The Electronic Library4th edition

Citation

Hyldegard, J. (1999), "The Electronic Library4th edition", Library Review, Vol. 48 No. 4, pp. 332-334. https://doi.org/10.1108/lr.1999.48.4.332.3

Since its first edition as Computers for Libraries in 1980, the title and the concerns of this book have undergone a change that reflects the changing impact and use of IT in a library setting: from the use of computers for library automation and collection management to library networking emphazising collection access, no matter the time or place. This also means a shift in the focus of the book from the different kinds of systems relevant in a library to the environment in which such systems operate, emphasizing customer orientation as the basis for the use of IT. Since 1980, the concept of the library has changed dramatically with the “linking‐paradigm”, leaving us with libraries without walls or clearly defined boundaries for service and practice.

From that perspective The Electronic Library is a book about libraries going digital ‐‐ in contrast to virtual libraries which only exist in electronic form ‐‐ and about the path towards the electronic library. According to the author, Jennifer Rowley, professor of information management and head of the School of Management and Social Sciences at Edge Hill University College, effective library and information service delivery is based on a contextual understanding that seeks to integrate systems and people. It is in this context that the functions, technicalities and management of systems are handled here.

The book is divided into three parts: Part 1 is a brief introduction to computer systems and the platforms on which applications are mounted; Part 2 examines a number of applications in the area of information retrieval; and Part 3 offers an overview of library management systems and related aspects of document delivery. Both parts 2 and part 3 are concerned with the applications themselves. The topic areas include among others: designing and managing information systems, information retrieval on the Internet, on CD‐ROMs, online search services, document management systems, functions of library management systems and an overview of the market for library management systems.

The book is in itself very customer oriented. It is structured in a very pedagogic way, which makes it suitable as a textbook and for private study purposes, especially for undergraduate students in library and information science studies, for example in a course on building up an electronic library. It may also be used with advantage in courses on special subjects using selected chapters of the book. Furthermore, many practitioners in the library and information management field could benefit from this book by getting professionally updated.

Each chapter starts with a section of the learning outcomes and a short introduction to the chapter to guide the readers expectations before reading. The chapter is thereafter divided into smaller subsections each followed by different questions for further reflection. After a short summary at the end of the chapter, the reader is presented with a list of questions to check the learning outcomes. Finally, there is a list of documents directly referred to in the text and a bibliography with documents related to the topic of the chapter or for further study and investigation. Some of the chapters are provided with illustrative case studies. There are no Internet resources listed in the bibliography because the author finds them too volatile to merit inclusion in a book like this. In this case it would have been useful to have the Internet resources gathered and updated on a webpage and the URL address of this listed in the foreword.

The author addresses many important aspects of the electronic library today, introducing many new or changing concepts of an electronic library, that leave the reader with a good overview ‐‐ though as regards interfaces I miss some information on the Web‐based (hypertext) interface for information retrieval as well as some information on relevancy in relation to the basics on information retrieval. With the many topics to be treated in one book, the chapters and subsections consequently only touch on the subjects in an introductory and state‐of‐the‐art‐manner. On the other side, this makes it a very good starting point, for example for diving into the bibliographies for further study, or makes it very useful previous to a lesson on one of the subjects treated. The book is well written and has a nice layout.

The author ends her foreword by questioning whether a new edition of the book will still have a place in the information society of the future. Why should there not be a need for a fifth edition of this book ‐‐ one that provides us with a fine overview and practical implications for dealing with the library of the future and which also takes the social implications into account? Probably libraries will differentiate much more in the very near future, focusing on customer orientation and specialization. IT will continue to evolve and make new opportunities for organizing the library and new challenges will arise that need to be investigated, experienced and communicated. If we are to believe some of the “fortune tellers”, the information society is to be replaced by a dream‐society in which intelligent use of feelings will be the core resource for human beings to survive. How can electronic libraries contribute to that, for example what kind of integration of IT and people will this call for? I leave this to others to answer.