Organizing Knowledge: An Introduction to Managing Access to Information (3rd edition)

Citation

Brunt, R. (2001), "Organizing Knowledge: An Introduction to Managing Access to Information (3rd edition)", Library Review, Vol. 50 No. 4, pp. 205-206. https://doi.org/10.1108/lr.2001.50.4.205.6

It is both welcome and reassuring that publishers continue to have confidence in the market for general works on information storage and retrieval, as it used to be called in the days of yore. The last few years have seen the rewriting and updating of such famous books as Sayers’ manual; and now it is again the turn of Needham, the original publication on which this current edition is based. It is important that the innovative (at least in 1967) approach taken by Needham is maintained, especially in these days of over‐factorisation in all walks of life including library and information studies. This is especially true in light of the tremendous changes which have taken place in recent years.

The impact of both the WWW and the development of the multimedia information environment have been reflected in the need to re‐examine our bibliographic control tools and mechanisms. These changes have affected principally the subject approach (which might be regarded as the most likely candidate for prime examination). Globalisation, however, has also affected the so‐called known item approach with the development of international authority control systems.

The changes from the last edition are considerable with much new material in the text and a consequent reorganisation of the structure; and reflective of the many developments that have occurred over the last eight years.

The book is organised into four principal divisions: Information basics; Records; Access; and Systems. There is a short introduction setting the scene and reminding the reader that while opportunity has been taken to “reconceptualise the way in which we think about the structures for the organization of knowledge” (p. xiii) the book is still influenced by a traditional audience. In this it may (if read widely enough) help to remind those who are currently reinventing the organisation and retrieval of information wheel that they should take note of what has gone before.

The whole is equipped with an index and a glossary; and scattered throughout are many illustrations of tools and procedures which will prove invaluable to those finding difficulty with some of the more arcane aspects of the subject. Each chapter is composed of a number of sections and concludes with a summary and substantial reading list.

“Information basics” is concerned with the organisation of knowledge and its formatting and structuring. Here, in two chapters, information and knowledge are defined in both the more abstract senses and in the contexts which information professionals work and will find familiar. A single chapter comprises the principal division devoted to Records which covers, briefly, the whole range of bibliographic representation from page references in academic publications to catalogue records; and the sorts of standards devised to ensure consistency and transmission, from Harvard style to file management software to abstracting and indexing formats to catalogue codes. Given the central nature of the surrogate nowadays as both “informative abstract” and vehicle for free text retrieval it might well have figured more prominently and its discussion spread across two or three chapters.

By far the largest division is concerned with Access; and here both the known item and unknown item approaches are covered. Included is the essential material on vocabulary control devices both alphabetical and systematic. It also covers both the interface aspects and the bibliographic machinery itself. The pre‐eminence of the subject approach is testified to by the relatively slight coverage of known item access in catalogues and bibliographies in only one (and that the last) of six sections.

The “Systems” section provides a useful discussion of the library (for want of a handy neologism) as an information system in itself, with all the environmental factors and maintenance processes needed to ensure that the system works efficiently and continues to prosper. Thus we have chapters on delivery mechanisms such as CD‐ROM and online information retrieval; the Internet and the World Wide Web; manual systems; and the management of all these including the organisation itself.

There is, however, a general sense of a lack of rigour about the publication, disappointing in one which should be concerned with accuracy and precision. Serendipity threw up examples throughout. “AAAF” appears in the list of acronyms and abbreviations but features neither in the index nor in the text where it might be expected. Should Foskett’s 5th edition be cited rather than his 4th in the bibliography of chapter 2? “Facet analysis” (p. 180) should be linked to the previous rather than the next chapter. There are several examples of inaccuracies in citation (for example, journal titles such as Cataloging & Classification Quarterly and Library Resources & Technical Services); and in the punctuation in the examples of AACR2 descriptions in Figure 3.6. The note (page 67) regarding the term “bibliographic” is a bit precious and not helpful.

Despite these reservations this is a useful compendium of up‐to‐date information on the topic, possibly of greater use to those in professional practice and academics who might not be so overawed by the vastness of the topic as some of its targeted and less experienced audience.