Publisher's Synopsis
Provides a basic introduction to terminology and concepts-an indispensable tool for librarians who received their training before the current emphasis on technology or directors faced with writing budgets and specifications for technology they understand only as low-end users. The primer discusses hardware down to the level of individual components such as expansion cards, CPUs, memory, and printers, but discusses whole systems as well. The software discussion aims to compare the benefits and features of different operating systems, and addresses integrating hardware and software to match the needs of libraries. A key feature of this work is its glossary, with its jargon-free definitions and ample cross-references. Both the glossary and the main body of the text aim to give the reader a sense of how the terms are actually used in practice, a familiarity that often cannot be obtained from more technical works.
