Content area
Full Text
Organizing Information from the Shelf to the Web By G. G. and Sudatta Chowdhury. London: Facet, 2007. 230 p. $95.00 paper (ISBN 978-1-845604-578-0).
Given the range of heterogeneous information resources available today and the disparate nature of the environments in which they reside, the role of the cataloger has evolved tremendously. More than ever, catalogers are expected to be familiar both with traditional approaches to information organization and with the emerging standards of the networked environment. G. G. and Sudatta Chowdhury stress that the rapid development of the Internet, Web, and digital libraries necessitate the teaching of fundamental concepts, tools, and techniques of information organization. In their book, Organizing Information from the Shelf to the Web, they attempt to "cover the broad spectrum of information organization in different environments-from print libraries to the internet, intranet, and web" (xiii).
The primary audience for this text is library and information science students. Practitioners who want a basic overview of information organization in todays networked world would also be served well. The authors' intent is to present a book that "will lead interested readers to further studies and research by pointing them to the appropriate references" (xiv). Thus they do not aim to present a thorough discussion of information organization; rather, they intend to provide a brief overview and guide. The result is a 230-page book containing thirteen chapters and a short preface, glossary, and index.
Upon reflection on the topics covered in each chapter, it is evident that the book can be divided into four distinct parts. Chapters 1 and 2 present a rudimentary look at the concepts of organization and classification, covering approaches taken in our everyday lives, the traditional approaches of libraries, and the variety of approaches in the online environment. In chapters 3-6, the authors address in more detail the approach taken by libraries to present information on cataloging, bibliographic...