This
month I look at a book to get you into Webmastering,
if you haven't dabbled yet, a quick look at
the state of classifying electronic resources,
and then
some legal issues for libraries and e-mail management.
Building & Running
a Successful Research Business
by Mary Ellen Bates,
edited by Reva Basch
ISBN: ISBN:0-910965-62-5
Published: 2003
Pages: 488 pp.; softcover
Price: $29.95
Available from: CyberAge
Books, 143 Old Marlton Pike, Medford, NJ
08055;
800/300-9868 or 609/654-6266;
www.infotoday.com
Everyone thinking about becoming an independent
information professional should buy this
book—and those who already are probably
should, too. The author, a well-known speaker,
author, info pro, and ONLINE magazine
columnist, distills her years of experience
into this easy-to-read book.
The book is divided into three sections.
The first, "Getting Started" focuses on helping
you determine if this business is right for
you. Bates provides tips on how to structure
and set up your business. Also included here
are descriptions of a day in the life and
lots of personal considerations to help you
determine if you are suited for independent
work.
The second and third sections focus on
running the business, with discussions on
finding and managing clients, proposal writing
and marketing, billing and debt collection,
setting rates, and professional development.
Most of the information here applies to any
independent worker, not just an information
researcher.
The last section focuses on the actual
processes of conducting research. Here, you
get an idea of the range of services you
can offer and how to get started in a particular
area. The focus is more on general methodologies
rather than specific resources, providing
enough details to give you an idea of the
work and resources required.
This is a great book for those wanting
to manage an information-related business.
You feel you have a coach and mentor to answer
all those questions that normally are learnt
in the school of hard knocks.
Designing with Web Standards
Jeffrey Zeldman
ISBN: 0-7357-1201-8
Published: 2003
Pages: 436 pp.; softcover
Price: $35
Available from: New
Riders,
201 W. 103rd St., Indianapolis, IN 46290; 800/571-5840 or 317/581-3500;
www.newriders.com
Ah, the ever-changing Web. Here is a book
to help move your Web site to the next level.
The author, a co-founder of the Web Standards
Project and a Web designer himself, is a
great proponent of using standards to make
your information accessible to all browsers
and all users. This book is a blueprint to
convert your site from HTML to XHTML 1.0
Transitional.
The main purpose of the book is to convince
you to strip all the presentation-based HTML
coding from your Web site and replace it
with the much more user-friendly and standards-approved
cascading style sheets (CSS). The goal is
to have a standards-based Web where the same
code is displayed the same way in all browsers.
Wisely, the author acknowledges that we
are not there yet. However, he spends a lot
of time convincing you that conforming to
the new standards is so much better and ultimately
easier and cheaper than continuing to code
for specific browsers. He supplies examples
of sites that are accessible to all browsers,
albeit at different levels, depending on
the ability of the browser to interpret CSS.
The time has come for sites to be upgraded.
The combination of ease of maintenance and
the improved accessibility for those with
disabilities should make the effort to implement
the changes proposed in this book well worth
the effort.
Enterprise Knowledge
Portals
by Heidi Collins
ISBN: 0-8144-0708-0
Published: 2003
Pages: 430 pp.; hardcover
Price: $35
Available from: AMACOM,
American Management Association,
1601 Broadway, New York, NY 10019; 212/903-8315;
www.amacombooks.org
This hefty book, written by the executive
director of architect services at InfoImage
and author of the 2001 AMACOM book Corporate
Portals, is a must-read if you are thinking
about knowledge management within your organization.
The focus is on supporting the business processes
and mission of the organization by using
technology to seamlessly connect people,
processes, and content assets.
The book is divided into three parts. The
first describes portals and what they can
do. The second focuses on defining the requirements
of the portal within your environment, and
the third discusses the methodologies to
implement the portal. For each step, the
author has included a number of questionnaires
and surveys to help you ask the right questions
within your organization and to include the
right people to manage and implement the
projects.
The process of creating an enterprise-wide
portal can be daunting, so the author breaks
it down into discrete projects. She warns
you to focus initially on those areas where
the work processes clearly show inefficiencies
or gaps that can be addressed by the portal.
It is important to demonstrate a return on
investment for the effort involved in creating
the portal.
I found the layout of the book a little
confusing. A fictitious company is used as
an example throughout the book and material
is often repeated—first in the general
section and then immediately after in the
example. The example is so general that it
is not really very useful. Still, the processes
that are described here are the best reason
to buy the book. It will guide you first
through the thought processes that are required
to create a successful enterprise knowledge
portal.
Federal Regulatory Research:
Selected Agency Knowledge Paths
edited by Rachel W. Jones
ISBN: 0-7890-2041-6
Published: 2003
Pages: 123 pp.; softcover
Price: $24.95
Available from: The
Haworth Information Press, 10 Alice Street,
Binghamton, NY 13904; 800/429-6784 or 607/722-5857;
www.haworthpress.com
This brief book is a godsend to those needing
information from the U.S. federal government,
but not familiar with where to start. The
maze of government information and regulations
can be quite overwhelming without someone
to point out the major resources. Each of
the seven chapters is written by a different
member of the Law Librarians' Society of
Washington, D.C., who routinely must deal
with federal regulations.
The chapters vary quite a bit in style
and substance. A few, such as those covering
education, the Federal Reserve System, and
the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation,
are quite narrative, with URLs and resources
scattered throughout the text. Others, such
as the ones on the Environmental Protection
Agency and the Department of Justice, are
more annotated lists of links and resources.
The remaining two, the Federal Trade Commission
and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office,
fall somewhere in the middle.
All the chapters will provide a good start
to finding appropriate resources from these
particular government entities. I only wish
the rest of the U.S. government departments
and agencies were included. |
