Librarianship and Information Work Worldwide 1998

A well selected collection of papers presenting a truly international overview of the library and information world today – or at least in 1998; written by senior and knowledgeable figures in the LIS world and buttressed by an impressive Editorial Advisory Board (although it should be noted that the sadly missed Michael Wise died two years ago). The editors have cast their net wide and in this, the seventh annual volume, have commissioned Jagtar Singh of Punjabi University, Patiala to cover South Asia as the year’s special region and he turns in a sound and authoritative piece of work. There are many good, thought provoking papers included in the volume, notably Blaise Cronin’s wide ranging and thoughtful overview of LIS in context,complete with some interesting quotes, e.g. “Americans continue to have a love affair with their libraries, but they have difficulty figuring out where libraries fit in the new digital world” – now doesn’t that just sum up our fears and angst about the profession today? Graham Cornish writes lucidly and authoritatively on National Libraries and their growing roles, and Beryl Morris turns in an impressive account of LIS staff management issues worldwide. The Internet, User Education, public libraries and the information society, collection development, Health Services information, LIS research are topics well covered and analysed and the reader gains a good clear overview of LIS throughout the world, backed up by helpful, well chosen references. All in all, an interesting, useful and authoritative account of the state of play in the LIS arena throughout the world, although the acronyms begin to befuddle the mind after a while – CHILIAS, BIBDEL, DELNET and FIGIT ... the list goes on and on ...!