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Books in Social sciences

The Social Sciences collection forms a definitive resource for those entering, researching, or teaching in any of the many disciplines making up this interdisciplinary area of study. Written by experts and researchers from both Academic and Commercial domains, titles offer global scope and perspectives.

Key subject areas include: Library and Information Science; Transportation; Urban Studies; Geography, Planning, and Development; Security; Emergency Management.

  • Records Management and Knowledge Mobilisation

    A Handbook for Regulation, Innovation and Transformation
    • 1st Edition
    • Stephen Harries
    • English
    This book argues that records management can contribute to public sector reform and transformation in the new climate of austerity, without losing its essential characteristics. Over the last 15 years, records management has prospered, tackling problems of electronic information and building a strong case for information governance based on a model of regulation and management control. The public sector environment is now changing rapidly, with more emphasis on efficiency, flexibility and innovation, devolving control, loosening regulation, and cutting budgets. By linking practical ideas about the use and management of knowledge, the author will draw on insights from the study of policy-making and programme delivery to show how managing the relationship between records and knowledge, their creation and use, can not only make an important contribution to public sector innovation in itself, but also reconcile the demands of regulation through a wider concept of the governance of knowledge as well as information.

  • Global Resource Sharing

    • 1st Edition
    • Linda Frederiksen + 2 more
    • English
    Written from a global perspective, this book reviews sharing of library resources on a global scale. With expanded discovery tools and massive digitization projects, the rich and extensive holdings of the world’s libraries are more visible now than at any time in the past. Advanced communication and transmission technologies, along with improved international standards, present a means for the sharing of library resources around the globe. Despite these significant improvements, a number of challenges remain. Global Resource Sharing provides librarians and library managers with a comprehensive background in and summary of the issues involved in global resource sharing.

  • Crisis Information Management

    Communication and Technologies
    • 1st Edition
    • Christine Hagar
    • English
    This book explores the management of information in crises, particularly the interconnectedness of information, people, and technologies during crises. Natural disasters, such as the Haiti earthquake and Hurricane Katrina, and 9/11 and human-made crises, such as the recent political disruption in North Africa and the Middle East, have demonstrated that there is a great need to understand how individuals, government, and non-government agencies create, access, organize, communicate, and disseminate information within communities during crisis situations. This edited book brings together papers written by researchers and practitioners from a variety of information perspectives in crisis preparedness, response and recovery.

  • Engaging First-Year Students in Meaningful Library Research

    A Practical Guide for Teaching Faculty
    • 1st Edition
    • Molly Flaspohler
    • English
    Aimed at teaching professionals working with first-year students at institutions of higher learning, this book provides practical advice and specific strategies for integrating contemporary information literacy competencies into courses intended for novice researchers. The book has two main goals - to discuss the necessity and value of incorporating information literacy into first-year curricula; and to provide a variety of practical, targeted strategies for doing so. The author will introduce and encourage teaching that follows a process-driven, constructivist framework as a way of engaging first-year students in library work that is interesting, meaningful and disciplinarily relevant.

  • Strategic Business Development for Information Centres and Libraries

    • 1st Edition
    • Margareta Nelke
    • English
    This book is aimed at guiding managers towards systematic approaches to improve and facilitate necessary strategic business development and planning. Conditions in the workplace for the Library and Information Services (LIS) are rapidly changing: many organizations are experiencing budget restrictions as well as stakeholders questioning the value of the services. Strategic Business Development for Information Centres and Libraries offers methods and tools for LIS departments to ensure value and benefits are delivered to the parent organization. It argues that LIS must be prepared to change according to the parent organization's needs, to develop strategies for important activities and to seek alliances among key stakeholders. It also offers information on the best practice from five top-performing international LIS units.

