The Information Professional’s Guide to Career Development Online

Citation

Fisher, D. (2002), "The Information Professional’s Guide to Career Development Online", The Electronic Library, Vol. 20 No. 3, pp. 246-247. https://doi.org/10.1108/el.2002.20.3.246.4

Although the title is a little ambiguous, the authors are quite clear about their objective: “Our goal in writing this book is to assist information specialists in integrating the Internet into all aspects of their personal career development”. The book is designed to meet the disparate needs of library school students and both new and seasoned professionals.

There are 13 chapters arranged around four main themes: learning and growing online; professional involvement; education; and employment. The text is supplemented by three appendices covering: professional organizations and conferences with an online presence; English language library‐related publishing outlets with an online presence; and a section on further reading. An index is also provided. The book is attractively produced with an eye‐catching cover and well‐designed pages which make it easy to find your way around. Good use is made of apposite Web page screen dumps that punctuate the text. As Web site addresses are scattered throughout the text, I was particularly pleased to note that the authors have created a companion Web site for the book to ensure links are kept up to date.

The advice offered by Nesbeitt and Gordon is sound and their writing style is both lively and engaging. Information is provided on a wide range of professional development topics including joining professional associations, conference participation, contributing to the professional literature, designing Web sites, education, creating an electronic resume and job hunting. For all of these areas the authors show how the Internet can be a useful tool, both as a source of information and as a means of self‐promotion/publishing. They even discuss the reviewer’s art: “Writing reviews … can be a useful way of easing into the publishing process while also having the opportunity to contribute to the profession”. So that’s what it’s all about!

The downside, for a European audience at least, is the pronounced American flavour of the examples, organizations and Web sites. Attempting to appeal to such a wide audience from library school students to experienced professionals presents its own problems. For instance, the above quotation on writing reviews is of more value to professional newbies than older hands, who may have been assailing the world with their views for a number of years. This thought returned to me many times as I made my way through the chapters – the more experienced the information professional, the more he or she is likely to say “been there, done that” when reading, for example, about the benefits of attending conferences or joining e‐mail discussion lists.

I would recommend The Information Professional’s Guide to Career Development Online as a well‐written, commonsense guide to both professional development and making best use of the Internet in pursuit of the former. However, I would suggest it is most effective when addressing students and those new to the profession, rather than the more experienced information worker.