International Encyclopedia Of Information And Library Science, Second Edition

International Encyclopedia of Information and Library Science, Second Edition

From BooklistThe world of information and library science is changing, so it makes sense to update the 1997 edition of this reference work. As the title indicates, the volume seeks to include a world perspective and focuses on present practice and research. Although it does include an entry for each continent, it is largely British in nature. Of the approximately 200 contributors, about 80 percent are associated with the UK.Articles are arranged alphabetically and vary from a paragraph to 19 pages. About half of the articles are signed and include short bibliographies. The editors do not claim to give equal treatment to all subjects but intend to provide longer articles for topics of greater importance. Therefore, it seems surprising that rare book libraries would get more coverage than public libraries or school libraries. Twelve major articles (about eight pages each) form the backbone of the volume: Communication, Economics of information, Informatics, Information management, Information policy, Information professions, Information society, Information systems, Information theory, Knowledge industries, Knowledge management, and Organization of knowledge. These entries demonstrate a theoretical and managerial approach. In contrast, the entry for book is one-third of a page, and there is no mention of genres or young adult literature. Indeed, youth resources and services are underrepresented. Biographical entries are also disappointingly few in number. Twenty black-and-white diagrams and 17 tables complement the text.This volume offers an alternative to U.S.-centric librarianship. However, it does not offer a robust picture of the world but rather starts with a British perspective and branches out. Still, the conceptual articles are valuable, and readers interested in librarianship will find succinct definitions for many professional terms. This work will probably find its home in library and information studies collections. RBBCopyright