Product information not available.

Times have changed and library institutions struggle to maintain relevancy in the Information Age. With the inescapable presence of harnessing technologies for information management and access, the role of the library has increased in importance within academic institutions and public communities. Information Technology and Collection Management for Library User Environments brings into focus the new responsibility libraries have in meeting patron needs, specifically with the use of emerging technologies. Highlighting the concepts of collection management, library space planning, and information technologies; this book is a critical guide for library professionals, para-professionals, as well as researchers who wish to meet the diverse needs of patrons in ever-changing societies.

At a time of shrinking budgets and increasing demands, libraries are facing problems in meeting their needs for new collection development specialists. This volume proposes creative solutions to the three significant problems experienced by library administrators: attracting new collection development librarians, educating them in appropriate library school programs, and training them to perform their jobs. The chapters in this book, written by leading collection development officers, practitioners, and educators, cover innovative ways of looking at the entire range of collection development activities, from goals and objectives in staff development for collection work to scenarios from the next millennium.

The rich and complex genre of fantasy fiction appeals to readers of all ages. Designed for readers' advisors and collection development specialists in public, school, and college libraries, this in-depth guide expands upon the material on fantasy fiction offered in Genreflecting. Herald offers a historical and structural overview of the genre, describes 15 subgenres and a score of variations within them, and lists the best and most current reads available in the fantasy arena. Descriptive entries contain information about pertinent review resources, bibliographies, criticism, awards, and organizations. An author/title and subject index help provide easy access to specific titles and authors and an appendix lists recommended fantasy titles for young adults. A must for readers' advisors and collection development specialists, this book will also be valuable to writers, researchers, bookstore owners, and dedicated fans of fantasy fiction.

This work provides a comprehensive guide to the holdings of the Vatican Archives. Organized into related agency groups, Vatican Archives includes approximately 500 entries that describe the purpose and workings of each administrative agency of the Vatican, followed by a listing of the official records it produced; it is these administrative records that now constitute the archives. The work will serve as a research tool that provides a systematic and heretofore unavailable overview of the archives, enhancing and expediting access by scholars in a broad range of disciplines. _

Cultural history enthusiasts have asserted the urgent need to protect digital information from imminent loss. This book describes methodology for long-term preservation of all kinds of digital documents. It justifies this methodology using 20th century theory of knowledge communication, and outlines the requirements and architecture for the software needed. The author emphasizes attention to the perspectives and the needs of end users.

Collection management is becoming increasingly complex due to electronic access to information, the growth of the Internet, greater reliance on document delivery and resource sharing, and changes in scholarly communication. This professional reference shows how changes in all aspects of collection management will affect future activities in this area and examines the likely value of these changes in the next century. Chapters are written by leading practitioners and academics from around the world, and the volume concludes with a bibliographical essay.

Collection management has always been more difficult to define and more varied in organization and procedures than other library operations, such as acquisitions or automation. Current shifts in emphasis only make this more apparent. The electronic access to catalogs, databases, and full text materials, the increasing importance of the Internet, greater reliance on interlibrary loan and document delivery, and the changing world of scholarly communication all influence how library collections are acquired and managed. Faculty research and academic disciplines are not easily contained within clearly defined boundaries, acquisitions on-demand is on the increase, and document delivery has made patrons less dependent on local collections.

These changes influence policies, but not in any clear or uniform manner, and sometimes against organizational constraints. If local collections are being emphasized less, and access and connectivity more, then selection, evaluation, and preservation are greatly affected. And while cooperative efforts may relieve a library from collecting exhaustively in all areas, needed materials must still be collected and stored somewhere. This professional reference shows how changes in all aspects of collection management will affect future activities in this area and examines the likely value of these changes in the next century. Chapters are written by leading practitioners and academics from around the world, and the volume concludes with a bibliographical essay.

A leader in cooperative collection development for the school library presents a framework for developing school library collections in today's era of "access vs. ownership" and cooperative resource sharing. This guide provides new tools and techniques for analyzing collections, including "ready-to-use" collection data-gathering forms and collection assessment and analysis worksheets. Also included are examples of a written collection development policy, a selection policy, a copyright policy and procedures, and an Internet use policy. It shows how to map the school curriculum, represent library collections using automated circulation data, and document priorities for the collection. The guide is based on the premise that school library media specialists must have a clear understanding of their collection strengths and needs before participating in cooperative collection development in order to "think globally but act locally." The author provides more than 30 collection assessment tools, worksheets, and exemplary written sample collection policies that have proven effective in school library media centers and can be adapted for use in grades K through 12. Kachel provides both qualitative and quantitative techniques to analyze existing collections based on the conspectus approach. Cooperative collection development activities are detailed, including the financial, technical, and human resources needed for success. Methodologies for providing a rich base of resources matching curricular and student needs in a cost-effective and user-relevant fashion enhance the managerial and leadership role of the school library media specialist. For all school library media specialists who plan toanalyze and assess their collection and participate in cooperative collection development, this guide provides all the tools necessary to accurately and successfully manage this activity in a cost-effective manner.

