Synopsis
Norton (library and information science, University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg) presents an introduction to the practical and theoretical concepts of information science, and examines the impact of the Information Age on society and its institutions. Drawing from recent research as well as scholarly and trade publications, she provides a brief history of information science while covering such key topics as communications and cognition, information retrieval, bibliometrics, modeling, information policies, and the impact of information technology on management. Also included are seminal articles by Borko, Otten, and DeBons, emphasizing the long-standing dissension in the field. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Reviews
Author Norton (LIS, Univ. of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg) draws on her limited pragmatic experience with information technology to assemble an introduction to some of the key concepts in information science. Rather than any definitive declaration of what this field is, the attempt instead is to offer ideas, issues, examples, and projections to aid in an investigation of the topics. Chapters include a very high level, conceptual approach to information, two perspectives on the field of information science (both serial reprints, one from a 1968 American Documentation and one from a 1970 Journal of the American Society for Information Science), as well as discussions of communication and information, information retrieval, bibliometrics (measure and describe documents), the information economy, the value of information, and, the best of the bunch, the impact of information technology on the information hierarchy (with June Lester). Heavily dependent on prior scholarly research, this completely academic, impractical collection is about as palatable as trying to sip a sand dune through a soda straw. Even in larger MLIS schools, the only relevant recommendation, students are going to need a lot of hand-holding and instructor interpolation for them to get the point out of these purely theoretical approaches to this highly dynamic field. Look instead to the wealth of alternative sources (Dan Remenyi and others' Achieving Maximum Value from Information Systems, Wiley, 1997, or Kenneth Laudon and Jane Price Laudon's Essentials of Management Information Systems, 3d ed., Prentice-Hall, 1998) applying these same concepts in a business environment that will better prepare students for a certain, continually evolving role as information managers, maybe even as librarians.ADale Farris, Groves, TX
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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