Book review: Essential law for information professionals
Title of Book
Essential law for information professionals, 2nd ed.
Author
Paul Pedley
ISBN
1856045528
Publisher
Facet Publishing
Publisher Website
http://www.facetpublishing.co.uk/
Reviewer Name
Michele Hilton Boon
Title
Information Officer
Contact Details
Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network
28 Thistle Street, Edinburgh EH2 1EN
Review
If ever a book did what it says on the tin, this is the book. As such, it does not lend itself to a great deal of colour commentary; however, like a good medical dictionary or the BNF, it is something you want on your shelf and will come to rely on.
In 14 chapters and 278 pages, this textbook covers the core topics you would expect, namely copyright, data protection, and FOI, plus a great many more that add value to the book and make the scope wider than expected. Topics range from defamation and professional liability to computer crime, disability discrimination, and human rights, always with a focus on what is useful and necessary knowledge for library and information professionals. The book is logically organised and accessible to those with no legal background. The opening chapter introduces the legal system and sources of law, including (very helpfully) the EU, and basic legal concepts and terms. Approximately half the book is occupied with copyright, data protection, FOI, and related topics, such as the Information Commissioner. All chapters end with a summary, and most point to sources of further information. The book is consistent in identifying and describing differences between English and Scottish law where these occur, such as the areas of freedom of information and defamation.
Although he is not a lawyer, Pedley is an authority in the area of law and library/information work. He teaches courses in this field, has written two other books (on copyright and digital rights management), and is a Visiting Professor at London Metropolitan. The first edition of this book was very well received, and the second expands and improves upon the first.
I wanted to read this book primarily as part of my Chartership work. Because I trained as a librarian in Canada, this text was, indeed, essential in filling a gap in my knowledge. However, I also wanted to read it because the law is a fascinating subject, attempting as it must to strike a fair balance between society’s interests and the individual’s, and between individuals where conflict arises; and to do so, must rope language, with its innate arbitrariness and ambiguity, into the service of reason and logic. These intrinsic tensions come to life in the dramas of case law. Cases are the stories that bring to light the tensions, uncertainties, and human decisions that give the law its vitality. Most of the chapters are embellished with brief discussions of relevant cases, but I felt that the opportunity to add more interest to the book in this way was missed, particularly in the core chapters on the ‘big three’ topics. Partly for this reason, partly also for the differences in scope and degree of detail, I wouldn’t say that Essential Law can replace more detailed books on copyright such as those by Sandy Norman or Graham Cornish. That said, I don’t know where else you could go to find such a cogent discussion of so many legal topics made so relevant to the daily work of the information profession.