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Information Services Today: An Introduction, Third Edition
This third edition of Information Services Today: An Introduction demonstrates the ever-changing landscape of information services today and the need to re-evaluate curriculum, competency training, professional development, and lifelong learning in order to stay abreast of current trends and issues, and more significantly, remain competent to address the changing user needs of information communities. Specifically, the Information Services Today: An Introduction: The new edition features chapter updates to address changes in information services, introducing new/updated topics such as emergency/crisis management/community resilience, sustainability, data analysis and visualization, social justice, and equity of access, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). Information Services Today: An Introduction begins with an overview of libraries and their transformation as information and technological hubs within their local and digital communities, as well as trends impacting the information field. Information Services Today: An Introduction covers the various specializations within the field – emphasizing the exciting yet complex roles and opportunities for information professionals in a variety of information environments. With that foundation in place, it presents the fundamentals of information services, delves into management skills needed by information professionals today, and explores emerging issues related to the rapid development of new technologies. Information Services Today: An Introduction addresses how libraries and information centers serve different kinds of communities, highlighting the unique needs of increasingly diverse users. Information Services Today: An Introduction provokes discussion, critical thinking, and interaction to facilitate the learning process. The content and supplemental materials – discussion questions, rich sets of online accessible materials, multimedia webcast interviews featuring authors from this book discussing the trends and issues in their respective areas, and chapter presentation slides for use by instructors – give readers the opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of and engagement with the topics.
672 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
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May 5, 2021This is a textbook for a class, and I wasn't really considering reviewing it. Yet, as I finish the last two chapters for the semester, I feel a need to blab about it.
I wonder who this book was written for? Students of Information Services and Library Sciences obviously... but in a field where so many applicants for the MLS already work in a library, I wonder, what have we really learned? To those of us who wish to earn the MLS who don't already work in a library, this seems to me a poor and uninspired introduction to the services information professionals provide. Far too many entries in this book conclude that libraries must be run more like businesses, and that in order to be more effective, they must rely on social media.
In my experience, everything that is great about libraries has everything to do with the fact that libraries are in a unique position to NOT be run like a business, but provide a true service to its users without a catch. It is my opinion that library service must NOT get too enmeshed in social media to get work done, if only because involvement in social media violates our dedication to the privacy of our patrons. Of course libraries must have social media 'presence', but this is merely something to maintain regularly. The true life changing work of librarians lies in getting out there on your feet and talking to community organizations, it relies on being sensitive to what your neighborhood needs and responding to it. You're not going to do this effectively through social media—it's just lip service. Your just going to have to be a decent librarian and function as the community anchor that you *are*.
If you're going to become a librarian or information professional, you'd better have a passion for helping people and believing in their betterment. This book lacks passion. If you don't have this passion, at risk of sounding like a dick, you'd better look for another profession. Librarian is a profession like teaching—in this day and age we can't afford people who just sit on their hands. After all, you certainly didn't get interested in being a librarian for the money, am I right?
Some alternatives—John Palfrey's 'BiblioTech', while not the best written book, is a vision for the future of libraries which has passion. Wiegand's admittedly dry 'Part of Our Lives' is an overview of the history of our service written by someone who understands the urgency of the American public library. I'd easily recommend these two books just for starters, than this textbook. There are some decent essays on practice I could recommend, but its philosophy seems warped for the most part.
I wonder who this book was written for? Students of Information Services and Library Sciences obviously... but in a field where so many applicants for the MLS already work in a library, I wonder, what have we really learned? To those of us who wish to earn the MLS who don't already work in a library, this seems to me a poor and uninspired introduction to the services information professionals provide. Far too many entries in this book conclude that libraries must be run more like businesses, and that in order to be more effective, they must rely on social media.
In my experience, everything that is great about libraries has everything to do with the fact that libraries are in a unique position to NOT be run like a business, but provide a true service to its users without a catch. It is my opinion that library service must NOT get too enmeshed in social media to get work done, if only because involvement in social media violates our dedication to the privacy of our patrons. Of course libraries must have social media 'presence', but this is merely something to maintain regularly. The true life changing work of librarians lies in getting out there on your feet and talking to community organizations, it relies on being sensitive to what your neighborhood needs and responding to it. You're not going to do this effectively through social media—it's just lip service. Your just going to have to be a decent librarian and function as the community anchor that you *are*.
