The Atlas of New Librarianship

This book was strongly recommended to me, but having purchased the hardcover and spending time with it, I'm not sure why.The first frustration is that the taxonomy is sort of random, the hierarchy is imprecise and there are few hard choices being made in organizing the ideas. Linnaeus had to make difficult choices: is a wolf a mammal? And the great mapmakers had to do the same thing--is this north or south of that? In this book, however, random meanderings are presented in hierarchies that aren't actually things that make sense.For example, on page 116, "Ethics" is listed as one of five "core values", which are subsidiary to "Service is not invisibility" which is subservient to the smaller circle labeled "service" which is below "Importance of Action and Activism." Why? Would three independent observes have made the same hierarchy? Hard to imagine.Information presentation is about hierarchy, but this book doesn't use rigor in its hierarchy, so there's no clear way to understand what's being argued for or against, or how, more importantly, to see and use a particular point of view going forward as we engage with the real world.Second frustration: The book acts like it's beautiful, but it's not. There's no good reason for the two-column presentation of text, and the graphics are dated (it feels like Windows from 2010, with a little Geocities thrown in). I'm not sure the graphics were classically beautiful ten years ago, though.When the promise is this big: It's an atlas, It's about libraries, It's about information, Then my expectation is that it would keep those promises. I don't think it does.Supporting authors is close to my heart. But my hunch is that your time is better spent elsewhere.

This is an incredibly organized, beautiful text, with well-structured diagrams and illustrations. Librarians in every field would benefit by considering the ideas presented here, especially as we explore new horizons in the information world.My only complaint is the book's large and awkward size. You would think that a book written for librarians would be designed for convenient shelving. I guess they figured we were all up for the challenge.

Good but not what I was expecting.

I love it, really. It filled all my expectations. Read it all, follow the videos and lectures, and am writing a book for the Spanish speakingcolleagues in Latin America. A rare opportunity.

This is a very engaging and energetic mapping of the landscapes, purposes, mission and required knowledges for the modern librarian in any specialty - produced with much vitality, beautifully illustrated throughout and inspiring

I'm only a short way into this but am glad I made the purchase. Definitely recommend. And I'm reading in conjunction with David's MOOC.

Required for a class. This book is USELESS. NO ONE NEEDS TO BUY THIS BOOK FOR ANYTHING EVER!

The fundamental point of this book is to examine librarianship through a single framework. In this case the framework is outlined at the very beginning. "The MISSION of LIBRARIANS is to IMPROVE SOCIETY through FACILITATING KNOWLEDGE CREATION in their COMMUNITIES". Each of the capitalized words serves as a theme or thread to launch into a deeper conversation.The essence of this book is taking the profession away from philosophical worldview focused on books and artifacts by taking us toward a worldview focused on knowledge and learning (and really communities). This knowledge and learning takes place through conversations. New librarianship is not about serving as a gatekeeper of culture but about facilitating conversations that foster knowledge construction.The book inspires one to think critically about their profession and the role the librarian plays within the community. It encourages a call to action! Some call it a manifesto, and I would agree. Be prepared to be challenged and changed by the concepts found within the Atlas of New Librarianship.The cataloger in me needs to say that the book is well researched and presented. The index is done well, and the references allow for a deeper engagement with the themes or agreements.The book's supplemental website and iPad app are wonderful additions, and do really encourage a conversation around the threads and agreements found within this book. Both of these additions make the price a little more bearable.I strongly encourage librarians, library boards, library students, LIBRARY EDUCATORS, and those who love libraries to pick up this book.

前世紀1990年代にブレイクしたインターネット環境は、ネットを結ぶコンピュータ自体にも革命をもたらし、ただの計算機から相互にコミュニケーションを保証しつつ人間の知的活動そのものに大きな変革をもたらし、従来の学術コミュニケーション(scholarly communication)をデジタルの世界にシフトさせた。その延長上で従来の図書館における学術コミュニケーション活動も必然的に変革されてしまい、伝統的な印刷媒体とデジタル媒体相互の関係性を活かしながら、場所としての図書館機能などを含めて抜本的な図書館活動（librarianship）は変わらざるを得なくなった。アメリカ図書館協会大学研究図書館協会（ALA/ACRL）はここ数年こうした大改革期の高等教育と学術研究体制への円滑な推移を準備するために将来予測調査を頻繁に重ねているが、それらの成果を踏まえながら、自らの学術情報提供機関での業務を踏まえて、新しい図書館業務の関係性を機能とベクトル関係で図示し、それら業務関係性を地図のごとくまとめあげた１冊が本書である。　図書館活動の不易な機能を抽出するために＜thread＞という概念を設定し、図書館活動の諸要素の関係性を個別に分析して、中概念集合をたとえば知識創造(Knowledge Creation)など集約した後で、全体の地図にまとめあげた労作。大半が著者単独の記述だが、部分的に共著者が担当している。尚、知識創造を会話を経ることを重視しているが、それはイギリスの哲学者オークショットの指摘が嚆矢で、リチャード。ローティが主著「哲学と自然の鏡」の後半で援用し、日本では井上達夫が自著「共生の作法」でもオークショットを援用し、証明している。但し本書にはその引用はない。 概念ごとに全体の地図との位置関係を明示、必要に応じて解説文と参考文献が明示されている。本書全体への補遺資料はインターネットのサイト（[...]）として解説され、読者の書き込みを待っている。惜しむらくは、印刷本に索引がない。全体を展望できる文献表がないこと、これは評者の読み癖が古いのだろうか。大部な変形本で持ち運びにも気遣わざるをえないが、知的に刺激される好著。他の読者諸賢の反応が楽しみ。