Net Effects (Hardcover)

by Marylaine Block (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
In this collection of nearly 50 articles written by librarians, computer specialists, and other information professionals, the reader finds 10 chapters, each devoted to a problem or a side effect that has emerged since the introduction of the Internet: control over selection, survival of the book, training users, adapting to users' expectations, access issues, cost of technology, continuous retraining, legal issues, disappearing data, and how to avoid becoming blind sided. After stating a problem, each chapter offers solutions that are subsequently supported by articles. The editor's comments, which appear throughout the text, are an added bonus, as are the sections concluding the book, among them a listing of useful URLs, a works-cited section, and a comprehensive index. This book has much to recommend it, especially the articles, which are not only informative, thought-provoking, and interesting but highly readable and accessible as well. An indispensable tool for all librarians. RBB
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Description
Text collects nearly 50 articles by librarians, suggesting practical and creative ways to deal with the range of Internet 'side effects', regain control of the library, and avoid being blindsided by technology. DLC: Libraries and the Internet.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 380 pages
• Publisher: Information Today (August 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573871710
• ISBN-13: 978-1573871716
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,140,964 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars With nearly 50 articles by dozens of librarians, October 18, 2003

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

Expertly compiled and edited by Marylaine Block, Net Effects is a very highly recommended librarian's guide to the issues and solutions of managing the Internet's opportunities for patrons provides librarians with nearly 50 articles by dozens of librarians which suggest practical ways to handle the 'side effects' of Internet use. From access issues to adapting to changing web site content and training users, Net Effects cogently addresses a myriad of training and use issues.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Visit, browse and capture for your own survival, May 23, 2005

By	Dr. Mohamed Taher (Toronto) - See all my reviews

Aggregated for the aggregators, this anthology of fifty reprint makes an interesting reading--expertly selected, skillfully annotated, and intellectually integrated by the editor of Net Effects.

However, as any collected work this book lacks homogeneity. If you are looking for an exclusive analytical catalog of side effects, and a systematic tabulation of solutions, this book may not be so user-friendly. Nor, the book is for those who wish to see original research on focused areas. It does not even tell you where libraries are integrating the Net and where they are failing. For instance, knowledge management has enough lessons learned in Web work for librarians. This book has no such synthesis of the synchronous subjugation in at least one corporate inter or intra organizational domains.

I liked Chapter Two: Rescuing the Book. It helps in facilitating a principle of librarianship: Every book, its reader. I found the links in this section quite beneficial in my project on 'information visualization.' see more at www.taher.cjb.net

Net Effects, does offer some depth and breadth--highlighting the positive and negative sides of bringing the Internet in the Library. In this lies the strength of Net Effects. Furthermore, in an age of dynamic content, Marylaine Block regularly updates the links discussed in the book <http://marylaine.com/book/1.html>. This idea, takes a clue from another principle of librarianship: Information is a growing organism. And incorporating this bioorganic spirit deserves a compliment. Sadly, information industry is to wakeup and give a booster to make books live longer.

I recommend this book to all information professionals who wish to get the Web work for the common good of the society.