While librarians and information professional are experts at providing resources to users, managing their own internal working knowledge and information can be a challenge. As information environments continue to become more complex, librarians and other information professionals must build on the existing expertise and skills within their organizations to keep them relevant to the information needs of their patrons and communities. Knowledge management (KM) is an intentional set of strategies intended to capture, preserve, and use human knowledge from employees to further the goals of an organization. Knowledge Management: A Practical Guide for Librarians will help librarians recognize, organize, communicate, and leverage both the tacit and explicit knowledge already in their organizations for the benefit of themselves and their users. Topics covered include: Why knowledge management is important in libraries and information organizations The knowledge management lifecycle: capturing, organizing, storing, sharing, and updating knowledge Capturing tacit and explicit knowledge and getting staff buy-in Tools and methods for recording and developing organizational information flow Facilitating the transfer of organizational knowledge and expertise Promoting knowledge innovation and learning Knowledge Management is intended to help individual librarians and library managers in all library settings (academic, public, school, special, etc.) to think critically about their existing knowledge management environments with an eye toward improving existing procedures or implementing a KM program. This guide will provide readers with basic background information and useful, targeted exercises and examples to help them develop knowledge management programs in their own organizations.

In the 1980s, a young adventurer and collector for a government library, Abdel Kader Haidara, journeyed across the Sahara Desert and along the Niger River, tracking down and salvaging tens of thousands of ancient Islamic and secular manuscripts that were crumbling in the trunks of desert shepherds. His goal: to preserve this crucial part of the world's patrimony in a gorgeous library. But then Al Qaeda showed up at the door. Joshua Hammer writes about how Haidara, a mild-mannered archivist from the legendary city of Timbuktu, became one of the world's greatest smugglers by saving the texts from sure destruction. With bravery and patience, Haidara organized a dangerous operation to sneak all 350,000 volumes out of the city to the safety of southern Mali. His heroic heist is a reminder that ordinary citizens often do the most to protect the beauty of their culture. His story is one of a man who, through extreme circumstances, discovered his higher calling and was changed forever by it.

New Roles for Research Librarians: Meeting the Expectations for Research Support presents strategies librarians can use to adapt to the new conditions and growing expectations that are emerging from students and researchers. Even if they have never completed a PhD, or even been engaged in independent research themselves, this book will provide a new roadmap on how to deal with the new work environment. The book provides different approaches that include the library in the research process, an area that is often neglected by researchers during their planning and strategic work on research projects. Users will find content that offers tactics on how to create a new dialogue between the librarian and the postgraduate student, along with comprehensive discussions on different starting points, and how communication and collaboration can help reach the best of both worlds.

In today's modern age where information is constantly being shared, intellectual property and protection remains a crucial aspect in economic development. Open access has emerged as a cutting-edge tool that allows writers and authors to share their work freely while still holding protection and security over it. With technology playing a crucial role in economic growth, open access practices could be a key contributor in the innovation and development of information and public policy. What researchers need is a comprehensive approach to the concept of open access practice, its foundations, and current status. Building Equitable Access to Knowledge Through Open Access Repositories provides emerging research exploring the theoretical and practical aspects of open access publishing practices in the digital age and applications within scientific and academic research. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as copyright protection, social justice, and European Copyright Framework, this book is ideally designed for researchers, scientists, policymakers, librarians, IT specialists, authors, publishers, academicians, and students seeking current research on the advancement of intellectual property rights in today's technologically driven world.

Lessons in Library Leadership: A Primer for Library Managers and Unit Leaders takes on the topic of management positions within libraries and how many of them are filled by candidates with no formalized training. This lack of preparation often leads to added stress as they scramble to learn how to lead, to formulate departmental goals, to conduct effective assessment, to think and plan strategically, to counsel employees, and much more. This book will serve equally as a primer for librarians new to management and those needing a refresher in basic management concepts. Seasoned managers may also look to this guide as a quick reference resource covering multiple management subjects. The contents of the monograph include basic concepts, real word examples/case studies, and bibliographic information for further management skill development.

