What is meant by knowledge service engineering? How is it different from knowledge management, service engineering, and service production? How does one go about connecting all these concepts “to produce high-performance joint knowledge services to support the knowledge economy [of the present age]”?

To gain insight into these questions and also to present recent advances in the field, editors Kantola and Karwowski collected 21 chapters written by various academic researchers and practitioners. Though more than half the book will especially interest academic researchers, at least nine of the chapters will benefit professionals who develop and maintain knowledge services. The book will also provide college students with an understanding of how to acquire and use data, information, and human knowledge networks to create and sustain knowledge services.

The editors have ensured a consistent presentation style: each chapter starts with an introduction and ends with conclusions and a list of relevant references. The book starts with a short preface and profiles of the editors and chapter authors, and ends with a subject index. The length is adequate, the sequencing of the chapters flows cogently, and the layout and presentation of the book is appealing.

Organized into four parts, the book cohesively builds up the field from basic concepts of knowledge services in Part 1 to an exploration of the concepts and their application to knowledge services in Part 2. Part 3 discusses “the importance of human networks in knowledge services.” Part 4 then provides real value for professionals with “a description of high-performance knowledge service systems,” culminating in a strategic framework for knowledge services.

Nine chapters (1, 4, and 6 in Part 1; chapters 11 and 14 in Parts 2 and 3, respectively; and all four chapters in Part 4) will be of direct interest and benefit to practitioners and budding professionals in knowledge services. The remaining 12 chapters are more abstract. Since this book is one of only a few works on the subject [1,2], there is ample scope for further academic research.

The back cover mentions that the book “presents multiple cultural aspects and points of view ... including US, European, [and] Asian perspectives, and more.” Somehow I missed this in the book. No chapter headings mention “cultural aspects,” nor is this term listed in the subject index.

On balance, this is quite an informative exposition of the field of knowledge service engineering. It offers good content for both academics and practitioners, and it is recommended as a reference for all university libraries.