Here is the first textbook specifically written to cover the fundamentals of library and information science programs. Designed as a highly current teaching resource, Rubin offers library and information science students and professionals the background and techniques they need to meet today's -- and tomorrow's – challenges.

Accordingly, this meticulous revision of his landmark textbook includes a completely fresh discussion of the most current issues and key technological developments in the field. Rubin explores the ever-growing impact of the World Wide Web, the impact of blogs, wikis, and social networks on services, electronic publication including e-books, digital libraries, digital preservation, mass digitization, and digital repositories, and Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR). His unique insights into these technologies and their impact on library services, policies, and legal standards are all part of why this book forms the essential foundation one needs to succeed as information professional. Rubin integrates contemporary coverage with a detailed and accessible account of the fundamental principles of information science and technology, information policy, intellectual organization, and ethical issues and principles across all types of libraries: public, academic, school, and special.

Foundations of Library and Information Science begins with a discussion of the practice of librarianship, and moves on to address the place of libraries within the broader perspective of the information superstructure, the development of information science, the growth of information technologies, information policy in libraries, intellectual organization of libraries (from classification systems to databases), the mission of libraries from past to present, and ethical aspects and principles between information providers and clients.