Handbook of Special Librarianship and Information Work. 7th edition

Citation

Calvert, P. (1999), "Handbook of Special Librarianship and Information Work. 7th edition", Asian Libraries, Vol. 8 No. 5, pp. 180-181. https://doi.org/10.1108/al.1999.8.5.180.7

This first edition of this book appeared as long ago as 1955, so the 7th edition barely needs any introduction. Like all previous editions, this one is a collection of chapters on a variety of topics relevant to special librarianship, each one given a special flavour by its contributor. The work of the editor is, of course, of high importance, because it is he or she who will make the choice of contents and summon the authors to the task. Scammell has matched the high standards of her predecessors in this.

It is interesting to note the change in emphasis over the past three volumes. The 5th edition, published in 1982, showed signs of the growth of machine‐readable information storage and retrieval systems, though perhaps no one at that time could foresee the huge significance computers would later occupy in special library work. There is an interesting twist the other way in the importance attached to non‐book media in the 5th edition, because this was once the coming thing but has since lost some of its profile. It is worthy of note that the 5th edition still included a chapter on Physical Arrangement and Display, Circulation and Loan, which I doubt would concern many special librarians these days. The 6th edition of 1992, gave much more emphasis to technology. It also had new chapters on records management, business information and end‐user training, all of which still occupy major proportions of the literature.

So to this new edition. The electronic environment dominates the whole volume. Even though individual chapter titles may not sound too heavily involved with technology, there are frequent references to the Internet throughout the book, and especially to the Web. George McMurdo’s chapter on the Internet is a sensible mix of a little history, some technical explanations, and a few thoughts about the potential of the Internet for special libraries. Another topic which has risen to prominence is that rather hard to define concept of “knowledge management”, and Marcus Speh has done well with a difficult task. He points out the similarity between knowledge management and information management. His description of tasks given to a knowledge manager would not daunt the average special librarian, though he puts an intriguing spin on knowledge management by describing a paradigmatic shift from factual knowledge to “reasoning and methodological knowledge” (after Karl Wiig), emphasising that it is the latter that creates value for the organisation.

Another important new chapter in this edition is Data Protection and the Information Manager by J. Eric Davies, and a chapter that could have served as a conclusion, Towards the Electronic Library? by Charles Oppenheim. Scammell has included six case studies in the volume, and each one generates interesting ideas, particularly in their use of electronic information. This is an essential purchase for an LIS collection. Managers of special libraries would be well advised to purchase copies for themselves.