Practical Information Policies

Citation

Oppenheim, C. (2000), "Practical Information Policies", The Electronic Library, Vol. 18 No. 6, pp. 448-469. https://doi.org/10.1108/el.2000.18.6.448.13

Elizabeth Orna’s first edition of this work was published in 1990, and immediately became a standard work on the topic. This second edition nearly a decade later is longer and has been virtually rewritten from scratch. It is split into three broad areas – background, the process, and case studies. It reflects the current buzz‐phrase “knowledge management” and, indeed, could arguably have that term in its title or subtitle – and would probably sell more copies as a result. The book takes a practical and readable approach as to why one needs organisational information policies and how one goes about creating and maintaining them. The aim is to offer help for managers, information managers and any others involved with information or knowledge as a resource.

The text is always clear and readable and the author is never afraid to give strong advice or to criticise those authors who have got it wrong. The style is always helpful and practical. At the end of each chapter a list of useful references is provided. The text is backed up by excellent typography and graphics, supplied by the author’s long‐time colleague Graham Stevens. However, it must be said that some of the figures have too much detail and, as a result, are confusing.

A few of the case studies are not really about information policies, in some cases they are over‐kind to the organisation in question and, in some cases, such as the British Library, they are factually out‐of‐date. The case studies are, inevitably, variable both in length and in terms of lessons to be learned. The book lacks an overall conclusion or summarised action plan, and could do with a combined bibliography.

The book can be warmly recommended, not just to information managers, but also to everyone involved in knowledge management, and to students of librarianship and information management. The first edition became the standard work on the topic, and this second edition deserves to achieve the same status.