Annual Review of Information Science and Technology. Volume 35, 2001

Citation

Premkamolnetr, N. (2002), "Annual Review of Information Science and Technology. Volume 35, 2001", Online Information Review, Vol. 26 No. 5, pp. 349-350. https://doi.org/10.1108/oir.2002.26.5.349.2

The advance of information technology and communication systems globally is influencing all subject areas, including information science. To understand what developed in the previous year will definitely assist the information professional to stay well abreast of trends. This 2001 annual review contains four major sections: “Planning information systems and services”, “Basic techniques and technologies”, “Application”, and “The profession”. There are nine chapters altogether: four in the first section, three in the second, and one each in the other two.

The four major aspects presented in this volume are well organised in terms of information services. The collection starts by presenting concepts and ideas on planning information systems and services and then elaborates certain techniques and technologies for organising digital information, such as subject access points, hypertext generation and evaluating and digital preservation. The next section presents an introduction to knowledge management, and the work concludes by presenting changes in LIS education in the 1990s.

The first two chapters provide extensive information related to theories of information science and conceptual frameworks in information behaviour. This is crucial for researchers, but, although well written, may be too theoretical for some information professionals. On the other hand, the other two papers, on distributed information management and digital privacy, are easy to understand and are well organised. The authors detail many aspects regarding these topics, such as their scope and definition, development, technologies used, standards, examples of some major research projects, cultural implications and future trends.

The third chapter, “Knowledge management: an introduction” not only discusses the basic concepts of knowledge management, but also gives suggestions to information professionals on how to use their skills in this developing area. Additionally, the authors emphasise that people, not technology, are the major component in knowledge management. This argument seems to counter the trend in some developing countries, where much money is spent in acquiring technology but ignoring human resource development. This paper raises our awareness of this issue. The last section elaborates on LIS education in terms of administration, the profession, programmes, curriculum and faculty, where the authors conclude that technology is essential for successful information professionals. Additionally, the volume has an index and also a cumulative keyword and author index to ARIST volumes 1‐35.

To sum up, this 2001 annual review gives in‐depth insight and comprehensive information in each chapter. The authors spend considerable time and effort to pull the various aspects of each topic together and present them clearly, even for those whose first language is not English. I highly recommend this annual review to lecturers, librarians and other information professionals.