There is no doubt about the on-going increase in the importance of information and communication technologies in all sectors of society and the absolute necessity for organisations to be able to deal with convergence issues. This book addresses a number of key issues such as the context for convergence, assessing the possibilities for convergence, the impact of professional culture and politics, the staff requirements and considerations for convergence, the need to consider assignments in terms of specialisation versus generalisation, the importance of organisational design in convergence, and the process of convergence. It concludes with a chapter on future evolution for information service organisations.
Barth's book is an interesting read. For most chapters the sub-headings give a good indication of what to expect, e.g. “Why converge?”, “Core values”, and “Team structure”. This does, unfortunately not apply to Chapter 1 where headings such as “rocks all around”, “rules of the river”, and “the sweet spot” are catchy, but are not useful for dip-in-an-dip-out reading. A rather basic index, unfortunately, does not help in this regard either. Most chapters include an abstract, keywords, and a section on key considerations where the latter pulls together the essence of the chapter. The following explanation can offer some contextualisation: “The converged organisation is inevitable for libraries – technology will become increasingly embedded and integrated, and information support will become more and more technology-based. Technology organisations increasingly can benefit from the instructional and theoretical expertise developed over centuries of information service and support provided by libraries” (p. 2).
The author stimulates thinking, comments and discussion on the topic. Although I would personally prefer a more in-depth and challenging discussion embedded in the theory of convergence and practical challenges, it serves as a good introductory text to practitioners on the issues of concern. The list of “References and further reading” may be useful for pursuing the topic; references, however, do not reflect more recent sources, e.g. from 2010 onwards. Even for 2009, I spotted only four references. I recommend this book to practitioners interested in the topic who are looking for an introductory text to stimulate their thinking.