If you're going to become a librarian or information professional, you'd better have a passion for helping people and believing in their betterment. This book lacks passion. If you don't have this passion, at risk of sounding like a dick, you'd better look for another profession. Librarian is a profession like teaching—in this day and age we can't afford people who just sit on their hands. After all, you certainly didn't get interested in being a librarian for the money, am I right?
Some alternatives—John Palfrey's 'BiblioTech', while not the best written book, is a vision for the future of libraries which has passion. Wiegand's admittedly dry 'Part of Our Lives' is an overview of the history of our service written by someone who understands the urgency of the American public library. I'd easily recommend these two books just for starters, than this textbook. There are some decent essays on practice I could recommend, but its philosophy seems warped for the most part.
December 4, 2019
Honestly I read 4-5 chapters of the book *facepalm* That said, it's a decent introduction to the library and information science field and covers many important issues, some of which I didn't consider before.
(And note to a certain author: Millennials use the internet too, we grew up on it ffs)
(And note to a certain author: Millennials use the internet too, we grew up on it ffs)
November 29, 2020
My emotions lie with everyone else who reviewed this book. Assigned by a professor notably assigning outdated works, this textbook fell short in a lot of ways. Using convoluted words to just make already easily comprehendible topics just headache inducing. While I did manage to chew my way through this entire thing, it was not with much joy. I did give this three stars because it taught me new thought process and ways of addressing the library. But in the end, I'm not sure how useful it'll be to me as an Academic Librarian.
December 1, 2017
Broad in scope and written in such a general bland way, which lead to little useful information. I want a book where librarians and information professionals argue passionately about user experience, copyright, even marketing. I want a debate not this tedious juvenile book with discussion text boxes
April 2, 2016
Read for class. Found most of it to be stuff I already knew. If you have no prior knowledge of the field, then it is a good book of articles on different topics in the field.
August 3, 2020
Ah, library school. I love you and your enormous textbooks.
April 23, 2021
I read this for school and I believe it is my right as a library science student to count it toward my goodreads challenge
May 9, 2021
This book gives great insight and knowledge into what it means to be a librarian. It is a required textbook for some MLIS programs.
December 30, 2021
Yes, I bought the incorrect edition of this book for my class and, yes, I read the whole thing to mentally justify buying 2 of these dang things.
It's fine; it's just a textbook.
It's fine; it's just a textbook.
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September 11, 2024unfortunately I lost too much of my summer to this textbook for it to not count toward my goal :)
June 14, 2023
A thorough introduction to information services.
August 3, 2022
There were relevant and informational sections of this book, especially for the sake of MLIS education. However, I think the execution, conciseness, and practicality of the book could have been better. I feel like if an MLIS text is going to be mandatory, it should be more enlightening, timeless, and even inspiring. This lacked a spark that some of the texts for my other classes had, but it was useful for essays and discussion post content.
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April 29, 2016Biggest qualm: on page 284 there's a figure that's supposed to show the four quadrants of a matrix of choices, which is explained on the previous page somewhat-confusingly....AND THE X-AXIS IS LABELLED INCORRECTLY. I flipped that page back and forth several times just to make sure I wasn't missing some weird nuance where the x-axis was representing "Open, Unrestricted Information Flows" ON BOTH ENDS. Gah. Fix Figure 29.1 in the next edition, Sandra Hirsh.
No other major typos, but the writing could be a little convoluted, and the attempts to break up walls of text with textboxes sometimes backfired because it derailed me from reading. I'd look at the nearest text box assuming it was relevant to what I was reading at the time, only to discover that the box was just an extracted quote from the paragraph I was already reading. Or I'd skip the box thinking it was just another extracted quote, and then look back at it when I reached the next page and discover it was actually an outline of what I was about to read, or a discussion question with no good answers (which was realistic I guess, but left me pondering hypothetical situations instead of continuing with reading about the topic at hand), or a check-out-this-cool-site type thing that I'm never going to check out because putting a hyperlink on a printed page is not conducive to having that hyperlink investigated.
I'm complaining kind of a lot, but there were at least seven spots that I found noteworthy enough to sticky-tab for later reference. And I kept myself engaged (enough) with the text by writing in it (which is not something I usually do to books I read for pleasure, but was helpful in this case). It's a decent introduction to key themes in librarianship/information services, and it's very up-to-date. I can definitely imagine referencing it again as I pursue my MLIS (or, if I give up on my MLIS, just referencing it again because information services are relevant to most things).
