I include this book only as a means of including every book published by Libaries Unlimited. In pursuit of the MLIS, I have been ordered to purchase no fewer than four text-books published by LU. I say with complete, non-inebriated candor that every successive book from LU has set a lower bar for intellectualism. My grades actually suffered from reading this book. ( )

Well organized text book. Revised updated second edition of this popular textbook, provides a vital guide to the organization of information. After a broad overview of the concept and its role, Taylor proceeds to a detailed discussion of such basic retrieval tools as bibliographies, catalogs, indexes, finding aids, registers, databases, major bibliographic utilities, and other organizing entities. After tracing the development of the organization of recorded information in Western civilization from 2000 B.C.E. to the present, the author addresses topics that include encoding standards (MARC, SGML, and various DTDs), metadata (description, access, and access control), verbal subject analysis including controlled vocabularies and ontologies, classification theory and methodology, arrangement and display, and system design.

It was difficult to get through but it did its job. There is a newer edition of this book available and perhaps it is better. Taylor does do a good job explaining a very dry subject to those who may not have a copy of the AACR2 with them. That may be a miracle in itself, but even still, it was very dry. ( )

Similar to Taylor's Introduction to Cataloguing and Classification. This one takes a broader view, and the chapters are reasonably readable. However, the book could do with a little life! It rarely engages. ( )

This is a required textbook for a class. It is NOT an exciting read. Sorry. It's not helped by the fact that the subject matter is incredibly dry. I do the things this book talks about for a living, and it's WAAAAAAAY more interesting to do than it is to read about it. Just sayin' . . . ( )