In 1985, I worked for a small association of local governments. One of the membership features was that each city and county had a designated contact -- usually the government librarian -- who was given a small keyboard device for communicating with other members. (Think of France's Minitel device, the world's first broad-based online service before the birth of the World Wide Web.)  

This forerunner of e-mail allowed members to communicate in real time without a telephone. The device was quirky, definitely a novelty and used by just a handful of people. By the time I left the organization five years later, everybody was using the system to communicate with everybody else.

The use of technology in government has since exploded, and today its complexity, sophistication and universality has spawned not just a huge industry to serve and support the unique needs of public-sector IT, but also has led to everything from a media market to educational courses for CIOs.  

Now comes what might be the first textbook for technology and government. Public Information Technology and E-Governance provides a comprehensive overview of the political issues raised by information policy in the public sector and administrative issues that managers will likely encounter in governing the virtual state.  

Authored by G. David Garson, a professor at North Carolina State University, the book blends theory with practice on everything from e-democracy, access and privacy to information planning, partnerships, project management and implementation issues. Each chapter begins on a theoretical note, then covers the main dimensions of the topic, and is followed by one or two case studies, a glossary and discussion questions.  

Garson devotes only two pages to the role of the CIO and limits his overview to the federal sector, while state CIOs are mentioned in a brief paragraph covering the National Association of State Chief Information Officers. Given the book’s claim to be a comprehensive tool for “managing the virtual state”, it is unfortunate that the author did not allot more discussion on what has become a critical leadership position in the function and management of government IT.  

Despite this oversight, Garson is to be credited for writing the first true textbook for public administration schools covering the entire field of public-sector IT policies and management.