Management Basics for Information Professionals (2nd edition)

Citation

Sanders, R. (2010), "Management Basics for Information Professionals (2nd edition)", Library Review, Vol. 59 No. 2, pp. 142-142. https://doi.org/10.1108/00242531011023952

This comprehensive management text is designed for students in information programs, as well as for information professionals who seek an update of relevant views (and sources of literature) related to library and information agency management. As with its previous edition, published in 2000, its value for students in particular is enhanced by its arrangement along the lines of a typical management program at tertiary level. Examples and practices described are taken from all types of information services, including libraries, archives, information brokers, and records management.

Introductory chapters highlight management concepts and theories, that background without which much of the later discussions of skills and practices would be rendered less than meaningful. A new chapter, entitled “Managing diversity”, is placed in this early part of the work and a point made early in the work is that “The key to managerial success is a firm understanding of management thinking as well as its practices”. This work provides both. The major portion of the book is entitled Management: Knowledge and Skills, and through topics such as the planning process, power authority and responsibility, delegation, motivation, communication, and leadership, the authors provide a panoramic view of the range of approaches to these basic management and supervision practices.

A third part focuses on managing people, money, technology, and facilities; and the final part of the book deals with career development and briefly considers what the authors believe the future holds for new (and, indeed, seasoned) managers.

The authors also allow readers the opportunity to test their views and understanding by providing occasions throughout the work to stop and reflect on what they are reading and studying. These useful learning tools are provided in each chapter as text boxes labelled “For Further Thought”, “Tips”, and “Check This Out”. Most of the chapters also include “Key Points to Remember”, which summarise usefully and succinctly the main thrust of that section. Each chapter concludes with a “Launching Pad” – a selected list of recent items that will help readers explore chapter ideas in depth.

Otherwise, this edition sees a general updating of every chapter, and maintains its central aim of providing both a theoretical and an instructional guide for the novice and less experienced manager. As I indicated in the preface for a different library management text, each of the topics discussed in this text is worthy of a monograph in its own right. Indeed, there are books written on each. The reader, after being introduced to a topic in this book, will need to follow up specific areas of interest and need in order to develop deeper knowledge and skills. However, this work does fill a need for an introduction to management for information professionals, as it continues to develop as a vital field for study and for experienced information professionals and educators to practice and to teach.