Introback duction to the series
A broader management perspective for information services
For several years - decades, it seems - librarians and other information services professionals have lamented the fact that there is not enough emphasis on management in their training. They learn their subjects, and librarians especially connect very early on in their training to the concepts of service and the organization of information. Management skills, however, are frequently neglected or given minimal attention, and many information services professionals find themselves working in the corporate environment, research and technology organizations, government information units, or community/public administration organizations where management skills are needed. Much of what they need they learn on the job; other approaches, such as continuing education programs, are utilized by those who have the initiative to recognize that they must do something to educate themselves to be managers. Some of it works and some of it does not.
Bowker-Saur's Information Management Series, for which I serve as Series Editor, seeks to address this need in the information services community. For this series (and indeed, since the entire field of information management is strongly predicted by many to be going in this direction), the concept of information services is being defined very broadly. The time has come, it seems to me, to recognize that the various constituent units of our society concerned with information have many of the same goals and objectives, and, not surprisingly, many of the same concerns. The practice of management is one of these, and for our purposes it does not matter if the reader is employed as an information manager, information provider, information specialist, or indeed, as an information counselor (as these information workers have been described by one of the leaders of business and industry). In fact, it does not matter whether the reader is employed in information technology, telecommunications, traditional librarianship, records management, corporate or organizational archives, the information brokerage field, publishing, consulting, or any of the myriad branches of information services (including service to the information community and the many vendors who make up that branch of the profession). These new titles on the management of information services have been chosen specifically for their value to all who are part of this community of information workers.
Although much work is being done in these various disciplines, little of it concentrates on management, and that which is done generally concentrates on one or another of the specific subgroups in the field. This series seeks to unite management concepts throughout information services, and whereas some of the titles will be directed to a specific group, most will be broad-based and will attempt to address issues of concern to all information services employees. For example, one book in the series deals with entrepreneurial librarianship, which would seem to be limited to the library profession but in fact offers information and guidance to anyone working in the information services field who is willing to incorporate entrepreneurial thinking into his or her work. Another title looks at corporate memory from the perspective of data and records management, and would seem to be limited to those who are practicing the discipline of records management. In fact, the book has been specifically structured to be of value to anyone who is working in the information services field, that `umbrella' concept of information services described above.
As we attempt to bring general management practices into the realm of information services, it will be pointed out that the practice of management is addressed within the organizations or communities that employ information workers. This is true, and certainly in the corporate world (and, arguably, in the public and academic library communities as well), there are plenty of occasions for information services employees to participate in management training as provided in-house. There is nothing wrong with that approach and in many organizations it works very well, but the training does not proceed from an information services point of view, thus forcing the information worker to adapt, as best he or she can, the management practices of the organization to the management practices needed for the best provision of information services. The titles of the Bowker-Saur Information Services Management Series will enable the information worker to relate information management to organizational management, thus putting the information worker (especially the information executive) in a position of considerable strength in the organization or community where he or she is employed. By understanding management principles (admittedly, as frequently `borrowed' from the general practice of management) and relating them to the way the information services unit is organized, not only does the information services employee position him or herself for the better provision of information services, but the entire information services unit is positioned as a respectable participant in organizational or community operations.
This last point perhaps needs some elaboration, for it should be made clear that the books in the series are not intended exclusively for the corporate or specialized information services field. It is our intention to provide useful management criteria for all kinds of information services, including those connected to public, academic or other publicly supported libraries. Our oasis thesis is that quality management leads to quality services, regardless of whether the information services activity is privately or publicly funded, whether it is connected with a private research or public government agency, or indeed, whether it is a temporary information unit or whether it is part of a permanently funded and staffed operation. Writing for this series will be authors who, I am sure, will challenge some of the usual barriers to effective management practices in this or that type of library or information services unit, and certainly there will be librarians, records managers, archivists and others who will be able to relate some of their management practices in such a way that CIOs and computer services managers will benefit from the telling. In other words, our attempt here is to clear away the usual preconceptions about management within the various branches of information services, to do away with the concept of `well-that-might-work-for-you-but-it-won't-work-for-me' kind of thinking. We can no longer afford to fight turf battles about whether or not management is `appropriate' in one or other of the various subunits of information provision. What we must do, and what the Information Services Management Series expects to do, is to bring together the best of all of us, and to share our management expertise so that we all benefit.
Guy St Clair
Series Editor