Richard E. Rubin and Rachel G. Rubin. Foundations of Library and Information Science. 5th ed. Chicago, IL: ALA Neal-Schuman, 2020. 656p. Paper.

Abstract

One of the tenets of a book review is a discussion of how well the book meets the needs of its intended audience, and, as far as target audience goes, this book was written for me. I teach a foundations course in a school of information and it is the likes of me that need to adopt this as our textbook as the final step in the production-consumption cycle. And so, it is in light of my needs that I set out to examine Richard E. Rubin and Rachel G. Rubin’s Foundations of Library and Information Science. The two questions I asked myself throughout were: Do I agree with the authors on what the foundations of the field are, and does their treatment of topics satisfy my teaching needs?