Access Services departments in libraries have become highly complex organizations responsible for a broad range of functions, often including circulation, reserves, interlibrary lending and borrowing, document delivery, stacks maintenance, building security, photocopying, and providing general patron assistance. This book offers effective solutions to familiar problems, fresh ideas for responding to patron needs, and informed speculation on new trends and issues facing access services departments.

This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Access Services.

Critically acclaimed since its inception, "Advances in Librarianship" continues to be the essential reference source for developments in the field of libraries and library science. Articles published in the serial have won national prizes, such as the Blackwell North America Scholarship Award for the outstanding 1994 monograph, article, or original paper in the field of acquisitions, collection, development, and related areas of resource development. All areas of public, college, university, primary and secondary schools, and special libraries are given up-to-date, critical analysis by experts engaged in the practice of librarianship, in teaching, and in research.

Many people in the West or global North now live in a culture of 24/7 instant messaging, iPods and MP3s, streamed content, blogs, ubiquitous digital images and Facebook. But they are also surrounded by even more paper, books, telephone calls and material objects of one kind or another. The juxtaposition and proliferation of older and newer technologies is striking. Making Digital Cultures brings together recent theorizing of the 'digital age' with empirical studies of how institutions embrace these technologies in relation to older established technological objects, processes and practices. It asks how relations between 'analogue' and 'digital' are conceptualized and configured both in theory and inside the public library, the business organization and the archive. With its direct engagement with new media theory, science and technology studies, and cultural sociology, this volume will be of interest to scholars and students in the areas of media and communication and science and technology studies.

The Challenges to Library Learning: Solutions for Librarians is an insightful volume that offers a practical philosophy of engagement that can be used to meet the growing challenges facing librarians, including staffing shortages, depleted or eliminated training budgets, longer hours, greater workloads, and rapidly-changing technology, hindering the ability-and willingness-of employees to continue job education in library sciences. With three decades of experience as a library administrator, author Bruce E. Massis details an effective plan for inspiring initiative in the learner to pursue a goal-oriented and individualized approach to learning - helping the library to become more efficient, productive, and user-centered. Topics discussed include overcoming staff disengagement, accepting e-learning as a routine learning model, teaching and measuring information literacy training, creating a flexible alternative staffing model, the Community of Learning Program (CLP) for library staff, and the details of creating and implementing a training program. The Challenges to Library Learning: Solutions for Librarians is a vital and practical resource for anyone actively involved or pursuing a career in library administration.

Appropriate for any public library collection, this book provides a comprehensive readers' advisory guide for Japanese manga and anime, Korean manhwa, and Chinese manhua. Japanese manga and anime, Korean manhwa, and Chinese manhua are Asian graphic novels and animated films that have gained great popularity in the last ten years and now are found in most public library collections. Mostly Manga: A Genre Guide to Popular Manga, Manhwa, Manhua, and Anime is the first readers' advisory guide to focus on this important body of literature. This guide provides information on all of the major manga and anime formats and genres, covering publications from the early 1990s to the present. It identifies important titles historically and provides a broad representation of what is available in each format. Selected major titles are described in detail, covering the general plot as well as grade level and pertinent awards. The author also discusses common issues related to manga and anime, such as terminology, content and ratings, and censorship. Author, title, subject, and genre indexes An appendix featuring the films of Studio Ghibli Focuses on series that are easy and cost-effective for libraries to collect Demystifies a body of literature unfamiliar to many librarians

Originally published in 1976, this publication falls into three parts: The Verbal Index, The Word Frequency Table, and The Field of Reference. A scholar interested in the full range of connotation for the word heart in Conrad would look first to the word frequency table to see how often the word in question occurs in Lord Jim. If the word is indeed part of the vocabulary of the novel, he then would turn to its alphabetical listing in the verbal index and the line numbers in which it appears. Then turning to the field of reference, he could locate the lines cited and look at each occurrence of the word in context. The authors feel that the data provided by these tables is of basic importance to both the editor and the literary critic.