For purposes of accreditation, resource sharing, and institutional mission, librarians need to assess the strengths of their collections in particular subject areas. This book describes and illustrates a brief test for determining a library's collection strength. Though such tests are most often employed in academic libraries, the methodology outlined by the author should be useful to all types of libraries in assessing the strength of their holdings. In a time of increasing material and limited resources, libraries need to be particularly judicious in deciding which works to acquire. Oftentimes, a library seeks to develop strong holdings in one or more subject areas. Such an approach is especially useful for libraries that share their resources with other institutions. To plan their acquisitions carefully and to be of greatest use to other consortia members, a library needs to gauge the strength of its holdings accurately. This volume describes and illustrates a relatively brief test to assign libraries a score for existing collection strength in a subject area. Drawing upon expert human judgment and holdings data available from OCLC, the test can assist librarians in setting and verifying collection levels on the RLG or WLN Conspectus scales. Collection strength is often verified in a labor-intensive fashion. The brief test presented by the author is an economical alternative to the more typical labor-intensive approach to collection analysis.

This book is the first-ever reference to the four seventeenth-century editions of William Shakespeare's collected plays known as the folios. Along with the quartos, these works are highly valued as the earliest surviving texts of the plays and are frequently cited and discussed in textual studies and general criticism. As an introductory study of these editions, this book focuses on how the folios have traveled over time, where they can be found today, and how they have been valued monetarily. It is the first census of Shakespeare folios conducted in the last fifty years, and it is the first handbook to these important texts ever compiled. The book provides a wealth of information about the folios in a format that can be quickly and easily accessed. It describes the four editions, explains their significance, and traces their market value over time. In addition, a census shows which libraries in the United States hold folios, the chronological movement of the copies to the U.S., and some specific details on each copy. Also included are a biographical dictionary, which offers information on publishers, editors, collectors, and major scholars important to the folios, descriptions of famous copies, a list of donors, discussions of folio lore and bindings, and a bibliography. An essential reference for all Shakespeare collections, this book will be an valuable resource for courses in Shakespearian history and the history of books and printing. It will also be an important addition to both academic and public libraries.

Business information is in strong demand by a wide range of library patrons. Academic librarians must meet the needs of undergraduates, graduates, and faculty who require information about businesses for their coursework and research; school librarians must deal with sophisticated financial questions from students in a variety of classes; public librarians must provide investors and job seekers with information about financial trends, prospective employers, and particular industries; and special librarians must provide their users with immediate and current data about clients, competitors, and markets. Business information is available in various forms, such as print sources, CD-ROMs, and on-line databases, and is particularly volatile, with the news of the morning often being more in demand than the news of the week before. The wide range of patron needs, product types, and constantly changing data makes managing business collections a particularly complex and demanding responsibility. This management guide provides a wealth of information to assist librarians who are new to managing business collections. Chapters written by expert contributors survey such topics as planning, financial and personnel concerns, and facilities management; the selection, acquisition, cataloging, classification, processing, and preservation of print and electronic material; and the provision of access, reference, and information services to both internal and external user communities. A selected annotated bibliography concludes the volume.

By Terry Eastwood This book reports the findings of a research project on the means of protecting the integrity of active and semi-active electronic records. The project, which is commonly referred to as "the UBC Project," was conceived by two of the authors of this book, Luciana Duranti and Terry Eastwood, and conducted between 1994 and 1997. The third author, Heather MacNeil, who worked formally as the principal research assistant on the project, acted as an equal in the research and in the writing of this book. The project investigated a number of fundamental questions that have arisen over the past decade as a consequence of the rapid development and use of computer technology for the creation, maintenance, and preservation of recorded information. One of the first comprehensive studies of the issues associated with the management of electronic records was conducted by the United Nations. The study, commonly known as the ACCIS report, aimed to "develop guidelines for implementation of electronic archives and records management programmes for use by United Nations organizations, taking into account traditional archives and records management practices. " The report of the study of electronic records in eighteen United Nations organizations identified a number of enduring issues. It recognized that the United Nations had to "distinguish between record and non-record material. "l It recognized the problem of ensuring the authenticity of records, which, rather narrowly, it construed as "assuring legality.

Product information not available.

By placing its professional expertise in the service of maintaining the democratic values of free expression and pluralism, American librarianship not only defended its professional autonomy in the area of book selection, but also developed an ideology of intellectual freedom and claimed its defense as a central jurisdiction. This volume charts the library profession's journey from the adoption of the 1939 Library's Bill of Rights to the 1969 development of the Freedom to Read Foundation. It identifies external events that posed threats to intellectual freedom and traces the ALA's response to those threats, particularly librarians' activities and discourse, and the motives and effectiveness of leaders responsible for forging the ALA's response.

