Exploring Digital Libraries: Foundations, Practice, Prospects

Calhoun, Karen. Exploring Digital Libraries: Foundations, Practice, Prospects  Chicago: IL: ALA Neal-Schuman, January 2014.(http://www.alastore.ala.org/detail.aspx?ID=4247). - This overview of digital libraries is unlike virtually anything that has come before because it comes from the perspective of a practitioner. Most books on digital libraries have been written by academics and/or computer science researchers, and they tend to reflect that particular perspective. Specifically, long on information about research projects and short on the kind of on-the-ground information that is much more what a typical librarian would come into contact with. In contrast, Calhoun's treatment is much more recognizable to actual working librarians, and thus is much more likely to form an effective and useful coverage of what has transformed libraries in recent years. Therefore I imagine that this will be required reading in library schools for many years to come. Full disclosure: I count myself among Karen's many friends and I was interviewed in the course of her writing the book. - RT