Looking at schools and universities, it is difficult to pinpoint when education, teaching and learning started to haemorrhage purpose, aspiration and function. Libraries and librarians have been starved of funding. Teachers cram their curriculum with 'skill development' and 'generic competencies' because knowledge, creativity and originality are too expensive to provide to unmotivated students and parents obsessed with league tables, not learning. Meanwhile, the internet offers a glut of information on everything-under-the-sun, a mere mouse-click away. Bored surfers fill their cursors and minds with irrelevancies. We lose the capacity to sift, discard and judge. Information is no longer for social good, but for sale. Tara Brabazon argues that this information fetish has been profoundly damaging to our learning institutions and to the ambitions of our students and educators. In The University of Google she projects a defiant and passionate vision of education as a pathway to renewal, where research is based on searching and students are on a journey through knowledge, rather than consumers in the shopping centre of cheap ideas. Angry, humorous and practical in equal measure, The University of Google is based on real teaching experience and on years of engaged and sometimes exasperated reflection on it. It is far from a luddite critique of the information age. Tara Brabazon celebrates the possibilities of digital platforms in education, but deplores the consequences of placing funding on technology and not teachers. In doing so, she opens a new debate on how to make our educational system both productive and provocative in the (post-) information age.

Comparative studies in information and library science published in the past ten years have reflected a broad spectrum of backgrounds, interests, and issues. But until now, services between different countries have never been gathered or organized into a single source. As demand from researchers, students, directors, and practitioners for literature in this field continues to grow, the need for a focused book on international and comparative librarianship has become more evident. Authors Yan Quan Liu and Xiaojun Cheng address this gap as it pertains to Asian nations. This contributed volume, International and Comparative Studies in Information and Library Science: A Focus on the United States and Asian Countries, addresses such issues as research methodologies, information policy, professional education, information organization, as well as school, academic, and public libraries. The book also features a comprehensive bibliography of related articles, books, proceedings, and other publications in both English and Chinese. In addition, this volume features four appendixes that include lists of the curriculum, journal titles, conferences, and websites relating to international and comparative librarianship available at the time of publication.

New essays reappraising the history of the book, manuscripts, and texts. The dynamic fields of the history of the book and the sociology of the text are the areas this volume investigates, bringing together ten specially commissioned essays that between them demonstrate a range of critical and materialapproaches to medieval, early modern, and digital books and texts. They scrutinize individual medieval manuscripts to illustrate how careful re-reading of evidence permits a more nuanced apprehension of production, and receptionacross time; analyse metaphor for our understanding of the Byzantine book; examine the materiality of textuality from Beowulf to Pepys and the digital work in the twenty-first century; place manuscripts back into specific historical context; and re-appraise scholarly interpretation of significant periods of manuscript and print production in the later medieval and early modern periods. All of these essays call for a new assessment of the ways in which we read books and texts, making a major contribution to book history, and illustrating how detailed focus on individual cases can yield important new findings. Contributors: Elaine Treharne, Erika Corradini, Julia Crick, Orietta Da Rold, A.S.G. Edwards, Martin K. Foys, Whitney Anne Trettien, David L. Gants, Ralph Hanna, Robert Romanchuk, Margaret M. Smith, Liberty Stanavage.

