Booknote: Library and Information Science: A Guide to Key Literature and Sources

(Crossposted from my personal blog, The Itinerant Librarian)

Bemis, Michael F., Library and Information Science: A Guide to Key Literature and Sources. Chicago: ALA, 2014. ISBN: 978-0-8389-1185-3. 

This is basically a very big annotated bibliography of sources in library science. Though there are some web sources and databases listed, the focus appears to be on books, followed by periodicals. If you have kept up in your area(s) of librarianship, then you have seen much of what is listed here. The value of the book then is in seeing lists in other areas. The book is valuable, for instance, to see what are the basics of cataloging if cataloging is not your area. Also, the book can serve as a double-checking collection development tool for LIS school libraries. I would anticipate that LIS schools and their libraries would be the primary places wanting this book. It's the kind of book they would want their students accessing.

From the author's introduction:

"I wrote this book for a simple reason: I needed a current annotated bibliography of library science but couldn't find one. My goals were twofold: to collect as much of the available information sources regarding various aspects of the profession as reasonably possible and to then organize them in a logical fashion" (xi). 

The book is organized by chapters; it has 39 topics from administration and management to writing and publishing. Some of the topics have more sources than others, but most of the chapters provide a basic core list to give you a sense of what you have to read, or at least be aware of, on a given topic. If you need to read more deeply on a topic, some of the selections should help with that. 

An issue I found comes in the listing of information technology materials. For books in this area, a common issue surfaces: information tech books tend to get dated pretty quickly. Some items in that chapter are already out-of-date. If you still mention MySpace as something part of "all the rage," you are woefully behind at this point.

I did take a closer look at Chapter 15: Information Literacy and Bibliographic Instruction, which represents my main specialty. It did have items I expected to see. A new librarian wanting to go into this area will find enough to get started.

As a research starter on a topic in librarianship, I'd say this will be useful for many, especially beginners and librarian in the field who may not have extensive access to LIS sources. For me, I'd keep it on my shelf to check on things now and then as part of keeping up or for my areas of interest. This is one I am suggesting for librarians to at least look over.

I really liked this one, in spite of some small issues, some I am giving it 4 out of 5 stars.

* * * 

I did jot down some titles from the book's listings for later reading (the number included is the entry number in the book. Links, as usual unless otherwise noted, go to WorldCat.):

• 544: Solomon, Laura: Doing Social Media So It Matters: A Librarian's Guide. ISBN: 978-0-83891-067-2.
• 793: Battles, Matthew, Library: An Unquiet History. ISBN: 978-0-39332-564-5. (I have had this on my TBR for a while now. I can't pass up a book-related history book).
• 804: McCabe, Ronald B., Civic Librarianship: Renewing the Social Mission of the Public Library. ISBN: 978-0-81083-905-2. (Just because I am an academic librarian does not mean that I do not read about my brethren in the public library). 
• 805: Murray, Stuart A.P., The Library: An Illustrated History. ISBN: 978-1-60239-706-4. (My library has it, so I may get to it a bit sooner.)
• 855: Alman, Susan Webreck, Crash Course in Marketing for Libraries. ISBN: 978-1-59158-430-8.
• 856: Barber, Peggy, and Linda Wallace, Building a Buzz: Libraries and Word-of-mouth Marketing. ISBN: 978-0-83891-011-5.
• 1018: Greenblatt, Ellen, ed., Serving LGBTIQ Library and Archives Users: Essays on Outreach, Service, Collections, and Access. ISBN: 978-0-78644-894-4. 
• 1020: Alire, Camila, and Jacqueline Ayala, Serving Latino Communities: a How-to-do-it Manual for Librarians. ISBN: 978-1-55570-606-7. 
• 1164: Eckstrand, Tatyana, comp., The Librarian's Book of Quotes. ISBN: 978-0-83890-988-1 (added because I tend to like books of quotes). 
• 1170: Alpert, Abby, and Barry Trott, Read On. . . Graphic Novels: Reading Lists for Every Taste. ISBN: 978-1-59158-825-2. (actually, I am fairly knowledgeable on this, but I always check out what is out there). 
• 1364: Forte, Eric., et.al., Fundamentals of Government Information: Mining, Finding, Evaluating, and Using Government Resources. ISBN: 978-1-55570-737-8. (I took GovDocs coursework in library school, and I do keep up on this area when I can, so adding this in to get a refresher. I do admit that if I had not pursued library instruction and information literacy, I would have loved to be a GovDocs librarian. To me, GovDocs are a great very underutilized research source for students and the public). 

(Update note 10/5/15): For some reason, this post attracts spammers like flies to shit (especially stupid accountants for some reason). So, I am closing comments on it.