The Information Society: A Study of Continuity and Change (4th ed.)

Donna Runner (Access and Information Resources, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia)

Library Management

ISSN: 0143-5124

Article publication date: 1 October 2005

115

Keywords

Citation

Runner, D. (2005), "The Information Society: A Study of Continuity and Change (4th ed.)", Library Management, Vol. 26 No. 8/9, pp. 524-525. https://doi.org/10.1108/01435120510631828

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2005, Emerald Group Publishing Limited


The first edition of The Information Society was published ten years ago, in 1994. In this, the fourth edition, there have been a number of changes. As John Feather notes in the preface to the fourth edition, the period from 1994 to 2004 has been a time of new developments and rapid change. Despite that, the first of the four major parts of the book is focused on the historical dimension of the information society. From the origins of writing to the impact of the recordable DVD, John Feather summarises the history of the information society in 40 concisely written pages. While none of the first part is new to an experienced professional, it is an excellent introduction for first year students entering the information professions.

Professor Feather also writes of the economic and political dimensions of the information society. The issues that he addresses – for example, how developing countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America can bypass the need for hardwired telephony by developing cellular networks (p. 124) – provide depth and background to the everyday concerns of information professionals. Not only for students, a review of these international issues can inform and enlighten those of us who may be looking at local trees, and failing to see the forest.

The protection of intellectual property is summarised in nine pages under the general heading “Information, the state and the citizen”. Despite the author's location in the UK (as a former Pro‐Vice Chancellor of Loughborough University) he focuses on internationally relevant intellectual property issues. While mentioning some specifics of copyright law in the European Union, Feather does not dwell on those specifics. Rather his discussion is general and applicable to the considerations of all industrialised, western countries. For example:

The success of the piratical reprints of English‐language books of all kinds, from popular fiction to SRM monographs and school textbooks, demonstrates the existence of a market for such books. Yet it is one which the original publishers themselves cannot aspire to reach; their prices are too high, for they are locked into the high‐cost economics which dominate the book production industry in the industrialised world. Moreover, western governments have not been entirely unsympathetic to the complaints of the governments of developing countries that the high price of essential educational and scientific books is actually hindering development by inhibiting education and research. It was out of such arguments that the idea was developed of licensing reprints in developing countries for domestic use in those countries (pp. 144‐5).

For the information professional who has become immersed in day‐to‐day issues of how to deliver reference services, or, whether or not to outsource book end‐processing, discussions such as this can be very stimulating. Parts 2 and 3 of The Information Society are an enjoyable read for anyone, not only first‐year students.

Professor Feather concludes the book with a lengthy chapter on “The information profession: a domain delineated”. The nine pages on “librarians and libraries: archetypes in transition” would be excellent required reading for the mature age applicant to library school, whose concept of the profession he/she is entering may be outdated. Like the first part of the book, the final part is for the novice, rather than the experienced professional.

Overall, the book seems well‐structured as a text, apart from its content. The parts, chapter headings, and section headings are clearly organised. The table of contents provides page references to sections that are no more than a few pages long and may be read as discrete entities. Four pages of notes on possible further reading, as well as, an excellent index add value to the text.

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