No Shelf Required 2 : Use and Management of Electronic Books
Edited by Sue Polanka

No Shelf Required 2 is the follow-up title to No Shelf Required : E-books in Libraries (2011), also edited by Sue Polanka.  Both titles are based on her blog, No Shelf Required, about the struggles librarians face as they try to incorporate e-books into their collections.  No Shelf Required 2 shares how libraries of the three main types (academic, public, and school (K-12)) are getting e-books into the hands of their users and managing these new electronic collections.

Editor Sue Polanka has quite the resume.  She has been working in public, academic, and government libraries for over 20 years, and she has written and edited several works on electronic media, including her column, “Off the Shelf,” for Booklist. The list of contributors she has compiled is also impressive.  Experiences range from public and academic libraries to school library media centers and vendor services.  Most authors have a master’s degree in library science or a related field, and some, like Kathy Parker, broke ground in e-book services.

No Shelf Required 2 is a collection of 16 individual chapters on the use and management of e-books in libraries. These chapters could just as easily be read selectively as they could straight-through.  The first few chapters address how e-books are changing the nature of the library, both as a physical space and as a service model.  The middle chapters explain how to manage an e-book collection, from tips on weeding and e-book preservation to the role of RDA in e-book cataloging and the accessibility issues presented by e-books and e-readers.  The second half of the book provides examples and case studies from librarians who took the initiative to begin e-book and e-reader lending programs in their various institutions.  For anyone, but especially for managers of smaller libraries and school library media centers, these chapters provide the most practical advice.

Two of my favorite chapters were “Do E-books Bridge the Digital Divide?” by Sarah E. Twill and “What is RDA, and Why Should E-book Managers Care?” by Steve Kelley.  Twill’s chapter makes a great case for librarians to build partnerships with social workers and public policy makers to make e-books and e-readers accessible to families with less than $30,000 in annual income.  Without our help, the surge in the popularity of e-books may separate these people even more from wealthier families in their levels of information literacy. 
“What is RDA, and Why Should E-book Managers Care?” by Steve Kelley is an easy-to-read and thorough account of the development and purpose of RDA.  For any cataloger who has forgotten the basic principles, this chapter provides a good review.  At only 11 pages with diagrams, it would also serve as a good introduction for library administrators and other staff who may not be familiar with RDA at all.

One of the most interesting parts of the book also became my greatest complaint.  A special section, “Spotlight : HarperCollins, OverDrive, and the ALA,”  by Michael Porter, provides a history and review of the online commentary from librarians and other interested parties in the “26 check-out rule” established by HarperCollins for OverDrive titles in 2011.  While I loved the content of the piece, it seemed to have been added to the book at the last minute, because it was filled with grammatical and typographical errors that were not present in the other chapters.  The most glaring mistake was the misspelling of author Neil Gaiman’s name as “Neil Gaimin” (p. 151).  It was distracting from an otherwise interesting report.

All in all, No Shelf Required 2 was an enjoyable read and a nice way to learn about what librarians in several different types of libraries are doing to better serve their user populations.  Editor Sue Polanka and her contributors are not afraid of the move to more digital content in libraries, and the expertise that they share is beneficial to library students and library employees, especially to those who find themselves on their institutions’ electronic resources committees.
Published in 2012 by: American Library Association, Chicago, IL (xiv, 254 p.) ISBN 978-0-8389-1145-7 (pbk., alk. paper - $65.00, $58.50 for ALA members, also available in several e-book formats)

Reviewed by:
Katie Eller, MLS
OLAC Newsletter Book Review Editor
Float Librarian
St. Charles City-County Library