Best of
Library-Science

2000

Mastering Information Management


Donald A. Marchand - 2000
    Mastering Information Management brings together the knowledge managers need to make sense of "mere" data and technology. Mastering Information Management brings together the full range of cutting-edge ideas, tools and techniques for successfully managing the information-driven business -- instead of letting technology manage you! Based on an outstanding multi-part series in The Financial Times, it includes extensive contributions from leading B-school thought leaders at Harvard, MIT, Wharton, and beyond -- and from business practitioners at top organizations from Andersen to Nestle, BCG to IBM. The book also includes extensive additional material not included in the original series, along with an introduction by management legend Peter Drucker.

America's Library: The Story of the Library of Congress, 1800-2000


James Conaway - 2000
    From a modest collection of 740 books purchased by the Congress in 1800, the Library has grown to house hundreds of miles of bookshelves. Laid end to end, they would stretch from Washington, D.C., to Chicago. This book tells the continuously interesting story of the first two hundred years of the Library of Congress. It is a vast history, filled with an immense cast of characters ranging from presidents, poets, journalists, and congressmen to collectors, artists, curators, and eccentrics. James Conaway centers this history around the thirteen men who have been appointed by presidents to lead the Library of Congress. The author investigates how the Librarians’ experiences and contributions, as well as the Library’s collections, have reflected political and intellectual developments in the United States. Each Librarian confronted great challenges: the entire Library collection was lost when the British burned the Capitol in 1814; in the 1940s, a backlog of one and a half million objects waited to be catalogued; the gigantic task of replacing the card catalogue with a computerized system was undertaken in the 1980s. Yet each Librarian also enjoyed the excitement of acquiring unique treasures—from Walt Whitman’s walking stick to the papers of the Wright brothers, from the Civil War photographs of Mathew Brady to the archives of Leonard Bernstein. This lively account of the Library of Congress and those who guided its progress over two centuries is the history of an American institution that today is truly a library to the world, serving readers and researchers everywhere.

The Social Life of Information


John Seely Brown - 2000
    John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid argue that the gap between digerati hype and end-user gloom is largely due to the "tunnel vision" that information-driven technologies breed. We've become so focused on where we think we ought to be--a place where technology empowers individuals and obliterates social organizations--that we often fail to see where we're really going.The Social Life of Information shows us how to look beyond our obsession with information and individuals to include the critical social networks of which these are always a part.

The Future of Classification


Rita Marcella - 2000
    What does this mean for the future, and can classification cope with the virtual library? Written by a group of internationally-known specialists, this book reassesses traditional classification principles and the extent to which they provide the right basis for modern information storage and retrieval. First posing the radical question of whether classification is still really necessary, the book proceeds by emphasizing the need for systematic knowledge organization, with two chapters concentrating on classification in relation to IT and the Internet. Later chapters re-examine how present systems - Dewey Decimal Classification, Universal Decimal Classification and Library of Congress Classification - are likely to adapt, and provide a wealth of information sources for investigating the subject further. The Future of Classification delves deep into what makes knowledge-seeking successful. Those studying information storage and retrieval, and managers wanting to improve retrieval methods on which their service depends should read it.

Junior Genreflecting: A Guide to Good Reads and Series Fiction for Children


Bridget Dealy Volz - 2000
    Designed for educators and students, it arranges titles by genre and theme so users can find books similar to the ones they love. Chapters include contemporary life, fantasy, animals, historical fiction, and mystery. Within these categories books are arranged under such topics as family relations, friends and friendship, schools, ethnic groups, and problem novels. Focusing on books published after 1990, popular paperback series, and the not-to-be-forgotten classics, the authors have selected titles noted for quality. A brief historical background of each genre is given, and useful Web sites on children's fiction are listed. Great for collection development, this book is a helpful tool for answering the question, What else can I read? A must-buy for any children's book collection.