No other major typos, but the writing could be a little convoluted, and the attempts to break up walls of text with textboxes sometimes backfired because it derailed me from reading. I'd look at the nearest text box assuming it was relevant to what I was reading at the time, only to discover that the box was just an extracted quote from the paragraph I was already reading. Or I'd skip the box thinking it was just another extracted quote, and then look back at it when I reached the next page and discover it was actually an outline of what I was about to read, or a discussion question with no good answers (which was realistic I guess, but left me pondering hypothetical situations instead of continuing with reading about the topic at hand), or a check-out-this-cool-site type thing that I'm never going to check out because putting a hyperlink on a printed page is not conducive to having that hyperlink investigated.
I'm complaining kind of a lot, but there were at least seven spots that I found noteworthy enough to sticky-tab for later reference. And I kept myself engaged (enough) with the text by writing in it (which is not something I usually do to books I read for pleasure, but was helpful in this case). It's a decent introduction to key themes in librarianship/information services, and it's very up-to-date. I can definitely imagine referencing it again as I pursue my MLIS (or, if I give up on my MLIS, just referencing it again because information services are relevant to most things).
November 25, 2022
Helpful reference source with general survey of LIS concepts, but rather superficial with more complex issues distilled into short sections/chapters, which I get is the intent of a survey text. It has admittedly been helpful to my course work, especially when I have had to comprehend some ideas quickly. I'd just rather honestly read some of the original theory, case studies, etc in detail than feel like I've missed the nuances of the subject matter and only have a generalized understanding. (Even if most LIS articles/case studies aren't going to win a prize for engaging writing!)
December 16, 2019
I didn't want to read this, but here we are. Most of the stuff in this book I already knew, but it was helpful reading about different laws and information policies. Like my other textbook this semester, it does its job, but I probably won't reach for it again unless I need to quote it for a paper or something.
December 5, 2016
As far as text books go, this one was not terrible.
November 18, 2017
I'm as finished with this sucker as I'll ever be, but I think I stopped doing the readings approximately six weeks ago
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December 12, 2018I can't tell you how many times I woke up drooling on this book. There's no way to make this stuff fun.
November 25, 2024
Useful book! Read from both 2nd and 3rd editions throughout MLIS program -- re-reading/ using for my e-Portfolio (Fall 2024)
April 2, 2022
I have to agree with others, the content of this book is very bland and superficial. There was no effort to eliminate repetition or make useful connections among more than 30 very short chapters. It reads like an old-fashioned course pack. And as several other reviewers point out, apparently "library" is a dirty word. Great pains are taken within the text to avoid using it. Most MLIS want to work in libraries, and this book doesn't provide an adequate grounding in the profession. The cover makes it seem global and "cutting edge" almost to a ridiculous degree, but the truth is, it's very American, and for an American library student audience. Our grad assistant said the cover makes it look like one of those 1950s sci fi novel paperbacks and everyone laughed.
November 12, 2024
EXCELLENT book for those studying to become and Library and/or Information Professional. I've read both the 2nd edition and the 3rd edition and they both are valuable and each edition seems to get better with each publication in regards to updated information, policies, procedures, work ethics, and current expectations of library and information professionals.
December 13, 2017
I'm really glad I got to read this all before my class. It's densely packed with information, and while that's great to have, it's on the dryer side. Of course, it's meant as a textbook so it's not supposed to be happy fluff either.
May 4, 2017
A fine textbook. I just finished the last chapter this morning, but I see myself going back to certain sections as I continue my Master's degree program.
July 10, 2017
Broad introduction. Well structured.
November 22, 2018
Well laid out textbook. Easy to read. Great sections and well edited.
December 4, 2018
Honestly, I don't really expect textbooks to actually be as useful or engaging as is hoped, but this one actually surpassed my expectations.
July 31, 2019
Informative. There were a few chapters that were a bit hard to get through but overall the book was informative and helpful.
August 4, 2019
Helpful.
December 6, 2019
First time I have read the whole text book for a class.
May 11, 2020
It's a textbook for a class. Some information seem too repetitive throughout the book. A good introductory book with a lot of information.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews