A Handbook for Corporate Information Professionals Edited by

In A Handbook for Corporate Information Professionals, Dr Katharine Schopflin, the editor, brings together contributions from practitioners in areas that managers of corporate information centres and special libraries are responsible for (such as licensing of electronic information resources) – as well as areas that they can extend their influence to by leveraging their expertise in information management (such as managing the organisation’s Intranet, developing corporate taxonomies and intelligence and information functions broadly).

Dr Schopflin is an information professional who has worked in the media, government and non-profit sectors for over 15 years. She has also edited A Handbook for Media Librarians, published by Facet in 2008. In the present volume, she sets the tone in the opening chapter by providing a short history of special libraries before moving on to address some of the trends that she sees as impacting on role of corporate information professionals, e.g. data analytics.

This book is not a do-it-yourself guide; rather, it is a handbook that provides an overview of different topics. While it covers quite a bit of ground including the marketing of services, delivering training, developing taxonomies, some practical aspects of knowledge management, the management of information services and staff, it does so succinctly. It is a book that managers of information services in a corporate environment would benefit from reading, as it would bring them up to speed in areas that they may wish to extend their knowledge in. Having said that, its audience is not restricted to managers alone; indeed, students and staff working in special libraries will also benefit from reading it.

This handbook is not a scholarly work, and while most chapters have a brief list of references for further reading, some don’t. Be that as it may, these chapters offer a world of practical advice on what works – and how to make things work. Chapter 7, “Successfully managing your team through change and transition” will resonate with readers, for it provides not only an explanation of the reasons behind change, but also strategies to manage the change so that undesirable effects are limited.

Some of the authors have made an effort to include lists of additional resources, notably Helen Lippell (“Chapter 5: Building a corporate taxonomy”) and Anneli Sarkanen and Katy Stoddard (“Chapter 10: Training end-users in the workplace”). This could have been a feature in other chapters, and it certainly would have been appreciated by readers. Nor should compiling such a list of additional resources have been an onerous task, considering that the authors have a certain amount of experience of working in information centres. This book would have also benefited from a more consistent layout of the material in the chapters – and that would have gone some way in enhancing the user’s experience of reading the book.

Managers of corporate information centres are accustomed to looking for opportunities to reinforce the value that their teams bring to their organisation. This book makes it convenient for them to do so by providing a wealth of ideas that they can use. It is, therefore, a welcome addition to the literature.