Kochtanek, T.R.; Matthews, J.R.: Library information systems : from library automation to distributed information systems (2002)
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- Footnote
- Rez. in: JASIST 54(2003) no.12, S.1166-1167 (Brenda Chawner): "Kochtanek and Matthews have written a welcome addition to the small set of introductory texts an applications of information technology to library and information Services. The book has fourteen chapters grouped into four sections: "The Broader Context," "The Technologies," "Management Issues," and "Future Considerations." Two chapters provide the broad content, with the first giving a historical overview of the development and adoption of "library information systems." Kochtanek and Matthews define this as "a wide array of solutions that previously might have been considered separate industries with distinctly different marketplaces" (p. 3), referring specifically to integrated library systems (ILS, and offen called library management systems in this part of the world), and online databases, plus the more recent developments of Web-based resources, digital libraries, ebooks, and ejournals. They characterize technology adoption patterns in libraries as ranging from "bleeding edge" to "leading edge" to "in the wedge" to "trailing edge"-this is a catchy restatement of adopter categories from Rogers' diffusion of innovation theory, where they are more conventionally known as "early adopters," "early majority," "late majority," and "laggards." This chapter concludes with a look at more general technology trends that have affected library applications, including developments in hardware (moving from mainframes to minicomputers to personal Computers), changes in software development (from in-house to packages), and developments in communications technology (from dedicated host Computers to more open networks to the current distributed environment found with the Internet). This is followed by a chapter describing the ILS and online database industries in some detail. "The Technologies" begins with a chapter an the structure and functionality of integrated library systems, which also includes a brief discussion of precision versus recall, managing access to internal documents, indexing and searching, and catalogue maintenance. This is followed by a chapter an open systems, which concludes with a useful list of questions to consider to determine an organization's readiness to adopt open source solutions. As one world expect, this section also includes a detailed chapter an telecommunications and networking, which includes types of networks, transmission media, network topologies, switching techniques (ranging from dial up and leased lines to ISDN/DSL, frame relay, and ATM). It concludes with a chapter an the role and importance of standards, which covers the need for standards and standards organizations, and gives examples of different types of standards, such as MARC, Dublin Core, Z39.50, and markup standards such as SGML, HTML, and XML. Unicode is also covered but only briefly. This section world be strengthened by a chapter an hardware concepts-the authors assume that their reader is already familiar with these, which may not be true in all cases (for example, the phrase "client-Server" is first used an page 11, but only given a brief definition in the glossary). Burke's Library Technology Companion: A Basic Guide for Library Staff (New York: Neal-Schuman, 2001) might be useful to fill this gap at an introductory level, and Saffady's Introduction to Automation for Librarians, 4th ed. (Chicago: American Library Association, 1999) world be better for those interested in more detail. The final two sections, however, are the book's real strength, with a strong focus an management issues, and this content distinguishes it from other books an this topic such as Ferguson and Hebels Computers for Librarians: an Introduction to Systems and Applications (Waggawagga, NSW: Centre for Information Studies, Charles Sturt University, 1998). ...
Though the book definitely meets a need for an up-to-date introduction to library information systems and associated management issues, and the emphasis an management issues means that it will not date too quickly, there is room for improvement. Some topics are described too briefly to be useful, such as customization/personalization, which is covered in a single paragraph, and does not mention recent developments such as the MyLibrary concept. Other topics seem to have only a peripheral connection to the main chapter theme-for example, it is surprising to find a discussion of information literacy at the end of the chapter an system selection and implementation, and the material an personalization/customization is at the end of the discussion of intranets. Despite these comments, 1 would consider using this as a textbook in an introductory course an library automation or information technology, and practitioners who want to upgrade their knowledge of current practices and issues will also find it useful. People who are primarily interested in a specific topic, such as information systems planning or system selection and implementation are likely to find more specialized books such as Planning for Integrated Systems and Technologies: A How-to-Do-It Manual for Librarians by John M. Cohn, Anne L. Kelsey, and Keith Michael Fiels (New York: Neal-Schuman, 2001) more useful."
