Education and Large Information Systems. R.A. Buckingham, Amsterdam: North-Holland; 1977: 197 p. Price: $26.75

Education and Large Information Systems contains a collection of papers and transcripts of discussions presented at the IFIP Working Conference o n The Educational Requirements Introduced by Large Information Systems held in the Netherlands in April of 1977. A wide range of papers are included covering both theoretical and descriptive topics. For example, “The Elements of Largeness: A Contribution t o the Theory of Information Systems” is quite theoretical in nature and covers such topics as definitions for systems and information systems, and categorizations for “largeness” of information systems. One type of largeness is dynamical, or the largeness based on amounts of information processed. This category of largeness may be estimated by analyzing the number of transactions between the data bases which are part of the information system and the environment of these data bases, e.g., analyzing the transactions which will change the contents of the data base. Although such measures of largeness are useful in estimating costs, the paper emphasizes the conceptual issues associated with large information systems. Stamper’s article on the aspects of scale is also theoretically oriented. He discusses the organizational, social, and economical aspects associated with building large information systems. He also provides a list of strategies that can be used t o tackle large information problems. Some of these strategies include taking evolutionary approaches, modularizing t o avoid very large problems, exploiting new organizational possibilities, and increasing technical standardization. Descriptive types of reports are also included in this collection. An article by Reuterskoid on S.W.I.F.T., the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications, provides detailed information on the history, operations, and benefits of one large information system. The report by Hansen discusses in detail the graduate program in Business Information Systems at Duisberg University, West Germany, while Land reviews the development of training information specialists in Englishspeaking universities. Other reports cover such topics as IBM’s European information systems education program and ITCIS, the Integrated Telephone Customer lnformation System for the Netherlands. Also included within Education and Large Information Systems are recommendations from the conference. These include general recommendations for programs of education and training as well as for increased research in the area. Since this publication is a collection of papers, the reader is confronted with a variety of writing styles, formats, illustrations, and the use and nonuse of bibliographic citations. However, this is a typical pattern of collected papers and most readers are accustomed t o this. The main criticism is that the title of the publication is somewhat misleading. An individual may assume that the work deals with educational information systems rather than with education associated with any large information system. The price is also somewhat high for the 197 pages of text. However, this is a recommended book for those interested in an international viewpoint on information system education.