The Library and Information Professional's Internet Companion

Citation

Sayers, R. (2006), "The Library and Information Professional's Internet Companion", Library Management, Vol. 27 No. 1/2, pp. 113-114. https://doi.org/10.1108/01435120610648009

Although offering little by way of new content, this slim volume from Facet provides concise definitions and an easy to browse format that may yet resonate with its intended audience – busy librarians struggling to understand the profusion of internet‐related products and technologies that are impacting their services. Within the past two years for example we have seen the meteoric rise in popularity of web logs (blogs), RSS news feeds and pod casting. Despite some innovative localised library applications of these new technologies, many librarians and information service providers are struggling to understand let alone keep pace with the evolving preferences and predilections of their patrons and clients.

The Library and Information Professional's Internet Companion is effectively a snapshot in time. It reports on the state of internet‐related services and technology as we understand them in the year 2005. The book is both compact in size and relatively short at only 183 pages. It is also surprisingly light on content given the broad palette that is the internet. The authors do generally provide however a good introduction to each service and technology and useful if limited references and web links for further reading – the latter denoted by stylised “i” for information icons.

The book is divided into ten short chapters ranging across topics from “Creating web pages” (chapter 2) through to “Conferencing” (chapter 6) and “Internet applications in libraries” (chapter 10). The large typeface, clear headings and sparing use of irrelevant illustrations combine to facilitate efficient browsing. Searching is further assisted by a detailed table of contents that includes headings and subheadings, and a comprehensive and well‐constructed index.

The key advantage of this book is that it provides concise and largely comprehensible summaries across a very broad range of services, technologies and issues relating to libraries and the internet. It functions in effect as a ready‐reference dictionary of concepts and terms connected in an easy‐to‐read narrative format. The down side of this approach however is that it does not provide sufficient detail to enable application of specific technologies or services without substantial follow up research using other sources. Examples of this deficiency are evident in the cursory treatments of blogging and pod casting technologies which are each afforded barely a few lines of definition and description. Similarly frustrating are the cursory references to synchronous chat in the context of reference services. Fortunately the authors provide some useful referrals to content‐rich websites although this in turn poses the problem of “link rot” as the book dates.

Although initially finding the compact size and brevity of this book appealing, particularly as a potential desk reference item, I soon became frustrated at the lack of detail in each chapter. Also disappointing are the “tips” sprinkled throughout the text that add little or nothing to our understanding of the relevant topics. A sample tip in relation to web‐based forums says simply: “If no forums appear of interest then it is easy to start one of your own on a topic you want”.

In summary, this is an accessible if brief reference work that despite its limitations should still function as a useful guidebook to its intended audience.