The Academic Librarian as Blended Professional employs a model that allows for individual and managerial reconceptualization of the librarian's role, also helping to mitigate obstacles to professional development both internal and external to the library. Using traditional and personal narrative, the book extends Whitchurch's blended professional model, designed to consider the merging of academicians' roles across several spheres of professional and academic influence in a higher education setting, to academic librarians. The book is significant due to its use of higher education theory to examine the professional identity of academic librarians and the issues impacting librarian professional development. The work offers a constructive, replicable research design appropriate for the analysis of librarians in other academic settings, providing additional insights into how these professionals might perceive their roles within the larger context of a higher education environment. Following the application of the blended professional model, this book contends that academic librarians have similar roles concerning research, instruction, and service when compared to an institution's tenure-track faculty. The scope of professional productivity and the expectation of the librarians, though, are much less regimented. Consequently, the academic librarians find themselves in a tenuous working space where their blended role is inhibited by real and perceived barriers.

Improve the delivery of library services by implementing total quality management (TQM), a system of continuous improvement employing participative management and centered on the needs of customers. Although TQM was originally designed for and successfully applied in business and manufacturing settings, this groundbreaking volume introduces strategies for translating TQM principles from the profit-based manufacturing sector to the library setting. Integrating Total Quality Management in a Library Setting shows librarians how to improve library services by implementing strategies such as employee involvement and training, problem-solving teams, statistical methods, long-term goals and thinking, and an overall recognition that the system (not the staff) is responsible for most inefficiencies.Total Quality Management in a Library Setting describes the principles of TQM, its origins, and the potential benefits and barriers to be expected when adopting quality management approaches in libraries. Chapters provide guidelines for planning and implementation to help libraries use total quality management to break down interdepartmental barriers and work on continuously improving library services. The contributors, who have begun to think about using or who are already using TQM in a library setting, present specific planning and implementation issues that can be put to immediate use in libraries. With this innovative book, library managers will learn that by working together on problem solving teams to address specific operational questions, and by developing a shared knowledge of problem-solving tools and techniques, staff members grow personally and gain a larger sense of organizational purpose. Other TQM methods introduced in this book include the concept of the internal customer, which teaches staff to recognize how other staff members use the results of their work, and the principle of continuous improvement, which enables libraries to set measurable goals based on quantitative performance indicators, and to monitor progress toward those goals.

This invaluable new book contains timely information about the assessment of academic library collections and the relationship of collection assessment to acquisition budgets. The rising cost of information significantly influences academic libraries'abilities to acquire the necessary materials for students and faculty, and public libraries'abilities to acquire material for their clientele. Collection Assessment and Acquisitions Budgets examines different aspects of the relationship between the assessment of academic library collections and the management of library acquisition budgets. Librarians, researchers, and representatives from major library vendors present studies and opinions on collection assessment and acquisition budgets. Collection Assessment and Acquisitions Budgets explores the issues and tools related to collection assessment and also presents insight into the relationships between libraries and vendors. Some of the topics covered by this volume include: current factors influencing libraries'abilities to acquire information an examination of trends affecting libraries and information vendors use studies and collection development management of acquisition funds criteria to evaluate information vendors relationships between libraries and vendorsThese informative chapters discuss current issues and present the latest research findings relating to collection assessment and acquisition budgets. Practicing librarians, students in the field, and librarians involved in administration and especially acquisitions and collection development will gain a better understanding of the complexities of collection and the factors affecting acquisitions budgets. Librarians will find practical information, including product reviews and opportunities to use automated tools in the assessment process, the benefits and problems of serial review projects, types of assistance vendors can provide libraries in the collection assessment process, the importance of collection assessment in the competition for funding, and ideas for the use of circulation data in the collection assessment process.