Libraries are currently confronted by the challenges of managing increasing amounts of electronic information. Print vs. Digital: The Future of Coexistence presents the expert perspectives of eight of America's leading library administrators on ways to effectively manage digital flow and offers strategies to provide a level of coexistence between digital and print information. This excellent overview explores how to best balance print and electronic resources, and explores important issues such as the selection of electronic resources, improving access to digital information for a larger user base, and effective management of a library's fiscal and personnel resources. Print vs. Digital: The Future of Coexistence discusses the various challenges libraries now face from the massive influx of digital resources, including the ways that information-seeking behaviors have changed, the search for synergies between print and digital, economics of news preservation, and whether or not the end of print journals is at hand. New ideas and technological advances are explored, including the diverse ways these improvements will impact the future. This well-referenced resource includes useful tables, figures, and photographs. Topics in Print vs. Digital: The Future of Coexistence include: cooperative collection development balance of print and electronic resources evolvement of digital resources in libraries change in research libraries factors influencing the selection of electronic resources disseminating information about scholarly collections impact of digital resources on research behavior and techniques design of digital libraries JSTOR effects of digital information on reference collections transition of print journals to digital formats Print vs. Digital: The Future of Coexistence is a thought provoking, insightful resource on the future of libraries, invaluable for acquisitions, reference, and collection development librarians; and senior and mid-level administrators such as deans, directors, and department heads for public, special, and academic libraries.

The Semantic Web, extends the popular, day-to-day Web, enabling computers and people to effectively work together by giving information well-defined meaning. Knitting the Semantic Web explains the interdisciplinary efforts underway to build a more library-like Web through "semantic knitting." The book examines foundation activities and initiatives leading to standardized semantic metadata. These efforts lead to the Semantic Web-a network able to support computational activities and provide people with services efficiently. Leaders in library and information science, computer science, and information intensive domains provide insight and inspiration to give readers a greater understanding of the evolution of the Semantic Web.
Librarians and information professionals are uniquely qualified to play a major role in the development and maintenance of the Semantic Web. Knitting the Semantic Web closely examines this crucial relationship in detail. This single source reviews the foundations, standards, and tools underlying the Semantic Web and presents thoughtful perspectives in the context of 2.0 developments. Many chapters include figures to illustrate concepts and ideas, and the entire text is extensively referenced.
Topics in Knitting the Semantic Web include:

• RDF, its expressive power, and its ability to underlie the new Library catalog card for the coming century
  
• the value and application for controlled vocabularies
  
• SKOS (Simple Knowledge Organization System), the newest Semantic Web language
  
• managing scheme versioning in the Semantic Web
  
• Physnet portal service for physics
  
• Semantic Web technologies in biomedicine
  
• developing the United Nations Food and Agriculture ontology
  
• Friend Of A Friend (FOAF) vocabulary specification-with a real world case study at a university
  
• Web/Library 2.0
  
• and more
  

Since the 1950s there has been a persistent shortage of sci-tech librarians, and as more librarians retire or change positions, the prospect looms that the profession will only depopulate further. Tackling this difficult challenge, Recruiting, Training, and Retention of Science and Technology Librarians gathers together into one source the perspectives of top library administrators and managers as well as front-line librarians who present the latest research and practical strategies to find, train, and keep those valuable specialized professionals. This book explores in depth timely issues and presents creative perspectives and innovative solutions to this persistent problem in subject-specialized libraries.
As the baby-boom generation of science and technology librarians begins to retire, training and keeping sci-tech librarians will become even more crucial. Recruiting, Training, and Retention of Science and Technology Librarians discusses the "replacement gap" problem in libraries, including who should be recruited, how they should be trained, and how to retain them once hired. Several authors address the field's long-standing specialist vs. generalist debate, bringing new data and experience-driven perspectives to this challenging issue.
Topics in Recruiting, Training, and Retention of Science and Technology Librarians include:

• updating the cultural image of librarians to make the profession more appealing
  
• a comprehensive literature review
  
• how to cultivate candidates who are dedicated to service and love research and learning
  
• practical approaches to improve the visibility and attractiveness of science librarianship
  
• the skills and support needed to become a successful science librarian
  
• an innovative program to recruit undergraduates
  
• an in-depth survey of practicing science and technology librarians
  
• the challenges of science librarianship in Africa
  
• library and information science educators as recruiters for sci-tech librarians
  
• creative strategies to recruit and retain librarians
  
• adapting aspects of first-year student retention programs as a model for library retention programs
  
• how professional competencies can be used for recruitment, training, and retention
  
