Introduction to Library and Information Science

Reviewed by Taylor Tharpe, Research & Digital Services Librarian, Longwood University on 7/18/23

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

In Part I of the textbook, the author offers consistent definitions of certain terms, such as data, knowledge, and information. The author does a great job of providing helpful resources and information to go hand-in-hand with each chapter/section. However, some of the material that is questioned in the interactive quizzes are not mentioned in that particular section.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I noticed no bias while reading this textbook. All information is presented in an accurate and unbiased manner.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The majority of the content was relevant and up to date.

Clarity rating: 5

This textbook is written in accessible prose and provides a disclaimer and instructions for the interactive features that accompany each section/chapter.

Consistency rating: 5

The textbook is consistent in terms of terminology and framework.

Modularity rating: 5

Textbook is broken into three different parts, that can be separated to support different units of a course or class.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The topics presented are organized in an understandable manner. They flow together nicely.

Interface rating: 4

Pictures and graphs could use some formatting work as the some of the captions aren't directly under the image, but I think this just depends on how you are viewing the textbook. The online version of the textbook is much more user-friendly than the PDF version.

Grammatical Errors rating: 2

This textbook makes many grammatical errors. This includes capitalization, sentence structure, spelling, misusing, etc. I counted numerous errors throughout the entire text.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The author touches on the subject of demographics and knowing how to serve patrons regardless of ethnic group, race, gender, sexual orientation, etc. The textbook also has a section on DEI and how important it is for libraries to acquire materials and hold events that meet the DEI initiative.

Comments

The author focuses more on the application of skills associated with working within the library field, rather than just lecturing about library theory. However, the author also mentions using ChatGPT, which doesn't seem very reliable to me.