Records and Information Management: Fundamentals of Professional Practice, Fourth Edition presents principles and practices for systematic management of recorded information. It is anauthoritative resource for newly appointed records managers and information governance specialists as well as for experienced records management and information governance professionals who want a review of specific topics. It is also a textbook for undergraduate and graduate students of records management or allied disciplines-such as library science, archives management, information systems, and office administration-that are concerned with the storage, organization, retrieval, retention, or protection of recorded information. The fourth edition has been thoroughly updated and expanded to: Set the professional discipline of RIM in the context of information governance, risk mitigation, and compliance andindicate how it contributes to those initiatives in government agencies, businesses, and not-for-profit organizations Provide a global perspective, with international examples and a discussion of the differences in records management issuesin different parts of the world. Its seven chapters are practical, rather than theoretical, and reflect the scope andresponsibilities of RIM programs in all types of organizations. Emphasize best practices and relevant standards. The book is organized into seven chapters that reflect the scope and responsibilities of records and information management programs in companies, government agencies, universities, cultural and philanthropic institutions, professional services firms, and other organizations. Topics covered include the conceptual foundations of systematic records management, the role of records management as a business discipline, fundamentals of record retention, management of active and inactive paper records, document imaging technologies and methods, concepts and technologies for organization and retrieval of digital documents, and protection ofmission-critical records. In every chapter, the treatment is practical rather than theoretical. Drawing on the author's extensiveexperience supplemented by insights from records management publications, the book emphasizes key concepts and proven methods that readers can use to manage electronic and physical records.

In this century the central and quintessential correctional facility program ought to be the library. While the U.S. prison industry has embraced a massive reentry movement emphasizing literacy and job readiness for former felons, prison libraries have been ignored as potential sources for reintegration. In The Prison Library Primer: A Program for the Twenty-First Century, Brenda Vogel addresses the unique challenges facing the prison librarian. This practical guide to operating and promoting a correctional library focuses on the basic priorities: collection development; location, space planning, and furnishing suggestions; information on court decisions and legislation affecting prisoners' rights. This volume also includes an information-skills training curriculum, sample administration policies, essential digital and print sources, and community support resources. Equipped with practical library science tools and creative solutions, The Prison Library Primer is an invaluable resource that will help the librarian and library advocate develop, grow, and maintain an effective, user-centered library program.

Between 1967 and 1974, a number of librarians came together to push for change in the American Library Association. They soon prompted a majority of the profession to examine their role in the dissemination and preservation of culture and to ask basic questions about the terrain that the profession defends. A particular concern was the limitations to intellectual freedom (if any) that might arise in the pursuit of other perhaps equally worthy goals. The questions raised by this advocacy group were based on a relatively new concept of librarianly social responsibility that was partly an outgrowth of the civil rights and antiwar agitation of the period and partly a continuation of the proud traditions of the alternative press movement in the United States. The resulting dissension and turmoil exposed an inherent discrepancy not only between the rhetoric of ideals within the profession and the reality of practice but between librarians as agents of change--librarians' having a social agenda--and professional neutrality or the provision of information for all sides without taking sides. These conflicts have never been resolved. The reader will find in this book a fully researched presentation of the years of ferment and political infighting that brought the issues into such sharp focus.

Can the methods of science be directed toward science itself? How did it happen that scientists, scientific documents, and their bibliographic links came to be regarded as mathematical variables in abstract models of scientific communication? What is the role of quantitative analyses of scientific and technical documentation in current science policy and management? Bibliometrics and Citation Analysis: From the Science Citation Index to Cybermetrics answers these questions through a comprehensive overview of theories, techniques, concepts, and applications in the interdisciplinary and steadily growing field of bibliometrics. Since citation indexes came into the limelight during the mid-1960s, citation networks have become increasingly important for many different research fields. The book begins by investigating the empirical, philosophical, and mathematical foundations of bibliometrics, including its beginnings with the Science Citation Index, the theoretical framework behind it, and its mathematical underpinnings. It then examines the application of bibliometrics and citation analysis in the sciences and science studies, especially the sociology of science and science policy. Finally it provides a view of the future of bibliometrics, exploring in detail the ongoing extension of bibliometric methods to the structure and dynamics of the World Wide Web. This book gives newcomers to the field of bibliometrics an accessible entry point to an entire research tradition otherwise scattered through a vast amount of journal literature. At the same time, it brings to the forefront the cross-disciplinary linkages between the various fields (sociology, philosophy, mathematics, politics) that intersect at the crossroads of citation analysis. Because of its discursive and interdisciplinary approach, the book is useful to those in every area of scholarship involved in the quantitative analysis of information exchanges, but also to science historians and general readers who simply wish to familiarize them

