Table of contents: issue55

Book Review: The Thriving Library

editor — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 23:00:00 +0000

Lina Coelho takes a look at this collection of winning strategies for success in public libraries during challenging times.

This is a book about public libraries. I might sound disappointed in saying that, in fact I was surprised. Having spent my working life in specialist libraries, I know little about the public library sector and was slightly afraid that what I would find would be irrelevant or uninteresting. But I soon discovered that this was to be one of the most exciting professional texts I'd read for some time. It turns out that you can learn a lot about good practice from any successful library, irrespective of who its users are because what matters is dreams, commitment and courage.

Book Review: Digital Information Culture

editor — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 23:00:00 +0000

Stuart Hannabuss analyses a very useful addition to the realm of information, knowledge and library studies.

This is an impressive and very useful book. It is impressive in drawing on a wide range of relevant ideas (on history, society, culture, technology) to tease out the ways in which we can validly speak about the cultural aspects of digital information. It is very useful because it will almost instantly join lists of recommended reading wherever information, knowledge and library studies are formally taught (it clearly derives from lectures but is all the clearer for that in this case, with none of the pedestrianism and derivativeness associated with that origin).

Book Review: Information and Emotion

editor — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 23:00:00 +0000

Stephanie Taylor finds in Information and Emotion: The Emergent Affective Paradigm in Information Behavior Research and Theory new ways to understand the emotions of users in a collection of work from the US information behaviour community.

Information is often linked to the scientific domain and perceived as a known and measured quantity, a fixed point. Terms such as 'information science', and 'information management' contribute to the view of information as an objective tool. Information behaviour research, though, takes a different view, by exploring the relationship between the emotions and personal experiences of users and the information they find and use.

Book Review: Computerization Movements and Technology Diffusion

editor — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 23:00:00 +0000

Emma Tonkin reviews a fascinating introduction to over two decades of research into computerisation movements.

This book is all about computerisation movements – CMs, for short. CMs are social, professional, intellectual and/or scientific movements [1], collective movements fuelled by a group of people who share a vision of the way that things should be, and are ready to promote that vision. For some readers, this may sound a little abstract, so I will begin with a little descriptive preamble, which others are welcome to skip.

Book Review: Manage It! Your Guide to Modern, Pragmatic Project Management

editor — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 23:00:00 +0000

Martin White reviews a book that sets out to provide very practical guidance on managing software projects.

After some fifteen years of managing a wide range of projects I joined Logica in 1989 to head up one of the company's largest projects. Before I even unpacked my briefcase I was sent on a three-day project management course during which I discovered that almost everything I had done in the past was not good practice. It was a salutary experience to sit there amongst less senior colleagues and get the answers wrong. The course paid off some ten years later when I started a major project in Washington two days before 9/11 and managed to deliver on time and on budget.