The Sheffield Pressbooks Network has published the first ever history of the Institute of Information Scientists (IIS) by Sandrea Ward and Martin White. The authors are both former IIS Presidents, and another former President, Charles Oppenheim has also contributed, providing a personal introduction to the book.
During its lifetime the IIS developed from its beginning in campaigns for educational standards and programmes to ensure the competence of those engaged in technical and scientific information work, to become an internationally recognised professional body. It merged with the Library Association in 2002 to become the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals.
The book is free to read online or download, and is published with a Creative Commons BY-NC licence. It is the second book on the Sheffield Pressbooks Network to be authored by Martin White, who is Visiting Professor at the Information School at the University of Sheffield. Martin reflects on his experience of using the Sheffield Pressbooks Network in a blog post on changing the publishing landscape.