Much of the data is drawn from the three most widely circulated library periodicals - "American Library Association Bulletin," "Wilson Library Bulletin," and "Library Journal" - that chronicle the debates that took place during the period. More importantly, the study makes extensive use of primary archival sources, state library journals, library school bulletins, and interviews. These sources reveal that by setting its professional expertise in the service of the democratic values of free expression and pluralism, American librarianship embarked on an odyssey of self-definition, through which it has carved out and defended its professional jurisdiction.

No other book available covers the topic of videocassette acquisitions so completely. This professional reference gives special attention to problems unique to cataloging videocassettes within the electronic, on-line cataloging environment. The text provides ample theoretical discussion, along with practical examples of a variety of solutions. Video acquisitions is one the most difficult tasks confronting any library today. Knowing and deciding what to buy and from whom, keeping track of orders, verifying titles, returning damaged and incorrectly shipped products, dealing with company representatives, obtaining discounts, and purchasing public performance rights are only some of the formidable decisions video librarians must make. This professional reference is a detailed guide to video acquisitions and cataloging. Throughout the work, emphasis is placed on the problems and concerns of acquisitions and cataloging within the electronic, on-line environment of today's library. The text provides ample theoretical discussion, along with practical examples and illustrations of solutions to the problems faced by video librarians.

Product information not available.

Intended to support the national initiative to strengthen learning in areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, this book helps librarians who work with youth in school and public libraries to build better collections and more effectively use these collections through readers' advisory and programming. A versatile and multi-faceted guide, Best STEM Resources for NextGen Scientists: The Essential Selection and User's Guide serves as a readers' advisory and collection development resource for youth services and school librarians seeking to bring STEM-related titles into their collections and introduce teachers and young readers to them. This book not only guides readers to hundreds of the best STEM-related titles-fiction and non-fiction printed materials as well as apps, DVDs, websites, and games-it also includes related activities or programming ideas to help promote the use of the collection to patrons or students in storytime, afterschool programs, or passive library programs. After a detailed discussion of the importance of STEM and the opportunities librarians have for involvement, the book lists and describes best STEM resources for young learners. Resources are organized according to the reading audiences for which they are intended, from toddlers through teens, and the book includes annotated lists of both fiction and nonfiction STEM titles as well as graphic novels, digital products, and online resources. In addition, the author offers a selection of professional readings for librarians and media specialists who wish to further expand their knowledge. Introduces more than 500 STEM resource suggestions for toddlers to young adults Highlights more than 25 detailed library program or activity suggestions to be paired with STEM book titles Provides resource suggestions for professional development Contains bonus sections on STEM-related graphic novels, apps, and other media

Hardbound. Change has always been characteristic of serials, and now the nature and speed of that change have altered with the development of electronic technology. Inflation, automation, and changes in publishers' practices and vendors' services all make their mark on serials librarianship. Advances in Serials Management presents essays on current issues in various topics, emphasizing the response to change and clear communication among those who work with serials as producers, processors and users.

This comprehensive manual of operations for managing local history material within the administrative framework of a library covers issues of administration, acquisitions, access, and use of all formats of material. Information on continually changing areas such as preservation, copyright and other legal concerns, computer applications, and national databases is also addressed, along with public relations roles and outreach activities for local history collections. Guidelines for administration of nontraditional library material (e.g., manuscripts) will be especially helpful to librarians. Archivists will value the manual as one of continuing practical education and theoretical development as exemplified by the Society of American Archivists' Basic Manual Series and Archival Fundamental Series. Manuscript curators, students, and administrators will also benefit from this book.

A considerable variety of information for libraries planning materials selection policies is relayed in reviews of the relevant literature and in case studies of typical special, public, academic, and school libraries. The case studies consider the location and size of each library as well as its budget, organizational chart, and materials selection procedure. In all, a good collection, well organized and easy to use. Actual collection develpment policies are appended, along with bibliography and index. Booklist As an outgrowth of the author's discovery that very little material exists discussing how to develop a library collection, this book seeks to identify how some experienced selectors think while deciding to buy, not buy, or discard materials from their collections. While subject areas or types of materials for which selectors are responsible may be vastly different, the author found that all selectors do collection development in the same way, and consider the same types of issues and problems in their decision-making process. The book, then, is designed to help librarians identify this process and understand the theoretical as well as practical aspects of building collections. Based on information gathered over a period of six years in research at academic, public, school, and special libraries, the book will be just as valuable to experienced practitioners of collection development as it will be to students and newcomers to the field. The first section discusses decision making and collection development, including general trends, theories and literature, and organizational administration. The second section provides case studies of four different types of libraries: public, school, academic, and special. Each type is represented by studies of four specific libraries, with a summary concluding each set of libraries. Finally, a third section draws conclusions based on the case studies, covering dynamic factors affecting the decision-making process as well as the process itself. The book concludes with a group of appendices, a bibliography, and an index. This important work will be an essential reference source for courses in library science and for working librarians in all types of institutions, as well as a valuable addition to college, university, and public libraries.

An examination of how and why certain books have become the most widely used reference works in American libraries. From Who's Who and World Book to Turabian's Manual, it explores the origins, influence and possible future for each of these works.

Product information not available.