Delivering Digital Services: A Handbook for Public Libraries and Learning Centres

Citation

Barker, P. (2006), "Delivering Digital Services: A Handbook for Public Libraries and Learning Centres", The Electronic Library, Vol. 24 No. 2, pp. 278-279. https://doi.org/10.1108/02640470610660422

Increasingly, and for a variety of good reasons, libraries (in particular) and the world (in general) are “going digital”. This means that many services, processes and data sources are being delivered in digital form via appropriately designed information and communication infrastructures. The movement towards digital services is having a tremendous impact on education and our ability to access and use information. This book is therefore very timely ‐ both in terms of its scope and its content. The seven chapters that it contains are organised into three broad sections that deal with policy and legal background (Chapters 1 and 2), front‐line issues in public libraries (Chapters 3 and 4) and content creation (Chapters 5 through 7).

The opening chapter of the book focuses on the importance of (lifelong) learning and the ways in which this might be promoted, supported and delivered within a public library facility. Naturally, the use of information and communication technology (ICT) figures quite prominently in the discussion that is presented. The second chapter goes on to explore some of the management problems associated with providing public access to ICT facilities in libraries. Included in the important topics discussed are acceptable use policies, Internet filtering, the UK's Disability Discrimination Act, copyright and data protection issues.

The chapters that make up the second part of the book cover two important topics relating to digital service provision in public libraries: the enablement of ICT skills and providing access to e‐government resources to support the activities involved in digital citizenship. In discussing the first of these topics (in Chapter 3), the authors delve into some of the more pragmatic issues associated with developing ICT skills; it contains a series of 20 “activities” that are designed to check and develop computer‐based skills for staff in (and users of) public libraries. These activities involve everything from the effective use of search engines through to using spreadsheets and conducting surveys of users. In Chapter 4, the authors discuss electronic government and the role that public libraries might play in providing access to the multifarious resources associated with “e‐democracy”. This chapter also contains a series of “online activities”; these are designed to illustrate the range and potential usefulness of some of the UK's e‐government web sites.

Like the chapters in the second part of the book, the three chapters that make up the third section are partly “activity driven” – that is, they involve readers in doing online exercises using their computers. This is particularly so in Chapter 5, which is essentially a very readable “mini‐manual” of hypertext markup language (HTML) and web page production. It discusses simple HTML, style sheets, scripting, the use of forms, dynamic HTML, Java applets and XML (Extensible Markup Language). With this background as a basis, Chapter 6 explores various ways of creating simple portals to the vast array of resources available in (or through) a public library. This is followed (in Chapter 7) by a discussion of techniques for creating digitised content for community libraries using various methods such as image scanning, digital photography, and so on. The book concludes with a short (two pages) conclusion in which the authors argue (p. 175): “ICTs are just as important in modern public libraries as books are”.

The book is nicely presented and offers lots of useful diagrams and code listings. However, it does contain some minor technical and grammatical errors. However, in my view, these do not detract in any significant way, from the joy of reading the “story” being told. The material in the book is supported by a companion web site that contains PowerPoint slides and PDF files relating to the various activities that readers are invited to undertake while reading the book. Overall, I think this book will be of tremendous value to those who want to become involved in delivering digital services within conventional library systems.