Editors Park and Howarth’s goal in compiling this collection of 11 papers on new developments in information organization was to illustrate how Web 2.0 and the Semantic Web, also known as linked data, present both opportunities and challenges for information professionals. This means that the book covers topics ranging from Resource Description and Access (RDA) and the Semantic Web to next-generation library catalogues and discovery layers.
The section on RDA and the Semantic Web begins with a paper by Sharon Q. Yang and Yan Yi Lee outlining the development of RDA and its adoption in different countries. Barbara Tillett then provides an in-depth discussion of the key changes in RDA and their benefits, followed by Alan Poulter’s examination of Functional Requirements for Subject Authority Data (FRSAD), in which he proposes revitalizing PRECIS, an indexing system developed by Derek Austin for the British National Bibliography, as a way of implementing the model. In the final chapter of this section, Ziyoung Park and Heejong Kim explain the use of linked data to organize and share information, and describe current library-related linked data projects.
The next section of the book focuses on the use of Web 2.0 technologies for cataloguing and indexing. Shawne Miksa examines the development of what she terms “social cataloguing” through the lens of Jesse Shera’s social epistemology, suggesting that incorporating user-contributed tags to a catalogue will provide increased access to library collections. Yunseon Choi provides a useful overview of techniques used to organize digital information, including classification, followed by an extensive discussion of the benefits and drawbacks of social indexing, also known as social tagging. In the final chapter of this section, Emma Stuart focuses on the ways in which the shift to digital photography has led to new methods of organizing and describing images, including sites such as Flickr, Picasa and Instagram.
The final section includes four papers examining issues and developments in library catalogues, beginning with Birong Ho and Laura Horne-Popp’s case study of the implementation of the VuFind discovery tool as an online catalogue. The other papers in this section are Xi Niu’s review of the development and usability of faceted searching in academic library catalogues, Elizabeth J. Cox, Stephanie Graves, Andrea Imre and Cassie Wagner’s case study of the implementation of a consortial catalogue at Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s Morris Library, and Sarah H. Theimer’s coverage of issues relating to metadata quality, which includes a discussion of techniques for measuring it.
In their conclusion, Park and Howarth note that all of the chapters discuss the importance of understanding user needs and information-seeking behavior when designing and implementing new information retrieval systems. As the list of topics shows, librarians are dealing with an increasingly complex range of technologies, which means they may need to work in partnership with different stakeholders to provide their users with optimum access to information. Overall, the book achieves its objective effectively, and I would recommend it for anyone interested in keeping up with trends in cataloguing and information organization. Each chapter includes references, and there is a subject index.
