Information Policies and Strategies

All librarians and libraries have information policies, and so do most people. The big issues, like censorship, intellectual property, freedom of information, privacy, and data protection crowd our minds. However, the process of decision-making is the same at every level and in every context, whether we are concerned with government secrets, advertising standards, or our children’s reading and viewing habits.

Information Policies and Strategies examines these issues from varying standpoints, including the human rights approach, the commercial approach, and the states-interest approach. These perspectives are all placed within the context of arguments about the public sphere. The working librarian must be able to justify every stock purchase and information access decision, and in the strategies they follow to legitimise the library. The discussion of issues in this book will provide librarians with the context and arguments they need to identify and apply appropriate information policies and strategies.

The key areas covered are:

• Contexts for information policy
• Globalisation and information societies
• Information rights and information policy
• Information policy sectors

Readership: This book is essential reading for library students, researchers, and policy makers, as well as for all LIS practitioners wishing to widen their awareness of the important issues surrounding information policy.