Was there such a thing as the “information society” in the first half of the twentieth century? The authors of this book certainly think so. Sceptical of the utopian belief that history points irresistibly towards a millennial information age, they remind us that there was an earlier information society which was forged by a combination of historical factors. The only chapter in Part 1 – Before the Computer – looks at these historical agents of change, such as the re‐structuring of capitalism, the convergence of new technologies and the growing needs of the state. The focus is generally on the UK, though there are comparative references to international developments and a short final section looking at Germany, the USA, France and the Soviet Union in particular.
Part 2 begins with a chapter on the role of the state in the development of technical information for science and industry. This impressive historical study shows how the state was generally wary of placing its imprimatur on any one body. The task for developing information for professional institutions fell mostly to autonomous bodies independent of market or state. One of these institutions is described in the second chapter: ASLIB began in the 1920s and assumed a pre‐eminent role in the provision of specialised services to the professions. Both chapters are successful in showing that information bureaus working on behalf of industry and the professions understood how information could become packaged and used as a commodity.
Part 3 concentrates on the management of information in the early information economy, with the first chapter in this section boldly using the phrase “knowledge management” before the digital age. The authors again situate this study firmly within the historical context by talking about changes within office management generally and including case studies of the Bank of England, the Post Office and MI5. There is also a fascinating study of information management in company magazines. I would not have thought to research this, though reading through the case studies the purpose – which is to show how the companies in‐house magazines communicated information and utilised knowledge – becomes more obvious. On more familiar territory, a survey of information and knowledge management techniques in libraries follows, and there is a separate chapter on company libraries.
In Part 4 the focus shifts to the information workforce, and the authors show how education for information workers gradually forged a professional identity for this group of employees. The second chapter of this section concerns women's employment in scientific and industrial libraries and tackles head‐on the contemporary notion that the information profession was a more suitable one for women than that of scientist or engineer.
The authors state in the preface that they have deliberately omitted any mention of the rise of the mass media and communication. Also missing is much mention of information in academic institutions, although the expansion of universities and polytechnics did not really get going until the second half of the century. This study does succeed in showing how a rapidly advancing scientific, industrial and technological society developed information management techniques and institutions to suit its needs ‐ just because the period is “pre‐computer” does not mean that it was an information dark age. The depth of scholarship is impressive and reveals a good grasp of both the finer detail and broad historical sweep of the times. This work is highly recommended.
