Award-winning information theorists and practitioners Pearlstein and Matarazzo have assembled a group of top international authors with experience in public, academic, government, and special library settings, including experienced independent information professionals, to address the critical issues facing Information Management (IM) today. This new handbook provides a context for approaching the world in which information professionals work; a tool, the Balanced Scorecard, to help demonstrate contribution and value; and a review of opportunities for new areas of employment and career development, ripe for applying the Information Services skill set. Through combinations of topical chapters with common themes, the professor and student will find a multi-perspective approach to the IM landscape. Used as a ready-reference, the IM practitioner will find both theoretical and pragmatic approaches to inform their decision making on traditional as well as new challenges. For information and IM professionals, librarians, and students, this must-have handbook provides invaluable insights from the leading names in the field, enabling you to make the best decision no matter what challenges you face.

Learn why special or corporate libraries must align with their parent organizations in order to survive in these difficult economic times-and how to foster and demonstrate this critical relationship. Special Libraries: A Survival Guide analyzes what has happened-and is still continuing to happen-to corporate libraries in order to identify the strategies that must be taken to protect their staff's survival. Through a careful examination of a series of case studies of corporate library reductions and closures, authors James M. Matarazzo and Toby Pearlstein suggest key strategies, tactics, and survival tools that all types of special library managers can use to minimize their chances of becoming a victim. The book underscores the importance of collecting data as a survival tool. Additionally, it identifies what needs to be taught to students currently enrolled in library and information science (LIS) programs to give them a leg up in careers. This advocacy book is essential reading for staff at special/corporate libraries in the English-speaking world who wish to retain their positions, but it also contains information applicable to today's academic, public, and even school libraries. It is appropriate for students in the field of library and information science, LIS faculty, and corporate executives responsible for the management of the information function. Presents case studies of corporate and other special library reductions and closures and provides strategies to minimize your chances of becoming a victim Demonstrates how to integrate your information services and skills with essential functions of your parent organization Underscores the critical nature of documenting your contribution to your parent organization's mission Provides a useful predictive model to assess if your library is in danger of being severely cut back or closed outright Makes comparisons of corporate libraries in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand