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Prentice, Ann. Managing in the Information Age. Scarecrow, 2005. ISBN 0-8108-5206-3. $50.00. Purchase from Amazon.com.
Prentice provides an inclusive introduction to management principles as they can be applied in today's libraries. Though the book is basic enough to be used as a text in library management classes, its later chapters are practical enough to serve as a reference for those seeking to improve or change either their organizations or personal management activities. Part I provides a comprehensive introduction to the context in which current workplaces thrive, Part II to the theories behind modern organizations and their management. Both are broad enough to apply to nearly any workplace, making this volume useful to practitioners outside the library world. Part III discusses aspects of management as they are more directly applied to libraries and information centers: planning, organizational structure, decision-making, staff, evaluation, finances, facilities and knowledge management. Though the language is sometimes awkward, the basic principles of management and their application are presented in well-digested form.
Cindi Trainor is Director, Library/Information Technology for the Libraries of The Claremont Colleges in southern California.
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Cleyle, Susan E. and Louise M. McGillis. Last One Out Turn Off the Lights: Is This the Future of American and Canadian Libraries? Scarecrow, 2005. ISBN 0-8108-5192-X. $45.00. Purchase from Amazon.com.
This book provides a series of essays that answer the question: "Is it time to turn off the lights and call it a day?" regarding the future of libraries and librarians in the United States and Canada. The twenty-two distinguished and varied contributors are all either librarians or strongly linked to libraries.
As Cleyle and McGillis note in their introduction, "the ground underneath libraries is shifting." They explain that librarians need to consider the needs and wishes of the new generation of library users (and non-users) and "respond to technological and societal shifts." Contributors consider the challenges and opportunities of the web, the library as place, the consequences and opportunities of "pushing to the desktop," issues related to certification for librarians, and the value of associations for librarians and libraries. The essays provide a wonderful mix of the philosophical and the practical. Ultimately, Last One Out Turn Off the Lights provides a re-affirmation of the value of libraries and librarians, provided we are determined to figure out how to best "serve an information-hungry society."
Lorna Rourke is an Academic Liaison Librarian at the University of Guelph, Canada, and an Instructor in the Faculty of Information & Media Studies, University of Western Ontario.