Williams, J.M. & Goodwin, S.P. (eds).

Teaching with technology: an academic librarian’s guide.157+xviii pp.

Oxford: Chandos Publishing, 2007; Price: Not given
13-digit ISBN: 978 1 84334 172 7 (pb);
10-digit ISBN: 1 84334 172 7 (pb); 1 84334 173 5 (hb)

Academic libraries have changed fast, reacting quickly to the ‘social software’ revolution
and the huge range of remotely-hosted tools and services it has brought: terms like
Library 2.0, wikis, blogs, podcasting, webcasting and instant messaging have gone from
the language of a select few to daily use. And library education has come far since the
early tape-slide presentations!

This book has appeared at just the right moment – and is very welcome.

It describes technologies for enhancing library education (in both formal teaching and
enquiry-desk work), filling the gap between teaching manuals and technology guides.

The main chapters are by specialists, with each discussing one or several technologies
and their benefits, aided by examples and further reading. Chapters cover virtual
reference services, mobile computing, collaborative learning, video-conferencing, course-
management systems (such as Blackboard), the role of gaming and professional
development.

The editors suggest that soon these systems will be even more interactive and have better
personalisation features allowing, for example, on-screen annotation and improved co-
browsing.

Most writers have a clear, descriptive style. I should, however, have appreciated more
(and clearer) screen-shots, plus evaluations of the tools’ effectiveness. Discussion of other
issues would have been useful, too: staff-development, institutional politics (conflicts
with other departments, such as IT), privacy, copyright and security, for example.

The book’s origins are a mystery: published in Oxford, the editors and contributors are
from (often little-known) US institutions. The style is very American and, in some cases,
off-putting (I felt patronised by the many references to ‘patrons’ per page!). Knowledge
of the US library and education systems is assumed. Why there are virtually no references
to British work is not explained: is this due to a lack of development on this side of the
Atlantic? We should be told.

Also helpful would be some discussion of related issues: staff-development, privacy, IPR,
copyright, security, fire-walls and the impact of institutional politics

Ralph Adam, Sept. 2007