• and more

This is the first work that covers the post-Communist development of historical studies in six Eastern European countries: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia. It offers a uniquely critical and qualitative analysis from a comparative and critical perspective, written by scholars from the region itself. Focusing on the first post-Communist decade, 1989-1999, the book offers a longer-term perspective that includes the immediate 'prehistory' of that momentous decade as well as its 'posthistoire'. The authors capture the spirit of 1989, that heady mix of elation, surprise, determination, and hope: l'ivresse du possible. This was the paradoxical beginning of Eastern European post-Communism: ushered in by 'anti-Utopian' revolutions, and slowly finding its course towards a bureaucratic, imitative, challenging, and anachronistic restoration of a capitalism that had changed almost beyond recognition when it had mutated into the negative double of Communism. Each individual chapter has numerous and detailed notes and references.

Technological advances and innovative perspectives constantly evolve the notion of what makes up a digital library. Archives and the Digital Library provides an insightful snapshot of the current state of archiving in the digital realm. Respected experts in library and information science present the latest research results and illuminating case studies to provide a comprehensive glimpse at the theory, technological advances, and unique approaches to digital information management as it now stands. The book focuses on digitally reformatted surrogates of non-digital textual and graphic materials from archival collections, exploring the roles archivists can play in broadening the scope of digitization efforts through creatively developing policies, procedures, and tools to effectively manage digital content.
Many of the important advances in digitization of materials have little to do with the efforts of archivists. Archives and the Digital Library concentrates specifically on the developments in the world of archives and the digitization of the unique content of information resources archivists deal with on a constant basis. This resource reviews the current issues and challenges, effective user assessment techniques, various digital resources projects, collaboration strategies, and helpful best practices. The book is extensively referenced and includes helpful illustrative figures.
Topics in Archives and the Digital Library include:

• a case study of LSTA-grant funded California Local History Digital Resources Project
  
• expanding the scope of traditional archival digitations projects beyond the limits of a single institution
  
• a case study of the California Cultures Project
  
• the top ten themes in usability issues
  
• case studies of usability studies, focus groups, interviews, ethnographic studies, and web log analysis
  
• developing a reciprocal partnership with a digital library
  
• the technical challenges in harvesting and managing Web archives
  
• metadata strategies to provide descriptive, technical, and preservation related information about archived Web sites
  
• long-term preservation of digital materials
  
• building a trusted digital repository
  
• collaboration in developing and supporting the technical and organizational infrastructure for sustainability in both academic and state government
  
• the Archivists' Toolkit software application
  

Technological advances and innovative perspectives constantly evolve the notion of what makes up a digital library. Archives and the Digital Library provides an insightful snapshot of the current state of archiving in the digital realm. Respected experts in library and information science present the latest research results and illuminating case studies to provide a comprehensive glimpse at the theory, technological advances, and unique approaches to digital information management as it now stands. The book focuses on digitally reformatted surrogates of non-digital textual and graphic materials from archival collections, exploring the roles archivists can play in broadening the scope of digitization efforts through creatively developing policies, procedures, and tools to effectively manage digital content.
Many of the important advances in digitization of materials have little to do with the efforts of archivists. Archives and the Digital Library concentrates specifically on the developments in the world of archives and the digitization of the unique content of information resources archivists deal with on a constant basis. This resource reviews the current issues and challenges, effective user assessment techniques, various digital resources projects, collaboration strategies, and helpful best practices. The book is extensively referenced and includes helpful illustrative figures.
Topics in Archives and the Digital Library include:

• a case study of LSTA-grant funded California Local History Digital Resources Project
  
• expanding the scope of traditional archival digitations projects beyond the limits of a single institution
  
• a case study of the California Cultures Project
  
• the top ten themes in usability issues
  
• case studies of usability studies, focus groups, interviews, ethnographic studies, and web log analysis
  
