The Library and Information Work Primer (2nd edition)

Citation

Duckett, B. (2002), "The Library and Information Work Primer (2nd edition)", Library Review, Vol. 51 No. 2, pp. 107-112. https://doi.org/10.1108/lr.2002.51.2.107.2

The first edition of this book, published in 1998, grew out of the work by Colin Harrison and Rosemary Beenham, originally titled Basics of Librarianship. Historians of library literature can doubtless trace it back further, to Ken Harrison’s four editions of First Steps in Librarianship (1950‐1973), and maybe further still. The word “primer” indeed, struck me as a little old‐fashioned, but it is entirely right, though not, I stress, because there is anything old‐fashioned about this book. Definitely not. “Primer” is the right word because no prior knowledge is assumed and the rawest recruit to the ranks of Libraryland or the “Info‐verse” (my phrase), or even a non‐recruit, would find this book easy to read and informative. The stated aim of The Library and Information Work Primer is to introduce students and new staff to what libraries and information units are all about. I should add that the author writes so well and is so up‐to‐date, that even the regular troops of Libraryland will find this a useful read: events are moving so rapidly that we need regular “state‐of‐the‐art” presentations to re‐orientate ourselves.

The Introduction highlights some of the “issues of the day” such as the “information society” and funding, and then, in Chapter 1, we are introduced to the history and functions of the principal types of library and the structure of the UK library and information service. They range from national libraries such as the British Library, through public libraries, archives, university, school and college libraries, to information centres such as the Tourist Information Centres and Citizen Advice Bureaux. Brief accounts are given of professional bodies such as the LA and ARLIS (The Art Libraries Society). These brief accounts are well informed and lucid. Chapter 2 is about the people who organize and run library services and about their selection, training and responsibilities. Both the librarian new to management and the first‐timer preparing for a job interview will profit from this chapter. Among the many topics covered are the testing of candidates, performing well at interview, induction and supervisory duties. The NVQ/IsNTO saga is usefully chronicled, and the City & Guilds 7370 qualification for non‐professionals outlined. The chapter concludes with a look at professional skills.

Library co‐operation is the focus of Chapter 3. Once again there is a good blend of the general and the specific. From the principle of co‐operation we are quickly introduced to the regional bureaux and the services of the British Library Document Supply Centre. Chapter 4, the stock of libraries, is a major chapter. The range and types of stock are outlined; there is a description of the main categories of reference material; a look at selection, ordering and processing procedures; classification and cataloguing; and stock management – circulation, security, binding, weeding, etc. Rather surprisingly there is a “Bibliography of key reference sources” reprinted from another source. Chapter 5 covers services offered by library and information units. Customer care and communication skills are stressed; then lending, reference and research, and information aspects of our work. There is a brief look at library building and design, and community‐wide issues.

Alan Hornsey, a systems administrator, contributes a chapter on information technology in the library. This is a long and detailed chapter covering the whole gamut from floppies and viruses, through search engines and OPACs, to The People’s Network and UK Online. First‐timers should have little difficulty following this, though I felt the general introduction to IT could have been omitted. This is covered in many other sources, including some by Library Association Publishing itself, and it would have been more useful, and more in keeping with the tenor of the rest of the book, if the focus was just kept on the library uses of IT (and the chapter reduced by about a third).

Another contributed chapter is “The management perspective”. In this, Lyn Pullen, of Dorset and Poole Libraries, covers the topics of social inclusion, business plans, user surveys, service measurement, standards, benchmarking, best value, promotion, reader development and other Government initiatives. Like Alan’s chapter, this is an excellently drafted account, though the focus is rather public library‐orientated. I am not sure how all of this relates to a “primer” of library and information work, and wonder if it was a mistake for the principal author not to have tackled these subjects herself. A general introduction to libraries and information work of a largely descriptive nature, has, in these last two chapters, slipped into something rather different, something rather text‐bookish.

The hierarchy of the sections within chapters needed better typography to clarify relationships, though otherwise the book is stylishly produced. The index is good, but in the bibliography I did find that the publisher rather over‐promotes itself, even including a book not yet published! And useful though the examples of services were throughout the text, I did rather weary of the South West England focus. Niggles apart, a book such as this is needed, both as an introduction to what library and information work is all about, and as an update to insiders, as the trail back to Harrison shows. This is the best book on the subject around and fully deserves a place on all library shelves.