Magic and Hypersystems: Constructing the Information-Sharing Library

Suggesting that contemporary information systems owe a debt to 16th century attempts to order knowledge based on "magic" image-based memory systems, Billings (directory of general libraries, U. of Texas at Austin) explores historical and contemporary issues of the ordering of information in research libraries. After discussing the development of research libraries, he describes current operations and services and offers advice on where libraries, research information management, and knowledge systems should go in the future. Annotation (c)2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Library Journal

This is an interesting collection of mostly previously published articles that trace the growth of information retention and sharing from the development of "magic"-based information-retention techniques in the 16th century to modern times. The goal of librarian and digital network expert Billings here is to map the developments of networked information systems and relate these changes to libraries. As director of General Libraries at the University of Texas, Austin, he has been instrumental in guiding the library into the digital future over the past 25 years. His essays challenge librarians to accept needed change and allow it to form the library of the future. One of the most striking things about his collection is that many of the issues he discussed when the articles were first published are still relevant, for example, the future of library education, new models of resource sharing, and linking technologies. Recommended for library science and professional reading collections.-Tim Daniels, Georgia Inst. of Technology Lib. & Info Ctr., Atlanta