Documents Librarianship provides essential background on the
GPO and the FDLP, covering the shift to a digital environment and
publication of the new Electronic FDL Manual. The informative coverage
is matched by an enthusiastic can-do approach that will appeal to any
librarian considering or already engaged in government documents work.
Information Today, Inc.; 2007/200 pp/hardbound ISBN 978-1-57387-270-6;
Regular Price: $49.50
|
