Message-ID: <37656EE4.2466C00@geo2.poptel.org.uk> Date: Mon, 14 Jun 1999 22:06:44 +0100 From: Mike Powell <mailto:m.powell@GEO2.POPTEL.ORG.UK> Subject: book on information management To: mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU
I hope you will bear with me posting details of the following book to the list. I do so because it deals with a subject - information - of importance to everyone concerned with development but about which relatively little seems to have been written, especially of a practical nature.'Information Management for Development Organisations' is written for general managers working at whatever level in development organisations based either in the North or South. Its aim is to help them manage information so as to make their organisation/ department/office/project more effective. It starts by setting the need for such skills in the the contexts of organisational change and an increasingly information-based world. It goes on to look at the practical issues of managing information in a development setting - how to avoid being overwhelmed by the stuff, how to use information to support development goals rather than being distracted by its demands and, above all, how to maximise the potential of staff and other colleagues by ensuring they have the information they need and using the information that they produce. The book identifies issues and discusses ways of dealing with them using numerous examples and explaining some of the tools available. It is not prescriptive. The aim is to help each reader to think through the challenges facing their organisation.
The focus is always on the information rather than on technology. However there are sections on the advantages and disadvantages of using information and communication technologies and on other information specialities such as filing, archiving and libraries. The emphasis here is on how the general manager can equip him or herself to use these specialities rather than on how to become a specialist themself.
The book is published in paperback by Oxfam GB at UKP8.95 or USD 14.95 and can be ordered directly from them at 274, Banbury Rd. Oxford OX2 7DZ, UK. Details of distributors in the USA, Australia, Canada and Southern Africa are available from mailto:publish@oxfam.org.uk
I hope this is of interest to some of you. I would be interested in knowing of other work covering the same area and am happy to correspond on the subject with anyone who is interested.
Best wishes
Mike Powell