Scarecrow Press
Pages: 318
•
Trim: 6½ x 9½
978-0-8108-8108-2 • Hardback • June 2011 • $109.00 • (£84.00)
978-0-8108-8109-9 • eBook • June 2011 • $103.50 • (£80.00)
Thomas H.P. Gould is associate professor of Mass Communications at Kansas State University.
Although there are many materials out there on the information/academic/learning commons, this handy resource should not be dismissed as extraneous. The author divides the various functions into separate chapters, and he calls the result the “millennial library.” With the presumption that the technology is changeable and unpredictable, all plans need to be open-ended and under continuous revision. Librarians using all the old skills in conjunction with the new styles should take the lead. There are chapters on e-books and the devices they require, copyright issues in the electronic age, and marketing the new services to all stakeholders on campus. It ends with a discussion of the long-term challenges of keeping up and keeping current. Useful appendixes follow: one listing resources for assessment; one with case studies of the early adaptors of information commons. For all academic libraries.
— Booklist
Creating the Academic Commons is a representative and valuable compilation of leading university library phenomena and practical illustrations.
— Australian Library Journal