Contemporary libraries face myriad persistent challenges, and Budd—a long-standing observer and scholar of librarianship—attempts to inject new perspectives into the ways library and information science (LIS) professionals address such challenges. The book's six chapters center on the nature of information, the evolution of information literacy, the role of libraries in higher education, the education of librarians, moral and ethical issues in the LIS professions, and the future of librarianship itself. Budd examines many complex issues by drawing on literature from a variety of disciplines, fleshing out the gaps that cannot be solely addressed by LIS offerings. He maintains focus on the contemporary aspect of these issues by paring down historical context to essential information and offering suggestions for further readings....

Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students; professionals/practitioners.

Choice Reviews

John Budd has been at this a long time. As one of librarianship's deepest thinkers he regularly spins out provocative ideas that always generate discussion. By drawing from literatures outside the profession he here addresses some of contemporary librarianship's most intractable questions. Read, and enjoy!

Wayne Wiegand, F. William Summers Professor of Library and Information Studies Emeritus, Florida State University

An intellectual tour de force. . . . A truly erudite book, it is often thought-provoking and enlightening, such as when Budd defines what information is, or his discussion of ethics in librarianship. Other topics will be very familiar to working professionals and will evoke knowing smiles and sighs at the persistence of certain problems.

Technical Services Quarterly