It is nice to have a work to hand where the essential job of the reviewer is at least defined for him. Bill Katz’s article reference book gives us five criteria for evaluating a title:
(1) “What is the purpose of the work, and has the compiler, author or editorial board fulfilled that purpose?” … (2) “Is the work authoritative and objective?” … (3) “What does/does not the book cover?” (4) … “For whom is the work intended … ?” … (5) “Other deciding points include cost, ease of use, illustrations, indexes, paper, size of type and related items”.
Familiar enough questions to those of us who have been reviewing reference books for any length of time, as well as to our readers who must ask them in reality against their collections and their budgets.
As far as this particular title is concerned, questions (2), (3) and (5) are more readily answered than are (1) or (4). There is a very interesting preface that applies rigorous logic to the basis and construction of the book, without actually specifying what it is trying to do or for whom it is trying to do it. Still, from what we are told, and from using the book itself, it is not difficult to make fairly obvious assumptions.
So, sticking with Katz’s five criteria, the first question is still the hardest to answer categorically. One of the very great strengths of this book is that through its Preface and within its entries it gives a very sound logical and academic basis and justification for library and information science, and for the practice of librarianship developed from it, as a discipline in its own right. After many years of argument both within and outside the profession that is in itself a notable achievement. In the process of doing so the editors (and of course their contributors) also place the library profession within the much broader context of the information world. They “… have taken information itself as the basic unit of the currency in which we are trading. IEILS seeks to expound the theory of information, how it is collected, stored, processed and retrieved, and how it is communicated to those who seek it”.
It is this logical basis which gives the book as a whole much of its value: a host (almost 600 by 180 contributors) of articles have been carefully constructed to cover the field consistently and comprehensively. A total of 12 major articles have been selected and written to deal with the central issues. These range from Communication to the Organization of knowledge and, among the major aspects of information theory and practice, they also cover Knowledge industries and Knowledge management. This latter entry especially (by Michael R. Koenig) provides a clear and well informed analysis of a still rather contentious topic, and defuses some of the contention (or perhaps intensifies it rather) by a table listing “Differences in emphasis between KM and traditional library and information work”.
From all of that a purpose for the work emerges and, given the methodical coverage of the field, it is fair to conclude that the editors have fulfilled their purpose well. Ours is a basically practical profession, but with a sound theoretical basis. That must be reflected in any reference work covering it, and is so here. This book will not show you how to catalogue, but it will indicate why you should catalogue, what structures and methods apply to cataloguing and highlights the major aspects of cataloguing, (including two and a half columns on AACR). In purely practical terms its value may be confirmed by this being a second edition after six years, indicating that the market also reckons the purpose well fulfilled.
Question (2) is simply answered: yes to both. The advisory board and contributors are made up of international experts in their fields and editorial advice and presumably control have assured a consistently analytical if rather academic approach. The editors themselves are internationally known and respected academics. Opinions are flagged as such and the concentration is on objective discussion of topics and their development or interpretation.
The third question has largely been dealt with above. It is all here in a logical structure and a comprehensive gathering of all the relevant topics. This is not a large volume, so a lot of detail, especially relating to particular libraries or collections or to specific information sources or services, is necessarily lacking. That will cause some annoyance especially of a parochial nature: the British Library is the national library for the UK but since devolution especially the picture is more complex. But, inevitably, an international perspective requires generalisations and these are for the most part handled well. The range of entries is impressive. In addition to the major and medium‐length articles there are various shorter ones dealing with major figures in the history of information and libraries (Ranganathan, Lancaster, McKerrow, McLuhan – an intriguing alphabetical conjunction that – and their like) and, at random, topics such as incunabula, JANET, kilobyte, online, and spreadsheet. That does raise the spectre of where does this stop being an encyclopaedia and start being a dictionary (and how does it sit alongside Harrod’s Glossary?)? but the question is not worth pursuing, as the work has an overall coherence of its own, which is enhanced by these shorter entries.
I had anticipated that the answer to question (4) was going to be students and academics. But on closer examination it has a much wider applicability. Certainly anybody in the profession looking for an overview of aspects with which they are not so familiar (or wanting to find out just what knowledge management is supposed to be) will find it useful and stimulating, while it has extra value through its rigorous approach and logical structure, giving a coherence to various topics which is not always evident at the coal‐face (or the issue counter, or even the OPAC terminal). Similarly, those working in related fields in information or communications will find this a useful source of information.
At £150.00 it scores rather badly on one aspect of question (5), but it is well constructed, easy to consult and just as easy to use. Cross‐references are for the most part clear. There is a useful and comprehensive index: so much so that when looking through it I thought one of my colleagues had achieved a well merited entry, but it proved to be an article written by and not about him. One of the very useful features is bibliographic referencing – fairly complete in the major articles but with useful references to major titles for many of the others too.
The result is a work that has a structure, approach and value of its own. It stands independently of any other competing or complementary titles and has a wide applicability both within and outside our profession(s). IEILS will sell widely and usefully to those libraries where information or library science is studied as an academic discipline but deserves wider availability. It is a pity that its high price will keep it away from many practitioners who would benefit from consulting it both to seek specific information and to put their activities into a broader and helpful theoretical and practical context.