Award-winning information theorists and practitioners Pearlstein and Matarazzo have assembled a group of top international authors with experience in public, academic, government, and special library settings, including experienced independent information professionals, to address the critical issues facing Information Management (IM) today. This new handbook provides a context for approaching the world in which information professionals work; a tool, the Balanced Scorecard, to help demonstrate contribution and value; and a review of opportunities for new areas of employment and career development, ripe for applying the Information Services skill set. Through combinations of topical chapters with common themes, the professor and student will find a multi-perspective approach to the IM landscape. Used as a ready-reference, the IM practitioner will find both theoretical and pragmatic approaches to inform their decision making on traditional as well as new challenges. For information and IM professionals, librarians, and students, this must-have handbook provides invaluable insights from the leading names in the field, enabling you to make the best decision no matter what challenges you face.

Outreach: Innovative Practices for Archives and Special Collections explores how archives of different sizes and types are reaching out to new potential users and increasing awareness of programs and collections. The book features twelve case studies that demonstrate ideas that can be transferred into many other settings. Some of the practices described in the case studies rely primarily on technology and the Web to interact with the public, while others are centered on face-to-face activities. The case studies featured are 1.The Oregon Archives Crawl: Engaging New Users and Advocates 2.Moved by the Spirit: Opportunistic Promotion of the Hamilton Family Seance Collection 3.Working Within the Law: Public Programming and Continuing Education 4.Staying Connected: Engaging Alumni and Students to Digitize the Carl "Pappy" Fehr Choral Music Collection 5."Pin"pointing Success: Assessing the Value of Pinterest and Historypin for Special Collections Outreach 6.Creating a New Learning Center: Designing a Space to Support Multiple Outreach Goals 7."Wikipedia is made of people!": Revelations from Collaborating with the World's Most Popular Encyclopedia 8.21 Revolutions: New Art from Old Objects 9.Happy Accidents and Unintended Consequences: How We Named Our Tribble 10.Navigating Nightingale: Creating an App Out of Archives 11.DIY History: Redesigning a Platform for a Transcription Crowdsourcing Initiative 12.Taking Preservation to the People: Educating the Public About Personal Digital Archiving All twelve case studies look at outreach as identifying the organization's intended audience, building new ways of reaching them, and helping the organization achieve its mission. Each also reflects a philosophy of experimentation that is perhaps the most critical ingredient for any organization interested in developing its own "innovative" practices. This volume will be useful to those working in archives and special collections as well as other cultural heritage organizations, and provides ideas ranging from those that require long-term planning and coordination to those that could be immediately implemented. It also provides students and educators in archives, library, and public history graduate programs a resource for understanding the variety of ways people conduct outreach in the field today and the kinds of strategies archivists are using to attract new users to collections.

A strategic plan is a useful tool for communicating the purpose of the library media center (LMC) to the administrators, teachers, and parents of the school community. An initial benefit is an assessment of the library program's strengths, weaknesses, and impact on the teaching and learning process. The library media specialist should use the planning process to garner greater support, identify priorities for future direction, provide the basis for effective budget development, and articulate the LMC's integral role in the school's instructional program. Based on Information Power, as well as input from focus groups of librarians, computer educators, teachers, administrators, and parents, the authors identified a core of the essential elements found in quality library media programs. Rubrics developed for this core provide a foundation for developing and prioritizing goals and objectives, as well as tools for ongoing evaluation. School library media centers, often short of time and staff, will welcome this easy-to-follow blueprint, packed with forms, questions to consider, templates, rubrics, and charts. From forming a committee and constructing surveys, to good PR and a consistent evaluation process, this essential handbook provides the tools to create a visionary mission statement, the strategic plan that embodies it, and the steps to implement it.