• developing a reciprocal partnership with a digital library
  
• the technical challenges in harvesting and managing Web archives
  
• metadata strategies to provide descriptive, technical, and preservation related information about archived Web sites
  
• long-term preservation of digital materials
  
• building a trusted digital repository
  
• collaboration in developing and supporting the technical and organizational infrastructure for sustainability in both academic and state government
  
• the Archivists' Toolkit software application
  

In the first detailed examination of the subject, Maxine Rochester surveys the benefits and problems associated with training foreign librarians and information science professionals in the United States. First providing background on the general issue of foreign students seeking higher education in the United States, the author analyzes historical trends and current developments. The library and information sciences student is considered next, together with the features of American education that attract foreign students. Issues such as sources of funding, selection of students, admission procedures, difficulties experienced by foreign students, and their effect on library schools are discussed. The impact on the development of library and information services in their home countries is examined in detail.

Although most art museums possess a library of some kind, these facilities are often hidden from the public and seldom discussed in library schools despite the important role they play as substantial research venues. Co-published with the Art Libraries Society of North America, Art Museum Libraries and Librarianship serves as an introduction to the field of art museum librarianship and its diverse settings. Editor Joan Benedetti has compiled contributions from practicing art museum librarians to present sixteen chapters that address the topics of leadership, reader services, automation, security, cataloging, space planning, collection development, visual resources, ephemera, special collections, archives, fundraising, public relations, volunteers and interns, professional development, and solo librarianship. Each chapter consists of several essays that deal with the distinct environment of art museum libraries: from the largest research collections that serve many curatorial departments and multiple administrative layers to the smallest solo librarian venues whose unsung staff work in relative isolation. The book concludes with a collection of brief institutional profiles, which include statistical and descriptive information on fifteen diverse art museum libraries in the U.S., Canada, and Europe; appendixes that describe academic programs offering dual degrees in librarianship and art, list international professional associations for art museum librarians, and provide sample policies and procedures in use today in art museum libraries; a bibliography; and an index. Art Museum Libraries and Librarianship, the first publication of its kind, is illustrated with over 90 black and white images of art museums, their libraries, and items from their collections.

During the past 50 years, the study of "international librarianship" global, universal, or comparative has increasingly become an essential element in understanding the importance of information and knowledge in the global setting. Over this period of time, many attempts have been made to evaluate the similarities and differences in information structures, staffing, and services in various areas of the world with the ultimate intention of providing timely and accurate information to seekers in the greater international arena. International Librarianship: A Basic Guide to Global Knowledge Access identifies basic background sources, in whatever format, for the study and teaching of international librarianship. The most important ones relate to: . Establishing a professional association, so that issues relating to information access can be discussed and resolved at the national and international level . Identifying international philanthropic agencies, which can facilitate development of international information services . The Importance of national libraries and bibliographic services, which are responsible for some coordination and cooperation in sharing national information . Developing information policies on both the national and international front Renowned author and specialist on international librarianship, Robert D. Stueart, concludes the guide with a listing of sources for the discussion and development of information policies, including proposals put forth in the World Summit on the Information Society."

With the start of the 21st Century, information services around the world are facing a host of challenges and changes unique to this era of exponential technological growth. However, this change is further compounded by the high turnover rate in senior positions. Focusing on leadership, this text-ideal for young, emerging managers and supervisors-is meant to guide future leaders in making the appropriate choices and decisions in response to and in anticipation of the competition.Authors G. Edward Evans and Patricia Layzell Ward's vast professional experience in a variety of roles and organizations all over the world serves as a strong basis for the advice presented. Leadership Basics for Librarians and Information Professionals includes data from surveys and interviews of leaders in archives, libraries, and other information services arenas, as well as current literature on leadership from both general management and information services fields. All together this book is a solid starting point for young librarians and information professionals seeking to get ahead of the competition, as well as a helpful reminder for seasoned leaders needing a bit of inspiration.

