CONCEPTS AND ADVANCES IN INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT: STUDIES FROM DEVELOPING AND EMERGING ECONOMIES (CHANDOS INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL SERIES)

includes ethical issues, collaboration in specific subjects, experiences of global collaboration, international cooperation in developing digital library software, philanthropy and donations. There is a full chapter devoted to the potential for philanthropy and donations to replace public funding, with special reference to libraries in India. The suggestion is that philanthropy may be crucial to sustaining libraries as they face declining financial assistance, government funding and budget cuts. Other chapters focus on historical accounts of support for libraries. The support has come from non-governmental and philanthropic organisations such as United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and various other programmes. IFLA is profiled as a significant supporter of international librarianship, respecting many diverse cultures and not just engaging with developing countries. International collaboration in all 27 chapters looks beyond associations, initiatives and programmes between countries. Professional associations such as the Special Libraries Association, Association for Research Libraries and the American Library Association have strong international programmes that promote the development of library professionals in developing and transitional countries. International awards for internationally acclaimed action research projects in librarianship are tabled – these outline various milestones of international and comparative librarianship. Contributions also include reviews of existing courses on international collaboration, ranging across such topics as digital libraries in Europe, collaborative approaches between academic libraries and IT firms in China and India, collaboration between Norway and Romania in setting up a digital library, cooperation in software development in South Asia, a cloud computing model in the UK and a cooperative programme to support webbased regional development information between the Pacific Rim countries and Pacific Island communities. The contributions from international LIS practitioners in academic, research and public libraries, as well as international professional organisations, provide useful reference material for anyone wanting to know more about international collaborative librarianship. The book then finishes with short biographies of the international authors, reaffirming the book’s extensive global coverage. However, as a print hard cover book with over 374 pages, it is probably limited to library reference collections.