  • Library Technology and User Services

    Planning, Integration, and Usability Engineering
    • 1st Edition
    • Anthony S. Chow + 1 more
    • English
    Written as a technology guide for students, practitioners, and administrators, the focus of this book is on introducing current and future trends in library technology and automation within the larger context of strategic and systems planning, implementation, and continuous improvement. Technology is an essential resource for attaining both organizational and patron goals, and planning needs to emphasize the alignment between the clearly defined goals of each. For this alignment to occur on a consistent basis goals must be designed, or engineered, in a systematic fashion where technology fulfils the need to deliver the desired outcomes in an efficient, cost-effective manner. The concept of usability engineering is also examined, where the technology is planned, designed, and implemented in such a way as to maximize utility and ease-of-use for users and employees. Readers of this book will understand both the why and the how of library technology, planning, and implementation articulated in a simple, easy-to-understand fashion.

  • Private Security and the Law

    • 4th Edition
    • Charles Nemeth
    • English
    Private Security and the Law, Fourth Edition, is a unique resource that provides a comprehensive analysis of practices in the security industry as they relate to law, regulation, licensure, and constitutional questions of case and statutory authority. It is an authoritative, scholarly treatise that serves as a solid introduction for students regarding the legal and ethical standards that shape the industry. The book takes you step-by-step through the analysis of case law as it applies to situations commonly faced by security practitioners. It describes the legal requirements faced by security firms and emphasizes the liability problems common to security operations, including negligence and tortious liability, civil actions frequently litigated, and strategies to avoid legal actions that affect business efficiency. It also examines the constitutional and due-process dimensions of private security both domestically and internationally, including recent cases and trends that are likely to intensify in the future. New features of this edition include: a chapter on the legal implications of private contractors operating in war zones like Afghanistan; updated coverage of statutory authority, as well as state and federal processes of oversight and licensure; and special analysis of public-private cooperative relationships in law enforcement. A historical background helps readers understand the present by seeing the full context of recent developments. This book will appeal to: students in physical security, security management, and criminal justice programs in traditional and for-profit schools; security professionals; and those working in law enforcement.

  • Information Consulting

    Guide to Good Practice
    • 1st Edition
    • Irene Wormell + 2 more
    • English
    Information Consulting presents a closer look at what makes information consultants successful and how they develop a productive relationship with their clients. While most of the books on this subject area are providing the experiences of information consulting veterans on ‘how do you really do it?’, the aim of this book is focused on exploring the nature of information management consulting. This includes the task of the advice-and-guidance variety, such as helping clients to analyze and solve problems or to meet opportunities with the element of ‘What should I do?’. The authors have used their extensive international and professional networks to take the challenge of letting the clients speak about their experiences and expectations in hiring information consultants.

  • Migrating to the Cloud

    Oracle Client/Server Modernization
    • 1st Edition
    • Tom Laszewski + 1 more
    • English
    Migrating to the Cloud: Oracle Client/Server Modernization is a reference guide for migrating client/server applications to the Oracle cloud. Organized into 14 chapters, the book offers tips on planning, determining effort and budget, designing the Oracle cloud infrastructure, implementing the migration, and moving the Oracle cloud environment into production. Aside from Oracle application and database cloud offerings, the book looks at various tools and technologies that can facilitate migration to the cloud. It includes useful code snippets and step-by-step instructions in database migration, along with four case studies that highlight service enablement of DOS-based applications, Sybase to Oracle, PowerBuilder to APEX, and Forms to Java EE. Finally, it considers current challenges and future trends in cloud computing and client/server migration. This book will be useful to IT professionals, such as developers, architects, database administrators, IT project managers, and executives, in developing migration strategies and best practices, as well as finding appropriate solutions.

  • Information Literacy Instruction

    Selecting an Effective Model
    • 1st Edition
    • John Walsh
    • English
    An invaluable guide for MLS professionals and students, this new book explains how librarians can select an effective method of library instruction based on their users, the objectives of the instruction and the delivery environment. The content describes the different methods available and in what circumstances the methods are most effective. It includes descriptions of curriculums for the methods currently available and describes a range of objectives the curriculums meet and the common environments librarians use for instruction. Information Literacy Instruction also introduces two new ideas for methods of instruction: one which combines information literacy with cyber-literacy (MLI) forming an instructional method appropriate for internet users and internet information and the Fully Automated Reference Instruction (FARI) that actively involves users with the instruction while completing research they are currently involved in for specific targeted classes.

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