This resource is as much a tribute to its editors and contributors, a cadre of champions who have made the study of this underrepresented group their lifework, as it is a testament to their unwavering respect for the young inquiring mind. Continuing the work of their earlier volume published in 2004, Mary K. Chelton and Colleen Cool offer a snapshot of the current research agenda, and provide a useful starting place for exploring the information seeking behavior of young adults. This excellent resource, which supports information behavior and youth services courses, compiles, in one convenient volume, the work of many of the discipline's important researchers and their research projects. Five chapters focus on everyday life information seeking (ELIS), including: the everyday information behaviors of children nine to thirteen years of age; a similar study of urban teenagers fourteen to seventeen; the need for sexual health information; information seeking during "queer" youth coming-out experiences; and teen reading, book purchasing, and library-use patterns. The authors also include four chapters that address the information seeking of youth in their role as students. These studies are a must-read for researchers in the field and for those with an interest in the information seeking behaviors of youth.

The role of providing public access to the law is a critical one for librarians. It has been over ten years since the last law librarianship textbook was published. Since that time, much has changed in the profession, and with the emergence of new technologies such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing, law librarians must master legal materials and a thorough understanding of the latest technologies in order to best serve the public. Law Librarianship in the 21st Century, a text for library and information science courses on law librarianship, introduces students to the rapidly evolving world of law librarianship. With no prior knowledge of the law required, students using this book will find practical answers to such questions as: What is law librarianship? How do you become a law librarian? How does law librarianship interrelate with the legal world? Individual chapters provide a concise treatment of such specialized topics as the history of law librarianship, international law, and government documents. Standard topics are dealt with as they apply to the law library, including collection development, public services, technical processing, administration, technology, and consortia. The textbook also includes an explanation of the common acronyms and special terminology needed to work in a law library.

This new edition takes as its focus the dynamic electronic environment in which organizations now operate and the challenges this presents for the management of records. The book offers a practical approach to developing and operating an effective programme to manage hybrid records within an organization, positioning records management as an integral business function linked to the organization's business aims and objectives. The records requirements of new and significant pieces of legislation such as data protection and freedom of information are addressed. Strategies for managing electronic records are explored. Bullet points, checklists and examples assist the reader throughout.

Libraries have been part of the human civilization for centuries by playing an important role in the development of people and societies and being instrumental in storing and retrieving information for scholars and other users. Many changes have been introduced in libraries from time to time in order to meet the needs of the changing world. During ancient times, information was written and stored on clay tablets and handwritten materials, which then changed to the printing materials employed during the medieval period. Then came microforms, CD-ROMS, and the online storage method, including databases on the World Wide Web. Technology is still very new to the libraries and their user; the western world having been just introduced to it during the second half of the twentieth century. Editor R.N. Sharma's travels to Asia, Africa, and the Middle East on library assignments have shown him that libraries in those regions are still far behind technologically as compared to the United States and other developed countries. In the Impact of Technology on Asian, African and Middle Eastern Library Collections, sixteen well-known scholars, library educators, and librarians from Asia, Africa, and the Middle East write about the impact of technology on library collections and services in their countries. Three authors from the United States contribute articles about Asian, African, and Middle Eastern Collections in the United States and the impact of technology on these collections and services. This collection of well written essays gives a clear picture of these countries' libraries as compared to the United States and the ways to bridge the gap between developed and developing countries of these regions.

New Librarian, New Job: Practical Advice for Managing the Transition is designed to provide practical knowledge in all major areas of librarianship for new and existing professionals. In addition, it provides in-depth information on professional competencies and the processes for acquiring the essential job skills to perform effectively. This book fills the gap between theoretical textbook information and the true library profession through practical job and career advice for new graduates and professionals in academic and public libraries. Primarily geared towards recent graduates, this resource will also be relevant for professional librarians who are several years into their career and have recently joined a new position or institution. Contributors relate the experiences of practicing librarians and cover various areas of librarianship, such as instruction, career advancement, collection development, reference, and scholarly activity.