Much has been written about the state of Black adolescence often from a sociological point of view situating Black teens in an at-risk category. However, through her characters, young adult author Janet McDonald (1954-2007) presents the wide range of adolescent life. McDonald especially presents to readers the multifarious views of society in relation to the self-efficacious drive of urban teens to rise above their circumstances by any means necessary. Janet McDonald: The Original Project Girl is a bio-critical study of McDonald and her work as it relates to the contributions she has made to the genre of teen fiction. It explains McDonald's profoundly realistic fiction, which holds wide appeal for teens in search of answers to the coming of age mystery. Catherine Ross-Stroud, in her study of McDonald's works and interviews with the author, has put together a comprehensive resource that will be a useful research tool."

'A problem of space first of all, then a problem of order' One of the most singular and extravagant imaginations of the twentieth century, the novelist and essayist Georges Perec was a true original who delighted in wordplay, puzzles, taxonomies and seeing the extraordinary in the everyday. In these virtuoso writings about books and language, he discusses different ways of reading, a list of the things he really must do before he dies and the power of words to overcome the chaos of the world. One of twenty new books in the bestselling Penguin Great Ideas series. This new selection showcases a diverse list of thinkers who have helped shape our world today, from anarchists to stoics, feminists to prophets, satirists to Zen Buddhists.

Many library support staff (LSS) who do not have management training will assume supervisory roles in library services during their careers. This book is written to help LSS understand, support, and apply the basic principles of library supervision and management in their work on the topics of regulations and bylaws hiring, staff performance expectations, leadership and professional learning. Readers will learn how to engage in effective decision-making and participate in productive library meetings. The importance of library policies, and procedures are explained through many practical examples. The scope of the book addresses many different aspects and examples of library management and how LSS can seek supportive roles to enhance library services and programs. Chapters are written on these topics: *Basic regulations and bylaws *Principles of management *Hiring *Staff performance expectations *Leadership, professional learning *Library policies and procedures The book also addresses budget, fundraising and grants, partnerships, community demographics, marketing, goal management, customer service, conducting meetings, and effective decision-making. This book is aligned with the revised ALA- LSSC competency standards for management and supervision, and may be used as a textbook by instructors of Library Science programs or as a reference manual for library support staff who are learning on the job about the ever changing environment of working with others.

In general, information practices are viewed as tools that people use to further their everyday projects. Essentially, people's information practices draw on their stocks of knowledge that form the habitual starting point of information seeking, use, and sharing. To judge the value of information available in external sources like newspapers and the Internet, people construct information source horizons. They set information sources in order of preference and suggest information seeking paths, such as "first check the net, then visit the library." Everyday Information Practices draws on interviews with environmental activists and unemployed people during 2005 and 2006, exploring the practices of information seeking by focusing on the ways in which the participants monitored everyday events and sought information to solve specific problems. The book shows that everyday information seeking practices tend to be oriented by the principle of "good enough." Overall, the role of routines and habits is more significant than has earlier been assumed. Thus, everyday information seeking practices tend to change quite slowly.

Support staff in all types of libraries must work together in a variety of situations. This is both a textbook and on-the-job manual covering the skills and behaviors necessary for effective teamwork and communication. Trained library support staff should know the basic concepts of interpersonal relations, customer service, teamwork, and communication. The range and diversity of staff in today's library requires that support staff understand and implement these basic principles. The chapters of this book are carefully and purposefully aligned with the new American Library Association - Library Support Staff Certification (LSSC) competency standards for Communication and Teamwork. Each chapter begins with the LSSC Competencies that are to be addressed, a help to instructors who use this book as a teaching text. This is followed by a list of topics that will be covered as well as a glossary of key terms. Chapters are then broken into easily readable sections that relate back to the key terms. No other book is available that uses the ALA-LSSC standards as the focus for teaching through practical examples how library support staff can effectively use them on the job. Other books on this topic are written at a level that is aimed for professional librarians and not support staff. However, 85% of library support staff do not hold professional degrees. Written in clear language, this book will help library support staff become effective public service personnel.

