Leadership, Higher Education, and the Information Age: A New ERA for Information Technology and Libraries »

This guide to developing a vision for changing higher education's information technology infrastructure is intended to help academic librarians create more functional libraries, campus IT organizations, and classrooms. It examines trends and strategies for departmental planning, capital investments, and integration of IT services throughout the university. Regenstein is associate director of the Division of Information Technology at the University of Wisconsin- Madison. Dewey is dean of libraries at the University of Tennessee. Annotation ©2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Library Journal

Though aimed primarily at academic librarians and leadership in universities where the library and information technology (IT) division have been merged, or where merger is being contemplated, this work will be helpful even where they remain separate. While numerous books are available on IT planning in education, this title is unique in its more library-oriented perspective. Several chapters struck a chord with this reviewer, particularly Anne Scrivner Agee and Dee Ann Holisky's "Crossing the Great Divide: Implementing Change by Creating Collaborative Relationships." Reading this chapter encourages one to believe that the war between IT and the rest of the university could one day be settled amicably. The authors explore the problems and suggest concrete ways to begin a collaboration and turn debilitating conflict into a win-win situation for all. However, everyone must be willing to change for collaboration to work. Editor Dewey is dean of libraries at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and Regenstein is associate CIO/director of DoIT (Division of Information Technology) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Academic libraries should buy this book and recommend it, particularly the Agee and Holisky chapter, to university leadership in charge of IT, libraries, and academics.-Margaret Sylvia, St. Mary's Univ. Lib., San Antonio Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.