Information Services Today

Book excerpt: This second 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, and one’s personal learning network in order to stay abreast of current trends and issues, and more significantly, remain competent to address the changing user needs of the information community. Specifically, the book • provides a thorough introduction, history, and overall state of the field, • gives a diverse and global perspective of what it means to be a library and information professional today, • addresses why information organizations and information and technological literacy are more important today than ever before, • discusses how technology has influenced the ways that information professionals provide information resources and services in today’s digital environment, • highlights current issues and trends and provides expert insight into emerging challenges, innovations, and opportunities for the future, and, • identifies career management strategies and leadership opportunities in the information profession. The new edition features chapter updates to address changes in information services, introducing new topics such as strategic planning, change management, design thinking, advocacy, and data management and analysis, and includes new contributing authors. The book begins with an overview of libraries and their transformation as information and technological hubs within their local and digital communities. It 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. The book addresses how libraries and information centers serve different kinds of communities, highlighting the unique needs of increasingly diverse users and how information organizations and information professional’s work to fulfill those needs. This book 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. Additionally, this book recognizes the broad range of environments that people with Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degrees work in, which include both libraries and other information environments. Thus, this book does not only focus on libraries, but instead encompasses ALL kinds of information organizations.