Becoming a Powerhouse Librarian: How to Get Things Done Right the First Time will help you recognize and implement specific behaviors and actions librarians use to successfully drive projects forward, institute new services or revamp old ones, and establish key relationships both inside and outside of the library. Each behavior or trait covered can be either developed or strengthened within an individual or team. The book features practical tips to build skills in each topic area. Examples of topics found in this book include: lifelong learning, risk-taking, creativity, identifying and leveraging stakeholders, creating balance, knowing when to lead and when to follow, handling setbacks and avoiding burnout. Each chapter includes: * A basic description of the behavior and why it is important for success * Overview of core building blocks/elements necessary within each chapter (ex. engaging external stakeholders vs. internal stakeholders) * Examples of actions that readers can take (ex. establishing agreed upon language everyone can understand) * Sidebar of 5 good and bad habits that can impact success * Personal anecdotes from working librarians Whether you're just beginning your library career or you're a seasoned professional, Becoming a Powerhouse Librarian is sure to have something for you!

Managing Information Risks: Threats, Vulnerabilities, and Responses identifies and categorizes risks related to creation, collection, storage, retention, retrieval, disclosure and ownership of information in organizations of all types and sizes. It is intended for risk managers, information governance specialists, compliance officers, attorneys, records managers, archivists, and other decision-makers, managers, and analysts who are responsible for risk management initiatives related to their organizations' information assets. An opening chapter defines and discusses risk terminology and concepts that are essential for understanding, assessing, and controlling information risk. Subsequent chapters provide detailed explanations of specific threats to an organization's information assets, an assessment of vulnerabilities that the threats can exploit, and a review of available options to address the threats and their associated vulnerabilities. Applicable laws, regulations, and standards are cited at appropriate points in the text. Each chapter includes extensive endnotes that support specific points and provide suggestions for further reading. While the book is grounded in scholarship, the treatment is practical rather than theoretical. Each chapter focuses on knowledge and recommendations that readers can use to: -heighten risk awareness within their organizations, -identify threats and their associated consequences, -assess vulnerabilities, -evaluate risk mitigation options, -define risk-related responsibilities, and -align information-related initiatives and activities with their organizations' risk management strategies and policies. Compared to other works, this book deals with a broader range of information risks and draws on ideas from a greater variety of disciplines, including business process management, law, financial analysis, records management, information science, and archival administration. Most books on this topic associate information risk with digital data, information technology, and cyber security. This book covers risks to information of any type in any format, including paper and photographic records as well as digital content.

Volume 37 of Advances in Librarianship presents detailed examples of local and regional mergers and collaborations and serves as a companion to Volume 36 which presented a comprehensive broad review of the factors that lead to mergers and other alliances, and the methods used to ensure effective and successful collaborations. While corporate mergers make headlines, library and information science examples, especially at regional an local levels, have less visibility. This volume demonstrates that such efforts are occurring in libraries, among LIS degree programs, and enterprises including networks and consortia. They are occurring as economic conditions around the world mandate consolidation and/or collaboration among agencies and enterprises to reduce or curtail expenditures.

Framing sound marketing principles within the context of customer service, Weingand demonstrates how current marketing ideas and strategies can contribute to effective library and information center management. This new edition of Weingand's practical handbook gives a broad overview of the entire marketing/planning system-from a working definition of marketing, creating a marketing team, and developing a mission to conducting a marketing audit, setting goals, creating an action plan, designing and pricing the product, connecting to customers, promoting services, and evaluating the end result. In each of these areas, Weingand has updated the information, added new scenarios and figures, even restructured some of the concepts. Special attention is given to the relationship between the library's mission and vision, and a more thorough discussion of budgetary considerations is offered. A new chapter that focuses on the future and the library's role in the next millennium concludes the work. This basic g