The key issue to be addressed by the compiler or author of any bibliography in a broad and highly interdisciplinary field is the definition of its scope and selection criteria. Bemis understands this very well and dedicates a two-page Introduction in his compilation to a discussion of his approach. As the book’s title indicates, the scope is very broad, covering more or less all of the practical aspects of the professional literature and, to a less extent, some of its academic aspects.
The organization of the content is alphabetical by topic, with 38 chapters each covering such categories as Architecture, Awards, Humor, Information Technology, Research, etc. Each chapter contains a list of corresponding Library of Congress (LC) Subject Heading that can assist readers in finding more literature on the topic. The publication formats include books and print periodicals, as well as electronic journals, websites and databases. Books and print periodicals are seen as the core content of the compilation and are covered more comprehensively. The copyright date is limited to 2000-2012, although some of the most significant older publications are also included. The guide contains two types of records: records with full bibliographic information and annotations written by the author, and brief citations with no annotations. Selection criteria are timeliness of information (reflection of current trends and issues), authority of the resource and author qualifications, professional standing (assessed by citation) and special features (tables, diagrams and step-by-step instructions).
The author indicates that this collection is intended for working librarians, as well as for library school students and library educators. Overall, Bemis has achieved his goal, although not all of the problems related to the challenging task of creating a practical, useful bibliography for library professionals are equally well addressed. Library science is covered more thoroughly than information science. The alphabetic organization of the book, although manageable for a brief table of contents, does not reflect the structure of the discipline and thereby weakens the educational role of the book. The differentiation between “print” and “electronic” journals in the Introduction seems dated, and the inclusion of such a category as “websites” could be replaced by a more specific term.
Overall, this publication can help library school students and new graduates to begin their profession reading. It is also recommended as a staff resource in different types of libraries.
