The Information Age: economy, society and culture
Manual Castells. Blackwell Publishers.
Vol.1. The rise of the network society. 1996. 556pp. ISBN 1-55786-617-1 pbk
Vol.2. The power of identity. 1997. 461pp. ISBN 1-55786-874-3 pbk
Vol.3 End of the millennium. 1998. 418 pp. ISBN 1-55786-872-7 pbk

I must confess that the first time I came across these titles was by reading a review which has recently appeared in the Times Higher Educational Supplement. They comprise the latest writings of substance on the Information Age, but consider it in more broader terms and perhaps in more detail than earlier volumes. The first volume reviews the information economy and the transformation of work and employment amongst other major issues. The second volume considers identity and meaning in the new society, social movements in the new global order, the end of patriarchalism, and the crisis of democracy. The final volume discusses the fall of the Soviet Union, the rise of the Fourth World, towards the Pacific era - with an important question-mark, and making sense of our world. Castells backs up his arguments with statistics and extensive bibliographies. If you have an interest in this topic - and everyone accessing this website is likely to - then this an interesting reference tool. There is a great deal of valuable material for students to use in assignments.

Literacy in the library: negotiating the spaces between order and desire
Mark Dressman.
Critical Studies in Education and Culture Series. Bergin and Garvey, 1997. 196pp. ISBN 0-89789-495-2. �43.95

This series addresses a problem that was highlighted in the titles above - the growth of poverty. In this case attention is drawn to the rise of poverty among children in the US where 20 % of all children under the age of 18 are living below the poverty line. There is concern that "the issues that framed the democratic meaning, purpose, and use to which education might aspire have been displaced by more vocational and narrowly ideological considerations". "This study aims to cross an invisible but nonetheless consequential boundary that separates critical-ethnographic studies of schooling conducted mainly in secondary settings from practice-oriented ethnographic studies that are often conducted in primary and elementary grades; its ultimate goal is to contribute to conversations about curriculum and instruction on both sides of that division". It reports and discusses an ethnographic study of three school libraries in a major south-western city in the US. The study is thought-provoking, particularly two chapters which consider School libraries and the politics of reading, and Toward the geopolitics of school libraries. The bibliography indicates that the author has drawn widely from the fields of communication studies, post-modernist approaches to literature etc. At one time UK ILS schools included courses on The library and society which would have considered these topics, now they have been down-graded or eliminated from the curriculum. This volume will broaden the views of upcoming school librarians.

The Difference Engine: achieving powerful and sustainable partnering
Anne Deering and Anne Murphy.
Gower, 1998. 225pp. ISBN 0-566-08048-6. Not priced.

The authors indicate that the Difference Engine they are describing "is the value-adding potential of partnerships that is latent in the differences between people and their organisation". It is concerned with networked organisations which are replacing the integrated organisation, and outsourcing is considered amongst other topics. Based on participative research, the volume could be helpful for ILS managers moving through the process of change.

Libraries in the workplace
David Spiller, Claire Creaser and Alison Murphy.
Library and Information Statistics Unit. Loughborough University, 1998. 226pp. ISBN 1- 901786-13-7

This report presents the findings of the first major questionnaire survey of library and information services in the workplace in the UK. It provides data on the organisations and their users, staffing, electronic and printed resources, interlending, performance and expenditure. The study was commissioned by the British Library Research and Innovation Centre, and in the light of the title noted above, it is interesting to see that it was sponsored by Dun & Bradstreet. 897 organisations were surveyed - 435 replied, and 285 forms were completed.

Knowledge management: a real business guide
Stuart Rock, editor.
CBI (Confederation of British Industry), No date. �15 from Caspian Publishing [email protected] 88pp.

This very slim volume consists of 11 papers on a range of issues, from a variety of authors. It includes a chapter on Librarians and knowledge management.

Outsourcing library operations in academic libraries: an overview of issues and outcomes
Claire-Lise Benaud and Sever Bordeianu.
Libraries Unlimited, 1998. 225pp. ISBN 1-8090-237-6124. �43.

The inspiration for this title emerged when two academic librarians were faced with the possible need to outsource some of their operations. They decided to gather information and they also carried out a survey amongst US academic librarians. The result is a practical guide to the subject which is accompanied by an extensive bibliography and an unusually good index.

Information design: the knowledge architect's toolkit
Graziella Tonfoni.
Scarecrow Press and Intellect (Exeter, UK). 1998. 182pp. 1-871516-61-7. US$ 35

One of the matters which perhaps has not received the treatment that it deserves is that of the way information is presented to the user. Perhaps the emergence of the Web has stimulated deeper thinking on this point. This is a good read which will stimulate information and library staff to think about the way in which we present our services. Extend your vocabulary by understanding the meaning of granularity, textual engineering, turbulence and vaporization.

Patricia Layzell Ward
Library Link Convenor-in-Chief

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