Information Services Today - 3rd Edition by Sandra Hirsh (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

This book demonstrates the ever-changing landscape of information services today and the need to re-evaluate curriculum, competency training, professional development, and lifelong learning in order to stay abreast of current trends and issues, and more significantly, remain competent to address the changing user needs of the information community.

Review Quotes

Already a staple, this revised, forward-looking third edition solidifies the textbook's place in LIS programs with increased emphasis on issues of community, information policy, and social justice. A core text for emerging information professionals across settings and job functions.

Editor Hirsh has compiled an extensive set of essays on information services in the third edition of this textbook. The intended audience is library school students, although early career librarians may also benefit from discussions on professional skills and career planning. A thorough introduction to information services, topics, and careers. Well-suited for library school students and emerging library and information sciences professionals.

Information Services Today is a stunning achievement - and a challenge to as well as an

endorsement of the value of our profession.

We have all heard the saying, "I didn't learn that in library school." I would voice this statement myself fairly often when I was a full-time, practicing librarian. However, once I became a library science professor, I was able to see the other side. Specifically, I was able to see how all-encompassing librarianship was; and with seeing this, I came to the realization that we as library science instructors do want to share more with our students. But in this field, there is just too much to teach, and there are not enough credit hours to teach it all. Teachers of "Foundations" courses, however, may have a useful tool in their desire to share as much "foundational" knowledge as they can with LIS students. That useful tool is the third edition of Information Services Today, edited by Sandra Hirsh. This 636-page work includes anything an instructor would reasonably want to cover in a "Foundations" course, and it does so with an appropriate amount of depth. Any LIS professor looking to overhaul their "Foundations" course and wishing to find a new textbook for their course should seriously consider Information Services Today. This book really does lay a foundation in LIS for any library school student.

About the Author

Dr. Sandra Hirsh is the associate dean for academics for the College of Professional and Global Education at San Jose State University. As the associate dean, she engages in the strategic planning and implementation of programs and initiatives related to the mission and vision of the college and the university, and she collaborates with the chairs and directors of the departments and schools within CPGE to develop the strategic direction for continually achieving faculty success, student success, and academic and curricular excellence.
Dr. Hirsh holds both a bachelor's degree and Ph.D. from UCLA and a MLIS degree from the University of Michigan. For ten years, she served as professor and director in the SJSU School of Information (iSchool), which offers 100% online graduate programs with more than 2000 graduate students. Prior to joining SJSU, she worked in the Silicon Valley in R&D and consumer product development for more than a decade at major technology companies: Hewlett Packard Labs, Microsoft, and LinkedIn.
Throughout her career, Dr. Hirsh has focused on global initiatives and continuing professional development. She co-founded and co-chairs the global virtual Library 2.0 conference series. She has been a Salzburg Fellow and a visiting scholar at Rikkyo University in Japan. She served as the president of the Association for Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T) and is currently President of the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE). She is also anactive scholar and researcher; her most recent publications are Information Services Today: An Introduction, 2nd edition (2018) and Blockchain, part of the ALA Future Series(2019).