Data Visualizations and Infographics is an accessible book for information professionals with varying levels of, or even no, experience with graphic design or image-generating tools. Though useful for all levels of expertise, it gives attention to the timid user, allowing the reader, chapter by chapter, to take small, comfortable steps up to designing a project of his or her own with many tools and strategies. In a time when libraries are urged to rethink how information is disseminated, Sarah K.C. Mauldin not only instructs but sets out to inspire librarians to think about their stories and how they might share them with their communities in palatable, visual forms. . . .It can be used as a handbook or read as an overview of infographics and data visualizations, and how libraries have used and can use them to further their mission. . . . I found this text to have three purposes: to be persuasive, instructional, and informative. There are a number of books that review available tools, but with this book’s catering to library projects and including successful case studies, it is unique in that it also addresses the reservations library professionals might have about creating visual projects, including why they are useful. Mauldin digs into the process in a very practical way to answer questions, to relieve those reservations, and to help make plans. She provides inspiration to be innovative with examples of how other libraries have used visual tools to tell stories to their audiences. . . .She successfully gives both novices and designers the techniques and tools to corral and create in any context.

Law Library Journal

I enthusiastically recommend the Library Technology Essentials series. Many libraries will want to invest in the entire set as a professional development resource since they will inevitably face some degree of involvement with each of the volume topics. Library technologists will want one of these books at their side as they launch new projects or initiatives. Ellyssa Kroski has shepherded a collection that makes an important contribution to the professional practice of library technology.

Marshall Breeding, Independent Consultant, Speaker, and Author; editor Library Technology Guide editor, Computers in Libraries columnist, and Smart Libraries Newsletter editor